[Sam]

If you are the owner of a brand new forum do you think you should have staff? How many staff members should you start with?

[Fergal]

Having staff can be a great asset, you can't be online 24/7 and if your forum gets hit with spam it's great to have staff around who can deal with that spam to keep the forum clean.

Saying, that I don't think there is a definite number of staff you need, for most forums two or three staff is probably enough starting out. However, some forums may have specific needs that require more staff than that.

[CyberFreak]

I am always of the belief that every single forum is different so there isn't a clear amount of staff in my mind that all forums should have at certain stages of their life.

Some forum require alot more work than others. This can be down to the complexity of the forum (features it offers and software chosen), the owners knowledge of running forums and time available, the type of members it attracts, the genre of forum. Debate forums are likely to need alot more moderation than a forum about Sim City for example. That said, I don't really see the need for any forum to have more than 3 or 4 staff to start off with.

[Anushajain]

I think few people associated with different sections are required to control the activities in those sections.

[GonFreecs]

I have 2 moderators and 2 admins on my new forum!

[Mr.Panos]

I have 1 Administrator, and 2 moderators for fmSupport. It is not so good to have many staff members because they will possibly create some problems.

[Brad W]

Once i started with 3 mods and 1 admin as so many spammers started getting through, i think 1 mod and 1 admin is enough really.

[netsavy006]

I think of it like a tree. You start out alone when you first create it, but then over time you branch out and get help from other members to be mods/admins and it goes from there.

[wasi90lk]

My forum currently has only 13 members, so I do not need any staff.

Once my forum has 1000 members, I may get 3 staffs.

I think 10 staffs is enough for a very large forum.

[TimeRider]

I think you need at least 5 staffs to start a forum who can be active throughout. Having too less or more moderators looking at your forum members is something to think about. I don't think adding more moderators is good as it can conflict in some situations between moderators.

[MoneyBox]

I agree with Fowler, it is different for most forums depending on what you need to cover your services or whatever.

That been said, I typically do not like to hire staff on my forum for quite some time as I can do the work myself.

[fords8]

Have 2 admins, 3 mods, and 1 for social networks.

[jacktheking]

If my forum is new, I think one moderator will do.

[draco99]

I have 2 Admins, three moderators and a couple VIP members

[juststeven]

Depends on the genre, does it not? Promotion forums with services often need a large amount of staff and I find having a large team of administrators with different specialties really helps out. On PromoBB there's me and I do advertising and idea creation. George manages the staff team and users. Saycey helps fund the site and it's network. CodeMaster handles development and contributes to expanding the network.

[Raees]

Its not required to get a staff for a new forum, I just get one staff after 1000 Posts.

[Travis_]

I think that the amount of staff should be based upon the amount of activity you have. Please dont offer members staff just so they will join your forum.

[MoneyBox]

Normally only one other staff member because I like to have some support and discussion going. However it does depend on what service you offer - I guess.

[shamzblueworld]

I just have one co admin for one of my forum. I am looking for one more too.

[Rick Ace]

Every forum is different. If you're running a graphics/design/development forum, you can use a very large team. Even promotion forums need large teams.

The real question we should be asking is how many dedicated staff should a forum have? I think you should prepare for 2 staff members being absent or on vacation. However, having too many staff could create a culture of laziness.