So what does it take to become a mod or admin?

I'm very curious

I am very happy that kimmydawn has decided to take the position of administrator, as I know she's done a lot of work for the site in other ways. She is always very kind and has 'saved the sanity' of many people on the site. I would be happy to ask kimmy should I need any issues about the site resolved (although I am sure this is an unlikely situation )

However, who is 'JustBen'? Admittedly, I do spent more time on this site browsing that contributing myself, but it would be my guess that if someone was to become an administrator they would need to have a fairly visible profile on this site, and be known and trusted to the majority of members. I am sure that JustBen is a very nice person, and I don't mean this to be a personal attack against him.

I must admit, though, that finding out he had made only a minimal number of posts over 14 months of membership, was of great interest to me. In my opinions, that's not really consistent with a well-known and involved site member.

So when I found out that in fact, JustBen is a psychology postgraduate student, things clicked into place. Apparently the position for a psychology student to moderate and/or administrate this forum was ADVERTISED. I don't really feel that this is a way to get someone from within the site to assist with the running of the site.

Reading the posts he has made, they do seem helpful to people, and pretty much textbook answers There is little personal information, and given that people on here share SO much, would it not be more appropriate to have someone in an admin position who has also been through a few bad times and therefore, people may reciprocate trust with them in their new role?

I don't know whether I am alone in my feelings over this, but it does disturb me that we have a post graduate psychology student 'practising' with people on this site. I don't know the level of training or competence he is at, but I do know that someone with SOME knowledge (even when they are in the process of training) can be pretty dangerous from a clinical perspective. Text books are not the same as real life experience. People who are training do not have this experience either.

I believe that either someone who is qualified and who is prepared to make themselves and their background known to other members, OR someone who is trusted by other members, is more important that giving a psyc student a chance to practise their advice.

I myself have a PhD in criminal justice psychology - I veered away from clinical but have a good amount of knowledge from postgrad study on mental disorders and treatment. Yet I wouldn't presume to know enough to advise others. I am sure JustBen is training more specifically in abnormal than I did, but it still doesn't make me comfortable with it.

In my opinion, someone like _Sky_ would be the ideal type of person to do this sort of job - with a PhD and therapist experience. I do hope people like her were asked BEFORE the advertising was done.

This is a good, helpful site for the most part, but this sort of thing does put me off somewhat.

Hi, im pretty new here (less than 200 posts) Im familar with Kimmydawn , but i have never heard of the other new co-administrator?

How does that make you feel about having them as an Administrator?

bring back the moderator bio thread!! we wanna know more....

dsf.......where did you see this position advertised?

as a former moderator we can tell you it takes courage, stamina, kindness when needed and firmness as well, a forgiving heart, and many other qualities that the current moderation team has in spades. it ain't an easy gig but one that can be very rewarding for both the moderators and the community as time goes by.

this site has always banned research and there are many guidelines about online "practicing" of psych. this site is NOT a site where professionals are engaging with the community on a therapeutic level. sure there are people within the fields of psychiatry and psychology who use the board as well as people with degrees in many other fields. no one on this site is credentialed to "work" with us in this setting nor is this site set up for that purpose.

if we've misread your remarks please forgive us....if we're half on target then help us out a little.

we miss the moderators thread where the mods shared as much or as little as they were comfortable with (Doc John too!)

earlier this year we served a short stint as a moderator and we recall how challenging it was to reveal some of our history for that thread but the feedback from the community was tremendously positive. would it help to know more of Ben's warts and all?

good questions dsf and a thoughful post in which you posed them.

friday 23rd sept docs blog, advertising for personel for site

Thank you _zh ... I don't mean to be rude or overly suspicious, but I'm not happy with a 'postgraduate student in psychology) using this site for training, practice, or whatever.

No slurs on JustBen as a person, but perhaps we need someone from within the site who people already know, like, and respect. Some of the stuff a Mod or Admin deals with, I suspect, is pretty sensitive and personal.

It was advertised in DocJohn's blog, which is under September Archives

Im happy for Kimmydawn. I truly believe that she is an asset to this forum. As for the other co-admin...i havent seen him post or reply so i really cant say?

Wowsa. I'm really shocked by this post. Ben's posts are so helpful and insighful. He's been here 14 months - that a long time in "online years". So he hasn't posted 1000's of posts? It's quality that counts (that comments comes from someone who thinks the titles here are lame and confusing to newbies. )

Why is the fact that he is studying psych a bad thing? does that make him unwelcome? we have a LOT here studying or already in the biz, they just don't necessarily announce that.

I think it's great to have 2 admins, and it was an excellent idea to have two different backgrounds. Ben is willing to share his time for free, even while attending school. That's a dang big sacrifice. Sure it can go on his resume...but so could a PAID job!

I'm happy Ben is here and an admin. I'm grateful to him. How about we give the guy a chance before we blast Doc's selection?? Personally, I trust John to make well-informed, well thought-out decisions.

emmy

WOWSA! lol

It doesn't take much to shock you then, does it emily4040?

I honestly thought it was healthy to be able to ask questions and get some honest answers. I also thought it was acceptable to do this and get some clear, unbiased responses.

I don't have the implicit trust that some people on this forum appear to have. I am predominantly a researcher, we ask questions. Because of my background in psychology (and in addition, my thesis supervisor was a clinician) I know a bit about this whole thing. And I think for a start, being open and honest (e.g., making it common knowledge that this is a recruit from an advertisement who is not yet qualified) is essential.

I would hate to find that some psyc student is practicing their skills on a forum, and I certainly don't want to share things in their presence if that is the case.


I

I hope i havent caused any friction here when i replied to this post. I was just trying to be open and honest.

honest opinions are what are needed here jagster dont worry about it.

Nothing to do with you jagster, thank you for your reply

i wanted to say that, when discussing the admin position, i was asked what i thought about sharing it with ben. my initial reaction...this is docjohn's recommendation. that's good enough for me. i have a belief in this site and what it does.

that belief was due to docjohn and his abilities, care and decisions. this is another decision by and man that gave me a safe place to come for support, information, feedback and backup; the same man that maintains it for me. history itself speaks to me on his decisions for this site, saying that he will do what he feels is best to maintain what PC is and should be...which is a safe place for me to be me.

my second thought, i was honored to accept the position as admin by a man who has created and maintained PC. i was doubly honered to accept the position as co-admin with someone who has shown to me that he cares and can be a great contributor to PC...ben.

docjohn did make a blog "ad". do we know that this ad is about PC? let's say that it is. it's something he did for the maintenance of this community...period. do any of us really know what it takes to physically and technically maintain this site? i don't, but can imagine it to be a massive maintenance. most websites of this size have "professional" adminstrators. we have members. PC is growing and so are its needs.

bottom line, docjohn has always acted in the best interest for PC (that he created and maintains) and its community...making all the right business and membership decisions. to me, that's the ground here that i can stand my feet on firmly.

i so appreciate everyone here. we are amazing ppl all brought to one common arena. this has to be carefully maintained for us to continue to share our amazingness!

thanks,

kd

Good post ...thanks for putting into words what I was thinking drunksunflower.

I will be honest ...I pm'd a few here asking who justben is. A while ago we had another poster with a similar name and my first thought was that it was him. The ones I pm'd had no idea who he is...these are posters that have been here for a while. Yes this concerns me as well. This is nothing personal against justben and drunksunflower pointed that out repeatedly.

DocJohn provides a wonderful environment and kudos to him as well as to all the moderators.

I have been quiet here for a while....not sure if it's me &/or combination of the site....just my 2 cents

I think what it is for me is that kimmydawn is so open and honest here - Ozzie was as well....that made such a difference for all of us. I am not saying that justben won't be but....it just seems "different" to me anyways.

no-one is questioning your natural assention to being admin kimmy, you know i am on your side for this, it is the way doc has done this that is under question. it is in no way a personal attack on ben either,
the desicion to go from moderator to admin in a week is what is under question, it would have been better to have ben has a moderator for a while, to let people get to know him,like they do you, the longer term residents in the forum if you will, rather than have him go straight to the top of the tree, and posting 100 + replies in a week should'nt automatically boost him into a position of power, if anything it makes us question his motives more.

i for 1 am unhappy about his promotion to admin, i would have thought moderator for at least 3 months would have been more appropriate

Good morning, all Forgive me for not replying sooner, but I just woke up. I'm actually a graduate student in Counseling, not a postgraduate student in Psych -- if that makes any difference. I've had a few folks point out that many of my posts sound stilted or impersonal; criticism accepted. Because I write so much in school and in my job, that very formal tone tends to spill over into my personal writing as well. As for the "textbook" stuff, rest assured that I'm not sitting here with a textbook copying passages out I'm really working on my style, though, and am trying to offer more than just advice. Just to be clear: I am not and will never be "practicing" anything on the forums. That's now what Doc asked me to do, and it's not something I ever had any intention of doing.

As for not knowing me very well, all I can do is ask you to give me a chance. I quite liked the idea of a "get to know" your mods and admins thread, so maybe we can get that started later today -- you'll see that I've had my own personal troubles and hurts to deal with. Why didn't I talk about all that when I was a new member? Well, it just wasn't my style. And there are a lot of people on the forums - registered and unregistered - who feel the same way. Maybe it will be a good thing to have an admin that understands where they're coming from?

Look forward to getting to know you.

ben you still dont get it, we know the mods from what they have posted and related to,and we can relate to them, but admin is the next level and sorry you have not earned that place in my opinion, i was willing to accept you as a mod, but as admin, no.

trust has to be earnt, not given, you are in a position of trust and power now, wrongly in my opinion, but there non the less, we can ***** and moan all we like the doc has made his mind up, still doesnt make it right though.

I do understand that some folks are upset with the decision to make me an admin because they don't feel like they know me well enough, or that I haven't proved myself in the forums as a member. Fair enough. But the decision has been made, and I'm just asking everyone to give me a chance. I realize you'd prefer to get to know and trust me before I was made an admin, but are you willing to at least give it a shot now? (Also, I really do "get" that this post isn't about me. It's about the decision. I decided to post this anyway because it seemed like the right place and time to do so.)

i refer to my former statements ben, it is not about proving yourself, it is about building trust, everyone knows the mods, they have been mods for a while, everyone knows and trusts them,or not, admin is the top level of that trust, including the doc, the phrase "to much to soon" springs to mind.