THSCC Forums

The forum was first setup in 2003 with Jason Mauldin being the first admin. Jason stepped down as the senior forum admin sometime around 2006 if I remember correctly. I have been handling most all of it since then. I am looking to retire as the senior forum admin.

There is not a lot of work involved, but I feel that I have not been able to devote the time to it that it deserves. For example we are long overdue to upgrade to the newest version of phpBB. There also have been a number of requests regarding better mobile device support for the forum. I just have not been able to devote the time to these items. I am also finding that I am getting slower and slower at responding to forum related emails due to other stuff taking my time and that is not good. The job generally consists of the following items…

• Standard Admin/Moderator functions. This generally consists of trying to at least casually read most threads to make sure someone is not getting out of line. It is very rare that people have to be given warning or that threads have to be locked, but it happens.
• Backup the forum database periodically. What I have been doing is backing it up about once a week and storing a copy somewhere other than on the web hosting server. We have never had to restore from backup (knock on wood).
• Manage new user requests. This consists of reviewing emails for notifications when a new user has registered. You then have to try to find that person on a current THSCC membership list to see if they are actual members. This actually takes up the most time as there always seems to be a large number of people who are not members who register (even though the registration process clearly mentions that you have to be a member), or they register and don’t follow directions and use their real names.
• Deal with misc. forum user related issues. This ranges from getting locked out somehow, to re-enabling a previously disabled account for a member who dropped out of the club for awhile, but is now back.
• Yearly membership purge. The forum is only for current THSCC members, so once a year (about this time), I go through and disable forum accounts for those who have not renewed their membership. This involves getting a list from the forum (usually via mySQL queries) of those who have active forum accounts, but are not on a list of active members. Emails are sent out to warn people and allow them to renew. Then after a period time, I deactivate the accounts for those who have not renewed.

I am not exactly sure how to go about picking someone. I would assume that a new person would have to instill some confidence in the existing Web Team that they can do the job. My personal opinion is that the person needs to have these qualities…

• Cool head. It can be easy to get sucked into controversial threads on the forum. You always have to remember that you are the admin and that it is very difficult for people to know when you are speaking as the admin and as a regular club member. So at all times try to stay above the drama.
• Does not abuse their power. Related to the above, it can be very tempting to get into an argument with someone, post something (to get the last word in) and then lock the thread. Don’t go and delete content without a good reason. In short, you should generally remain the wizard behind the curtain and nobody should notice you are there.
• I would like to find someone who already has experience acting as an admin or Moderator on another forum elsewhere. Nothing beats experience.
• Experience with *nix shell, PHP and mySQL would be a real plus.

Just as Jason has, I would like to hang around to help out. So this would be a semi-retirement for me. It would allow me to occasionally voice my opinion as to how things should be done, but still let someone else take the lead. I expect that I will be doing the forum purge for 2010, but otherwise would like to hand over control to someone else in the near future.

If anyone has any questions, just reply here or send me a PM.

Richard

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

i can lend a hand, i'm a *nix sysadmin and should be able to grok the technical matters.

I wanted to thank the small handful of people who have replied to me so far. One suggestion that was made that I think has strong merit would be for there to be a group of people who handle this vs. a single individual. As I am burnt out from the overall workload, I might stay on and help out if we can distribute this over a few people.

Thanks,

Richard

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Richard, if you want to go the "divide and conquer" route I'd be happy to volunteer to more actively do this, pending officer OK. I find myself nearly habitually following the forums, although it's usually only later at night.

• Standard Admin/Moderator functions. This generally consists of trying to at least casually read most threads to make sure someone is not getting out of line. It is very rare that people have to be given warning or that threads have to be locked, but it happens.

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

I will continue as Admin, primarily focusing on these two line items.

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In need of car.