Becoming a Moderator

Gilgamesh

WhiteWashMan wrote:

its cool being a mod.

you get to use your awesome powers by:
banning people who dont deserve it,
deleting threads that were perfectly fine,
warning posters who have done nothing wrong,
get abuse from the nice users when you inadvertently hold an opinion they they dont approve of,
get abuse from the nice other posters when you are stupid enough to be asleep or at work or something because you should have been dealing with the huge problem that someone was having with a post,
reminded every day that i obviously have no life
reminded every day that i am a sad excuse for a retard.
get PM's threatening physical violence because someone doesnt like your point of view.

oh the list of great things about being a mod is very long.

but usually i do it becuase i love banning people for no reason, and then watching them post ont he feedback forum...

sounds fun,

need a body guard?

kawaii

Need a slave?

un-ban me...pweez

tba

WhiteWashMan wrote:

i love banning people for no reason

you have just been quoted

WhiteWashMan

kawaii wrote:

Need a slave?

un-ban me...pweez

when you learn to act like a normal human being and can hold a discussion without calling someone retarded, then i may think about it.
until then, no.

tba wrote:

you have just been quoted

ah yes, the excellent, take a soundbyte and use out of context trick.

thats a good one.
but not as good as the ban someone because they annoyed you on the feedback forum....

kawaii

WhiteWashMan wrote:

when you learn to act like a normal human being and can hold a discussion without calling someone retarded, then i may think about it.
until then, no.

I didn't call someone retarded. A called someone who called someone retarded an idiot...

I won't argue with you though... I was out of line...

tba

WhiteWashMan wrote:

ban someone because they annoyed you

Yes SIR!

kawaii

Yikesez! :eek:

Beruthiel

Gilgamesh wrote:

need a body guard?

are you big, nasty and ugly?

fade2black

I personally don't trust anyone that wants to be a moderator.

The Real B-man

Fobia wrote:

Moderators do not turn off computers. We live here.

mental image of mods with piss bags and cans of redbull

RopeDrink

Becoming a moderator is not a ****ing job description that someone applies for - It is just accepting to help out by taking the time to watch over a given forum, generally after a request for help has been asked for by a moderator or administrator in regards to this situation.

What people are quick to forget is that moderators are the people who toil through the daily threads in order to ensure that boards.ie remains a clean read for it's visitors, that abusive posts / posters / threads are dealt with accordingly, misplaced threads and posts are moved to the appropriate areas, that you remain completely unbiased towards others, and remain civil even in the most dire of thread situations, some common sense and reasoning as well as some general knowledge or interest in the topic the forum encompasses [In most cases at least, as it was pointed out to me before] and, of course, slight experience with Boards itself (All of which applies to open forum moderation as well as most public hosted forums - Private forums are different.)

Moderators think they're great

Everyone is capable of thinking they're great - This isn't some affliction that affects only moderators on this forum - Half of the **** that has to be cleaned up on this site is from users who have that very outlook you are tarring the moderators with, which is extremely lame considering you most likely know nothing about any of the actual moderating team.

However, it is safe to say that some moderators here may be quite willing to openly accept the fact that they have taken part in greasing this big boards machine, making it run smoother for everyone, which is a good thing in itself.

But you also have to remember that Boards.ie makes up only a microscopic chunk of the bits and bytes that make up the realm of the internet, which means that anyone who feels that being a moderator here makes you 'cool' (despite it being a very large and successful community) rather silly. Being a moderator does NOT make you more 'hip' than regular posters, it does NOT grant you 'UBAR INATEARNET POWEARS', it does NOT gift you the ability to fart laser beams or throw lightning bolts and it most certainly does NOT mean you are able to throw your weight around whenever you feel like it.

It simply means that you have been recommended, beit by regular posters, other moderators, or administrators, to use a select number of avaliable tools that you can use to clean up the ****ty mess of others - that you are willing to help visitors to your forum anyway you can - are able to step in for other 'cleaners' should one request aid - and keep the administration updated on current events. Some moderators claim that there have been points where they've gotten stressed over a few issues that have arisen on the site lately, and understandably so.

RopeDrink

You have all kinds of appalling giraffe dribble emerging on the site, one common example being the appearance of new users who stroll into a forum, completely ignore the rules supplied by that forum (The Charter) and then bitch and moan when their posts get edited or deleted, despite being informed by regular posters and moderators alike that they are in the wrong. They fail to see that their own ignorance is the reason their posts have been edited, not because 'TEH MODEARAT0R IS A F4GG0T!' thus leading to spammy threads being created afterwards with 'BOAERDS.EI IES SOE BIASED!' themed topics that get regular posters and moderators in an uproar, often leading to big debates about how 'wrong' the moderator was when all he/she did was do their damn simple task. This, along with multiple other forms of ****, has to be shovelled into the fire and sorted fairly pronto, because in deciding to accept the task of being moderator, we accept the responsibility of that forum and must keep it in proper check.

As I said before, it's not a job description, but it can require a bit of work, which is a small reason as to why the admins can be a bit selective in their choice of new moderators.

If you really want to become a moderator, then in my opinion, you should heed these small pointers.

DON'T advertise your desire to become a moderator here, or anywhere else for that matter, be at least 'civil' to the other posters / mods / admins (They're mostly here for the same reasons as you are, afterall), give your feedback and suggestions to your desired forum, help out other users if and when you can, aquaint yourself with the other forums and learn the general layout and simply be yourself. If a situation occurs where a new moderator is required, you may be suggested by other posters / moderators for the task.

You could also take part in the latest new scheme, which basically involves people applying for new forums for the sole reason of wishing to become a moderator, which thankfully, can be easily spotted sometimes, but of course not always. If you do become a moderator, you will soon learn that even the moderators are kept tabs on, and those who go awol or neglect their simple duties are generally dealt with.

Now, let me say that all of the above was typed in an attempt to help the OP understand the 'wanting to become a mod situation' via my own opinion, so some of what is said may not neccessarily be true - Afterall, all final decisions made in regards to Boards.ie are up to it's initial owner(s) and administrators.

I sincerely hope this helped, because this is the upteenth time this topic has been created.

RopeDrink

Gilgamesh

Beruthiel wrote:

are you big, nasty and ugly?

yes, but wouldn't that be something to discuss further in the PI forum, or is that a job description

or is that your 'type' ?

tba

the mods should all post about how they want to be smods, just to relieve the stress.

monkeyfudge

I want to be a monkey.

Why can't I be a monkey?

Giblet

No seriously moderating is great. Reading thread after thread of banal crap all while getting hastled by Internet tough guys who "know" your identify. Of course the most prevalent pm's come from people calling me gay, a nerd, a loser, and mostly that I think I'm some kind of tough guy all while posting behind the safety of their NTL connections pretending to be a tough guy. Ironic isn't it.

No but seriously, moderating is difficult. You try to be fair but sometimes when you ban someone for something "light" you have looked through their post history and seen that they're a serial muppet. A lot of people think they're hard done by boards and make it their mission to make your life a misery. They fail because most people don't care what happens on the internet. It's the sad people who try and cause mischief and think anyone really cares about them or what they do that's the problem. They seem to forget it takes two seconds to ban and erase their posts and they'll be forgotton about. They really just want to be Internet-Superstars, and we're standing in their way apparently. God bless them.

ecksor

RopeDrink wrote:

Giblet

Hahahaha!

DeVore

Giblet wrote:

No seriously moderating is great. Reading thread after thread of banal crap all while getting hastled by Internet tough guys who "know" your identify. Of course the most prevalent pm's come from people calling me gay, a nerd, a loser, and mostly that I think I'm some kind of tough guy all while posting behind the safety of their NTL connections pretending to be a tough guy. Ironic isn't it.

No but seriously, moderating is difficult. You try to be fair but sometimes when you ban someone for something "light" you have looked through their post history and seen that they're a serial muppet. A lot of people think they're hard done by boards and make it their mission to make your life a misery. They fail because most people don't care what happens on the internet. It's the sad people who try and cause mischief and think anyone really cares about them or what they do that's the problem. They seem to forget it takes two seconds to ban and erase their posts and they'll be forgotton about. They really just want to be Internet-Superstars, and we're standing in their way apparently. God bless them.

You should try being an Admin

Giblet and Ropeh have given good responses to this question.

DeV.

aidan_walsh

ecksor wrote:

I was looking for that... Damned boards.ie/gathering not being up to date...

oscarBravo

RopeDrink wrote:

... it does NOT gift you the ability to fart laser beams or throw lightning bolts...

/oscarBravo throws a lightning bolt at RopeDrink and burns a hole in the sofa.

CuLT

I will be shocked if that's not in the album in my sig.

[Edit] it is, though with it's original picture. Oldskool. \m/ /-_-\ \m/


Which I really should have listed in the Digital Art / Design resources thread...

RopeDrink

Ah thanks for noticing my card guys - It has to be one of the least favoured cards created to date. Think this is the second time in four years it's actually been noticed, but then again, I at least 'try' not to be such a pessimistic ranting **** as much as I used to be 'back in the day'.

Lafortezza

RopeDrink wrote:

it does NOT gift you the ability to fart laser beams

Maybe it didn't for you...

CuLT

Zomg Hugz @ J00

RopeDrink

Maybe it didn't for you...

They did give me permission to use my 'Knife Launching Flamethrower + 20 Barbeque Muppet Incineration Damage' Plasma Bolting Bitch Rifle.

I didn't want to mention that, but hey, you've forced me to gloat...

Beruthiel

Gilgamesh wrote:

yes, but wouldn't that be something to discuss further in the PI forum, or is that a job description

or is that your 'type' ?

job description you fool
nobody takes a purdy body guard seriously!


nice to see you back with a vengence Ropie!

Gilgamesh

then body guard it is, Mwahahaha