Forum Moderators Wanted

[Admin]

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Specially I’m looking for moderators who…

… have previous forum moderation experience,
… have been regular or semi-regular readers of this site for at least 90 days
… can be decisive, fair, consistent, and mature in moderating forum posts (aka Moderation for Smart People)
… expect to participate actively in the forums themselves, at least daily
… have a passion for personal growth
… are at least 18 years old
… have strong English skills (people from all countries are welcome)
The main reason I’m looking for people with previous moderation experience isn’t because forum moderation is technically difficult. It’s because moderation requires a certain degree of maturity and wisdom, and those qualities take experience to build. The moderator’s decisions, or lack thereof, can make or break a forum. So even if you lack specific forum moderation experience, feel free to apply if you think you have equivalent life experience appropriate to the task.


What does moderation involve?

Basically you check the forums at least once a day and use the built-in moderation functions to handle any problems that come up. You’ll automatically receive an email whenever a forum member reports a problem, so in many cases you’ll be alerted to problems before you even visit the site.

Your privileges will include the ability to delete, close/re-open, and move threads and posts. You’ll also be able to send private messages to members. The forums will require registration with an image-based verification process for all members, so you shouldn’t have to worry about automated spam attacks. Before the forums officially go live, I’ll personally work with the moderators to hammer out a list of forum etiquette rules, so basically your job will be to ensure that the community members follow those rules. Most of this will be pretty obvious — no spam, no sexual content, no harassing people, and so on. But written rules will ensure that all moderators are on the same page and the community has a fairly consistent moderation style throughout.

Depending on how many people apply to be moderators and how popular the forums become, we could have multiple moderators per forum or multiple forums per moderator. I’ll aim to maintain a good ratio that keeps the moderation duties fairly light. On most days moderators shouldn’t have any problems to address at all.

If you decide you no longer wish to moderate, you can quit at any time. I just ask that you give me reasonable notice (two weeks would be great) to find a suitable successor.

Why become a moderator?

Anyone who’s moderated a forum already knows how rewarding it can be. If your goal is to fill an ego-based need like status or popularity, you probably won’t make a good moderator. A good reason to become a moderator is that you love helping people and are looking for an outlet to contribute. Great moderators are active in their forums, and they love seeing their communities blossom. An active moderator has tremendous influence over the type of community that evolves. If there’s anything you’ll get out of being a moderator, it’s that you’ll build stronger communication and leadership skills.

How to apply

If you’re interested in becoming a moderator, just send me the following info:

some basic info about yourself (who you are, what you do, your main interests, your web site if you have one)

previous forum moderation experience you’ve had (or why you’d make a good moderator)

your city and country (ideally I’d like to build an internationally diverse group)
why you’d like to be a moderator

Feel free to ask me questions about forum moderation as well.

I’ve no idea how many people will apply, so I don’t know how selective I’ll have to be, but once all the moderators have been selected, I’ll train them as needed (it’s fairly straightforward and easy to learn). And whenever everyone is ready, we’ll open the gates and get this party started.

The only reason I’m being so anal about all this is that this site gets a significant amount of traffic already, so I think it’s wise to establish good moderation from the beginning.