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I want to be a mod.

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  • 12-05-2010 8:57pm
    #1
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭


    Hello.

    Since I became a mod, I would say that I get about two messages a month from genuine, sincere people asking me how to become a mod.

    I know that usually when this question is asked on feedback it's met with a lot of sarcasm, from me as well, but I figured it couldn't do any harm to jot a quick note saying what I personally consider when I'm looking for someone to help me mod one of the forums what I mod.

    This isn't supposed to be a general list, and in no way am I trying to define official policy - the views expressed herein are my own, only my own, and are not intended to be a canonical list of criteria blah de blah - this is just intended to give you an idea. I hope I don't piss anyone off by posting this.

    1. You're going to need to be a fairly regular poster in the forum you want to mod.

    -If I'm going to be "working" with you, I'm going to want to be as sure as possible we're going to get along. In order to do that, I'm going to need to know what you're like. I can only judge that based on your posts in the forum, so if you've never posted in the forum, no offense, but I'm not going to risk it. I don't necessarily have to agree with everything you've ever said, but look - the forum is the sum of the posters. If everyone posts on topic, the forum stays on topic. If everyone complains that the forum isn't as good as it used to be, the forum becomes a collection of whinging posts. If you generate positive content, you'll be viewed positively.

    2. It would be helpful if you've reported posts from that forum.

    -In my experience, there's two reasons why people want to mod. They want to help the forum they enjoy run more smoothly (95%), or they want to boss people around (5%). If it's the former, then you can do that without being a mod. Reporting posts is probably the most help you can give forum moderators, because it means that I don't have to read every single post in every single thread. Also, the more posts you report, the better idea I have of what you think is problematic posting. If you report every little thing, or use reported posts to try and shut someone up you're having an argument with, you're probably going to be too much hassle.
    If you're modding a forum with me, then at the end of the day, I'm going to have to deal with the decisions you make. If you're constantly getting personal with other posters, even if they deserve it, you're going to generate loads of helpdesk and feedback threads, and I'm not really into that.
    If you ask can you mod a forum with me, and you've never reported a post from that forum, I'm just going to assume that you want to be a mod for the sake of being a mod, and I'm not really into that.

    3. If you've a load of infractions or bans, it's not going to happen.

    Especially if you've a load of infractions or bans for personal abuse. Most of you wont believe me, but the abuse you can get as a moderator is shocking. A lot of the time, you're dealing with pure ego. Jonny Keyboardwarrior does *not* take kindly to some jumped up little bollocks like me telling him it's not cool for him to say whatever the hell he wants to say whenever he feels like it.
    Billy crusader is not willing to believe that I don't have some hidden agenda for asking him to stop soapboxing, and boy, is he ready, willing and able to let me know in graphic detail exactly what he thinks.
    The only way you can deal with these dudes is to report the abuse and ignore the rest. Otherwise, you're just going to generate crapstorm after crapstorm, and who needs that, right?
    If you're the type of poster who has no problems derailing a thread as long as you get the last word in, then you're going to be too much hassle.
    Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone changes.
    I've the height of respect for someone who's unafraid to take a banning as the cost of calling someone out, but I'm not going to want to clean up after them. If your last infraction was like, six months ago, and you've been cool ever since, then it's not an issue. If you've been banned from 20 forums but "they were all forums I don't take seriously", you're not really any good to me.

    Anyway, enough crap out of me. If I can find someone who ticks the above boxes, I'll feel confident enough that asking them to co-mod with me won't come back to bite me in the arse. If not, I won't. do with that advice what you will :)
    Post edited by Shield on
    Tagged:


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    #2
    dr.bollocko
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 35,943 Mod ✭✭✭✭dr.bollocko


    You.....
    you just called yourself a jumped up little bollix.

    Good post though. It's nice to see somebody trying to open up the ole janitorial circle rather than the kinda patronising don't call us we'll call you stuff when some poor soul actually dares to ask.


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    #3
    Aids By Google
    Closed Accounts Posts: 220 ✭✭Aids By Google


    Quick! Someone send a link to this to My Name is URL!


    :pac:


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    #4
    Bonito
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,399 ✭✭✭Bonito


    Aids By Google wrote: »
    Quick! Someone send a link to this to My Name is URL!


    :pac:
    What's your other account name?


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    #5
    Sarky
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,967 ✭✭✭✭Sarky


    tbh test!


    ... It's just not the same :'(


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    #6
    Steve
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 22,584 CMod ✭✭✭✭Steve


    Just to fry your noodle tbh, I was made mod of a forum I'd never posted in or ever read much let alone reported posts in (series of unfortunate events:eek:) - it's actually worked out quite well since then.

    Just saying, there are always exceptions to the rule. :)


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    #7
    Bonito
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,399 ✭✭✭Bonito


    Maybe this should be sticked somewhere after a while in here? The newbie & FAQ forum?


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    #8
    _blank_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 41,926 ✭✭✭✭_blank_


    Sarky wrote: »
    tbh test!


    ... It's just not the same :'(

    It's better than that fúcking idiot Amp Test though, at least it doesn't talk down to users and is actually trying to help the community.

    Fair play teebs, it must have taken a while to type that.

    I wish we had a podcast to make you read it on.


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    #9
    _blank_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 41,926 ✭✭✭✭_blank_


    Steve wrote: »
    Just to fry your noodle tbh, I was made mod of a forum I'd never posted in or ever read much let alone reported posts in (series of unfortunate events:eek:) - it's actually worked out quite well since then.

    Just saying, there are always exceptions to the rule. :)

    I was made a mod because I am a crap football player.

    I was the one of 17 lads in the Phoenix Park one Wednesday evening not good enough to be on a team, so they made me "manager". After a week or two, when it seemed there was actually going to be a team, and it wasn't just a laugh, we got a forum, and because I was "manager" I was nominated as "mod" of the forum.

    All the other forums under my name ther are because I volunteered at one time or another to give a dig out to someone who needed a hand.

    Now, though, I have a grá for those forums. I enjoy looking after them. Deleting Spam is the main thing for most of them, which in it's own little way makes the "boards experience" better for others. That's the second reason I like being a Mod.

    I get a lot from Boards, I effing love the football team. I've been there since it started the very first day, and now we're winning medals. That's great. And that's because of Boards. It's because of Boards that I, and twenty other lads, go out and shout "Come on Boards" every week.

    How many other Boards users get to show that kind of pride in this community on a weekly basis?.

    We were on TV. That's brilliant.

    The "work" I do as a mod on here is payback for that. I know that by being a mod I make the experience here better for people. Another example is the Cooking Club. I love that. I help it along the way, along with my Co-mods in that Forum. How great is that? For seventeen weeks people all over the country have been cooking the same thing and having it for dinner, then comparing notes. Great!

    I also love modding the Dublin City Forum. My City, and I get to moderate the chat about it on Boards.ie. I'm a lucky man.


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    #10
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭tbh


    Steve wrote: »
    Just to fry your noodle tbh, I was made mod of a forum I'd never posted in or ever read much let alone reported posts in (series of unfortunate events:eek:) - it's actually worked out quite well since then.

    Just saying, there are always exceptions to the rule. :)

    for sure - and no problems with that at all, but I'm just laying out my thought process if one of my co-mods steps down and I'm asked to suggest someone to take over. If I'm asked as a Cmod to forward a nomination on, my filtering process is just to make sure they don't have too many bans/infractions, I leave it to the suggesting mod to decide all the other stuff.


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    #11
    Agent Smith
    Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 21,502 Mod ✭✭✭✭Agent Smith


    I want to be katy perrys soap on a rope. Chances are it aint gonna happen people


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    #12
    Spiritoftheseventies
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,082 ✭✭✭✭Spiritoftheseventies


    tbh wrote: »
    for sure - and no problems with that at all, but I'm just laying out my thought process if one of my co-mods steps down and I'm asked to suggest someone to take over. If I'm asked as a Cmod to forward a nomination on, my filtering process is just to make sure they don't have too many bans/infractions, I leave it to the suggesting mod to decide all the other stuff.
    TBH any one who asks to be a mod shouldn't be a mod. That would be my opinion.. Mods are invited to mod and it should stay that way. There should be no canvassing on one's own behalf and I would take a very strong view on that one.


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    #13
    Jazzy
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,315 ✭✭✭Jazzy


    jaysus des, now that i look at it you mod fukin loads. who mods the most forums out of all the mods? should be a leaderboard :p


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    #14
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭tbh


    Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »
    TBH any one who asks to be a mod shouldn't be a mod. That would be my opinion.. Mods are invited to mod and it should stay that way. There should be no canvassing on one's own behalf and I would take a very strong view on that one.

    I'll bear it in mind :rolleyes:


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    #15
    Spiritoftheseventies
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,082 ✭✭✭✭Spiritoftheseventies


    Seriously tbh. Have you asked why they want to be mod. Could be they have an issue with way forum is modded or maybe a poster pissed them off.
    Its a bit hit and miss with the mod selection but imo this has to be done via admins and the forum and cat mods.


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    #16
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭tbh


    Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »
    Its a bit hit and miss with the mod selection but imo this has to be done via admins and the forum and cat mods.

    I know. I'm a cat mod ;)


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    #17
    Nevyn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 43,045 ✭✭✭✭Nevyn


    Only an admin can push the buttons to make person a mod.
    All mod apointments are vetted by cat mods and by the admins, but the inital suggestions come from the mod stepping down or a mod who needs more of a hand or suggestions put forward when a brand new forum is created.


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    #18
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭tbh


    in fairness, I'd have a lot more respect for someone who straight out asked to be a mod, as opposed to someone who badly wanted to be one, and tried to achieve it in other ways.

    if you know what i mean.


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    #19
    Eliot Rosewater
    Registered Users Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭Eliot Rosewater


    I imagine that many Boardies harbour hopes of becoming mods some day. Having a publicized list like this would, at the very least, encourage them to adhere to the guidelines it set out, ie contributing better posts, helping the current mods out via the report button and not acting the bollox.


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    #20
    Spiritoftheseventies
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,082 ✭✭✭✭Spiritoftheseventies


    It all boils down to expertise. Mods i assume are chosen from their field of expertise which is how it should be.
    But its a hard job being a mod and have a tiny bit of experience of that having run my own social group. Needless to say put me off it for life. But wont go down that road.
    Can only speak for the forum i post in most and would horrify me if any approaches were made by any poster there with regards to being a mod.
    Very uncomfortable with OP's idea but Tbh is a sound individual so would trust his judgment if tbh was chosing a mod within own forums or cat.


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    #21
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭tbh


    Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »
    Very uncomfortable with OP's idea

    ok, I know I'm an idiot, but humour me. what was the OP's idea?


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    #22
    Spiritoftheseventies
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,082 ✭✭✭✭Spiritoftheseventies


    tbh wrote: »
    Anyway, enough crap out of me. If I can find someone who ticks the above boxes, I'll feel confident enough that asking them to co-mod with me won't come back to bite me in the arse. If not, I won't. do with that advice what you will :)

    Okay (btw just got that whole John Lennon thing with the avatar good one) I think it could come possibly back to bite you on the arse.
    You have no way of knowing how genuine the posters are. That they approached you and not the other way around I would have concerns about. Again its canvassing and its against procedure which is for admins and staff to select the mods.


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    #23
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭tbh


    Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »
    Okay (btw just got that whole John Lennon thing with the avatar good one) I think it could come possibly back to bite you on the arse.
    You have no way of knowing how genuine the posters are. That they approached you and not the other way around I would have concerns about. Again its canvassing and its against procedure which is for admins and staff to select the mods.

    ok, you've got the wrong end of the stick. Sometimes people send me a message, or start feedback or helpdesk threads, asking how mods get selected.
    My OP was an illustration of my thought process whenever I'm looking for someone to suggest as a mod for one of the forums I mod.

    or, to put it another way,
    tbh wrote: »
    a quick note saying what I personally consider when I'm looking for someone to help me mod one of the forums what I mod.
    :)


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    #24
    Spiritoftheseventies
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,082 ✭✭✭✭Spiritoftheseventies


    tbh wrote: »
    .
    If you're modding a forum with me, then at the end of the day, I'm going to have to deal with the decisions you make. If you're constantly getting personal with other posters, even if they deserve it, you're going to generate loads of helpdesk and feedback threads, and I'm not really into that.
    If you ask can you mod a forum with me, and you've never reported a post from that forum, I'm just going to assume that you want to be a mod for the sake of being a mod, and I'm not really into that.

    I would agree with you on this point and needs to be said.


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    #25
    Overheal
    Registered Users Posts: 82,133 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    Sarky wrote: »
    tbh test!


    ... It's just not the same :'(
    Amp test, tbh.


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    #26
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    /bangs head against desk


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    #27
    dr.bollocko
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 35,943 Mod ✭✭✭✭dr.bollocko


    mike65 wrote: »
    /bangs head against desk

    Helpdesk tbh.


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    #28
    Bonito
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,399 ✭✭✭Bonito


    mike65 wrote: »
    /bangs head against desk
    There there Mike. Now, repeat after me.

    "I'd like to be a mod."

    Don't be hurting the desk. :pac:


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    #29
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    Thanks Dr and Bonito

    I thought you became a mod through self inflicted pain! ;)


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    #30
    Bonito
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,399 ✭✭✭Bonito


    No no. That's one of the symptoms of modimutispsychomus. Terrible thing. If you don't get out soon or get the right treatment you apparently crack, right down the middle.


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    #31
    Spiritoftheseventies
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,082 ✭✭✭✭Spiritoftheseventies


    indulge me here but what does symbol "/" refer to when its put in a reply.


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