What do you expect of your moderators?

[manifan]

I think my moderators don't understand what they are supposed to be doing on the board. I've had real problems with them just taking off on "vacations" and leaving me with the bulk of board clean up and guest chats. They are always making excuses for not doing the work, saying they don't understand what I want them to do, even though my expectations -- which really aren't much -- are outlined in a sticky post on the mod board. I hesitate to "fire" them because they're really nice people. But they are not giving me much help with the work on my forum. And because it's a small group -- a little over 200 -- it's hard for me to find moderators. Any suggestions?

[Sling]

Jan 13, 2010 10:50:00 GMT -8 manifan said:

I think my moderators don't understand what they are supposed to be doing on the board. I've had real problems with them just taking off on "vacations" and leaving me with the bulk of board clean up and guest chats. They are always making excuses for not doing the work, saying they don't understand what I want them to do, even though my expectations -- which really aren't much -- are outlined in a sticky post on the mod board. I hesitate to "fire" them because they're really nice people. But they are not giving me much help with the work on my forum. And because it's a small group -- a little over 200 -- it's hard for me to find moderators. Any suggestions?

This might be of a little support -
I have 2 other admins on my board - and 1 moderator -
I realize that my board is a free board to all and all admins and mods are " volunteers " to ' help me " whenever they can -
I think of my board as a hobby - and I think most people think of their board as a hobby - it's not bringing in money right?
The admins and mod travel quite a bit - 1 admin travels on business about 50 times a year - and the other 1 is always traveling either to Fl. or to St. Martin - he travels quite a few times as well -
And we all work regular jobs as well - so it's tuff to find someone to just " be on the board moderating it " full time -
Just remember its a hobby and they're volunteers and they will help you out when they can
Heck - I had ONE mod that couldnt even work the mod buttons -
She even told me when i asked her to learn " I don't want to " LOL
Needless to say she's gone - but there was also different circumstances besides that 1.

Sometimes you're just better off modding the board yourself -
Remove the rules and let them come and go as they please so they don't feel pressured and leave -
Just my experience and opinion -


Good luck to you....

[Gia_Sesshoumaru]

I except my staff to do their jobs. I'm an understanding person, so as long as they keep in touch with me and let me know what's going on, I'm fine with it. If, however, they just keep leaving, or their problem is going to be semi-permanent and it look as if there's not going to be a let up and they might not be able to get their job done ever... Yes, I fully realize that it's a hobby. I mean, I work, go to school, run three sites, and a member of another with responsibilty. I understand. I have a responsiblity to make sure that my boards run smoothly, and I am sorry, but if they can't/do not want to do it, I have to find someone who can.

[victory1]

I just launched my board last week on the 8th. I have 45 members which I think is good for only 6 days since the board was opened. 3 of them are moderators and out of the 3, I have 2 hard workers. So far I'm fortunate but it will be a while before I can really answer your question in dept. Good luck!

[manifan]

Thanks for the responses.

Yes, I know it's a hobby, but it's a semi-news site and others come there to be entertained and read about what is happening. I just feel like the other mods take it too lightly. It's very important to me that I have people I can rely on and who will jump in and do what they see needs to be done. Is that unreasonable?

[Gia_Sesshoumaru]

No, that's not unreasonable at all. It's very unreasonable in fact. I've found that, while it can be difficult sometimes, that you need to try and seperate your personal feelings for these people from having to do what nees to be done. If you're going to be doing it all yourself, you might as well not have them. It looks bad on the site, as well, if the staff is not active. People pay attention to that. What you're asking is quite reasonable, trust me. I have experience in these matters.

[viruszero]

To remedy your situation...

If you've outlined your expectations for them and their roles in a sticky on the forum then I doubt they should have questions as to what you want them to do. Unless either:
1- they haven't read the expectations, and likely have no plans to either.
2- they're read it and found contradictions in it to what you've said there and in other places.
3- They're read it, but are apathetic and just don't want to do anything.


So then I guess you might want to have a talk with your mods again and see if they actually have read and understood it. See what they think of the expectations. Maybe lead off the conversation with something like: "I've been wondering what you guys thought of my expectations. Could you tell me?" This way it'll let you know if they haven't read them or if there are any issues with them you hadn't noticed before.

Then if you determine that they haven't read the expectations or if they have they aren't interested in fulfilling the expectations, I suggest that you unmod them and consider looking for new mods. (As they aren't interested in helping you and you're left to do all the clean up anyway, so they may as well just be regular members.)

---

As for my own expectations...

• I expect that co-staff will sign on once every week at least, any longer than that and they should let me and the other staff know they're going to be away. Though I know that sometimes real life situations mandates they can't be online for a while. But now if they haven't signed on in more than 3-4 months, I remove their staff powers.
  
  
• When they're on I expect them to uphold the Terms of Service for the forum host primarily, then the forum rules. If they see any ToS violations they are to handle them immediately by removing the offending material and banning the person who posted it.
  
  
• I also expect that staff follow the rules themselves. (If they don't follow the rules, they don't stay staff long.)
  

[cisleader]

To the thread starter: I've had the same issue. While my mods are some very good friends, they don't comprehend what a moderator does. What I expect out of my mods is that they keep the rules enforced, and help out when it's needed.

[Owlstar]

You could send each of your moderators a PM with a link to the thread of what you want, and explain each thing a little. You could tell them if they don't quit just randomly taking off and help you a little, then you'll get some new moderators (sorry if that sounded mean ). I think mods should be the ones that help enforce the rules, help out the admin with things they need, and just be a good person. *shrug*

[leif]

If your mods don't know what they're supposed to do then maybe they're not ready to have such a position.

I don't have any myself because the forum I'm at is new and doesn't necessarily need one. Once the board grows to the point of needing to take mod(s) on I'd expect them to be another set of eyes for me, knowing that I won't be able to make sure everything is running smoothly myself. i.e. Make sure people post in the proper areas, catch any rude behavior etc.

Also, If I'm not around, it wouldn't hurt if the mod could be a go-to person for the members in need of help. i.e. new members asking about avatars or what a signature is. etc.

That's a few things I'd expect of a mod.

Hope this helps.

[Lilyanatos]

This is just from an rpers point of veiw. I don't join a site if I don't see that the staff is active. I also get really annoyed when staff doesn't sign on and they carry the bulk of characters that members might be playing with.

I totally understand that real life calls to us all. But it really does make a difference in the rpers minds when staff doesn't appear online for days and doesn't leave a message in their own absence boards.

I would have to agree with the fact that you need to talk to them again and PM them explicitly what they are supposed to do. I have experience and if I'm a moderator I am constantly asking what i should do if there is nothing explicit in first place. Normally i get exactly what an Admin want's me to do and I follow that only asking if things are in limbo and i need clarification.

Hope that is maybe a little helpful.

[GRANGER DANGER]

See, I have two moderators on my site, and it goes pretty well.
Some of these hae been mentioned, but meh, i'll rementin them anyways. I expect:
1. My moderators to be on at least twice a week (but they come on like everyday!) and to be active in their posting not onlyon the parts where they're needed for accepting members, etc, but in roleplaying.

2. That they suggest things to make the site better, and help new members f i'm not around.

3. To be a positive role model and follow the rules so that the others know the way.

That's it. I'm not going to print out the thousands of rules for them to follow because that would b rude and selfish. I'd a) have nothing to do and b) would lose both of my wonderful moderators.
I think that as long as they're online and doing stuff for the site and with other membors (ie roleplaying, plotting new threads etc) then i'm happy with it.

[Sic In Principio]

On my now dead forum, I didn't have moderators. I had staff

To me the two are very different things. The term moderator to me sounds like a job where the person well...moderates the forum. He/she goes through their assigned duty positions (ie. board of responsibility) make sure that the posting rules are being followed, questions asked are being answered, and sitreps are being given to me.

I prefer using the term staff because, Staff is more, yeah, hes/shes on the management team, but I don't expect him/her to be only making sure rules are being followed. The staff members that I have are given roles: storyline maker, graphics designer, etc. This way, members see, that though they are staff, they are not there to tell them NOT to do this or NOT to do that.

I have NO problem "firing" my staff at any moment. The few "moderator" staff that I do have, if they do not perform their job the way I want them to, I'll simply inform them that they no longer are needed as staff.

Its hard to have moderators sometimes. Being main admin, its hard to run a forum exactly the way that you want it to be. Moderators have to interpret your rules, but what if their interpretation isn't exactly how you want it?

To have good moderators, they need to be long lasting members who know you from real life and know how you like things, or internet "friends" who have been with your community long enough to know the things that are expected of them.

[Luke]

I get moderators to help me with ideas and to get the forum running, if they're not helping then they're gone!

[Rick Ace]

Feb 20, 2010 0:28:23 GMT -8 Luke said:

I get moderators to help me with ideas and to get the forum running, if they're not helping then they're gone!

You don't show any mercy to your mods do you? That wouldn't sound good to anyone who is considering to be your mod Well, some people do take mods very non-personally. But really if you expect to run your forum long, having fun, you need friends as staff.