Question for mods about being a mod

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Well, as I'm a site admin on a forum and a moderator on another, my experience has actually been pretty challenging at first and the situations was quite scary but once I started getting the hang of it, I actually gotten pretty good at handling situations even if there was any conflicts but then at times, there are people that just love to take advantages.

However you can just be yourself how you would be on a forum which I just tend to do anyways but without having to vent my frustration out on anyone.

I give warnings and sometimes chances depending on the severity of how the person broken the rules.

My experience of it has actually been pretty fun but sometimes pretty time consuming.

Could this be any help to you?

Just like anyone/everyone else, moderators are really only people. So yes, sometimes.


Great minds think alike, eh?!

Thank you mods, it sounds like hard work.

I’ve never been mod here, but I have been mod on 3 other sites. Two of the other sites had a queue system which means that everytime a new user posted, their first post had to be approved by a mod. Not all forums have that system, though, in fact most don’t seem to have it. On forums that do it’s reasonable to expect that you’ll also check new users IPs to check against banned users.

Other tasks include keeping the tone civil between members, editing and deleting posts, moving topics to other parts of the forum, locking topics, banning users when necessary. And as others have already said, thick skin and delicate touch! And don't mix up edit and quote! lol Did once, thankfully I discovered it before I hit submit!

Part of it is also about welcoming new members and be helpful when members need assistance with site-related issues.
You need to be on the site a lot and you need to be a frequent poster so the users there will know you. I’ve been on forums where the admin promotes people that they know from elsewhere and that the users don’t know and therefore don’t have confidence in, and it’s not a smart move on the admin's part.

And you shouldn't be afraid to ask other mods or the admin if you're uncertain about something. These people are dedicated to the site and they should be able to understand that you're new at it and help you ease into things. Everyone's a noob at some point.

It depends on what they’ve done. Your reaction could be anything from a general warning on the forum to PM warnings to the member it involves, or banning members. Depending on what they've done, it's common to give warnings and explain to people before resorting to banning. Within reason, I thought it was fair to give people a second chance to improve their forum behaviour.

@ Moog: Yeah, at times you have to make tough calls, but overall I found my time as mod very rewarding and I'm very grateful I got to experience it.

Thanks everyone for all your advice. He said it really helped him understand what was required of him as a mod.