I am genuinely interested in finding out what is involved. Are there any Mods or Adminstrators willing to divulge what it is like from "the other side"?
I was wondering about things like...
How many mods are there? How many mods are online at any one time? Do you have a rota? Is there a dress code (sandals and geeky glasses?)?
Are there lots of technical issues and problems to deal with?
How many complaints to you have to deal with each week?
How often do you have to issue bans or suspensions?
Have you ever reported a member to the security services because you think they might be subversive?!?!? :o
Come on, tell me what it's like in the mysterious world of forum management!
Skatiechik
08-08-2005, 11:47
Dull, Dull! and you have to get used to people complaining all the time.
melthebell
08-08-2005, 11:51
just normal (ish) people online whenever they can just like we are now.......when theyre doing other stuff like we do, downloading, surfing the net etc, theyll have this site open, reading whatever they can, looks interesting, or could be dodgy.
They have a special set of controls that we dont, for revealing ip addresses, and buttons to kick and ban etc
this is from my experience of being a mod / admin on other forums not this one, this software could be slightly different.
oh and they wear sandles.................with socks
errrrrrm
sorry mods dont ban me :)
Originally posted by Skatiechik
Dull, Dull! and you have to get used to people complaining all the time.
Are you talking from experience? There must be some "rewards" otherwise why do people do it?
melthebell
08-08-2005, 12:06
Originally posted by Zamo
Are you talking from experience? There must be some "rewards" otherwise why do people do it?
the rewards are to be recognised as doing good on your fave forum, to be looked up to people.
and to show your fair and balanced.
just a warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing your doing something good and worthwhile for the community
Originally posted by melthebell
the rewards are to be recognised as doing good on your fave forum, to be looked up to people.
and to show your fair and balanced.
just a warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing your doing something good and worthwhile for the community
Wow! In this money mad world there are still people out there willing to work for "love"! I'm impressed.
What about on really big forum sites, say like eBay, are the moderators there just "normal" community members or do they pay professionals to manage their sites? Is there such a thing as a "Professional Moderator"?!?
melthebell
08-08-2005, 12:19
Originally posted by Zamo
Wow! In this money mad world there are still people out there willing to work for "love"! I'm impressed.
What about on really big forum sites, say like eBay, are the moderators there just "normal" community members or do they pay professionals to manage their sites? Is there such a thing as a "Professional Moderator"?!?
i dont know about massive sites
this ones massive in the free forum world
evildrneil
08-08-2005, 12:46
Originally posted by Zamo
How many mods are there? How many mods are online at any one time? Do you have a rota? Is there a dress code (sandals and geeky glasses?)?
There is currently an admin team of 11 - which includes the mods and administrators. There are usually at least a couple of admin people around but as the role is voluntary it pretty much depends on when we have free time...
Are there lots of technical issues and problems to deal with?
nope - to be honest there are very few technical issues. The technical issues in running a forum are pretty much to do with the set up and installation - once thats done (barring accident) there should be very few technical issues.
How many complaints to you have to deal with each week?
Its a somewhat variable number - you can bet on anywhere between 25 and 50 reports a day. In addition to this we do try and do some pro-active modding to remove things like spam and to try and keep things neat and presentable!
How often do you have to issue bans or suspensions?
Not very often - bans are very much a weapon of last resort. Sometimes they are used pro-actively (when people are spamming so we can tidy up without new spam appearing) but most often they are the result of warnings (either posted to the thread in question or by PM) being ignored.
Have you ever reported a member to the security services because you think they might be subversive?!?!?
Nope (well not so far anyway!) The forum is open access so is almost certainly being at least scanned for flagged terms or chunks of text by some security service somewhere. However if deffinate threats were being made against an individual or group then we would certainly strongly consider it.
Come on, tell me what it's like in the mysterious world of forum management!
Predominantly dull and time consuming! Oh and you have to develop a thick skin cos whatever you do (or don't do) you are pretty much guarenteed to annoy someone!
melthebell
08-08-2005, 13:03
and they dont do it for love
they frequent public toilets for that :P
*runs away*
Skatiechik
08-08-2005, 13:04
Originally posted by Zamo
Are you talking from experience? There must be some "rewards" otherwise why do people do it?
Most certainly am!
Why do people do it?
It is a necessary evil for a community to prosper and grow.
As evildrneil says, what ever you do it can never make everyone happy.
Originally posted by evildrneil
Its a somewhat variable number - you can bet on anywhere between 25 and 50 reports a day. In addition to this we do try and do some pro-active modding to remove things like spam and to try and keep things neat and presentable!
What!! You get that many!?!? :wow: :wow: :wow:
I've never seen anything on here that I found offensive enough to even consider reporting it! There must be some sensitive souls out there!
Do you have a top 10 of moaning/complaining users? Care to name and shame anyone?
Originally posted by Zamo
Do you have a top 10 of moaning/complaining users?
That sounds like a fun thread to start, evildrneil!
Or maybe we could do a poll on the users we suspect to be the most moaning/complaining and see how it compares with the real result*?
:clap:
*Edit - or maybe it's the same few people who are being complained ABOUT all the time?