Suggestion: Moderator applications

[Pendraflare]

So, if i'm not mistaken i've heard that the forum chooses moderators based on members who show activity and helpfulness in certain forums. But what I think would be a different approach would be moderator applications. I don't just mean offering, I mean that one would have to apply for a specific forum, possibly explain past moderator experience they've had on previous forums (if any at all), and talk about why they think they would be a helpful asset to that forum.

Now, i'm not suggesting these always be open for every forum, but i'm mostly looking at the ones that only have s-mods as fill-ins while no mod is present for that forum (like D&D, and Gens III and V). Granted, the latter two might not be in much of a need of mod assistance since they're older generations that aren't paid as much attention to as the newest one (although with the release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire about to unveil, there has been some activity in the Gen III forum). But i'm sure that the mods and admins would still want to check said user's activity to see if they're sufficient enough for the position they go for. It would raise answers and give suitable candidates. That and it may shut up those that ask to be a mod.

I'm sure there are things about this that may view it to not be a very good idea, that i'm probably not on top of, but what's your take on this? Discuss.

 

[£]

With the amount of butthurt and hype involved in moderating this particular Pokémon forum, god help everybody if applications become a thing here.

I can't imagine it going down well.

If you can come up with a way that would genuinely reduce hype/butthurt levels I would repay you with my support amongst other things if you're so inclined.

 

[Tsutarja]

As much of a good idea this could be, I would hate to shun you down and say that this probably is never going to happen at PC. It would be a pain for the h-staff in dealing with the pool of applicants if this ever was a thing. Besides, the h-staff would have more important things to focus on in the community as well other than looking through a pool of applications for people that may be under-qualified for all we know. I don't speak on behalf of the h-staff, but I thought I could get my thoughts out there.

Also, if you see a section assigned with a super moderator as the mod, but not an actual mod, that could just mean that there hasn't been anyone that's been noticeable by the h-staff to look over the section; I think it's actually quite good to see that in force because if a user were to have a question, they would know who to actually contact in the section with their questions.

 

[Abnegation]

If it was hard to find people who were interested in being a Moderator, then perhaps that would be a good idea. However there's been less than few instances where staff have asked someone to be a Moderator and they've said "no." So on that basis, I think it would create more disappointment than actually be helpful.

 

[Hikamaru]

Tsutarja/Zach's pretty much covered everything I was going to say.

As cool as it'd be, it's not really going to cut it at a community like ours since we tend to focus on recruiting staff members who know how to do the job. When it comes to the mod recruitment process, the higher staff tend to look for quality as well as one's activity, and the recent implementation of a smod being assigned as a section mod is due to no current candidate but in the future there may eventually be someone who catches their eye and it eventually gets handed over to the new mod. The smod is just there as a fill-in for someone to direct questions toward until someone new is recognized for the position.

And sometimes a section can wait an extremely long time before a new mod gets appointed, because I remember that when Alinthea became a smod in 2012 and left the Video Games section modless for a bit over a year, and eventually Dragon took over and the section's activity improved a lot. Culture & Media had a similar issue after Mr Cat Dog also returned to the smod position that same year, the section got left modless for 7 months until Antemortem was eventually brought in. Even Computers & Technology went for a good number of months modless until Tsutarja got appointed in August 2013.

On the state of the currently modless forums, Discussions & Debates has been without a new mod since May (its last official mod went inactive and got dropped from the position) while 3rd/5th Gen have now been modless for around 3-4 months. It could take an extremely long time before we see new mods there at this rate, so I would imagine if it took a whole year to find a new face, like the example with Video Games above.

Also, some sections need a new mod appointed quickly if the last one leaves the spot behind (I think The Welcome Lounge is one of those sections iirc and maybe some very active boards like General Chat or some Pokemon boards) while others can go for a long time without a mod, and that depends on if someone has or hasn't been recognized yet to take on the spot.

And Luck Hax also has a point that if an application process were done, you're not always guaranteed for the spot. I know how cool being a mod would be like, but I'd rather just wait for the recognition than asking for it.

 

[Hikamaru]

I really want to mention this in specific. It might be all fun and games being a moderator, however, it's actually quite a responsibility to have. You're the one that has to deal with members that misbehave, you are the quality control check, you're the one that has to answer the questions, you're the one that is on cleaning duty in your section, you're the one to ensure everyone follows the rules properly, and that's all on top of regular posting. For people to just sign up willy-nilly is a really bad idea, because staff have to know that you're up to the challenge, and not just in it for the glory and perks.

I can see where you're going, but I've had experience before on "dead" forums (mainly ones that were set up by former PC regular Alex) so I know what a responsibility and challenge handling such a spot can be. It's all because I watch and learn, and that's what I see with how the processes are handled, they look for quality where the members in question show dedication and have good awareness of the forum, such as the rules.

I know from first-hand experience this kind of stuff, because I've seen a lot of drama unfold when people that aren't completely qualified get staff positions. The way PC is right now works the best, and personally, I wouldn't change it. They know the right people to pick, when they need them, where they need them, and they know exactly the people that they do need.

This is true. I'm happy with how the system is handled at present, because as we know quality is always better than quantity. The team are carefully chosen, and that's how the majority of the active members know the staff members are doing a good job.

 

[Indigo]

Although I desperately want to become a Moderator on PC I like the system the way it currently is. For starters, The current system is much more rewarding. Being chosen for mod means that out of plenty of people to choose from, you were noticed and selected due to your helpfulness. Also Hikamaru makes an excellent point, "quality is always better than quantity"

 

[Nihilego]

If we had a huge number of people to consider for each mod position then mod applications'd make sense to help decide between them since sifting through them ourselves'd be such a nightmarish task. But usually that's not the case; when we consider someone for mods in a section we usually only look at three or four people, sometimes only one. We don't need to offer applications since we don't have that huge a base of people to pick from - indeed, if we were to offer applications, we'd probably get swamped with people who we'd not be looking at anyway. It's cold but it's the truth; we don't consider that many people for mod positions.

With reference to supermods in unmodded sections, I'll say this; we would rather put someone in a section that we know and trust than mod someone who we are unsure about to make up numbers. That's not to say that people we're unsure about will never get the position, but often we want to see someone mature but don't want to leave a section unattended while they do so. That's a big reason why we allocate a smod to a section. Mod applications would not help with this - even if applications were sent into us we'd more than likely still end up unsure about the top person for the job and we'd still probably put a smod in there while we wait and see what happens.

Another big thing is that there are other important factors in a mod that can't be demonstrated in an application. A staff member has to be level-headed, have a cool temperament, be friendly and approachable, and other things like that. You can't easily show those things on an application so we're still half-blind when picking people based on them.

We all-in-all get the best picture of someone and feel like we pick the right people for the job when we're the ones looking at them from the first step. You guys then don't have to worry about doing applications and ~proving~ yourselves mod-worthy and competing against others because all of that's handled by us. You only need to enjoy yourselves and if you get picked, you get picked. No hassle for you, no exaggerated or missing information on applications for us, no letdowns when people don't get the places.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

Alex is on it with the quantity thing. Larger forums like Linus Tech Tips have it far easier finding staff through applications because of how large and fast activity is there, whereas here on PC things are a lot slower (and the forum is a good bit older, the LTT forums were made in 2013). Activity is the key criteria for the possibility of an applications systems... and yeah, PC is fine. The higher staff are close-knit enough to be able to find decent people and all, and... why fix something that isn't broken? :L

 

[Keiran]

Your posts and attitude are technically an application. Your daily activity is a much more genuine display of character and ability to be a mod than an application that can be full of pretense.

On Pokecommunity everyone has the ability to make themselves stand out, and trust us: we know our community well enough to the point where anyone can be considered for mod and an application isn't necessary to know a member exists.

 

[Nick]

Trust me when I say that potential moderators are a serious consideration when a moderator is needed.

When I was on higher staff and a forum needed a leader, I would pretty much go through the entire forum and take the time to read every individual post in every thread and look for stand out posts and contributions. Are they helpful? Do they think outside of the box? Do they extend a conversation in a thread, and create discussion? Do they continue to remain active in individual threads in that forum? Did they have any posts on the site where they've helped others out? If I found someone who stood out based on what they've had to contribute, I would research them further and look into their conversations with other people to see if I could pick up on some key personality traits that I thought were important for moderators to have. Are they kind? Are they approachable? Do they have a sense of humor? Do they give the impression that they can handle themselves when things get heated up if a member has a problem with them? Are they level-headed? Do they seem to be able to handle criticism?

These are things that an application can't demonstrate. You can put anything down in an application. These things need to be demonstrated before they're granted the power that comes with being a moderator, because they have more duties than just locking a thread and infracting troublesome members.

This is pretty much the case for choosing moderators. If you found someone who you thought was a good fit, then you'd bring them up and the other higher staff would spend enough time to research the individual. If they're against that person for whatever reason, they'll state why and then a discussion comes from that. When a forum doesn't have an obvious choice, or a decision can't be reached because of valid concerns that are being brought up, the higher staff can go weeks, sometimes months without a moderator. In which case it's usually assigned to whatever higher staff member knows that forum the best.

 

[moon]

If a smod with genuine interest for a particular section would get officially appointed (or re-appointed) there, such as Lilith for TC (I assume), then I'm not loosing any sleep over the fact that that section might lack a blue mod. As long as the orange mod really has time to care for a section on top of hq-staff duties, of course.

 

[BeachBoy]

Your posts and attitude are technically an application. Your daily activity is a much more genuine display of character and ability to be a mod than an application that can be full of pretense.

On Pokecommunity everyone has the ability to make themselves stand out, and trust us: we know our community well enough to the point where anyone can be considered for mod and an application isn't necessary to know a member exists.

This was always how I saw it as a super moderator. Every conversation is an interview, as they say.

 

[Sydian]

For what it's worth, I volunteered to take Adv Gen and 5th Gen because I figured they could use someone appointed in there so that members could know who to go to if they had any questions or concerns, as well as having experience with the Pokemon gaming forums. Along with that, I don't see anyone standing out in those forums. -shrug- Sorry if that offends anyone that posts in there often, but I'm just being honest. I would rather wait around for someone with great potential to show up than to just mod, say, someone that posts in there a lot with no merit.

As far as moderator applications go, Keiran said what I was thinking. To add to that though, that would be so painful having to go through applications from people. You'd have your serious applicants, sure, but then you'd have the people that are applying for funsies and lolz and we don't really have time for that, lol. And with how staff-obsessed PC is, trust me, there would be quite a number of applications.

I hope this doesn't come across as mean or anything. I definitely don't discourage people from wanting to be staff. But I want it to be for the right reasons and not be under a "because x doesn't have a mod" reason.

 

[Hikamaru]

I have to admit I agree with Syd on her being caretaker 3rd/5th Gen mod. I remember trying to see if anyone stood out to me among the active posters and to be honest, there wasn't really anyone who stood out so it could be a very long time before someone new takes over. Heck it could even be over a year before a new face is brought in, like the example with the Video Games section I mentioned earlier.

But she does have a point. It's always nice to wait and appoint someone who the higher staff know can do the job well, along with being an active poster in their sections. Usually the higher staff tend to choose 3 or 4 active posters in a section (it may differ depending on the section in question) when it comes to the appointment process, and they choose the one that stands out the most to them and that's how it all happens.