Clarification on Admin duties.

[SteveColes]

I think I have been remiss on a few points.

While each of the admin types is involved in the system technically, and must know their way around the Admincp and understand the the permissions system., the 2 general Admins, require the most detailed technical knowledge. In particular the templates, which in require you you to have a familarity or gain it, with HTML. Also, it is necssary to understand vbulletin's html embedded conditionals, which are of their own design and PHP's symbol precedence.

Unfortuntely, vBulletin's Manual doesn't cover this.

Also, the various add on software has no manuals, except vBCMPS.

So to reiterate my point in the job descriptions, This is an on the job, do it yourself learning positions. Of course with the help of those who are 2 days ahead of you in the learning. :lol:

It also turns out that there is book on vBulletin. I've just ordered it. If it looks good, I will get a copy for anyone who wants it. I'm going over to Barnes and Noble to see if I can find some books that might be help

 

[Monty]

That's a good explanation Steve. I can vouch for the technical component of the job. Figuring out the templates and code, how & where all the settings are made, how changing one setting might affect other things, etc. It is on-the-job training with little to go by other than what information is available at some of the vBulletin web sites.

I think most of us were unclear at first about exactly what was to be expected for each of the positions available. Your post about each of these positions was extremely helpful. There are a couple of issues, though. Some of the staff who are new may not have had a good understanding of how it all works, because they may have never seen the inner workings of a forum like this before. Also, some of the "veteran" staff, who HAVE been here for a while, may have come to the conclusion that they have learned what takes to fulfill some other role. Or maybe they have concluded that their current role requires too much of a time commitment. Furthermore, some of the staff veterans were out of town while all of this was going on, and I'm sure they have a lot of catching up to do. Take a look at the "score card" post, for example. As far as I am aware, McRabbett and Travis Porter are still Admins, too, and I'm not sure yet (not rushing ya'll!!!) what exactly they want to do now that the new job descriptions are in place. For all these reasons, I think we have the need to do some housekeeping in the staff positions.

I know you said it before, Steve, but I'll re-emphasize it. Every member of the staff needs to take a hard look at the "job requirements" of every position, and make sure you are comfortable with where you are. This should not feel like a "job", nor should you feel that your talents are being underutilized. There is no "rank" here. There are no superstars (well, except for Steve... and DaveO! ;-) ). There is only the logical breakdown of the daily duties to spread out the workload and make it easier on all of us (especially Steve!).

Having said all of that, some time in the next week or two we will hopefully have all the staff positions filled (like those specialized Admin slots). If we don't have them filled based on preferences that we hear from ya'll, we will necessarily have to break down the positions and start assigning people to any unfilled slots.

 

[SteveColes]

Monty, now you know why I wanted you as webmaster. I can write something, but you know how say it correctly and clarifiy it.

Thank you for adding that.