Obtaining your moderators

Many forums require moderators in order to be maintained and remain appropriate.

I personally like to allow my members to volunteer and send in an application. Although there are some wonderful members that I would love to have on the moderating team, I do not invite them via PM. The reason is because they may feel pressured to say 'yes' -- and that isn't good if they aren't really interested.
If they come to me by submitting an application, it already shows that they are interested and have put effort forth.


How do you recruit yours? Do you personally/privately invite certain members? Do you take applications?

 

Hi

I know it exactly the opposite way.

I think, most people who apply for a team-job want to do the job for the status' sake so they have more power and prestige in "their" community. when work needs to be done, these people often don't participate in helping the other team very much.

on the other hand, i take my time to look for engaged and motivated people. so i automatically have a much greater spectrum of talents, from which i can decide if they fit in my team.

that way, really helpful talents who perhaps don't want to submit an application because they are too lazy or just didnt think of working in a team dont get lost that easily.

in every forum i administrate for several years, i didnt 'fire' a team member once. everyone who becomes a team member through my team's decision, gets the status for lifetime. There may be exceptions, but when you take your time (~6 months for observance of several candidates min.) there isnt much a chance, that you have complete idiots in your team

 

That is a great, varying point of view.

I never though of it that way, but you are correct. However, my community has members that are generally nice people so I have never had that issue.
But I do understand how it can differ on other forums.

I have never had to let a moderator go either, except when their personal lives have required them to step down.

 

I agree with disaster. I feel that most of the time when someone applies for a staff position they do it just so they can gain power, even if it is limited. But there are some cases where people who come forward and apply actually do a great job, and they do it because they want to.

 

My forum has only taken on new mods a couple of times since the forum was founded in 2003. All were by invitation only. Volunteers have never been solicited. Due to changes in life circumstances of several current mods it looks like I'll need to take on new ones again soon.

There are a couple of active members who would probably love the mod job, but they show in their posts they don't understand the rules, and they are frequently inappropriate with other members. This is why I don't call for volunteers.

In the past mod was a lifetime appointment - and at this time I feel that has not worked out. I do want to rotate the mods and am planning to introduce expiring mod terms. Several retired on the job years ago but have not opted themselves out of the management forum, where their comments are less useful all the time. The active mods don't quite understand this audience of non-working mods, or why only a few mods are taking on all the tasks.

And, my mods are all volunteers, and I want to reward them from time to time. The more there are the harder this is to do with any generosity. I don't know how to politely give different benes to different mods when all are technically on equal footing.

That's the challenge I currently have with mods. I need to ease a few out so I can bring in people who are fresh, without the mod forum growing more and more crowded (with people who are not modding.) I need to give all a term limit of 1 year. They are welcome to stay longer, as long as they want, but at each term expiration I need an affirmative statement from them that they will be doing their duties actively.

How do you reward your mods, and make their time worth their while? Mine get free access to all areas of the forum, including those restricted to paid memberships. And free banner ads while they are mods. Occasional rewards such as donations to their favorite charities, or other rewards they can choose. But mostly just knowing they are serving the community, and a lot of recognition and appreciation from myself and the members.

 

Hrm, interesting point. I don't ask I just have my one mod who i make a moderator everywhere. Never occurred to me they rather not be on some of the sites.

-Raymond

 

I cannot think of ways to reward moderators. I honestly don't think it's all that necessary.

They are volunteering to do this and can quit at any time. Although it is a good idea to be generous and thank them for their hard work, it is difficult to do this when you have multiple moderators. I know that if I had one or two mods, I'd give them gift cards to online stores relative to my niche, every once in a while... but when you have 6+ moderators, it's difficult to do that without burning a hole in my pocket.

I'm currently in the same boat as you with needing to appoint new moderators. Many of mine have had to resign due to life issues.
Two of my three original moderators have left. One of them, as well as the fourth moderator are still active. About 6-8 months ago, I appointed a fifth moderator and now she has had to resign... and my last two additions are still active. So all in all, 4 of the 7 moderators I've ever had have resigned, leaving me with three... one of which is rarely active.
This is just too much change happening in just a one-year period.

 

I've had past experience with volunteers in charitable organizations, including a training course on managing volunteers. Of course that was a different context and there are some different expectations, but many of the core principals around expectations of volunteers are the same.

I really don't agree that some sort of reward is unnecessary. Taking volunteers for granted almost gaurantees rapid turnover. The intrinsic satisfaction of the job tends to wear thin. Especially for volunteers, positive strokes are the energy that recharges and keeps them going. Regardless of the goodwill, without some incentives mods wear out faster, and either opt out or just become inactive. It doesn't have to be entirely material, anything that makes them feel recognized and appreciated works. I've given $15 donations to favorite charities, for example. And automatically give them one each of any swag for the forum (had some photo-insert mousepads with the logo to give to contest winners and such.)

I completely agree that it can be shockingly expensive to reward multiple mods. However it is a cost of doing business. That's one major reason I'm looking to have fewer that are more active and reliable. And that's why I'm looking for ways to have inactivity be perceived as an automatic withdrawal from the mod forum. That they don't see themselves as "fired," but that they see it as their own choice to forego their mod status and access by not performing mod tasks.

In all honesty, based on the past volunteer experience, your turnover doesn't sound unusual at all. If I could make a suggestion based on my experience it would be to try to get by with fewer mods, just ones who are committed and active. I've figured out that my 2800+ active members can get by with 3-5 active mods. We'll probably have about 5 so that we have coverage when some do turn up less available for a period of time.

And I'm figuring out how to unstick a few of the current mods who are doing very little, are holdovers from previous management and were never good choices for the job in the first place. Without hard feelings, or at least as little discomfort as possible. They are the ones whose numbers are making the more material rewards more difficult - not fair to the ones who deserve those rewards. Frustrating to my efforts to manage management.

Those're my thoughts.

 

Wow, what a great post 3Phase! Rep+

I thank you for helping me to recalibrate my view on rewarding moderators. It makes perfect sense that you should reward them, especially since they are volunteering because it reinforces their will to complete their tasks.

I am trying to stick with a small number of highly active moderators; but they end up having a personal issue and take a temporary leave, so I bring another moderator on board. The first moderator's temporary leave turns permanent, so I've just completed a cycle... and since so many of my moderators have to keep taking temporary leaves, I don't feel comfortable with a small amount of moderators -- I can't take a chance of them disappearing while I'm not around often. I prefer to be able to leave my board alone for a few days or even a week or two and know that things are running smoothly; and that can only be done if I am sure I have enough moderators to cover for those who leave.
Does that make sense?

 

Thanks for the rep! I hope I didn't sound critical, didn't mean to.

I do know what you mean about disappearing mods. It is definitely an ongoing challenge. All I know is I'm gaining more experience in up front screening of mod candidates, and knowing as much as possible about them, through their posts, before even asking. It's very hard over the internet, in person it's much easier to find people I already know who also know them.

I am accepting that mods are a shorter-term deal than I would wish. When life presses, the volunteer position has to be the lower priority, that's understandable. And it's definitely hard to have a pipeline of people ready and prepared to step in. I am trying to work out a scheme so that 'disappearing' mods are thereby 'automatically' opting out so I am not trying to manage the absent mod, I can just move on to getting a new one. (Some tell you they are not active any more, and some don't, of course.)

Currently I'm thinking of two pipeline sources: If I can develop a set of members who have done the lighter mod tasks for shorter terms (a year or less,) they could become a potential resource if there is a sudden need. And if I can also locate some wise and good people who have some personal interest in the success of the forum (advertisers, possibly) they might be a more stable resource. (That's where a lot of real-life city council members and other community leaders come from - local businesses.)

Or in other words ... management management can take as much effort as managing the forum - sometimes, anyway.

If some gem of a person who is able and willing comes along to take over a leadership management position, that is fortunate indeed. These are unique individuals and it is hard to find them, they often just seem to turn up suddenly. I learned that my own wishful thinking didn't make people I wished to fill that role actually be good at it. Recruiting can bring pressure from a lot of people who would like to think they are such a person, but they don't have the abilities.

I have developed an ongoing list of members who caught my eye as dipolmatic but strong, regulars on the forum, and seemingly attached to the community. I keep their usernames and links to the posts that most show this. That's my ongoing could-be-a-mod list. Which I am about to tap into right now.

I'm working on criteria for mod-dom. What have you come up with? I start my research on their forum posts. I check they are on the forum reguilarly and for enough time to mod some and enjoy the forum some; unfailingly diplomatic, never inclined to temper; do disagree with members but do it in a way that keeps the conversation going; willing to ask questions about why things are the way the are; overall supportive of the current rules. And not shy. I inherited a few where shyness was overcoming their abilities. And through reviewing their posts and asking trusted members I try to understand their life situation. If I hear they are starting college, just had a major life change or started a new job, I know they are likely not to be able to stick around. On the other hand if they are logged on alot and as best I know have a stable life situation they are more likely to last. I carefully ask current mods ... I don't want anyone they don't want to work with. And a few trusted members, confidentially. Better to discover deal-breaker issues ahead of time.

This list is just a start, I feel I have much to learn. How are you going about recruiting / screening new mods?

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And as far as taking chances on an abandoned forum if I'm not around ... this will probably sound kind of awful but this is what I've been doing. I usually do NOT tell the forum or mods of my plans to not be there for a day or two. I also don't post in the mod forum every single day that I am on. It sounds low, but I have learned it is better if everyone thinks I'm around somewhere. I also do check in when traveling.

A few trusted mods I will suss out to be sure they are on the forum and do know they are covering for me. (Ideally I'm not as involved in daily modding as the mods are, anyway - ideally.)

If I must be absent for more extended times I discuss details only with a few of the most trusted mods. The rest have a vaguer idea of what to expect. Very unfortunate, but it's been demonstrated that there are a few people who wait for opportunities to get away with disruption - including mods with an axe to grind with some member that I don't know about.

The one thing I do make sure of is that two or three people have the ability and a repeated go-ahead to bounce a disruptive member in an emergency. I've told the mods repeatedly that they were chosen for their judgment and good sense and they don't need to wait if they see what they feel is an urgent situation. We can sort final decisions later, and I'll back whatever they do. It never fails ... Quiet forum for over a year, I go to Europe and a volatile member explodes. Leaves threatening nastygrams everywhere, won't stop, posts, vm's, pm's several other members ... those members are rattled and even fearful due to the message content ... I did have a few mods with the sense to clap the bad actor on ice immediately. Because there always seem to be a few mods who can watch a house on fire with the idea they should wait for senior management before doing anything. :ohi:

 

If your site makes money via advertising, then send them an Amazon, iTunes, Bestbuy, etc... Gift Card during the holidays. Doesn't need to be much say $10-$15.00. If you're site doesn't make money through advertising or whatever then just send a card. Even an electronic card helps. I know a site that makes enough money that its moderators get new computers every holiday season (and no I won't tell you what one it is as they wish it to remain confidential).

If you sell products on your site, then send them some of them. If you sell a software package then give a copy.

Though really all you need to do is thank them once in a while. Public Thanks are always the best and most gratifying to the person that you are thanking but private and semi-private establish a lot of good will as well. It makes the moderators feel appreciated and determined to keep helping.

If someone does something wrong then work with them to correct it. This means always backing up your moderator's actions in public and not allowing visitors to attack them, even if the moderator is in the wrong. Handle it internally and highligh what they do well while rectifying the issue at hand. Never attack your moderators. Treat them with respect and is if they are employees. They are the public face of your site and if there is public infighting amongst staff, it will turn off people visiting the site.

So the core is be honest with your moderators, show appreciation for their efforts, work with them and not against them, and support them in public.

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To answer the original question...

When I was the adminstrator at SitePoint, I instituted a process where becoming a moderator was two-tiered. They use the same process now as far as I am aware though I am sure it has been modified to fit current needs as well.

First, the moderators were divided into teams and while everyone who made it to moderator status was a super moderator, their area of focus was a category. Each team was built so its members were strong in their assigned category

Each team had a Team Leader, multiple Advisors and multiple Mentors. Team Leaders and Advisors were the Super Moderators. As the Administrator, I worked primarily behind the scenes and with the Team Leaders but anyone could contact me directly if necessary. At the time the teams were Design, Program, Market, Promote in regards to website development. A fifth team, Community was tasked with the welfare of the Community members as a whole. Each team could have nominally up to 6 Advisors and 6 Mentors. This was adjusted due to a category's traffic.

Mentors were in charge of pointing out issues to the Advisors and helping users. This was before there was a report feature in vBulletin.

Advisors helped users through their section and dealt with moving posts or deleting spam community wide. Advisors also helped develop and create threads within their discussion areas.

Team Leaders did everything an Advisor did plus helped develop content for the monthly community newsletter, the Community Crier.

Okay that is enough background, here is how the moderators were appointed.

Becoming a mentor was the first tier. To become a mentor, you were nominated by one of the current mentors on the site. It didn't matter what team they were on. When nominated it was stated what team they would fit into. After a nomination was presented, the members of the receiving team would discuss this. The Team Leader would then make a decision based on that discussion. If anyone in the team could not work with the person, they would not be asked to become a mentor.

After a person was a mentor for a minimum of 6 months they could be nominated for an Advisor position provided one was available. In this case, the Advisor's and Team Leader would discuss it including their activities as a Mentor. If they decided to invite them then the Team Leader would contact them. Once they became an Advisor, its pretty much a permanent position unless they got promoted to Team Leader or Administrator. When I left, I promoted the Community Team Leader to Administrator.

This was back around 2001 when SitePoint had a much smaller community of around 100,000 members. We were able to control, maintain and grow the community with a staff of less than 70 people which I think is pretty impressive. For any large community where I am in managerial control, I would implement a similar structure today.

 

What a sophisticated system, Wayne! I'm not sure I could handle such an advanced system :p

I'm sure this method works best for larger forums rather than smaller-to-average forums, though. Do you agree?

 

Of course. You scale your staff to the organization.

On a small forum, 24 hour coverage isn't as important. So you might have an Administrator and maybe a moderator or two.

When you start getting larger, you will find people who stand out in the forum and are active participants. These will be your first moderators. Personally, I prefer super moderators over bog standard moderators. I would want people to be able to take care if a pressing issue when they see it instead of having to report it.

Once your site is large enough to require 24 hour coverage, this is the time when you can start looking at a layered organization. With this you would take into account the unique qualities of your community and its needs. These could be things like whether you pay your staff or not. For instance, all moderators at vBulletin.com are actually staff so we only add them when we add staff. Right now there are about 8 moderators in total for the site and they are also support staff. However its also not as complicated a site as SitePoint's community is.

 

I totally agree. I have never managed a forum and set up moderators for each section. I think many people tend to add moderators to specific sections based on their knowledge in that area which is is fine, but it limits the moderator's ability to monitor the entire site.