Honestly, yeah, I figured a lot of people really enjoyed being the lorekeeper & worldbuilding/lorecrafting first! I have work experience in administration outside of rp (love sorting files into their own place, very relaxing, very therapeutic) but it’s nice to find that a bunch of other people enjoy it, too! Sorting… I feel like a kid sticking a squarw peg into a square hole

That being said, I do think it’s easier to find bots and automate systems that can replace that sort of thing nowadays. There was an IRL site I took a look at for a little bit that was incredibly automated in this regard; automated face claims, reserves, and extensions, automated sorting, bots that would collect profiles ready for approval and then automatically introduce them once they were given the go by admins; it was super cool, but definitely not the style of bot work I could probably keep up with!

Oh! This is also re: the what's on your mind thread (sorry it's a little unrelated) (truly am just bouncing between one thread and the other), but there's something I've seen on RL sites before, where admins/staff members set certain 'admin/office hours'; usually I think around one to two hrs or so a few days a week/sometimes on the weekend, after the work day? Where moderation requests, admin tickets, profile approvals, etc, are all handled, so it's not seeping into too much of their free time, and I've definitely been keeping that tabbed in my notes as something that might help me stave off burnout.

Obviously, depending on the level of work or the size of the site, it might not be entirely feasible, but it's a really interesting concept, and it's something I was definitely looking at like 'if I have a specific time I can turn the Admin Hat on, it might help me take it off so I can enjoy what I'm working on, too'. The last place I heavily moderated for was chatbox-based w/ a younger/less mature ('please dear god stop spamming someone else's ip address in the cbox') memberbase, and I felt like I had to be available 24/7 to look out for bad actors... but I do think forum rp being a bit slower lends itself a little well to being able to resist the urge to be available at all times.

I try to do all my admin work before anything else and it can sap my creativity and ability to sit and just post. So the idea of setting office hours is kinda appealing. At the same time I feel like I would see the admin stuff (app review for example) and want to do it immediately so that people can play asap!

app review can be prioritized depending on how many characters the player already has in play, tbh. if they have a bunch of characters already, they can wait.

learning real quick that trying to put together a site by yourself is really difficult. :weary:

anyone have any tips for doing it alone?

since I'm in the same place, here is what really helped me:

I didn't have any friends or old rp partners to help so when I posted a link to the site's discord and a couple of people signed up early (they were very nice and politely asked if it was ok), it seemed like a good time to let them ask all the big questions that people would have. I also was given advice from a member here on pixel that helped me to open my eyes to the disconnect in how my site was presented and how it actually was. 

between those two things, I was able to edit a lot of things and answer a lot of great questions, which opened up a dialogue for how things could be. the best part is, I've never once felt bullied or pushed into doing anything I didn't want for my site and I also seem to have found some talented and creative people with so many ideas. they took something that was pretty bare bones and they've been helping flesh it out into something more. 

so I did get lucky, but I would say that if you want that kind of help, it's not a terrible thing to post an interest check or have a "beta." I know some people don't like that or think it's not useful, but I personally think it's the way I'd do it moving forward (if I ever had it in me to run anything else - but I'm giving this my all). 

if not any of that, at least some kind of site review stage where people can look it over/make suggestions, or ask any questions. for me, the questions really did it. there are SO many things you need another couple of heads for, whether they want to be staff with you or just to help build a community they want to be a part of too.

anyway all this to say I wish you so much luck!

My personal confession, but when I was relatively new to RP (only about 3-4 years into the hobby), and I was staffing on a site I loved for the first time, I repeatedly endured weird advances from a certain male member for a year just so that I didn't appear to be a "mean" mod. Looking back I always cringe at it! The user only approached me because I made my gender (cis female) known. Stay safe out there everyone. ;;

not sure if i'm qualified to give advice yet, since my own site hasn't yet opened. but honestly i'm going with the mindset of having low expectations. i know i'm going to fumble some things. and may take a while to get my footing as a single staffer especially when figuring out my player base. even so i know it's going to be okay, i just got to take one step at a time and push through. all and all, just remember you're human and you're making a site for fun. don't over think things and just try, because that's what counts that you tried.

edit: also making a to-do list is really good, esp if you're a scatterbrain like me.

decided that AI images are a warning with a "remove the image" request, but using AI writing is an immediate permaban without warning.

the former can be excused as simply not being able to tell an image is AI. the latter is intentional, and I don't really want anyone who AI generates their RP content in my hobby.

AI usage is a no-no for sure but i literally will never understand why people would even consider using AI to write their posts. though i suppose it's the same principle as people who say AI art is "okay" because it allows them to get into the hobby easier. which is complete bullshit btw. using AI art or AI generated writing is not engaging in a hobby and, it is a clear insult to people who have a passion for illustrating or writing to even attempt to wiggle into their personal spaces with such actions.

all that to say: AI is strictly banned on any site i make and i would sincerely hope that other people feel the same way. i do agree that there is some degree of benefit of doubt required- some people don't know the tells of AI art (and the AI is getting smarter every day), so a warning is fair in that regard. but not when it comes to AI writing.

At this point the hobby is so riddled with AI that it’s starting to give me a mental breakdown. I can’t even tell some of them apart anymore and it’s like you need a full time staff member just to police the AI stuff. I hate it so much and wish it would disappear already. But since it’s not I guess it’s time to actually find somebody to police it bc I don’t have the time for it plus everything else on my plate (rp and rl!!!)