staff.....advice....eh? 🚬 ( context: some pokemon, plot-driven sites, event-oriented with original progression systems, urban fantasy, statless combat, etc. )

my number one piece of advice is don't do it with people you don't love. (merry chrimmus cila) don't have a team of seven moderators. don't do a staff search on pixel perfect. don't put your love and effort into something and then create a backdoor where you give other people an equal say in the thing that you have lost sleep over.

if your project fails, at least let it be your project. you can't afford to be afraid of that.

make it very very clear that you have authority. project it, use it. AND YET don't dress it up as something YOU are not—don't feel the need to type or act or speak a certain way, or coddle members, or capitalize your sentences (unless you do that already). instead, be funny in the way only you are. approachable. enjoy yourself and be interesting. charming, if you can. start conversations. get to know the people around you because otherwise you're really not going to have fun and that's the most important thing you can do as an admin. don't find "middle-ground" between nice and serious, because then you become boring. instead, be both, just at the right time.

care about the site plot more than you care about personal plots. care about other people's plots more than you care about personal plots, but not more than you care about the site plot, and not more than the 1-2 plots that make you really happy. make sure all people are happy, sure, but first make sure they are not bored. never let people get bored.

and as one really great kinda cool #3rd ranked (according to them, not me) admin in the world once told me, albeit paraphrased: "the number one rule of being an admin—NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER make a mistake. and the number two rule of being an admin—there are no mistakes. you're always right."

(confession below to stay on topic, warning for abrupt change from the much cooler tone of the above message—)