What qualities should h-staff look for in moddings?

[Klippy]

If you had to nominate someone to be a mod, what would be the key factors in your choice? What qualities would you want to see in that person? Would you ever consider picking a friend over more qualified people? What other thoughts might you have when considering someone or even multiple people to mod on PC?

Do not name any names or suggest mods for areas. No need to excite anyone or ruffle feathers. :)

 

[Her]

Too often I find that staff members on here value togetherness and saccharine kindness to a fault, letting their idealism inhibit their judgement. The lines between harmony and discord are stretched so thin that it inhibits possible growth and new viewpoints from coming to light, for fear of disrupting perceived unity. As such, the community stalls.
Don't take this as an insult, as it is not. It's just an example of why I would choose differently than many of h-staff, as my views are often completely opposite to theirs.

My key factors are rather simple. I value realism, honesty and a desire to improve the section. But, and this is where I think h-staff get it wrong a lot of the time, I prefer dissenting thoughts about the status quo. Hell, dissenting thoughts about me. Someone who thinks differently, holds varied ideals, etc is essential to improving what others may not see or refuse to change.
My ideal promotion material would be this:

- Realism. This is rather hard to define on its own, as it fits in with the dissent factor as well. I just prefer those I associate with to not be naive.
- Honesty. It's no secret that I despise lying and trickery, and I tend to permanently lose respect for a person or group if I think that they are being sly or dishonest. On top of that, I pride staying true to one's thoughts. There's a difference between withholding your beliefs and changing them. It's not hard to be honest if you're capable for the job.
- A clear leader within their desired section. Not necessarily a respected leader, but one who could lead the section into its next era. I think the community aspect of this site, although a key factor, gets in the way of improvement sometimes. A leader respects those around them, but is not afraid to do what's best for them despite disapproval.
- Dissenting opinions aren't inherently bad. They're crucial to the evolution of a person, an organisation, a community. I think that staff on here tend to be overly critical to dissent and I believe that this comes from there not being enough variety among staff members and h-staff as a whole.

To answer your other main question, naturally I would consider nominating a friend if I believed they fit the qualities that the section demands. Naturally, my viewpoints would be overly biased because I have an insight into them that others may lack. The selection process just has to be monitored carefully.

 

[Spinosaurus]

Honestly I wouldn't think about it much. Just whoever is active and makes good posts. It's not a particularly hard or important job.

 

[Her]

Honestly I wouldn't think about it much. Just whoever is active and makes good posts. It's not a particularly hard or important job.

the less dramatic part of me also agrees with this

 

[Universe]

Requirements:

If approached you have to recite riddles like the sphynx.
Must post dank memes.
Your username can't be the same as a video game character. It also cannot be a noun, proper or otherwise.
Your favorite color cannot be yellow, brown, or black. These colors cannot be trusted.
Must have beaten Superman 64.
Their favorite fast food cannot be anything but Taco Bell.
While posting they must not ever wear any underwear.
Must have completed the Youngster Joey challenge on any Pokemon game ( beat with only a Rattata ).
Doesn't use the word "staff." The staff hate this word more than any other.
They must be in possession of a rare blue Pepe.

 

[Megan]

Simply someone who gets their job done, while also not being a complete idiot. If I want someone to mod a section, said person should definitely be familiar with the section in need, because it makes their job easier and there's a higher chance that they stick around said section and be active there. But just being active is not enough, since said person is going to represent they section, they also need to be friendly enough (or like I said "not being a complete idiot"), so that people actually still want to go into said section.

I suppose, it's how people get modded here, anyway.

 

[twocows]

If you had to nominate someone to be a mod, what would be the key factors in your choice? What qualities would you want to see in that person? Would you ever consider picking a friend over more qualified people? What other thoughts might you have when considering someone or even multiple people to mod on PC?

Do not name any names or suggest mods for areas. No need to excite anyone or ruffle feathers. :)

I think the most important thing is to give people the benefit of the doubt. Being ban-happy is a bad thing. Most people aren't trying to break the rules and are just trying to fit in and contribute. Mods shouldn't act on every single report they get and if someone does break a rule, sometimes all the user really needs is a warning.

Past that, I think as a mod, you need to be immersed in the community you're moderating. When I was GM in my guild, I was always at every raid and guild event unless there was an emergency. On the forums I have modded, I was always active in the areas I modded. I also have a moderately successful IRC channel on Rizon; I probably spend all day sitting around on IRC and chatting with people in my channel whenever someone shows up. I think that's pretty important.

I think most other stuff is ancillary. If you're keeping people contributing (and contributing yourself) without making them feel bad and stopping any drama from occurring, I think you're doing a good job.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

The things that I think are most important are:

Activity: This one goes without saying. If you are going to be a moderator of a forum you should be extremely active. You should constantly be contributing to the section with quality posts, new and interesting threads, as well as promoting the section itself.

Creativity: I think one of the most important things when it comes to promotions is how creative and inventive the new moderator will be. Anyone can moderate a section simply by deleting spam posts and banning trolls but it takes someone special to take that forum to the next level, evolve it and make it stand out from the rest. A person should exhibit the ability to do this by hosting events, make threads that aren't generic and seen a little "out of the box", take risks when promoting a section even if those fail. A person who can do these things will be a much better moderator in my opinion.

Desire: I know it is frowned upon to ask to be a moderator but there is nothing wrong with showing the desire to be one. You can do this mainly by the two aforementioned qualities but also going up and beyond. Participate in discussions in CQ&F, report posts, make suggestions to the current moderators and hstaff. You don't have to outright say "I want to be a moderator", but let hstaff see in you that you have the desire to be one and that you would be good at the job.

There are a ton of other qualities but these three are the ones that came to mind as of now haha.

 

[Hikamaru]

As the others said, if one aspires to be a mod you need to be active on a consistent basis and also do well-constructed (but not too much) posts and also posting threads and/or hosting events, to help promote activity in the section. A good staff member also has to respect everyone's opinion, which I think is one of the very important things they have to know.

And as Chase said, actively getting involved in discussions about forum issues, and reporting posts also helps raise your profile and show that you can prove what it takes to have a voice in the community.

 

[gimmepie]

I'll just make a quick list of things I think are important

Activity - Mods should have an active presence on the forum. They should be people who are capable of managing their IRL responsibilities as well as their online ones (although of course IRL does take precedence). Basically they should be active contributors and around enough to do their job properly.

Dedication - I feel like if you're going to have a say in how the forums are run, then you should be someone who actually cares about the forums and wants to see them be as enjoyable as possible for everyone. I'm not saying mods have to be people who are obsessed with PC, but definitely the more they care the better.

Friendliness - I don't mean that mods should be ridiculously lenient, nobody should be outright breaking important rules. However all staff should be generally friendly and easily approachable when it comes not just to complains and suggestions but also to people who just want to chat. It sends a good message and is better for the overall atmosphere of the community.

Patience - Mods are people too, so it's okay to get bait stressed or angry sometimes. However generally speaking I think that staff should display a degree of professionalism at least in as much as being patient with both regular users and fellow staff. Hot heads running things is a good way to lose members and infuriate the people working with them.

Literacy - I don't expect every member on staff to be English whizzes who can make every post bring a tear to someone's eye with their artistic beauty. Especially because I know there are plenty of users on PC who speak English as a second language. However, this is an English language-based forum so posts should be written at least well enough to not strain anybody's brains.

As far as voting for friends, I think that if your friend is a good choice for modding a section, then you might as well vote for them, but only if they really are going to be good for their section and do a generally good job on staff. If there's obviously better choices out there, you should definitely go with them. There's nothing wrong with nominating a friend so long as they are actually a viable choice.

 

[Spinosaurus]

And finally, love. You need to have a positive feeling when logging onto the forum, and not feel like it's a chore to consistently log on and handle messy issues.

I mod another relatively large forum and I feel like it's a chore when someone breaks the rules lol.

My section has to do with developing a metagame though, so I feel like my job is to just help out in that. Less moderating and more actually progressing tge meta of my character, which is fun.

 

[Star-Lord]

They gotta be active and show a good amount of dedication to the section. I really don't care too much about their attitude unless they're like constantly and consistently getting into arguments with users. I'd rather have someone who's a bit unapproachable rather than a complete doormat though.

I mean really enthusiasm and activity are the big things

 

[Livewire]

Somebody who can ask tough questions and be willing to make tough choices. I'd much rather have somebody in HQ who has gusto and charisma and will be active and perceptive enough to get things done in a timely fashion. Being different is good!

 

[Aether★]

I would have two main key factors.
1. Should do his job.
2. Take it seriously.

That's all.

 

[Neo_Angelo]

I am a retired forum Admin veteran, I used to manage many boards from small scale board of a few hundred members, to a few boards with a few hundred thousand back when i was perhaps 16-21. One of my biggest passions was forums and how amazing they were at bringing people together. I ran many successful forums in my foruming prime, and i've seen it all when it comes to members wanting to become staff and the sort.

With regards to what i used to look for, i only had 4 things i really cared about the most, the others could be learned:

Trust: My top priority on any list, moreover mutual trust, would that mod trust me to do the right thing for the forum by promoting them or dealing with any problems they encountered, would they trust me to teach them if they were unsure of anything and take the time to teach them? Also could i trust them to respect the other members, not let the power go to their head and to do the best job they could?

Loyalty: A similar thing to trust, loyalty to me means having that dedication and commitment to the end goal of the forum and its owner/Admins, i'd want a person to want to share in the forums success and work together with the team to build and nurture the forums growth, to put the effort in and have the passion to want the forum and themselves to succeed.

Respect: This is one i'm a big believer in, if you cannot respect the rules or your team and your members, you're not going to do well as a Mod, a good Mod respects his/her peers no matter what level on the chain they are, if they respect others, they will not only build rapport, but also mutual respect. after all if you yourself respect the rules and role model them, others will look up to you and follow in your footsteps.

Honesty: Again similar to trust and loyalty (notice how they all link nicely together), Honesty is a MASSIVE part of my philosophy, if you are not honest, you cannot be the other three things on my list, honesty breeds success and if you're honest with your team, your members and others, you will always do well, it's ok to make mistakes, its ok to miss judge a situation or do something wrong, but it takes a great person to admit they are wrong. With honesty you can work together to fix an issue, or work on a solution to solve a problem. Without honesty, no matter if you think you have the other 3 traits, you don't. Honesty builds respect, which in turn builds loyalty which then builds trust.

If you have all 4 of these in a person, you'll always choose a winner, anything else such as good grammar, knowledge and capability can be developed through helping each other.

I live by these 4 principles and any great forum will thrive one these. That is why i enjoy coming here, the community here accepts others, there isn't any dis-respect or complaining or being mistreated (that i've seen).

If we see a member doing something wrong, we don't bash them or make them feel crappy because they made a mistake, we point out the mistake and help them learn from it to become better. The same goes for Mods here, i'm sure i've seen instances where a Mod has perhaps mistaken something, and we've pointed it out to them in a way that wasn't derogatory to help them (mutual respect).

Additional things i'd tend to look for after the big 4 would be

Knowledge of vBulletin, experience always helps, having someone who knows how to code is always a bonus, but again this can be taught.

Passion, there's no point being a robot about something, a good leader always has passion in what he/she does and has fun doing it! this also rubs off on your members :)

 

[Melody]

I think there are a few things that embody a good moderator, so I'll list them off and explain why. I managed to alliterate these nicely so I guess you can call them "The 7 P's"

Passion - You don't want to pick somebody out who couldn't give a care less about the community in their arena of dominion; so you definitely want them to exhibit some degree of positive drive and passion about the community and their participation. Quantity does not trump quality in this case; nor does it mean that an infrequent poster but frequent lurker couldn't make a fantastic mod.

Patience - Let's face it; you're trusting these people to gently thwack, massage, goad, ask, and otherwise motivate community members of all types to behave and "Follow These Rules" you have laid out. So if they have a short fuse, don't give them the banhammer please! This is less important if they don't have an easy tool to absolutely be rid of a user, like a ban button in their permission set, but it is still a consideration. It's OK if they're only a little impatient on some occasions; you don't want them to be a doormat.

Penitence - Not necessarily the highest one on this list; but it helps if they can at least admit they are wrong. Don't conflate confidence in one's position for lack of this though; and if you know someone well enough you should be able to gauge this one reliably enough...if you can be impartial enough to think it through via their point of view and be open to it. Fighting fiercely for one's innocence when they are innocent is pretty normal for anyone.

Prudent - They should be careful enough about their words, actions, and reactions to think twice. Like the last quality it helps to know the person well enough, so you can get a feeling of their way of doing things. If they're humble enough not to think themselves worthy of being a mod no matter how their achievements stack up; they probably are. They should never lie; not about their actions anyways. It's OK if they are a little blunt as long as they aren't rude.

Precise - While they don't need to be so precise that they 'piss on a plate and never splash'; it does help if their communication, actions and behavior are precise. They shouldn't go off on some toddling newbie for their first offense because some veteran made the same mistake 5 minutes ago and they're still upset about it. A mistake here and there is fine; so long as they don't make a habit of it.

Poise - It is important that they are not easy to ruffle. They should not rise easily to strike out a boorish troll or inflammatory commenter out of anger. Only in Righteous Fervor of Enforcing the Rules of Their Domain should they Act Swiftly. So they would swiftly strike someone posting a dirty nasty shock image or garbage post full of explicit words and expletives; but not someone who merely got a little too happy with the swear words while 'spicing up' their points to get their message across. It's fine if they have a few more conservative sensibilities or certain triggers; as long as they're not too over-reactive about them.''

Personality - It's always awesome if some mod can make you laugh or think critically when they're interacting with you; even if they're smacking you out of the park with a perma-banhammer! So this is always a nice quality to have. It's definitely not one to discount someone on though, so don't count someone out if they're not quite so charming or charismatic if they fill the other qualities fine.


Last but certainly not least is that they are considered as a fellow human. Shortcomings in one or more of these qualities does not automatically make a bad mod; unless those shortcomings are severe and are demonstrably provable recently. Don't blackball someone for life if they were considered once and rejected because they happened to be young and some other undesirable quality or anything like that.

 

[Lycanthropy]

I see a combination of activity and passion as the most important things. When you're modding a section you need to know what's going on there and contribute yourself too like the rest. Someone who just rules it, but isn't really involved would be appreciated less. Activity doesn't mean to just post in any thread, but also involves taking some time to read what others said about it and optionally reply to their posts too. Even when there are threads that aren't your main interest, some time should be taken to see what's going on. Passion should be shown to the moderated section, but also to being a moderator itself. Someone who doesn't really want the responsibilities won't execute their job well.
Additionally showing some community interest would be nice as well. Posting around a little in places like Feedback and Support, The Treehouse, The Roundtable or The Welcome Lounge are good ways to show some involvement with the other people of the community. It's called PokéCommunity after all.

I don't see anything wrong with modding a friend, as long as it isn't just for the sake of modding a friend. When he or she has the qualifications to mod a section, there's no problem with that. But it's better to look a little further too, friends are picked more easily, because you know them better and therefore have the knowledge about them being suitable or not, while others can be just as good, but it still has to be found out.