I'm now the main admin for my website, By Moonlight. It wasn't supposed to be me running the site since I joined as a helper to the admin when I started. But, she said one day to the board that she's completely leaving and hopes we keep running it...and I was the only other, so voila. I acquired a board all of my own :)

Now here are the problems, and I could really use any advice you all have since I haven't run one in...a year or two. First thing I did was hire up 3 more admins because hey, I'm 25, work full time and go to grad school part time and am a little too busy to run the thing alone, haha! Two of them are a little less than what I'd like to see activity-wise, and one of them currently has an issue with me. This admin gave me some great ideas for the board, which I brought to the other admins, and we got moving right on them. But now, she's PISSED and "doesn't know what her next step with us is" because she said we need to wait on doing this idea, and after collaborating with all admins, the majority said do it now. She says she feels her help is worthless and that we messed the whole thing up. I say, if it helps the board, that's the point, and with 4 admins, sometimes it goes with what the majority thinks best...which may not be what you think should happen 100% of the time. What else should I be doing with this admin? Did I do the right thing, or should I just have not brought it to the others and done what she'd wanted?

Now the main thing...activity. Since our first admin left, I've worked really hard to revamp the board, the plot, and add new elements to it. Like werewolves and a more "even" battle instead of one side being hugely more powerful and the others in-hiding. I've added a "special events" account which can randomly go around and and post in threads to add a little fun to them. Nothing huge, just like "a group of the Noble army has just rounded the corner and is walking towards you and so-and-s0..." to hopefully keep the fun alive.

I've just implemented a post once per week activity level because before, NO ONE has been posting, or it's the same 3 people over and over. But, it's still very slow. No new members joining in nearly 2 weeks now, and I REALLY want this site to work. So I'm looking for ideas on how I can be a better admin, how I can better lead my scattered admin team, and how I can get activity and interest back up! Please, take a look-see and let me know?

I need help :)

4 admins is actually rather a lot, especially if the site is not hugely active. It's easy to get conflict in a large admin team, and you do need to spend time on teamwork and gaining trust with one another so you can give each other some freedom, so you're not stuck debating every little detail with 4 admin.

That said, I would give specific admins maybe different tasks? So they each have one area for which they are responsible, and you as head admin to oversee if needed?

The admin that you have an issue with because she's angry, did she say why she thought waiting would have been better? You mentioned a lot of revamping going on already, might it be that in this case this admin actually was right, even though the vote went against her? Voting isn't always the best solution, sometimes listening to reasons and reasoning can give you as head-admin a better idea on what the best choice is.

Lastly, you mentioned posting. Are all your admins posting and active on the site? If there's ground to gain there, push them to be more active. They have no reason being admin if they do not RP on the board after all.

Good idea about giving each of them tasks. As far as why she wanted to wait: because it put all of the cards on the table already for the Main Event we have going on, and no one was involved at the party yet. Why we decided to post it already: because no one was involved in the party yet, lol, and it definitely is something to inspire people to post. Plus, seeing as people can still post anytime during the party in other threads, like before this happens, after it happens, etc...then it's not inhibiting other posts, IMO. In the end, another admin agreed it could work well getting people involved, and I made the decision to post it up. So yes, I made the deciding choice (seeing as 1 admin is currently posted Away). And the revamping has happened weeks ago in the means of plot and characters allowed. All we're doing now are graphic changes...

For admins...I have one who is away and posted this, another who vanished for a week completely without anyone knowing but is back now, and the mad one who's away for 3 days because she's pissed.

You need to put your foot down with this "pissed off" admin because my god, what is her problem? Patience is a virtue. Nuff said. She needs a serious dose of it and of some consideration for you and the other staff, all you are trying to do is fill the needed staff positions and keep the site going smoothly.

I just got off from a situation like this. A pissed off staff member {though lower staff--she'd just been hired} who wouldn't quit back talking, rudeness and nastiness to the staff because she felt we weren't moving quickly enough on her ideas or taking her concerns seriously. We were bending over backwards to try and help her, and all we got was more and more nastiness. We demoted her and thankfully, she left.

The majority say do it now? Do it now. You have a duty to please your members and give them what they want, which is what the forum needs to keep its activity up. This admin needs a swift demote. Let me guess: She's a perfectionist type? Turns seemingly tiny things into huge issues? Is "always right"? Has to have it her way or the highway? Is quick to get defencive?

Cut your losses and get rid of her because the drama is only going to worsen and if you think you have activity problems now just wait till more drama happens on your board.

UGH. So she's been PMing me. She was only made an admin 2 days ago, while the others have been on for about a month as admins. She said she had her reasons why it should have waited, and she's offended that I chose to listen to the other admin who isn't on every day like she is. So...I wrote back that there is no hierarchy on the board. That it doesn't matter who was adminned first or who's on more, it's majority vote. I stressed that with an older community it has to be drama free and I love that so far about the board.

Before I could send it to her, she writes another PM and tells me she won't be coming back and that the pips she made for the site have to be taken down. Now here's my new dilemma...if she's credited on the site for their creation, but made them FOR this site alone and gave them to us even before she was an admin for use on the site, who really owns them? Can we still use them regardless? Thoughts?

You have no obligation to take anything down that was submitted to the site. she chose to donate it to the site for publication. You may not use it elsewhere, but she gave it to you of her own volition and you may keep it up as long as you like.

That's my understanding of this issue anyway.

As for her leaving, that was inevitable anyhow. If I didn't know that it was impossible, I'd even say that the same person who sent my site into a whirl of drama for a week or two was the same person you're dealing with. But no, it's just that this type is unfortunately very common.

...I'd block her PMs too if I were you, and ban her from the site if she keeps it up. I hope you demoted her too? If not I'd go do that right about 5 seconds ago :p

I would take them down and request new ones. You might even get better ones than what she made. Or make them like the glowy font in your banner, because that's pretty.

I wouldn't ban her, though. Just remove her staff status completely.

As someone who has made graphics for people, but also had them taken down due to various issues, I say in this case, she has the rights to them, not you. But I agree with Roswenth - get new ones. ;D

How much are you advertising? I find that if you slow up on your advertising rate, your activity rate drops as well. Advertise in as many places as you can, every day. Have this as your and your Admins' daily routine. You'll get more members, and the activity rate should spark :]

Another suggestion I have, which is my personal opinion so you don't necessarily have to take it, is to remove the images in the graphics - they're very disturbing, and are deterring me from your site. I don't really have an issue with the graphics themselves - I just don't like the images. If you could find images of vampires that are not as horrific, this may help a little too; there's a fine line between tasteful creepy, and just downright creepy =/

Thanks for all of the advice!! I think the situation is over. And, we'll be working on TONS of advertising :D