Finding Moderators - What's Your Opinion

[snakeair]

I wrote about this on my blog and thought i'd ask this on this forum to get other admin's or moderators to post there

As you know, all forums do need moderators to keep the forum running good since the admin or admin's can not be online 24 hours a day 7 days a week moderating the forum. Although, Cricket seems to be online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and could be a robot.

So moderators come into play to keep the forum in good shape and to also encourage members to join in on the current discussion's along with other stuff.

How do you pick your forum moderators?

Do you create threads on other forums asking for volunteers? Why would you do this? I'm against making strangers a moderator.

Do you promote from within? <-- what i recommend

(Backup your replies because new forum admin's need to know about this topic)

Please feel free to post your thoughts on picking your forum moderators on your forum. My advice is not to go searching for a few moderators if you have a new forum with a few hundred posts. As the forum grows, add new moderators when it is needed. You don't want like 8 moderators on your forum with 100 members in which 50 are somewhat active.

[robjones]

How do you pick your forum moderators?

Do you create threads on other forums asking for volunteers? Why would you do this? I'm against making strangers a moderator.

Do you promote from within? <-- what i recommend

(Backup your replies because new forum admin's need to know about this topic)

I told Cricket throwing darts at a membership roll was a stupid idea [and not just because the list was on her screen.]

[Jim Gillum]

Personally...I go the one of the clubs.....
Normally very late at night......
Anyone still able to sit upright....is eliminated....(taken off the list...not the other eliminated)......

If they can read words longer on one syllable.....maybe...
Then I try to show them how to turn on a computer.....

[webcosmo]

good doesnt come free, does it?

[robjones]

Originally Posted by webcosmo

good doesnt come free, does it?

The moderators here are all volunteers. You can draw your own conclusion whether that does or doesn't support your thesis.

[Jim Gillum]

Feeling good about helping people and maybe helping to keep a great forum great...
Is quite enough pay....

[simplyamazing12]

Well for forums, the purpose of a moderator is to keep things intact so you will need someone reliable. A reliable moderator is one who is online a lot and interacts so look into a person who is enthusiastic about posting. There is no point in taking on a moderator who is never on to do anything.

[webcosmo]

Originally Posted by robjones

The moderators here are all volunteers. You can draw your own conclusion whether that does or doesn't support your thesis.

i thought you guys are all partners.

if thats the case I would envy v7n! i am trying to find a good mod for a while now. i find it extremely difficult. but I guess that would depend on lot of things.

[robjones]

They were thinking of making us all co-owners and strongly considering making me Chairman of the Board of Escalate Media... then my alarm went off and it was time to make coffee.

[snakeair]

Originally Posted by webcosmo

i thought you guys are all partners.

if thats the case I would envy v7n! i am trying to find a good mod for a while now. i find it extremely difficult. but I guess that would depend on lot of things.

You got to remember that everyone wants to be a moderator on a popular forum so they will make up things like past moderating experience, familair with forum software as in moderator panel...etc

You have to get passed the B.S. when looking at members to promote to a moderator roll. Google there username and website URL's to see if you can find there other accounts on other forum's. See how they respond to threads on those other forum's. You want to be sure you pick someone who is able to communicate on the forum, not be afraid to put there foot down in a thread...etc

One thing is for certain, check the potential moderators IP address to see if they have multiple accounts on the forum. That's something that you need to pay attention to. Don't want any puppet shows going on or a moderator sharing there account with the staff at the online company they work for.

We've been trying to get rid of Rob Jones for years but he still a super moderator on here.

[Jim Gillum]

In would like to moderate the......beer...to be sure it is cold enough....)))

[MrSS]

I read your blog post about that, I learned so much. I become a moderator not because the admin appointed me, I undergo Moderator Training.
I will share to you the criteria that forum used to pick a moderator by answering the questions on the 1st post of this topic:

How do you pick your forum moderators?
On that forum, they are picking forum moderators when the moderator trainee passed the moderator training. To be a moderator trainee, the applicant must meet the minimum criteria, such as registration date, number of reputation points, good gasp of rules and forum awareness. Also the applicant must answer some probing questions, such as usual login time, frequent visited sections, place / location where the applicant used to be when logging-in and internet connection used.

Do you create threads on other forums asking for volunteers? Why would you do this?
Yes, there's an announcement saying that forum is looking for forum moderators.
It's like hearing from other members they are volunteering and have time to spare moderating, rather than being appointed and not prepare for it.

Do you promote from within?
When I become one, I didn't see any thread / post on headquarters about recommendation.

[traxport121]

The best way of finding moderators are from within the forum. The users with best qualities of leadership, who are unbiased in judgements, who take care about other users, who are helpful, must be considered for moderatorship.

[Anton Zaleski]

I've got a friend who worked as moderator for some 5 years or so. He said it was his dedication to the forum that kept him in, so the best way to find a moderator - to check most active and adequate forum posters. (If you don't have even one - then your' forum's doesn't really need moderation, for it's definitely not good itself)

[Dreamrage]

I was made a mod on a forum because I was sending PM's to the admin about people breaking forum policy. But that was because I somehow couldn't report posts. Its a great community though, so it makes me happy to be part of their team.

On my main forum, we advertise for mods, but admin gets the final say. Sometimes he approaches us about members that might be great as forum mods, sometimes its sprung on us. I was offered my mod position that way, and when I was promoted to supermod, I was surprised again, so there's no real system. We do promote from within though. Its better to have a mod that already has a feel for the forum, and knows what is acceptable or not.

Mods generally are set up for 3 months or so to see how they would adjust to being in control of a section, and are then helped by senior mods and admin when they need help.

When we look for mods, we look for someone that's level headed and won't go dictator on he threads, someone that will help where help is needed, and is always approachable. They need to have the time to set aside to mod on the forum, and only members that have a really solid post count and are online daily are considered. They also need to care about the forum they are on, and in some way the members. We have a forum of about 20 000 odd registrations, and about 1000 online during the day on good days. So for that we have an admin, a supermod and a mod. Seems to work well for now.

The only downside is that when a mod is relieved of duty, the members are told that they are no longer mods, and why. (lol can kinda work as an incentive as well.)