How does the moderator selection process work?

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Does Alex just watch how people post and message those he wants to be moderators or? Not that I want to become one myself, I'm just a little curious about what's involved.

It's virtually taboo to ASK to become a moderator.

The requirements are as listed:
You need to record yourself dancing pogo, while simultaneously singing "God shave the Queen",
upload it on the youtube; also recite one of Cicero's speeches (of your choice) backwards;
and last but not least - you must write a few laudatory speeches of Alex's culinary expertise.

They change throughout the years though.

I can think of only three broad characteristics of being a moderator (gleaned from this and other websites):

1) Do Not Volunteer To Be A Moderator!

Anyone who volunteers to be a moderator should automatically be disqualified. Why? Because they either:

a) have no idea regarding what it takes to be a moderator;

b) are engaged in a "power grab" that will give them authority over the general membership;

c) are seeking to "even the score" between themselves and at least one other member;

d) all of the above.

2) Being a Moderator Is a Thankless Job!

The first thing to remember about being a moderator is that it's not about keeping people happy or being liked.

On top of not getting paid or compensated in any way for their efforts, moderators will spend most of their time telling people not to do things. Whenever this is done, people will hear The Voice Of Authority even when the moderators say it nicely. When moderators are doing their jobs right, they will be hated, scorned, cursed, insulted, and accused of bias, incompetence, and personal vendettas. When moderators are doing their jobs wrong, the same things will occur, but the other moderators and even the Administrator may take part.

3) There Are High Expectations For Moderators!

Moderators are expected to:

◾ Be kind and courteous toward all members and trolls.
◾ Be helpful to members and answer their questions.
◾ Explain The Rules & Customs of this website.
◾ Ensure that those Rules & Customs are followed on this website.
◾ Follow The Rules & Customs of this website.
◾ Deal with spam, trolls, and infractions of The Rules & Customs of this website in a swift and decisive manner.
◾ Warn members before suspending or banning their accounts.
◾ Write a clear and fact-based report as to the nature of the suspension or ban.
◾ Show maturity. This includes refraining from sarcasm, snarkiness, and general trollery on this website.

I may be right, I may be wrong, I may even have no freaking idea of what I'm talking about, but there it is.

still obsessing over cicero, are we
yeah, this ^^ is pretty much what it was like when i became a mod in 2014. it's changed since...i think he wants you to recite beowulf now while preparing the dishes yourself.

in all seriousness though, from what i've seen, the section process works like this:

*current mods select active users who most closely follow the guidelines Fnord indicated in his post. the number of names we come up with depends on factors like how short-staffed we are at the moment, what qualities we believe are missing in the team, and whether or not we find enough eligible people. the list is usually pretty small, rarely exceeding four, though in april 2015 five new mods were appointed. these were B19, Skilpadde, envirozentinel, Adamantium and nyxjord. the latter two are no longer active unfortunately...

*these users are contacted regarding their selection and are asked if they'd like to join.
if yes: we forward that response to alex, who USUALLY will give that member moderator permissions. then i write a huge post in the mod chat explaining the guidelines and tools as best i can.

if no: thank them for their time and move on.

i say "usually", because there have been a couple of instances where a member confirmed their desire to join the mods after we picked them, and alex didn't appoint them for whatever reason (i'm sure he has them). if we don't get as many new people as we would like, due to a combination of that and enough people saying "no", then we'd start over from the beginning.

hope this clears things up for you.

Yeah, I don't want to be a mod. Could not be arsed with it to be completely honest. I was just wondering on what basis they're selected.

yeah, your recitation was so much better than mine

In my experience based on many forums, the staff chooses good candidates and then one will send a PM to whoever is at the top of the list. Most who are asked if they want the job turn it down. I was asked here once upon a time believe it or not and turmed it down. Can't remember by who. Maybe cornflake. That was before I made the mistake of entering into political discussions.

Make me a mod , I volunteer , me me me

I'll bring my own hammer

^ sockpuppet heads would be rolling.

^ You knows it.

I wouldn't want a green moderator name , I want it to say 'Puppet Killer'

I vote for Ferris

oh the biggest fun was to be threatened with having the throat slit, having a voodoo spell cast on some of us, not to mention being threatened with the US legal codes, since you know, issuing someone a warning here is an excruciatingly important matter of national security. not to mention being accused of wanting to send an armada to Spain, since really, we've nothing better to do but to collect the novices for the army, and send them whenever the need arises. did i mention that of course, we're monsters, who else would bother to moderate here?

on one other forum i was a bitchy witch, oh those were the days

And I vote for Bueller!

bah humbug, i don't want that bag of fleas anywhere near.

Ooh Stick You! , your mama too and your daddy.