Do's and Don'ts : The Unspoken Rules of Being a Group Admin
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Hey everyone! I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate it! Today's post will be the next one in the group admin series and it is all about the unspoken rules that all group administrators know! This post will be a little shorter as there aren't a lot of rules, and most of them focus on judging contests. That being said, I brought a special collaborator to help out and give an interview about how they judge their contests: @artgivesmelife! Thanks for helping out!
Let's get started shall we! (Please keep in mind that these are in my opinion!)
Do: Vary up your winners if you can!
Choosing winners is a way to highlight all of the talent of the members of your group, and if only one person wins multiple winning positions it seems a little biased. If it is a recurring thing, some people may be discouraged from participating and that's not fun. I try to vary up my winners from contest to contest to highlight and give everyone a chance but don't get me wrong, everyone who I pick as a winner I feel deserved the win! The exception to this rule is if you had an established number of winners but you didn't get enough submissions to have a variety of winners, in that case do what you gotta do
THE BIGGEST Don't: Pick yourself as a winner.
I CANNOT stress this enough. This is the biggest no-no as a group admin I can think of. When you are an administrator of a contest, you forfeit all of your sets from winning or being considered to preserved the integrity of the contest. Even if you truly believe that your set was better than all of the other submissions, DON'T pick yourself. It reads as completely biased and the contests are for your group members not you.Do: Mix up your theme!
To keep things interesting in a group and to encourage more people to join, it is always helpful to mix up your contest themes! The exception to this is if your group concept is only one specific theme or type of theme then by all means do you!Don't: Copy the same theme as another group (at least in the same timeframe if possible!)
There are obvious exceptions to this rule, including holidays and extremely general themes. Most of the time, contest themes between groups can be extremely similar but they always have something that is slightly different about them to encourage new creations! For example, if I see someone created a Puffer Jacket contest I am not going to turn around and create a Puffer Jacket contest while theirs is still running. If I wanted to take inspiration from their theme, I may host a Warm Coats contest, some other jacket contest, or wait until another week/month to host a puffer jacket contest.THE BIGGEST Do: Be Original!
This is basically a summary of all of the rules on this list: being original is the most important idea on URSTYLE! Everyone is unique and having more unique ideas and inspiration is what makes the platform better! In terms of groups, being original encourages more users and participation because people appreciate creativity so feel free to put your own spin on things!If any other group moderators have any other things to add to this list, feel free to comment them down below ~
Now as I mentioned earlier, I brought in another popular group administrator to give an interview about how she judges her contests: @artgivesmelife! She runs the extremely popular group Color Crush which has almost 900 members and an art group called Art of Expression. Here's what she has to say on how she judges her contests:"Hello everyone! I’m @artgivesmelife and below is a snippet into my mind when I judge a contest. I realize judging is most likely one of those subjective things, so I’m representing myself only.
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Overall Aesthetic
Look at the set as a whole. Is it eye-catching? Does it draw on your emotions? Did the set maker accomplish the contest task? Every set is an individual’s piece of art and should be treated accordingly. -
Level of Difficulty
What is the level of difficulty in the set? What is easy for some, might be harder for others, which is also taken into account. Did the set maker stretch their creativity? -
Share the Love
Spread the winnings around! Members should feel valued and appreciated. It’s ok to “share the love”! Everyone has different strengths to be highlighted. Additionally, this means not having the same person win multiple times or adding my OWN personal set(s) to the winners’ circle (sadly this has happened lol). -
Be Timely
It is common courtesy and shows interest to your members when you judge in a timely manner. -
Make a Big Deal Out of It
Create a forum post showing off the winners! This serves to keep everyone informed, make an easy record of the contest and current goings-on in the group, and honor members’ work.
That’s about it, as far as my process! Feel free to direct to me any questions or comments you might have."]
Thank you so much for that insight! If you want to join her groups I will put the links at the bottom of this post. I hope you guys enjoyed this post and be sure to look out for the next one coming most likely next weekend! The next post will be about tips on how to create your own group
Have a Great Sunday!
~ MaybloomsColor Crush! Group Link: https://urstyle.fashion/groups/color-crush
Art of Expression Group Link: https://urstyle.fashion/groups/art-of-expression
Comments (4) -
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@mayblooms @artgivesmelife Thanks so much ladies, for your wonderful explanation of "do's & don'ts" {in your humble opinions} of being a group admin! Certainly most of us really appreciate all your time & effort in this capacity!! And the URSTYLE admin most probably appreciates your explanations as well! :))
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@pwhiteaurora Thank you so much for your kind words! It was really fun to make this collaboration!
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@luckied99 Thanks