Being a Mod 201 - The PM is your bestest best friend
An unscheduled update to the BaM series - I started my “Oh why did I do this to myself” campaign against our resident trolls and flame posters (we have a “Flame Wars board” which has turned into “Troll-spam-biggotry Wars” and I’m trying to drag it up without any bans or revolts - it’s harder but in the long run, much more rewarding. Anyhoo, I’m going through about 30-40 PMs sent and an equal number received in a 2 hour shift right now…It’s phun…
Anyhoo, inspired the PM is your friend BaM, so here it is:
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OK, I’m not technically on shift today but I am
working on procrastination and dealing with my new “friends” in the
flame wars. So while I wait for a couple PMs to come in, I thought I’d
write about them.
Being a Mod 201 - The PM is your bestest best friend
Nobody likes being called out in
public. It puts them on the defensive immediately and they shut down
and oppose themselves to you as fast and as hard as they can. We all
know this, we all have seen it.
The PM however is quick, quiet and surprisingly effective.
People’s public and private attitudes are two very different things. I
can have great chats with people who declare their hatred for me in
public in rather colourful ways simply by PMing them with a friendly attitude.
Coming back to that “being human“
thing, if you are human in a PM, people will generally be human back.
If you are “mod-stick” to them, then they will be “up-the-ass” back at
you.
Most mod work should be negotiations
behind the scenes, it works wonders, it keeps people from hating you
and you get to know some pretty interesting people and will have some
laughs at how different people can be in public and private. (Right now
I’m sending about 30-40 a day…and I’m only supposed to be working 2
hours a day. There is a lot of back and forth.)
Be careful though. Private Message does not mean private. Expect anything (but rarely everything) to be posted with rather creative edits attached to it.
So - Avoid backing people into a corner by dealing with them in
private. People will be much more friendly if you treat them as equals
in private and with a friendly attitude. Avoid saying anything that can
be mis-construed, twisted or otherwise posted embarrassingly on the
forum - or don’t and let us all laugh at you 
Have a good weekend guys.
Twill
Being a Moderator 103 - Common Sense
Nope, it’s not an attempt to insult you, but people forget common sense is your best friend.
I’d like to thank bedub1 again for keeping me on my toes and inspiring today’s BaM with
| bedub1 wrote: |
| And so does this mean I can still be a jackass? |
And so begins
Being a Moderator 103 - Common Sense
So lets recap: Be a Member first and have a personality that makes you human. (I think that sums it up so far)
Now, lets add the quid-pro-quo to this
Common sense rules the day.
| bedub1 wrote: |
| And so does this mean I can still be a jackass? |
Yes, it does. But being a jackass is just going to make your job harder and a LOT less fun in the long run.
Power is given by people to those they respect. It cannot be forced, it
cannot be taken and no amount of titles, powers or tools will get
someone to listen to you if they dont want to and being a jackass
(whatever that means to the person you are talking to) is one of the
fastest ways to losing that respect - even if it gains you some in
other areas.
Using a little bit of common sense (you all know what that is, dont pretend you’re clueless and avoid pretending you dont have any 
) about what people actually mean, even if their wording is a bit off,
about what their intentions are or what is going to piss them off if
you reply with it, will get you a lot farther than shutting people down
and reacting off the cuff.
Putting other moderators down or making their jobs harder is just
as bad, if not worse because then you are just going to make enemies on
the team you have to work with. You are all smart people, you know when
you do it, and if someone says you did - listen to them, even if you
dont agree because it’s not what you see that matters here, it’s what others see and how they react to it.
So yes, be a member first, be a jackass, be whatever you want to be,
but be aware that all you might be doing is making your own life more
difficult and your own time on the CC boards less fun because lets
admit it, people generally dont like assholes but the hate asshole
moderators and if you have that title, then that puts you in the
“person to hate” column. Common sense will get you far in life…it
will get you most everywhere as a mod.
Have a good one, may it be sensical.
Being a Mod 102 - Why mods should have a personality
OK, yesterday I beat to death the fact that
You are first and always a community member, second a player, and distant third, a moderator..
Bedub1, one our wonderful chat mods (for those of you who dont know)
asked the question “Is that really true?” pointing out that
| Quote: |
| With great power comes greater responsibility. I see that I myself now represent CC to some degree |
Well, here is my answer, in a roundabout way (and perhaps a more controversial stance on Community Management):
Being a mod 102 - Why mods should have a personality
You are first and always a community member, second a player, and distant third, a moderator. <–This is how you should see yourself
You are a part of “the powers that be” <–This is how most people, especially newbies, will see you - no matter what I, or anyone else, tells them
You are a tool <–This is how your most problematic people will see you
You will be seen by others as a representative of the site for which
you work, which you are. But this is something which, for your sanity
and enjoyment, I want to change a little bit.
<Harsh reality check warning>: mods
have influence over the site, they are privy to information others are
not, but they are not admins (and there are distinct up-sides to this
fact, like the fact that you can pass the responsibility buck up to
admins). Mods do not make business altering decisions for the most
part, they do not set official policy and no mod will ever get rich doing what they do (believe me, I have tried several times)</end warning>
But community members don’t realize this and hold you to admin standards
and that puts a lot of pressure on you to try to live up to those
standards. So you generally get screwed from both fronts. (BTW, at CC
we do try to give all staff a much much much larger degree of influence
than most sites you might end up working for will, in everything from
community policies to coding direction. If we ever stop listening to
you, or if you ever feel ignored, please please please, do tell me or
Lack because that’s just not fair)
If you then become power hungry and trigger-happy with your mod
tools, people will see you simply as someone out to “cut down on free
speech” and an enforcer of the rules (there will be an entire “Being a mod” on this one later)
So, let’s recap: See yourself as a member first but you need to be aware that people will see you as an admin and or robot tool of the guideline monster.
So why is personality important:
You are human. And you are allowed to be. As a “Member first” I fully expect you to keep being who you are.
Mod powers do not come on a stick which needs to be surgically implanted in your rear end (mine were, but I got a special edition that wicked (one of our mods) will tell you all about, I’m sure).
The danger is that people see ONLY the mod-stick-up-the-ass because you
do become drier, more “the rules say” and more “higher than thou” then
you will just be re-enforcing the opinion that You are a tool because, well, at that point you are.
If you look human, you feel human, you taste human and smell human, you probably are human. And that is a good thing.
Be seen to have a sense
of humour. Give as good as you get[see footnote 1 below]. Play around
with people just like other members do. Stick to what you know and do
that. If I picked you (or if I get to train you) for the mod squad,
chances are you weren’t too offensive in the first place, so just keep
being who you are. If you get too offensive, I will let you
know…believe me I will
When you lock posts, do it with a sense of humour. If you are
chastising someone, make people laugh (at you, not the person, that
only makes enemies).
If you think that someone is flaming on the general forum flame them back but in a kosher way:
Go f*ck yourself mod azzholes
could be responded to in several ways:
Dont: This violates rule number 27.1 of paragraph 94 of rule book 3. <—tool
Dont: How dare you tell me to
f*ck myself you insignificant piece of sh1t <—you take the bait,
they win and will come back for more
Dont:… <—that would be you ignoring the problem and it will come back
Do: What was that? you like to
play with little boys’ rear ends? Thread locked before DatelineNBC
catches up with you. Phew, glad we saved you from that.
Do: Awwww, was someone not
hugged enough as a child? Why don’t I go ahead and hug you with a nice
big fat thread lock and point you towards the Flame Wars board where
there are plenty of nice people to hug you.
Do: I would, but i had trouble
doing that because there was a big old thread lock stuck up there. Let
me go ahead and pull that out and put it on this thread for you so I
can try again. Flame wars over there please.
(can you tell I come from a much less troll-flame background )
When you answer a question, dont just answer it with
| Quote: |
| in FAQ section number 34 it says <quote>I’m a robot who can’t be bothered to answer you like a human being</quote> |
consider being more personal about it:
| Quote: |
| It’s all answered for you in the <url=link to FAQ>the FAQ</url> but let me summarize: there is a witty quote about how your options after you have started the game are to win or lose, but we suggest winning. There are several threads in the suggestion forum debating this if you think it should change, try searching in there for it if you want to add to the debate. Have a great day, may it be FAQ’d. |
By being
the non-standard mod (i.e. one with a personality) it will often catch
people off guard, especially if they are coming from a corporate game
site where the mods ARE robots, and make them do a double take on you,
and perhaps see you as a little more human, the mod squad as a little
cooler and the site as a more accepting place.
Be careful what personality you pick though….some can get you into a
lot more hassle than they are worth. If people stop respecting you, you
are in serious trouble.
OK, that was a bit longer than I wanted, I will try to keep them shorter next time.
I will leave all BaM (Being a Mod) stickied for 2 days, BaM 101 will come down tomorrow.
[footnote 1] Give as good as you get within the boundaries of the
guidelines. Even more so than any rules will do, mods set the
boundaries of what is acceptable when they themselves push them. “If a
mod does it, it means I can”. Sadly this does not work the other way
(”if a mod doesnt do it, I cant”) and so it is very hard to recover
from. This means that I will hold ALL staff members who carry a CC
title to the guidelines as rules
and I will be anal about this - If you are promoting the breaking of
the guidelines, dont expect to stay on the staff. They are VERY basic
guidelines, they are almost a
joke as far as a “don’t do this” but they are VERY far from being
something you can ignore. They dont stop you being who you are (unless
you are a homophobic anti-semite who hates all black people and
kittens) so please, pay attention to them and dont be dragged down to
the level of the people we are trying to drag up.
This is perhaps the one thing that I will be strict about. I will
warn you if you start straying into no-no land and work with you to
change it, but if you continue to push the boundaries I will “ask” you to step down.
Being a Mod Series
OK, so over at ConquerClub.com I recently returned as Community Manager after about 11 months off. There have been a few changes since I left, there are a few new faces, and a few interesting challenges. As such, I have started a series over there in the private sections of the forum titled “Being a Mod” (or the BaM series for short). I have to give credit where credit is due, Scott Hartsman’s post on “Beta Community Guidelines” was the first thing I posted for everyone to read. It’s a great summary of the way a mod, dev, or staff member should approach a community.
Over the next few days, weeks, months, who knows, I will be posting one BaM a day on days that I work. They may be site specific, mod specific or community specific but I will post them here word for word so that I dont forget them and anyone who knows more than me might be able to comment on them 
So without further ado:
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Being a Mod 101 - Member First and Foremost
OK, so like I said, I’m wanting to change up the way we as a mod squad not only moderate, but how we think of ourselves as moderators and our role.
I am posting this here because there are lots of people who work for the site who are not moderators but for whom this may or may not be helpful or applicable.
This will be the first in a series of short posts (because nobody reads long ones) so keep your eyes on these threads.
Those of you who are old time mods will remember my number one rule of being a mod:
You are first and always a community member, second a player, and distant third, a moderator.
I cannot say this enough. But I will say it again:
You are first and always a community member, second a player, and distant third, a moderator.
You were picked, will be picked or might have been considered for a mod job because you are everywhere, you seem to genuinely enjoy the site, and in your general course of action you help other people, represent a certain group of people or displayed a quality which in some way contributes to the site - and you did/do it without any powers, titles or (usually) support.
Adding the moderator title and powers should not change that in any way. none. at all.
Coming to the site should never be work - leave the work stuff to admins, you are here, and should be here, to have fun - because you enjoy it. If being a mod ever gets in the way of your [i]having fun[/i], if you ever hesitate to click the forum button because you [i]should visit the forum[/i], if you ever wonder why you agreed to moderate in the first place - then stop (but tell me you are stopping please).
Your “job” is to keep people the community you love from going to hell. That is it. You get powers and knowledge about the site that helps you do that, but they are only secondary to words, reason and requests which you use in your usual course of being here:
As a mod, you should just keep doing what you were doing before you got mod powers, but now, if people just refuse to play nice, after you have talked to them, then you get to do something about it rather than being forced to accept it.
You are a member who has the power to help the community go in a certain direction, you are not a mod who plays at being a member and forgets why they come here.
OK, I think I have beaten that to death…but maybe not enough
You are first and always a community member, second a player, and distant third, a moderator.
I’ll post one of these a day until all my brain farts have farted. You have been warned