The idea hadn’t really occurred to me before, as I didn’t think there were enough people interested to justify opening one, but I was absolutely wrong, and now the forums are a hub for fans really interested in discussing news, updates and other random things.

However, I have now run into a problem. Back when the forums started 2 years ago, we had two excellent members of the site who really worked hard to contribute. They were made staff moderators about 8-12 months in and were a huge asset to the community. However, in the past 6-8 months or so, mainly due to their real lives and what I am starting to think is lessening interest in said ‘niche subject’, they have rarely participated in discussions and login maybe twice a month to add the odd post.

The forum members know we rarely promote people – perhaps this is something we should consider rethinking – and now I am seriously considering promoting some of the members who have been consistently dedicated in the past year, but am torn as to what to do with these two older ‘staff moderator’ members.

I would be grateful for any suggestions on how to handle this situation, as on the one hand I think it would be best to leave them as is, but on the other hand, I do feel it would be best to ‘retire’ them gracefully to some role of ‘elder’ but without causing any bad feelings.

Thanks in advance!