What do you expect of your moderators?

[shistavanenjedi]

I was a moderator once on a forum and I basically quit it because no one, including the forum's owner was active. I had a lot of patience with these people and it had must have been going on for about 18 months. I was at uni at the time, so even I didn't have time to do everything but when you're the sole person going through new sign ups and having to delete 100s everyday because they are spam accounts, it gets old (and I'm sure that a few genuine new members where lost too in the spam).

As an admin, you expect moderators do be active and help out with things, and your moderators would expect their "colleagues" to do that as well, and not leave it to one person, admin or moderator.

Maybe it does help moderators knowing what they should be doing and you assign them things to do. When you want people to apply for staff, it might be a good idea to have a questionaire that they can fill in on the kind of things that they can and can't do. One issue I had with my moderator job was that the owner expected me to be able to do things I didn't know how to do (really technical things like knowing how to upload an actual forum to the server - it wasn't a proboards forum, it was a vbulletin one and that's one of the steps you have to go through.) It's not a problem you'll get with proboards but it's no good expecting a moderator to be able to create layouts when they don't have a clue about coding, for instance.

Lastly and I think most important is to ask the question of what members expect from moderators and admins when they join a forum, as that is just as important (if not more) as what the admin expects from their staff.

[Liviti]

As an administrator, I try not to shovel too much of the work onto my mods. When I'm available, I just expect them to break up any disputes or help members out. But my forums typically need constant updating for small things here or there, and sometimes I'm not available to do it. I have pages set up to explain things to my mods so they can take care of these things, covering topics that range from special contests to how to set up a new group's page or even updating the male-to-female ratios. I also have <!--these tags--> throughout my coding explaining what to do for certain sections. That way, I know I can expect my mods to do everything that needs to be done without any problems about not knowing what to do.

As for hiring...I try to keep my staff team fairly small, with a ratio of about one staff member to every ten members or so, depending on the current maintenance level of the forum. I put out a wanted notice when we need new staff, and I tell them like it is: if they can't perform the jobs that they're assigned, then they can't be staff. I need them to be able to take over if I'm not there, and they need to know that. I include all of their jobs, letting them know beforehand what needs to be done. This way, potential mods can see what's expected.

[rosewee]

What I expect from my moderator? I'll be fine when the moderator see themselves as police when enforcing on the rules. I'll fire moderator if a member make a report to me about moderator abuse and discussing when it happen and when moderator ignoring third warnings if they had break rules!

[Foxstep]

When I made my site, I figured that I would need some help, so I posted here to get a few members to help with coding and just generally setting up the board. After seeing how everyone worked, who was dedicated, and who was good with what, it feel naturally to direct one person as co-admin, one person as graphics and design, and one person who basically dealt with the members.

As the admin, I try to do all of the main responsibilities. I accept characters, change our numbers, update directories, and fix all of the small things that go into everyday maintenance. However, I expect my co-admin to be able to do the same things in my absence, and all of the other staff know how to do this to in the event that both of us are missing. Our graphics person makes the graphics for new ads, our OTMs, and helps with the coding when we have to change things. Our third moderator is our welcoming committee, the person who directs members and answers questions.

Really, all three could take my place because they know how things run, but we all expect each other to be active and do what we're "specialized" in. I expect them to be active and do what they're supposed to do, just as they expect me to do what I'm supposed to do. We had other staff who weren't active and didn't help, so they either lost the position or were deleted from the site because they didn't want the responsibility.

All in all, moderators need to be active and be leaders among the site, not only doing their jobs as staff, but being good members.

[LLlover]

In my book moderators are more there to keep things going. They should follow the rules, of course, and they should help out with ideas regarding plots. Those are just things that I would expect out of any staff member. Generally speaking I see moderators as staff members that are to help the admins. I see them as people that should be doing the skins and layout of the site or even have too many permissions, that stuff should be for the admins. At the very most I would put moderators in charge of adding, edit, and update boards if I had to. Mainly I see moderators being the ones that check and moderate threads, posts, and on a role playing board help decide if a member's application should be accepted.

[jimmy01]

Admin, G/moderators and moderators in my opinion should read every post on your forum to make sure that the forums rules are being ad-heard too.

Also your Mods should on your forum should be told that if they have any of there Friends on the forum that they make it clear that they can not have a rule for one and another rule for others.

The bigger the membership the more staff you need.

[Kahara]

I've worked with a large variation of different staff members before, and I've often encountered this problem: they don't do much unless I tell them to. When I hire someone, I expect them to be able to go off and moderator without constant mothering/watchfulness. If they make a mistake, I can correct it. I don't yell either, if they do something extremely wrong -- such as breaking TOS or rules, then I would be inclined to fire them and depending on the severity of the issue I may even ban them.

I've never had issues with inactive staff as long as they give me reason or as long as the forum itself is in a slow period of time where not many are posting. However I expect them to usually try and get some activity flowing in the veins of the dying members. If all they do is sit and talk about what to do instead of taking action, I'll issue a warning (usually) and ask them to do something about it. If they still do nothing, I fire those who aren't doing their jobs and offer staff applications up to see if there's anyone more lively and willing to take the place.

(I see administrators as moderators as well, in a sense. Although not as strongly. If a co-admin or administrators go inactive, I usually mind it a lot less seeing as how administrators really aren't there to reinforce the rules quite as heavily. They just maintain the forum peace and make sure it's working well as far as I'm concerned).

Am I too strict on my staff or on other staff and how I judge them? Most likely, but after a good three, maybe even four, years working with proboards and dealing with a lot of different moderation and staff teams, I've come to realize I get fed up easily with people who are lazy or don't give enough effort into something as important as being a moderator.

As for suggestions on these sort of things -- either hire older, mature staff who seem to have a better grip on these sort of situations. Be more understanding toward those with jobs or kids. Or make a set list of rules/expectations you have of your staff and have them read and understand it BEFORE they take on the spot. c:

Hope I made sense haha. x3

[Streamstrider]

I try to let all of my staff members know what I expect of them. I even create a list of duties they're expected to perform (or help with) in the staff board, which remains there for their reference. (Of course, they're told about these expectations before becoming staff.) Because I have given this notification, I feel less afraid of removing them from staff. I have certain expectations, and if they're not doing what they're supposed to do, I let them know that they need to start picking up their work. Otherwise, I'll have to remove them as a staff member. (I also ask if they would like to step down if they're just too busy at the moment, and to PM me once they think they would like to try again.) I usually give staffers two chances, unless, obviously, they were de-modded for a major, destructive reason. I've actually de-modded multiple people. Some have come back to work harder now that they are taking more notice of those expectations, finding out that I'm actually serious about it. However, the biggest thing is that you have to be patient, polite, and kind. If they react very negatively toward a simply reminder, especially if they disrespect you, then you probably have your answer as to whether they should be a mod in the first place.

[kpatch]

Hoping this is on-topic. I'm looking for some advice.

I am the only admin on my site right now. There used to be two of us, now it’s just me.

What is the benefit of having moderators, and what kinds of rights and responsibilities do you usually assign?

When we first opened in Feb 2011, I gave 5 or 6 known members/friends some unofficial roles and responsibilities. At that time, I wasn’t really aware of the ability to provide moderator status to anyone. One by one, each of those people left the site, probably within 6 months. I’m starting to get a complex.

The last thing I want to do is burden anyone or cause those members to run for the hills.

I’d appreciate everyone’s thoughts/opinions/advice.

Thank you!

[inthewash]

I expect my moderators to be fair and a little thick skinned, but not a push over either. I've been lucky that most of my members know each other from other sites so there have been no disputes at all. Although I know that won't last because some of my members have had little "riffs" in the past. I expect my moderators to not take any sides and if it is something between two members that the mod may be friends with to step aside and let me or another mod handle the situation. Which is what I would expect of myself. No more no less.

[ron2]

I'm a forum admin and a moderator. Yeas this is very difficult but i wouldn't give access to the forum for foreign man.

When i was a forum moderator on the my last forum i give ban to the trolls and spammers.

What important in the moderator job: this is what can edit posts,user avatars and delete messages with spam,trolling and uncensored photos and video.

To the sadly my first forum in the 2007 year was delete because on the my forum was 10.000 trolls and spammers.

In the next time i was make privacy settings for that guests can't create messages in the my forum.

[Celeste]

Oct 31, 2012 9:25:32 GMT -8 @ron2 said:

I'm a forum admin and a moderator. Yeas this is very difficult but i wouldn't give access to the forum for foreign man.

Being "foreign" doesn't automatically mean someone is either trustworthy or untrustworthy. I prefer to see how someone reacts in their day-to-day posts on my board before promoting them to moderator. I want to know how they handle themselves and others. I want to know if they are good at keeping the forum civil and active. Apart from diplomacy and interest in the site, I've looked for someone who can be online when I am not to handle emergencies. That tends to be someone in an opposite timezone and sometimes "foreign". It has worked nicely. They've caught spammers while online in the dead of night (well, my night, anyway!) before the spammer had a chance to post much.

I want moderators to moderate disputes impartially, in line with ProBoards' TOS and our community guidelines. I want someone with similar ethics to mine. They must to be able to act without prodding. So far I've been very happy with it.

[joellesontrigo]

It's best to limit the powers of your Moderators to that of your Administrators. Those who know what to do who are currently Moderators should be ranked up to Administrators--if they're looking forward to the task of moving forums or deleting unwanted members. I'd think limiting the powers of Moderators would be best because some members who are Moderators might abuse their power as part of the staff and think they're superior than everyone else--therefore deleting a forum post board because they thought it should have been deleted. What'll make things even better is to make a rule that states part of the staff are not to abuse their power.

[wildmaven]

Feb 13, 2013 9:40:34 GMT -8 joellesontrigo said:

It's best to limit the powers of your Moderators to that of your Administrators. Those who know what to do who are currently Moderators should be ranked up to Administrators--if they're looking forward to the task of moving forums or deleting unwanted members. I'd think limiting the powers of Moderators would be best because some members who are Moderators might abuse their power as part of the staff and think they're superior than everyone else--therefore deleting a forum post board because they thought it should have been deleted. What'll make things even better is to make a rule that states part of the staff are not to abuse their power.

Very good point. I've run my board for years with just one or two others helping me and they are people I've known for many years, members of the board whom I have grown to trust after seeing how they deal with the other members, but if I were to give powers to someone I didn't know as well as them, I would only initially give them the power to move "bad" posts to a holding area (where I would look at them before deciding what to do with them).

What do I expect of my moderators? I expect them to be fair to the members, to handle disputes behind the scenes instead of publicly, to ask for help when they are stressed so that there are no regrettable PMs to members, and to earn the respect of the membership, not demand it. 

[Hacksaw Hugglemonster]

Several things:
- Trust
Trust is the main thing I look for in a staff member. I expect for them to have my back when I can not get on or when I'm offline, they behave their best and do their best. If I can't trust someone, I won't make them staff no matter how many of the other qualities they have.
- Activity
Activity's a huge part in it. A staff member shouldn't be in the 20s of the top posters of the board, especially if your board only has 6 staff or less on it. Activity also sets the tone for the rest of the forum members. I'm the main admin and that mainly goes for me, but it goes for the others too. If I am online but post 5 a day, which is very rare for myself, then the others won't feel the urge or need to post, and because the type of forum I run, it'd die. But I realize if I am online and interacting with people posting well into the double digits, others respond and post. It is like being a team captain. You have to perform well to enhance the performance of your other teammates. Also I've ran into when a staff member isn't as active as a member, the members will come out and question their spot on staff. Yet, the #1 probably answers that regular member, activity is still a need for a staff member.
- Advertising
I have brought a large amount of the members to my forum, over 150 of them in 16 months. Advertising is huge of being a staff member and I expect them to capitalize on the opportunity when they see it. I want them to look for the opportunities to bring a new member in. If they are staff, why wouldn't they want to get more of the right members to help the forum succeed?
- Enforcing Rules
Though this is the longest forum I've ran, yet this may be the forum I have had the least drama on overall. There isn't drama much, we see a glimpse of it, we stop it. Either that's forum banning or a nice friendly warning PM or a warning level or a chat ban, we stop it. The previous versions of the forum chain has seen drama in the past and it killed the past ones, so we know that if we stay away from drama, it'll be the best for the site. So it is important that staff will help keep members within the rules, by any means necessary.
- One Page
Now this will go with everything I've mentioned. The entire staff must be on the same page! I know this is widely crucial in succeeding as a staff group. I often personally message regular members on how they feel about the forum's direction, will even put a survey up every now in then. But I will do the same with staff, but also got a staff area. I often ask if they have any new ideas to help the forum, or how they feel of how the site's doing. Am I overstepping my bounds, or any other staff member? Is there a certain member dragging us down? If there is different agendas for the site by staff members, we need to know them and help achieve the forum's highest potential, which is what staff must do. Also this goes with the thing above. Unless there is immediate action necessary, we will sometimes discuss what we need to do to a member who misbehaves. As a matter of fact, yesterday we just put together a system of what we'd do if a certain rule was broken. So we'd try to keep on the same page with a lot.
- Availability
Are you busy with school? A job? Life? Another site? I look for this because I do not want a staff member, as secondly mentioned, inactive. If a person is really active in the summer and I know they got school coming up in the fall, I'd keep my eye on them for a potential staff member but would wait until how they adjust in the fall and if the activity is still there of a staff member.
- Special Quality
Do you got a special quality? For my board, we do a lot of stuff there. E-Feds, Wrestling/Sports/OT Bookers, wrestling talk, sports talk, blogs, art, etc. So I ask myself what can this person bring to my forum that nobody else, or hardly anyone else, can? Do you got any ideas you'd run on the forum to get more activity?


Now I know I probably missed something in this list, but these are the main things I look for in a possible staff member.