How soon until you make someone staff?

How soon do you wait after a member joins your forum before you'll make him/her staff?

Usually, unless I know the person I am looking to hire and have known them for quite some time, it can take many months before I will hire someone and make them a staff member.

Usually, I look at those who are passionate about the forum and the community and want to see the community thrive and become a success.

Usually it takes me a few months to evaluate someone to determine if they will be a great for my online community. I do not hire everyone. They need to share similar interests and passions for the community as well, as a great staff team is critical for building an awesome community.

Well, that depends. If I already knew them before hand, then it may not take me long before I make someone a staff member on my forum.

But if someone just joined on my forum, it'll take me some time because I want to see how this person interacts with the rest of the community before I make a decision.

This highly depends. I don't have a set time period. I'm looking for quality of character. Posting frequency. Longevity. It helps if I actually know the person-- like communicate outside of the forum, in person is better, but not always a guaranteed good fit.

Typically, I'll wait at least 30 days before even thinking about promoting somebody to a Staff position. This gives me a fair bit of time to judge if the person is a good fit for the well-being of the community. How much does this person contriubte. Are they excited to be there? Are they sprking off ideas about how to improve the site? Are they sticking around, and posting at least every couple of days? And probably the most important question to ask of all: Do they even want the position? Are they too eager for the position is also something to be concerned with

I wait until I have enough activities on forums and I have some funds yo pay the staff, I don't employ anyone for free. I might not give a huge pay but I still like to give some cash incentives.

It doesn't matter how long I have to wait, if I can't trust the person to some extent, it doesn't matter if they have been in the forum for 5 years, I will never make them a staff.

When I’m so overwhelmed with the forum that I can’t do everything by myself.

On Sep 8, 2026, Shawn said:

When I’m so overwhelmed with the forum that I can’t do everything by myself.

How long does the person have to be a member before you consider him/her?

On Sep 8, 2026, Kathy said:

How long does the person have to be a member before you consider him/her?

A little while, unless I’ve known the person for a while. Like you, for example, would get picked more quickly because I’ve known you forever, haha, but a total stranger would have to earn my trust.

On Sep 8, 2026, Shawn said:

A little while, unless I’ve known the person for a while. Like you, for example, would get picked more quickly because I’ve known you forever, haha, but a total stranger would have to earn my trust.

Yeah, you know I wouldn’t do anything bad.

On Sep 8, 2026, Kathy said:

Yeah, you know I wouldn’t do anything bad.

That’s what I’d worry about with a “total stranger”.

Are they applying because they truly want to help, or because they’re power-tripping and want to be large and in charge?