Leadership Development
The best forum I've ever been on put a lot of effort into pulling leaders from the newb ranks, giving them a basic title and a dab of responsibility and then put some effort into shaping them into being a forum leader of some sort.
This would require an overall shift in the forum's focus which allows learning to happen randomly and without much direct involvement from forum staff, whose primary role seems to be establishing order on the forum and adjudicating shitlist threads. This forum has unrealized potential in, as at least one other member observed, education.
Also, providing some financial incentive for forum staff, and it doesn't have to be much. A little something is better than a lot of nothing, and even if the something is only symbolic, that's important to some people. It also gives non-staff members something to think about when they contemplating their future at BHW. Allowing people to daydream of the day when they might be a moderator would go a long way toward tempering some of the interpersonal situations. At some point, the stick becomes useless; you have to have a carrot of some sort. And also, given the "rogue" nature of blackhatters, threatening punishment for crossing the line only encourages some people to edge closer to that line, for no other reason than to try to identify exactly where that is. (Which, I have learned, is impossible, as it is constantly moving.)
Some people have to know that. Give them something else to think about instead. It will take some pressure off of forum staff and allow them to focus on other, more positive endeavors.
My favorite forum has Moderators that primarily focus on the technical aspects of the forum's purpose, and the "discipline" is really secondary. On this forum, it might look like having one Admin and 3 Moderators helping people in the "Blackhat SEO" section, while another team is primarily responsible for Affiliate Marketing. I don't see too many staff helping to answer noob questions, or directing them to use the search feature, or showing them how, or explaining to them why they should do this. (Which is REALLY important. Most people are not capable of just figuring it out. They need to be told why. Multiple times, in fact.) My guess for why this situation is like this is because forum staff have enough to do just keeping the discipline and interpersonal conflicts regulated, etc.. and also because they are unpaid.
Scale? Triple the size of the staff, and then see if each of them can be simultaneously mentoring 3 different "general members" for the purpose of possibly converting them into entry-level staff within (say) 4 weeks. Sending members friendly PM's quoting specific forum rules (with links) would also establish a more friendly and supportive tone.
