Admin replies to everything

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I was browsing some random forum and I noticed that the admin had replied to every single topic I looked at (probably every topic ever created there), often with nothing really legitimate to add to the conversation.

As a forum administrator, do/would you feel obligated to reply to every single topic on your forum?

 

[gaze-universe]

I don't think I would reply if I had nothing to say. I also wouldn't want to give an impression that I'm 'keeping tabs' on every thread by visibly showing I had been there by replying. But I would try to be a part of several conversations to be close to the members and not become a stranger on the forum.

 

[DrLeftover]

I think it is part of the duty and responsibility for the Administrator to have some idea what is going on on their forum, which means at least being aware of what threads are created and which are active and if there is a brewing flame war or something.

But as far as feeling obligated to post in every thread, especially if they have nothing meaningful to add to the discussion just so people will see you've been there?

That's ridiculous and seems to indicate that the Admin there either craves attention or that they think the members need to know they are being watched.

 

[Jazzy]

As a forum administrator, do/would you feel obligated to reply to every single topic on your forum?

I look at the topics but only reply to the ones where I feel I have something worthwhile to add. Unfortunately, not all topics interest me or there are topics I am not knowledgeable enough about the subject to even make a worthwhile reply.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I reply to a lot of topics on here, but not every single one. Why would I reply if I have nothing to add to the conversation?

 

[Ashley]

When I first started trying to run forums back in 2008, I thought it was my duty as an administrator not only to start topics of discussion, but also to reply/respond to every topic that I or my members started. If this person is new to forum owning, he/she probably feels as I did when I first started out like they have to reply to everything if only to make their members happy. However, as I became more experienced, I started to realize that owning a forum wasn't much different than being a member of a forum. If you don't understand something being talked about, or if you don't know what to say or the topic is of no interest to you, you don't have to reply to it. It took me quite a while to figure that out.

 

[Kirito]

Was this a smaller forum? Often admins of smaller forums wanna post as much as possible to boost stats without actually falsifying them.

As for me personally, nope, but then again I'd be a terrible admin. xD

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Was this a smaller forum?

Yeah, with a default theme and hardly any effort put into the forum itself.

 

[Ashley]

Was this a smaller forum?

Yeah, with a default theme and hardly any effort put into the forum itself.

If there's anything that irks me about new forums, it's when people use default themes, like the main Prosilver theme if it's phpBB, or the default purple theme if it's SMF. Actually, in terms of Simple Machine Forums, the default purple one is actually one of my favorite themes, and definitely one of the more decent ones. But really, even if you're on free hosting, as I was with my final site, they usually have a nice selection of themes to choose from right out of the ACP, sort of a "fresh out of the box" deal when you first register your forum with the host.

 

[~KAGE-008]

I don't think an admin of a forum NEEDS or HAVE TO post in every thread...

Seconding what you said.

 

[McConnaughay]

I think I can understand it if the forum is just getting started. A lot of the time, you have to generate the activity on your own, but for a forum that is active semi-regularly, it just seems more detrimental to the forum than anything else.

 

[Evil Eye]

Well if they were interesting topics...

Yeah, like everyone else, I don't reply to every topic nor do I feel obliged to. Sometimes I feel like posting something in a thread only to give up after writing a line or two.

 

[The Governor]

I think it is part of the duty and responsibility for the Administrator to have some idea what is going on on their forum, which means at least being aware of what threads are created and which are active and if there is a brewing flame war or something.

But as far as feeling obligated to post in every thread, especially if they have nothing meaningful to add to the discussion just so people will see you've been there?

That's ridiculous and seems to indicate that the Admin there either craves attention or that they think the members need to know they are being watched.

I agree completely. While I do read every topic posted, if there's nothing for me to say, or just no need for me to be involved, I don't post.

 

[Hulk's iconHulk]

This is a tough one. It brings activity. But for me I would make a couple of fake accounts and reply just so it doesn't seem like the admin is #1/God of the entire forum.

 

[Rum]

I don't reply to everything, I leave something for the members to reply to.