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What qualities do you find desireable in a forum moderator?
Since there has been some recent discussion about how FH.com appoints moderators in another forum where it was nominally off-topic, I thought I'd seed a new discussion here where it is so that the users of FH.com could express their opinions freely.
Here are a few of my key criteria in no particular order:
==> Familiarity with the forum.
==> Familiarity with the forum software.
==> A clear understanding what the job is and isn't.
FWIW, I've admin'ed or modded or hosted various forms of electronic fora since the early '90s including admin'ing web fora with traffic comparable to this one and supervising a team of volunteer moderators. It's not rocket science but it does help if the people running the forum know what their place is in the "big picture" and are all reading from the same play book... I've found that the number one rule for mods is, "It's not all about you."
Here are a few of my key criteria in no particular order:
==> Familiarity with the forum.
Every forum has its own discussion style. A moderator who isn't familiar with that style is going to have problems from the start. Someone who has never really participated in a forum as a user is generally going to fail as a moderator.
==> Familiarity with the forum software.
Different fora have different user and moderator capabilities and limitations. A moderator needs to understand both and avoid trying to micromange features and functions that are already built into the software.
==> A clear understanding what the job is and isn't.
Many novice moderators don't understand that their job is to act as a peer facilitator for discussion; not as editors, censors, or instructors. Moderators don't exist to turn discussion only towards the topics they choose: A forum is not a moderator's personal blog where s/he can pick and choose which posts are "important" and which should be arbitrarity discouraged or deleted.
FWIW, I've admin'ed or modded or hosted various forms of electronic fora since the early '90s including admin'ing web fora with traffic comparable to this one and supervising a team of volunteer moderators. It's not rocket science but it does help if the people running the forum know what their place is in the "big picture" and are all reading from the same play book... I've found that the number one rule for mods is, "It's not all about you."
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