We're creating a Moderators group

Okay folks, as you've probably noticed, KS has grown a fair bit in recent months, and when it gets busy, it gets very busy around here. For this reason, we believe that the time has come to create a small group of moderators, as most forums around our size would usually have. We're looking ideally for 4-5 people.

The responsibilities for moderators:
Upgrade people by adding them to 'Introduced'
Moving threads which are posted in the wrong place
Editing posts to remove inappropriate content or anything which could personally identify the poster.

The right people should be online regularly to see to these day to day tasks as required, be easy to get along with, and should have been here for long enough to know the culture of the forum (at least a month).

The qualifications for moderators:

• You have to say you want to be a moderator. There is no fixed number of moderator slots, but we do like to limit the number for security reasons. PM or following up on this thread is fine. Sometimes we’ll contact a promising member and ask them whether they want it.
  
• We have to know we can trust you to do the job well. You’ll be handling some sensitive information and power. It’s a big, big deal.
  
• You have to demonstrate sound judgment and even temper. It’ll help if you reply to the new-member threads and indicate whether the member is acceptable. You can say things like, “Someone will let you in shortly,” “you’ll need to tell us that you were over 18 when you got together,” etc. Try to mimic the decisions that the moderators and administrators make for themselves.
  
• You need to have a track record of empathy for other members. Empathizing is one of the most important things we do here. Many of our members have no one else to talk to about the troubles they’re having as consangs. Many are terrified of being outed, arrested, or worse. Make people feel accepted, wanted, and safe.
  
• It helps to have a good spider sense about who can be trusted and who can’t. We do track members who we think might cause trouble. Of course, no one ever gets the ninja boot without hard evidence that it needs to be applied.
  
• You have to be fierce, and proactive, about keeping the forum clean of people that don’t respect the forum rules. We're talking about gross violations of our trust like pedophilia, fap stories, etc. It's good to clean up ad hominem attacks and the like, too, but those aren't a banning offense.
  
• You have to be active on the forum or in the other communication channels we use, so that we can get to know you well. It’s okay to take a break if you need one, even a long break, but we have to have some history with you. That goes hand in hand with having a track record.
  

Interested? If so, reply to this post.

Jane

Hi, Jane,

I'm interested.

Best,
UN

Good idea.

Jane and other admins,

Should we add pinning and unpinning posts to the list of not-very-secret moderator ninja* powers? It's not needed very often, but it is needed occasionally.

Best,
UN

*Or "genin," the lowest rank according to the Wikipedia article on ninjas (link).

Wikipedia wrote:A system of rank existed. A jōnin ("upper man") was the highest rank, representing the group and hiring out mercenaries. This is followed by the chūnin ("middle man"), assistants to the jōnin. At the bottom was the genin ("lower man"), field agents drawn from the lower class and assigned to carry out actual missions.

Unowen has now been made a moderator, welcome to the team, you're the only one so far

Come on people, don't be shy about it, anyone else want to help out?

Thanks, Jane! How do I steer this thing ?

Best,
UN

Unowen17 wrote:Thanks, Jane! How do I steer this thing ?

Best,
UN

Congrats on your "promotion" I think you will be a good mod.

cj47 wrote:Congrats on your "promotion" I think you will be a good mod.

Thank you, CJ! So far, I haven’t had to do any actual modding. Good thing, because I can’t figure out how to add new members.

I think you’d be a good one too, if you’re ever interested.

Best,
UN

Gosh, I sooooo wish I could do this! Its really what we put into it, and I'm sure UN will do a great job!

- Kirok

Unowen17 wrote:

cj47 wrote:Congrats on your "promotion" I think you will be a good mod.

Thank you, CJ! So far, I haven’t had to do any actual modding. Good thing, because I can’t figure out how to add new members.

I think you’d be a good one too, if you’re ever interested.

Best,
UN

A little OJT and you will be fine. You got this.

Kirok wrote:Gosh, I sooooo wish I could do this! Its really what we put into it, and I'm sure UN will do a great job!

Thanks, Kirok! Are you saying you’re interested?

Best,
UN

welcome to the mods group unowen ^_^ don't worry, you'll learn quickly!
Kirok, if you're interested, feel free saying so. Though it's understandable if you have other things in your life keeping you busy.

Kirok, please let us know if you're also interested

Perhaps there is a more appropriate place for my questions--
1. What are the capabilities of a moderator versus an administrator?
2. What, if any, functions will a moderator be responsible for that an administrator would not?

By the way, I am not interested because I don't want to have to be on KS regularly That diminishes the enjoyment for me.

J.S. Money wrote:Perhaps there is a more appropriate place for my questions--
1. What are the capabilities of a moderator versus an administrator?
2. What, if any, functions will a moderator be responsible for that an administrator would not?

By the way, I am not interested because I don't want to have to be on KS regularly That diminishes the enjoyment for me.

I understand, being a mod isn't for everyone

Now, to your questions:

1. Admins can make changes to the forums structure, heirarchy, general appearance, and create the rules. Mods cannot do that, they can just enforce the rules we put in place and help with the smooth running of the forum.
2. Anything a mod can do, an admin can also do. The idea here is not for admins to slack off, but for us to build a team of moderators which will come in handy as the site grows and becomes more busy. That way, if there are important changes to be made or the admins can't be online for some reason (it happens, we're only human), then admins can attend to those things knowing that the mods are able to handle the normal day to day activities like upgrading people and stuff.

Jane Doe wrote:The idea here is not for admins to slack off, but for us to build a team of moderators which will come in handy as the site grows and becomes more busy.

Considering that there are eight times as many admins as mods, slacking off isn’t very likely.

On the other hand, I’ve been a mod for two days and have yet to do my first modding. It just hasn’t been very busy. Jane promoted the one new member who came in during that time — AND fixed the promotion machinery so I could do the same. So the admins as a group, and Jane in particular, are letting ME slack off.

Best,
UN

LOL, I did both because I didn't know how long it was going to take to resolve the problem, fortunately it was quicker than I expected it to be

What? You mean we don't have superhuman admins? Inevitably, as things become busier, more people will be needed to manage things. It's good to have this foresight. And it good to see this growth!!

J.S. Money wrote:What? You mean we don't have superhuman admins? Inevitably, as things become busier, more people will be needed to manage things. It's good to have this foresight. And it good to see this growth!!

The only superpower I have are my not-so-secret admin ninja boots! LOL

You're right of course, that's why I wanted a team in place beforehand, so cope with the extra traffic as and when it happens. We will continue to grow and whenever we do I will just expand the mods team

Jane and all,

I contacted OtherHans via PM, and he’s interested in doubling the size of the mod team.

Best,
UN

That's great, I'll get on it immediately

All sorted, he's promoted

Awesome! welcome to the moderator group OtherHans ^_^
though, I feel I should ask this now, should we be cautious about making future moderators, seeing as they can see user IPs?

Rain, as a general rule, we should only make people mods if we trust them. I'm 100% sure about the two we now have, we just need to find three more trustworthy people, and those people will reveal themselves in good time, there is no rush in these decisions.

I am back on alot more. Short bout with Shoulder injury ,operation and now recovery with Physical Therapy.
Your Witch is getting old. lol
Bright Blessings
Wiccan