General moderation policies

[Lee_Ars]

@Dan_Eastwood

In my experience, someone who is actively lobbying to be a moderator may be a poor choice. There is a tendency for control freaks to seek out opportunities for power and control, and it doesn’t work out well. I look for people who work to facilitate discussion even though they aren’t moderators.

I have also very much found this to be the case. Anyone asking to be a moderator is almost certainly not someone you want as a moderator, especially a new user. Unless you’re actively soliciting applications for an open moderator role, the very act of asking is IMO an automatic disqualification.

Edited to add:

@Architect

This is unfortunate, am sad to read this. Some people can be quite unpleasant and difficult to moderate. I don’t want to be one of those people myself, but if am unhappy or in distress about something that can inspire the writing of meaner statements.

Writing “meaner statements” may feel good, but it’s the kind of thing that genuinely hurts good empathetic moderators—people who are almost always volunteering their time.

One of the rules we were forced to adopt many years ago in the primary community I participate in is a hard prohibition against arguing moderation decisions. Mod decisions are final and there is no appeals process. Arguing moderation in-thread results in a thread-ejection and an escalating series of temp bans, with the third one being permanent.

Adults should be able to act like adults, and if not, they should be shown the door.