How to choose moderators from community members

So, among 2300 registered users, there are +/- 100 active users who regularly post, read, talk to other people, invite other people, practice interlinking, learn Markdown: someone more, someone less.

But it’s obvious those skills are not what we’re looking for when choosing a mod.

  1. What are the top 3 characteristics of people that one should grant mod permission?
  2. How mods are different to Level 4 users in terms of their goals and skillset?
  3. How many mods a community needs depending on its activity and other measurements?
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Showing up regularly is good. As is reading, starting, and replying to topics. And giving Likes and Inviting others.

I think the number of helpful Flags would be a good indication that a member is familiar with a forums policies and cares about the health of the community
https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/e74b9ee5da8cc7c436b0f0bc6798bbfd93cf9091

5 Likes

I wrote up some thoughts long ago here:

The TL;DR version is:

  • above all else, they must participate heavily, and plan to do so for a long time in the future

  • even temperament and patience are huge

Beyond that, I strongly advise that you have several moderators and make sure they check with each other on anything difficult. If it is straightforward (obvious spam) then they can obviously handle it alone, but when things get hairy, they should have a policy of checking their response with at least one other mod to make sure they are setting the right tone.

20 Likes

I shared this with my community… so good. What a great baseline.

I’m not sure I can answer those bullet points but you may find useful information on this site: Managing Staff | ManagingCommunities.com: Community Manager Blog.

I had not moderated a forum for a few years and looked to that site for a refresher on ideas, and generally find his advice and commitment to the topic excellent.

3 Likes