Let's talk Moderation

[Dan_Eastwood]

@Bas

I am very bad at this, like Simon I’ve only moderated easy to manage forums. So the occasional bad apple gets under my skin more than it should

A fellow moderator coined the word “Numpties” to describe such people, and it immediately caught on. Everyone just seemed to know exactly what it meant from seeing it context the first time.

And yes they can get under your skin, and you have to shrug it off. Some people can’t do that - it hurts them too much - and they don’t last long as moderators. Me, I guess I’m too thick-headed

I’m best suggestion, if a numpty is getting to you, pass them off to another moderator.

Also, if there is any apparent conflict of interest like a nasty dispute erupting in a discussion you are part of, better to pass it off to another mod who is not involved. Share your opinions privately with other mods, but publicly you want to appear impartial.

Finally, when mods have to decide what to do this the numpty, it’s best to deliver a decision “by consensus of the moderators” when to sanction them (Silence/Suspend/Ban).

@Ed_S

for a new, small, forum, there’s a tension between wanting the best behaviour and discussion on the one hand, and wanting the forum to thrive on the other. It’s difficult to ban or suspend users, or have them quit, or threaten to quit, when it feels like every user is precious.

There is a difficult trade-off here. You don’t want to send anyone away, but one belligerent member can drive away a lot of other good people. Don’t let threats to quit bother you - If they can be happier on some other forum, let them go.

@Ed_S

for an inexperienced moderator, there’s a danger of over-moderating, especially when tired or challenged. Dealing with mis-moderation is important here. It’s common for members to feel over-moderated, too, which may or may not be evidence of over-moderation.

Yes, and the previous owner who rage-quit on me was all of that. He thought every problem could be solved by banning people, and it only made things worse. There were no written rules at that point, so no one understood the expectations. I had one week working under him as a mod, and the first thing I did was to write out some basic rules to be posted. He thought this was great, but then he kept changing the rules without even discussing with anyone.