Post: Moderating For Dummies: Member Edition!
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12-30-2008, 05:32 AM
#1
MATT51723
Guest
Moderating for Dummies: Member Edition
I. What is a Moderator?
II. Maturity
III. Making an Application
IV. Grammar
V. Bias
Chapter One: What is a Moderator?
mod·er·a·tor
1: one who arbitrates : mediator
2: one who presides over an assembly, meeting, or discussion: as a: the presiding officer of a Presbyterian governing body b: the nonpartisan presiding officer of a town meeting c: the chairman of a discussion group
3: a substance (as graphite) used for slowing neutrons in a nuclear reactor
This guidebook will teach you how to be moderator for a forum or any other popular social websites.
A more specified definition of a moderator for a forum could be defined as:
Someone who controls the content displayed by other users.
A moderator for a forum is simply a more powerful member who, as stated above, controls the content. What they can do is, but not limited to:
Deleting messages, changing signatures, changing avatars, editing their profile, closing topics, making announcements, changing topic names, moving topics, stickying topics (making them above all others), and merge threads.
There are many types of moderators but to keep this a little shorter I'll describe the different moderators and their abilities and duties.
First of I'll describe the most simple, yet efficient, moderator. And that is, a moderator. Moderating one or more forums but not all. Their task is simple, keep the forums clean and keep members in line.
The other type is a Super(Global) Moderator. They moderate nearly all aspects of public communication displayed by other users. They need to keep the members in line and punish them for any bad activity. Such as, but not limited to, flamming other members, spamming, advertising, double posting, or anything else that is set by the forums Administrator/Staff.
Chapter Two: Maturity
[/COLOR]ma·tu·ri·ty
1: the quality or state of being mature ; especially : full development
2: termination of the period that an obligation has to run
Maturity is possibly the most important part of becoming a moderator. Without maturity your chances are gone. When moderating a forum you need to be a model member to others to show them the proper way to conduct activity on the forum. The administrator on a forum knows who is mature and who is not. They know who to pick by the actions and things that a member says, therefore, without maturity its hard to be chosen.
With all that being said, it's alright to have some fun, occasionally mess with a person as long as everyone is ok with it. You express humor, make funny posts, etc. as long as it's reasonable. You must remember, the main point of a forum is for information and giving help, but it can also be used as a social area for people to have some fun.
Chapter Three: Making an Application
Sometimes on a forum the administrator(s) will announce that they are looking for a moderator for some forums and they require an application. This is usually a simple application, NOT A RESUME! You follow the guidelines and if you have some experience on a popular forum or somewhere where it may make a difference, note the forum(s) you've had experience on. Usually forum administrators will not require anything long because they know they'll receive an excessive amount of applications from inexperienced and unqualified applicants.
Just a few hints, make yourself look better than the guy before you. Make your profile look nice as well, I don't think many administrators want to see a guy apply for a moderator position on their forum with a pentagram avatar and a satan worshiping signature. That'd freak me out a bit at least. Good luck and I hope the admins make the right choice.
Just a few hints, make yourself look better than the guy before you. Make your profile look nice as well, I don't think many administrators want to see a guy apply for a moderator position on their forum with a pentagram avatar and a satan worshiping signature. That'd freak me out a bit at least. Good luck and I hope the admins make the right choice.
Chapter Four: Grammar
gram·mar
1 a: the study of the classes of words, their inflections, and their functions and relations in the sentence. b: a study of what is to be preferred and what avoided in inflection and syntax
2 a: the characteristic system of inflections and syntax of a language b: a system of rules that defines the grammatical structure of a language
3 a: a grammar textbook b: speech or writing evaluated according to its conformity to grammatical rules
4: the principles or rules of an art, science, or technique <a grammar of the theater> ; also : a set of such principles or rules
Along with maturity, your grammar and the way you type may be the most important action that you do. It's can separate you from being a n00b to a sophisticated, helpful, and educated member. On most forums using leet (1337) talk is looked down upon and very annoying for other people to read. Seeing a post such as, 'omg howd did u do tat?' or 'hii m new ad me guyz!1!1', is a true turn off when reading.
If you haven't noticed by now, this guidebook has been composed of (for the most part) excellent grammar, and as I would hope, word choice as well. Not only does it look nice and professional, it gets your point across much better. People understand you easier and know what you want.
Chapter Five: Bias
bi⋅as
3 a: bent , tendency b: an inclination of temperament or outlook ; especially : a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment : prejudice c: an instance of such prejudice d (1): deviation of the expected value of a statistical estimate from the quantity it estimates (2): systematic error introduced into sampling or testing by selecting or encouraging one outcome or answer over others
Being biased towards anything sets a bad example for other members. This includes rating graphics, choosing sides unfairly in a fight, being a console fanboy (or any kind of fanboy), hating on other members because "you don't like them", and especially, racism (we don't really get too much of that).
Not only do these degrade your chances of being a moderator, they make you look like an idiot. Bias is when your feelings get in the way, and make you say things based on what you want to hear, and not what is actually true. To become a mod, you must try to refrain from these feelings, even if it means saying something you don't particularly like.
Not only do these degrade your chances of being a moderator, they make you look like an idiot. Bias is when your feelings get in the way, and make you say things based on what you want to hear, and not what is actually true. To become a mod, you must try to refrain from these feelings, even if it means saying something you don't particularly like.
(Any hinting at the biased opinion that you would be an excellent moderator is not tolerated in this thread. Thank you.)
Chapters 1-4 composed by MΛTT51723
Chapter 5 composed by elfmotat
Last edited, December 29th, 2008.
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12-30-2008, 05:48 PM
#18
MATT51723
Guest
Thanks everyone, it's nice to see good feedback for this. I'll be adding more as more comes to me. I thought this would be good to answer some people's questions and teach them how to appropriately act on a forum to possibly make their mod chances a little higher.
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