Job Responsibilities
I do everything but develop on a large forums website. I manage a
worldwide staff, put together advertising, wrote the Terms of
Service, I enforce the Terms of Service, I validate memberships,
I run the Help Desk, I answer members' questions, etc. There's
probably a few things I'm forgetting.
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Job Requirements
There is no little formal training for this position. I have been
a member of forum sites (New York Times' old Abuzz, plus IMDB's
forums) and Usenet, plus I have been a Chatroom moderator.
Otherwise, there's little else that can prepare you, except to be
mature, level-headed and thick-skinned. It helps to be very
articulate online.
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Uppers
It's a wild ride. I work hard because I love it, and not because anyone is
making me do much of anything. I put in time when I can (I am now employed
elsewhere, so this has turned into a weekend gig).
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Downers
The position is a volunteer one, but it can have as much stress
as a paid job.
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Lifestyle
No business travel. The hours are what I make them - whatever I can spare. I
work at home, can do the job in my sweats. There are occasional member gatherings
(I dress a lot better for those!).
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Compensation
Volunteer role, with minimal commission payments from Amazon for
sales through the site. I plow the money back into the site -
half goes to my partner to help pay for hosting. The other half
goes to the rest of the volunteer staff as incentives for
performing certain tasks having to do with adding to and
maintaining the Advertising Portal.
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Advice to Jobseekers
This isn't for everyone. The job is what you make of it. It's is
100% based on trust. No trust, no job, it's that simple. Ideas
are kicked around a lot and all workers have a say. This is good
in the sense that everyone can contribute, but bad in the sense
that anyone and everyone can complain.
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