Call for Moderators

[Savage]

Would you like to become a forum moderator?

We're looking to add about 4-5 new moderators to the forum moderation team to replace mods who've gone inactive or dropped out for various reasons.

Specially we're looking for moderators who meet the following criteria:

• You're a Senior Member who is visible and active in this community, and you expect to continue to participate actively (preferably daily). To become a Senior Member, you must have made at least 100 posts.
• You've been a member of these forums for at least 3 months, ideally 6 months or longer.
• You can be decisive, fair, consistent, and mature in helping to uphold the forum rules that all members agree to follow when they join.
• Your posting history shows that you exercise good judgment (i.e. no problems with trolling, personal attacks, etc).
• You have a passion for personal growth and would like to play an important role in helping this community grow and prosper.
• You're at least 18 years old.
• You have strong English skills (it's okay if you're not a native speaker though).
• It can be helpful if you have some previous forum moderation experience, especially with VBulletin forums, but this isn't required.

What does moderation involve?

This is a volunteer position.

Basically you check the forums at least once a day and use the built-in moderation functions to handle any problems that come up. VBulletin's moderator control panel is very robust and easy to learn. We can teach you the ropes of how to use VBulletin's moderator functions in a short period of time.

Moderating these forums is definitely a team effort. Erin, myself, and the rest of the moderation team are available to discuss problems when you need help or feel uncertain about a particular situation. We have special moderators-only subforums for discussing problems and challenges as they arise.

All moderators are assigned one or more subforums based on their preferences and what's available, but all moderators have Super Moderator status, which means that any mod can quickly respond to problems wherever they occur. This is one reason that would-be spammers are typically banished within minutes.

Your mod powers include the ability to delete, close/re-open, and move threads and posts. You'll also have the ability to post notes on member accounts and to ban members. All posts and threads are soft-deleted, meaning that they can be restored by an admin if you ever make a mistake. As a moderator you won't have to worry about accidentally breaking something through a misuse of the moderator control panel that can't be easily fixed.

Additionally, you can create sticky threads for your subforum to highlight certain topics, such as a FAQ.

Basically the job of moderators is help us maintain a high signal-to-noise ratio and to uphold the forum rules. This is especially important in a place where people discuss topics of great importance to them such as divorce or depression.

If you decide you no longer wish to moderate, you can quit at any time.

Why become a moderator?

Anyone who’s moderated a forum knows how rewarding it can be.

If your goal is to fill an ego-based need like status or popularity, you probably won’t make a good moderator. A good reason to become a moderator is that you love helping people and are looking for a way to contribute more. Great moderators are active and visible, and they love to play a part in helping this community shine. An active moderator has a strong ability to influence the type of community that evolves here.

By working closely with the mod team, you'll also strengthen your communication and leadership skills, which could serve you well in other areas of your life. You'll learn to make better judgmental calls in the absence of perfect information.

One final reason is to conquer your fears of being a moderator if this is something that seems intimidating to you. Some members, upon choosing to become a moderator, have found some of their fears to be unfounded and have been delighted to transcend those fears in order to help the community.

How to apply

If you’re interested in becoming a moderator, just send me a PM with an obvious title like "Interested in moderating" along with the following info:

• some basic info about yourself (who you are, what you do, your web site if you have one)
• your previous history with these forums (how long you’ve been visiting and how often)
• previous forum moderation experience you’ve had, if any
• your city and country (we like to maintain an internationally diverse group)
• why you'd like to be a moderator

[Savage]

A big thanks to new moderator Holistic Star who joined the mod team last week!

[ChrisN]

I've been mods on other forums and its really fun, unfortunately I haven't been around long enough to apply but I urge everyone who is able to do, to do so