Mod duties

[dreaming]

What exactly does a good moderator do? I know they should keep out spam and such, answer questions, keep posts active and all. But what else is there?

[alexis]

They lookout for the bad people on the forums.
We also help newbies when we can, answer any questions that might pop up.
Keep the forums updated and running smooth.
Lots of things really, why, what can I help you with today.

[Saaverda]

I think the biggest thing a good mod does is make sure everyone plays nicely in the sandbox. Sharing and including new people is very important.

And like Alexis said, making sure new members feel welcome, so they will stay and post and help your board grow.

[MadHatter]

It's very important to make new members feel noticed and welcome. Get them involved. Moderators should try to notice the wallflowers and draw them out also. If you make a member feel noticed and interesting, they will keep coming back without fail.

[dreaming]

Thanks for the answers. Guess I just wanted to be sure I was doing my job. The admin and I are both new at this forum stuff, so neither of us really know what's going on. We don't have very many members, but the ones we have are active and play nicely together. So I guess we are doing good so far.

[purplefdu]

*nods* moderators are like parents or teachers or managers. They keep things working well, enforce rules, get feedback to make things better and include members or find ways for people to get involved. They also help with some bookkeeping such as warning members, closing topics, moving topics, etc. They also provide a united front by using the same standards when mdoerating.

[The Wizard]

I think this is a bit of a subjective answer, to really answer the question you have to ask yourself "what do you think makes a good moderator?"

A lot of things can be suggested here, but might not necessarily gel with your idea of what a good moderator is, sure take on board what is said here, but ultimately make up your own mind what a good moderator is, as I have said what makes one forum owner's moderators good can be bad in another forum owner's eyes.

[surfer]

Originally Posted by purplefdu

*nods* moderators are like parents or teachers or managers. They keep things working well, enforce rules, get feedback to make things better and include members or find ways for people to get involved. They also help with some bookkeeping such as warning members, closing topics, moving topics, etc. They also provide a united front by using the same standards when mdoerating.

I might add referee as an adjective for a moderator. There is always a disagreement in any topics and members tend to argue about that thing. Sometimes it goes farther and it becomes personal. Mods are there to be in the middle to pacify things and clear up everything that each party is trying to say.