I hear the question come up pretty frequently: Should an admin create a second, member account to roleplay with their members and interact with them like "one of the guys" {or girls or both} while they keep their administrator account reserved only for staff functions?
This is a personal choice, but not one I would make. I don't do it, because you're essentially creating two personas on the game, one as a member and the other as an admin. While you then "escape" the natural fear of authority that will always attach itself to an admin, you don't spend that time cultivating your presence and persona as an admin on your site, which only strengthens members' fear and sense of alienation from the leader of their game. An admin, in my opinion, shouldn't be trying to escape difficult issues on their board, they need to confront them and improve them as best they can. Avoiding it doesn't make it go away, and having an admin/staff who openly communicate with their members on a regular basis goes a very long way.
It is human nature to fear authority to some extent, the bigger the authority the bigger this natural fear, which is why this situation is worse the larger the forum is. But if you show them you're really a nice old human being like the rest of them, this fear will mostly fade and you'll make some friends and make your board a warmer place at the same time.
Honesty is also the best policy.
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