Forum Moderation For Dummies

[Dean]

When forum moderators are strict, users complain that they abuse their authority. When forum moderators are lenient, users complain that they no longer give a crap about the community.

I'm sure you're all familiar with the "[insert topic] For Dummies" books. Imagine that someone has asked you to contribute to a "Forum Moderation For Dummies" book. What kind of advice would you put in there to help shape your idea of a perfect forum moderator?

This is only meant as a bit of fun but I still think it might be interesting to hear your opinions on the subject.

[5ERGEI]

You forgot one:
When forum moderators think they are being witty funny and clever, users don't think they are any of those.

...for dummies

[Panda]

Be Dean.

But naw really, be Dean with a little bit of Poozy mixed in.

[STEM]

At 8/22/12 09:40 PM, daethdrain wrote: They should learn what a spam thread is. They get them confused with threads made for having fun.

Fun is okay, just not when it's boring as fuck to read through 3+ pages of 1 sentence posts. If I'm not reading anything insightful, not nodding my head in approval of power users, or not even giggling while inebriated, the thread fails to be fun for the majority of the community save for a few users.

[Ragnarokia]

The perfect advice to a moderator is to not give a shit about how people see them and just ban people as they feel like. It works with some.

[MiloBased]

Dean's a pretty cool mod.

[ZJ]

At 8/22/12 09:41 PM, Zachary wrote:

There are a few users, who will remain nameless, that are try hard trolls and constantly derail threads.

Sorry Techno.

[pirateplatypus]

At 8/22/12 09:35 PM, Dean wrote: What kind of advice would you put in there to help shape your idea of a perfect forum moderator?

No matter what you do, over-privileged, self-centred 12 year old children (and those who are mentally 12) will bitch about you. So do what you damn well please.

[orangebomb]

Having a keen eye for certain topics that would start a flame war as soon as the first post is made. I've noticed that there are different ways a thread can get locked, most of them tend to drag on, partly due to the hilarity of the thread itself, and eventually gets locked either when the OP requests it, or the idiots just run out of insults to call each other, among others. The most common of those happens to be when stupid anime topics is being discussed in the General Forum, and then all of the sudden, everyone seems to crawl out of the woodwork and do their thing, along with those who either forgot or don't care for the search bar when making a topic, which is rather common in the Video Games forum.

Being a mod is also occasionally making an unpopular decision from time to time, as with any position of power. Of course, the people who complain about that is either the trolls or the total newbies who forgot to read the rules.

[Back-From-Purgatory]

The "perfect forum mod" would drop a ban nuke on the forums. That way the people complaining we're too lenient would stop complaining...

And the people complaining we're too harsh wouldn't complain anymore... cause they'd be banned, hur hur.

Then sit back and watch all hell break loose when the bans expire.

[MiloBased]

At 8/22/12 10:07 PM, Yert wrote: we need more mods like back-from-purgatory

no we dont

[Panda]

Alright serious post. Even though I haven't posted much, I've still lurked the forums enough to see how the moderation around the BBS has changed.

Right now, the mods are doing an okay job; I don't really have any complaints with them. Sometimes I find myself wondering why a certain thread hasn't been locked but that's about as bad as it gets.

Sure the mods have been a little more lenient (and that itself might be a side-effect of the mods being less active), but when it comes to the extreme rule breaking topics they're on top of it. Even though they might not post a lot, as long as they're doing their job then I'm all good with them.

Mods come and go, and so do moderation styles and habits. My best suggestion would to just moderate the forums, who cares if you're not posting a lot, or if you're not active; as long as you keep the BBS clean and do what you're supposed to do, it's all good.

[MiloBased]

At 8/22/12 10:10 PM, Yert wrote:

yea we do because BFP is cool unlike most mods

What makes a cool mod for you, yert?

At 8/22/12 10:13 PM, ScaryPicnic wrote: just make me mod for a single day, and i'll delete all the non-cool users

No

[STEM]

At 8/22/12 09:48 PM, daethdrain wrote: U gotta think about the rest of the users. Not everyone has ur tastes u kno.

Therein lies why users are modded after being here for several years, having read thousands upon thousands of threads. They know exactly what works, what will eventually work, and what flat out doesn't work. No mod is going to let a thread draw out for more pages if its discussion does not allow for the whole community to participate - most "fun" threads are locked because they only cater to a small audience, on top of its spammy nature.

[ReNaeNae]

At 8/22/12 09:51 PM, Razz wrote: Post. Don't use stealth mode. Be active. Imagine if one day the president stopped giving press conferences, stopped appearing in public, stopped speaking with reporters, and hid away in a secret room within the white house.

Quick, name five of Obama's body guards!!!

At 8/22/12 10:13 PM, ScaryPicnic wrote: just make me mod for a single day, and i'll delete all the non-cool users

Mods can't delete users... unfortunately :P

[Eastbeast]

Specifically in the collaboration forums, Mods should immediately kill off threads started by people that don't have high enough battling average, and those who have no experience and unrealistic expectations. I haven't seen a thread locked there for quite some time

[MiloBased]

At 8/22/12 10:26 PM, ScaryPicnic wrote:

At 8/22/12 10:18 PM, MiloBased wrote: No

what would you do if you were mod for a day, milo

probably just sit there and wonder who the fuck made this decision.
I really dont want to be a mod though.

[GoryBlizzard]

At 8/22/12 09:40 PM, daethdrain wrote: They should learn what a spam thread is. They get them confused with threads made for having fun.

I don't think it's that hard to figure out what spam threads are. Also, the real problem is that a lot of people here (past and present) love to post terrible unfunny threads in the name of "having fun" and cry too hard when that fun gets ruined. Sure certain mods have shown some pretty big lapses in judgment over the years, but nobody's perfect, and on average, they're right more than they're wrong.

Also, the perfect BBS mod, in my opinion, should be about 65% strict and 35% lenient. At the present time, particular attention should be paid towards people that derail threads (or attempt to do so) by posting unfunny pictures (Spider-Man pics or otherwise), memes or one-liners.

[BrokenPaw]

At 8/22/12 09:35 PM, Dean wrote: This is only meant as a bit of fun but I still think it might be interesting to hear your opinions on the subject.

They must be intoxicated while performing their duties, no exceptions.

NONE

[Mumbo]

Delete the BBS

[Panda]

At 8/22/12 10:35 PM, GoryBlizzard wrote: I don't think it's that hard to figure out what spam threads are. Also, the real problem is that a lot of people here (past and present) love to post terrible unfunny threads in the name of "having fun" and cry too hard when that fun gets ruined. Sure certain mods have shown some pretty big lapses in judgment over the years, but nobody's perfect, and on average, they're right more than they're wrong.

I completely agree with this. Especially the part about the terrible, unfunny threads. The amount of times they're right is more than enough to make up for the few times they're wrong, and even when they're wrong it's really not that bad.

[Sectus]

I believe I stated this is another topic, but I will post it here as well. I personally feel that moderators do indeed need to start interacting with users more, and posting in threads to join in on the discussion. Moderators need to remember that they are still just users, all they have is a golden aura and a few extra knobs and blinkers.

I don't mind if moderators do not join in every single discussion, but please remember that you are just a volunteer. You are still an NG fan, and you don't need to hide from users that don't have moderation powers.

[YenMuffin]

Mods are in fact people and people can range from fun to asshole. It's because of this that mods should call dibs on threads so no other mods come fucking things up in their territory.
Every mod needs to have had at least one drink before doing any modding and need to enforce Classy Thursdays which would make all the users wear formal attire when posting.

Sounds fun to me.

[II2none]

Mods like Eyelovepoozy......could use some reconsideration. Everybody else should just be more active.

[T3XT]

Don't be an arse.

[T3XT]

At 8/22/12 11:24 PM, II2none wrote: Mods like Eyelovepoozy......could use some reconsideration. Everybody else should just be more active.

Yeah, I don't know how he's kept his mod status for so long. He just bans everyone he doesn't like, not what the rules don't like.

People complain about Back-From-Purgatory being too strict but at least he/she enforces the rules. Back-From-Purgatory doesn't go around locking threads just because they don't like the people there.

"this thread is not a chat room"
Isn't every thread in Clubs & Crews more or less a chat thread for finding people with other interests?
Poozy just locked it because he thought furries were weird. I'm not even a furry but I think it's BS to lock a thread just because you disagree with the people there.
Mods, take that into consideration.

[Boomstick]

At 8/22/12 11:35 PM, T3XT wrote: January 7, 2012

No, you still don't understand how things work here.
He locked it because it didn't pertain to being "furry" related. It just spun out of control and everyone posted whatever they wanted. There needs to be regulation and understanding, you obviously lack the latter.

[DarkShadowblade]

You can be active, but don't be an authoritarian. That was the main problem with Mods back in the day a la FunkBRS. He just spouted a penis measuring contest wherever the hell he went (HERP DERP IMA MOD RESPECT EVERYTHING I SAY AS RIGHT).

[SatanBrain]

Ignore suggestions. Moderate independently. Annul the opinions of others and focus on actions, not words.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

the problem is we don't have enough committed mods a lot of the mods on the moderator list are barely active or none 6 Months+ barely active. and the ones who are are doing all the work. we need a moderation shift. and get new committed moderators who are currently active for the BBS. because it shouldn't take a mod 45 minutes to a hour to lock a thread breaking the rules because letting a thread like "I saw a gril die" reaching seven pages is unacceptable.