Prospective employment as Forum Admin - some ques's

[need-advice]

Hi all,

I have a couple of questions for anyone who may be professionally running a message board:


1. Would you recommend proposing a salaried position, or providing your services on a contractual basis?

2. What would the appropriate salary (or range)/contractual fee(s) be to propose to your prospective employer?



I have actually been providing this "service" to a surgeon for a few months. He pioneered a cutting edge procedure that I was fortunate enough to have. Prior to my procedure I could find no one online who had it done. I posted in various medical information boards, and the interest was significant enough that I needed a central location to keep track of my conversations. I am offering/currently providing him an established and growing potential patient base. An up and running forum on a registered and hosted site, with existing 24/7 technical support.

The board has morphed into a quite nice support forum for current patients, an excellent informational base for potential patients, and has led to quite a number of new surgeries for the doctor. As membership grows, it is definitely more time consuming in terms of moderation, participation and interaction with the surgeon and staff. It is also of a growing benefit to his practice and new procedure.

A few months ago I suggested that the surgeon officially link to the forum from his website, in patient literature, emails, etc. I presented a proposal to the him listing my services. The only thing lacking were the financial and employment terms.

I have been a salaried employee as a programmer in the past, have had (and still have one) my own small business(es).


It is a bit of a unique situation I guess, but then again his procedure is unique as well.

In researching ad nauseum and not finding much as far as similar "job descriptions", my gut feeling is to ask for lower to mid end of what web master positions would.

For convenience, security, etc., I am leaning toward a salaried employee. But am by no means firm on that. I also never considered running a message board professionally and am uncertain of salary/fees/etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!