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