being a mod

moon

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    Have you ever moderated a forum or Discord server or other online community? What did you like and dislike about that "job"?

    If you haven't, would you ever want to? You only get paid in cat pics, you know.
     
    I've never moderated on any website before. Wouldn't mind starting somewhere one day, especially if it means adding more cat pics to my collection.
     
    I've been staff in a fair few places - mostly smaller forums, although I've moderated a couple of larger ones too. In those places where I have been staff, I've enjoyed being able to more easily get ideas I've had for site events etc. off the ground...fundamentally there isn't much difference between being a staff member and just a regular member, but I've found that being staff in places DOES make it easier to get people to participate in things, since it's "official" or whatever. Also, little pride creeping in, but...well, on the roleplaying forums I was a mod on, being recognised for my writing ability that way was nice.

    I guess the things I disliked were due mostly to my own temperament. I always worried that I was a dead weight and that I wasn't doing enough on the forum, that other members of staff hated me, and because even when I'm part of a group I'm an outsider - I don't really talk to people, and I'm not really approachable either I guess, so I'm just kinda left alone to run my own section, completely isolated from everyone else. So I did a lot of worrying. Feeling like I'm being held accountable for things I am doing voluntarily because I enjoy them has never been a nice feeling for me, because I immediately stop having fun and start worrying about whether I'm doing it "right" or not, and of course, I am always doing things wrong.

    So yeah. Being a mod is always nice, but finding out that I may not have the right state of mind - and trying to force myself into what I believe it may be, even though logically I know that's ridiculous - to be a mod is not.
     
    I am a mod in a couple of my gaming Discord Servers. I absolutely love it. But I also work in HR, so people relations is sort of my career anyhow. There are times where it can be challenging, but I think I personally enjoy just being there for people and looking after my crew <3

    P.S. I have 2 kitties to add to the collection of cat pics, so bring it on!
     
    i've been a mod in a bunch of smaller communities. a lot of them actually. interesting times, they were. they were alright. had my ups and downs is all i'll say. currently a mod in two large communities, this one included.

    what i like about being a mod is that i have more of a "voice" so to speak in how that section is "run". i suppose the more appropriate term is freedom and autonomy, as i can have the mindspace to dedicate to fun posting events and things of that nature. y'know, little things here and there that people may find fun and all. otherwise not too different from being a regular user at all, especially since i'm doing the exact same thing i would be if i was a regular user which basically amounts of posting a lot and thinking of interesting threads to make, haha. that probably sounds boring but i joined this community nearly 15 years ago to talk about pokemon, and it's something i still feel passionate about to this day which is why it's something i'm fine with doing. i think the biggest difference imo between being a mod and a member is directly having a voice in how the community itself is supposed to be run. i mean like forum management and things like that.

    im going to be straight up about what i dislike: it's the politics. staff politics are ass in every sense of the word, and it's just so incredibly tiring and boring to deal with. people thinking that their voluntary staff position pays them a thousand bucks an hour and that gives a right to think they're "better" than everyone else. i suppose that has more to do with the actual staffing structure of a particular forum itself rather than modding in particular, but it's definitely one of the downsides as i got to see "behind the scenes" in some forums.

    as it relates to modding in though, the only thing i can come up with is that it's a huge bummer and it's demotivating seeing an idea you worked hard on not do well, and being put in a position of "how can i constantly improve my forum's activity?" i think this in particular is pretty important because i think a lot of people lose focus on what made posting in their favourite sections so much fun in the first place and just focus on activity, activity, activity and it ends up in extreme burnout. @__@; definitely happened to me several times.

    i also currently mod one largeish discord community. it's chill. very different than forum modding for sure, although whether or not that's because of the management, the fact that live chat modding is just that different from forum modding or a combination of both, idk. i like it, though.
     
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    Yeah, I've been staff on a couple forums before. None of them lasted too long, sadly. They were just really tiny forums that died not too long after being made. That was nearly a decade ago I was a mod anywhere, though LOL. I think I was a mod on one of Alex's (user Alexander Nicholi here) forums for a time, also, and Gunner's for a bit, as well?

    I don't think being a moderator is all that bad, but it definitely takes time and dedication. :x
     
    I've been a mod here for like... half of my time being a member on the forum now and I'm technically a mod on a Discord server I own but a lot of that is dealt with by underlings other mods I brought on. Honestly I love it. It puts you in a better position to make changes and be a part of the development of the community, helping provide the best experiences for the userbase so they can enjoy it as much as I do. Sounds cheesy in writing, but that's just how it is. It's given me a chance to talk to some people I probably wouldn't have otherwise too.

    If there's any downside, it's the rare occasions that disagreements lead to staff drama. We're all human, so it happens, but when you get a bunch of people who are passionate about something on opposing sides of an argument that shit can get heated at times. I'm very stubborn and bullish and I tend to pretty adamantly stick to my guns, but boy ave I felt like an asshole afterwards at times.
     
    I have moderated a surprising number of communities (including for a short time this one, not this section though). I ran a guild in WoW for about a year and a half, I've run a moderately populated and successful semi-private IRC channel for over ten years (we have our own Discord server as well), I ran a semi-successful game server for about a year, and I've been in a few other staff or volunteer positions besides those.

    For content moderation positions, it's nice when you're able to get everyone to chill out and just discuss whatever it is people came to discuss. For other things like running a guild or game server, it's nice to be able to have a space where people aren't at each others throats and the people in charge aren't power tripping. It can sometimes be hard to find places where people just hang out and have fun and it always feels nice to be able to build something like that yourself. It can be a lot of work though and people tend to be demanding about getting things taken care of (e.g. server updates).
     
    A couple of times I was an admin, though the communities were a lot more smaller then this one. Those sites are no longer around which is a bit sad.

    The thing with being an administrator was that it wasn't an easy position like most people would imagine. Or at least the ones that I was on. You would work closely with not only other staff members and owner, but also with the members of the site to keep a consistent stride forward on productivity, morale and interest in the fundamentals. Those three were the more keen pillars that we had focused on to have a successful site. Everyone had to work together to ensure that everything stayed in the balance .It is voluntary, and it isn't something that you can simply put into a resume... Well actually some of the skills you learn from it you could be super technical and include it. This is something that you would dedicate your time, passion and attention to in order to be successful, along with learning how to listen, confront, promote and encourage. What I personally liked about it was it had really taught me some very useful skills that made some of my business management courses even easier to understand. Especially on how to interact and deal with people that had a range of emotions, maturity and perspectives. With what it had taught me, plus schooling it really helped me pave the way for a management position at my previous job, and its helping me towards one with the company that I am working with right now.

    Being a member of staff is the equivalent of being a fire fighter, events promoter, psychiatrist, business manager, HR and a mom. Though it isn't something for everyone, it is something that people will find more rewarding then stressful.
     
    Never have been modded. It was always something I was fascinated with when I was young on the internet.

    Then I got older and any desire with it faded.
     
    Ya its a lot of work and people generally hate you
     
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