Do you "look into" your staff members?

[Shawn Gossman]

Do you try to "look into" your staff members?

AKA - skip tracing: Looking up their username, real name (if you know it), email address, etc.?

I mean, our employers, I'm sure, look us up on social media. So, I suppose a forum owner doing it using open-source/public domain is fine as well.

It's not something I've really practiced myself. Have any of you?

 

[Cpvr]

No, I don’t look into my staff members. My staff member and I have been working together for the past 10 years, so I’m already familiar with what he does for a living, and he knows what I do as well. We’re also connected on social media, so I already know his real name.

 

[Bawse]

I will from now on, especially since my community deals with money, and I want to avoid anything toxic for my forums.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I will from now on, especially since my community deals with money, and I want to avoid anything toxic for my forums.

Yeah - and I'm sure you're making money, right? That's more than any reason to keep it levelheaded because people will quickly turn on you.

 

[Heatman]

It depends on what my staff members does while being on the job. If they give me reasons to start sniffing around to find out more about them, I will and it might make their time on the staff team shortened.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

It depends on what my staff members does while being on the job. If they give me reasons to start sniffing around to find out more about them, I will and it might make their time on the staff team shortened.

I might do a general search and see how they are on other forums but other than that, I usually take the risk and let them in for the most part.

But I keep an eye of things and stop things before they get out of hand.

 

[Heatman]

I might do a general search and see how they are on other forums but other than that, I usually take the risk and let them in for the most part.

But I keep an eye of things and stop things before they get out of hand.

You're doing it right. As long as they are not bad on other forums, giving them benefit of the doubt to do well in your own forum isn't bad. If they decide to throw it all away, then cutting them off early is the right thing to do.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

You're doing it right. As long as they are not bad on other forums, giving them benefit of the doubt to do well in your own forum isn't bad. If they decide to throw it all away, then cutting them off early is the right thing to do.

Yep.

It's good to know who you're working with.

Even if they have a little bit of bad history, as long as it's not too bad, it's still worth considering giving them a chance.

 

[JoelR]

Do you try to "look into" your staff members?

AKA - skip tracing: Looking up their username, real name (if you know it), email address, etc.?

I mean, our employers, I'm sure, look us up on social media. So, I suppose a forum owner doing it using open-source/public domain is fine as well.

It's not something I've really practiced myself. Have any of you?

I think the better question is ... Why do you care?

What would you do with that information if you happened to know their real name and general location?

 

[frm]

I think the better question is ... Why do you care?

Because they could be staff on a forum that has a general audience of 13-17-year-olds, say a gaming forum, and be a(n un)known sex offender (until you look into them).

Do you want somebody on "the list" to moderate your forum, and thereby, be guilty by association, especially if they use the forum as a gateway to commit another offense? Whether or not the intended audience is 13-17?

"What do you or your staff members have to hide?" is the real question now.

I'm not making any accusations here, but you seem laissez-faire when it comes to a serious matter like this. Why wouldn't you want to know who represents your brand, or even worse, your company, that could all be taken away in a matter of seconds, all because you let someone in that you shouldn't have?

Heck, it could even be a car repair forum and you have a convicted felon of grand theft, who served their time, but end up using their prominence as a staff member to target their next victim.

If you don't find any of those to be serious (I could give more examples, but I hope you get the point), well, that's your choice. This is Another Admin Forum, and as Another admin, I want to know who represents my company and my values.

Edit: I used to be salaried on a big (big) board and had to submit a W-9 for tax purposes. While they didn't have my consent to run a background check, nothing could've stopped them and firing me for a different reason if something happened to pop up (they would have asked for consent because they run as a very strict corporate entity, but I have nothing to hide either way).

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I think the better question is ... Why do you care?

What would you do with that information if you happened to know their real name and general location?

@frm provides some good points.

I mean, if I hire you as an employee of my company, I'm going to do a background search on you. That's the norm.

A basic open-source search of a person before letting them be a leader on your community to me is just as normal.

In fact, I'd be more concerned about those who don't do at least a little bit of vetting.

That "why care" can turn into the doom of your forum if your new moderator is a bringer of toxicity and drama.

 

[JoelR]

if I hire you as an employee of my company, I'm going to do a background search on you. That's the norm.

Are you running your forum as a professional business? Or are you running it as a fun hobbyist social forum?

In no way am I critiquing the purpose of the background check. All I'm pointing out is that we should match the efforts of the background check to the purpose and point of the forum.

By the way, there was a huge misinterpretation of my phrasing "why do you care?". I was asking it seriously, as in, what is the purpose and meaning behind caring about this issue? Once you can answer that, then that should guide your response.

 

[frm]

Are you running your forum as a professional business? Or are you running it as a fun hobbyist social forum?

Does it really make a difference? In the U.S., if you run a professional business, you risk going bankrupt if you are forced to pay compensatory or punitive damages. If you run an unincorporated hobbyist forum, you could still be responsible for the same types of damages in a civil lawsuit. That means you could lose your house, car, bank accounts, and anything else they can grab from you. You might even face jail time if you're found criminally responsible by not doing your "job" as an admin too, if the crime is so heinous that they will pursue anyone in the way.

So, which is the better choice? It is probably safer to run an incorporated business, even for a hobbyist, since a corporation cannot be jailed.

A simple way to avoid this problem is to check at least some background information — if not a full background check — on anyone who represents you or your business.

what is the purpose and meaning behind caring about this issue?

1) Losing your forum/business.
2) Losing your house/bank accounts.

Pick one.

 

[Heatman]

Does it really make a difference? In the U.S., if you run a professional business, you risk going bankrupt if you are forced to pay compensatory or punitive damages. If you run an unincorporated hobbyist forum, you could still be responsible for the same types of damages in a civil lawsuit. That means you could lose your house, car, bank accounts, and anything else they can grab from you. You might even face jail time if you're found criminally responsible by not doing your "job" as an admin too, if the crime is so heinous that they will pursue anyone in the way.

So, which is the better choice? It is probably safer to run an incorporated business, even for a hobbyist, since a corporation cannot be jailed.

A simple way to avoid this problem is to check at least some background information — if not a full background check — on anyone who represents you or your business.


1) Losing your forum/business.
2) Losing your house/bank accounts.

Pick one.

Mehn, it's better to be safe than sorry!! Regret is the worst thing that can happen to you especially when you could have avoided the whole thing from doing a small background check to get an information that would have helped you take the right decision.

 

[frm]

I mean, if I hire you as an employee of my company, I'm going to do a background search on you. That's the norm.

I think I read somewhere that your (physical) community is so small that they require volunteer firefighters (my hometown was the same with 2 or 3 on payroll, but the rest of the firehouse were volunteers).

I'm pretty sure that even volunteers are checked on or vetted by someone as they're put in a position of authority/power that could also be abused.

The same should go for forums as well, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Heatman]

I think I read somewhere that your (physical) community is so small that they require volunteer firefighters (my hometown was the same with 2 or 3 on payroll, but the rest of the firehouse were volunteers).

I'm pretty sure that even volunteers are checked on or vetted by someone as they're put in a position of authority/power that could also be abused.

The same should go for forums as well, but that's just my opinion.

Firefighters have a big job role and responsibilities in the community. It doesn't matter if they are volunteers or not, making sure the right people who are fit for the job are taken is necessary because of the nature of their job.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I think I read somewhere that your (physical) community is so small that they require volunteer firefighters (my hometown was the same with 2 or 3 on payroll, but the rest of the firehouse were volunteers).

I'm pretty sure that even volunteers are checked on or vetted by someone as they're put in a position of authority/power that could also be abused.

The same should go for forums as well, but that's just my opinion.

For sure.

I live out in the county. Our county is volunteer.

I used to be an assistant fire chief in a much smaller community. We would definitely vet incoming volunteers. It's the reputation of the village government and community on the line at the end of the day.

 

[frm]

I used to be an assistant fire chief in a much smaller community. We would definitely vet incoming volunteers. It's the reputation of the village government and community on the line at the end of the day.

At scale, I don't see how a forum can operate any differently. That is unless they aren't looking at the future or think there's anything of value to be lost, or they never even considered what a rogue staff member could do/pull a forum owner into and are just naturally trusting individuals.

 

[Heatman]

At scale, I don't see how a forum can operate any differently. That is unless they aren't looking at the future or think there's anything of value to be lost, or they never even considered what a rogue staff member could do/pull a forum owner into and are just naturally trusting individuals.

Exactly! Any forum owner who decides not to take such a thing serious and handle it with utmost care is definitely showing that he or she doesn't care about the implication of not vetting their staff members is going to have on the future run of their community.