Mine is very simple. As always, though there are many exceptions. Many small boards are operated at the whim of the site operator and perhaps some of his or her friends, and moderators might be able to do whatever they feel like on such boards (provided they avoid crossing their colleagues and superiors). Of course, a board with overly harsh or capricious moderators will lose members, but this may not be a concern for those who operate boards for fun or as a tangential matter to their website's main content.
That said, back on topic. First off, befoer I carry on, let's talk about the roles of moderators. Well, it can vary from forum to forum, just as the purposes of the forums themselves can vary. However, on boards intended to be public, moderators are generally accorded additional powers to enforce forum rules and conduct administrative tasks that cannot be trusted to ordinary users (such as pinning threads—if any user were allowed to pin his or her own thread, chaos would ensue).
Among a moderator's enforcement duties is often the duty to stop flaming and keep the board a friendly place, free of personal insults (but different boards have different standards,
Another thing which I feel the need to point out is about the "Division of power" as most boards are owned and ultimately controlled by a single individual or corporation, which may run them personally, or delegate this function to others. In general, most mid-sized to large boards have a hierarchy of some sort, with owners at the top, forum administrators below, and one or more levels of moderator below that. Smaller boards might not have any dedicated moderators at all, with the site owner personally dealing with any problems.
On most boards, some or all moderators have powers in only certain sections of the site. One moderator might be empowered to act in the programming section, another in the general discussion section, still another in the private section. These local moderators may be augmented by global moderators with powers over the entire forum, or perhaps all or no moderators will be global. Administrators typically have global moderator powers in addition to their more broad-ranging powers to change the board settings, layout, etc.
As an observer watching the veteran Mods in action, I realised was that a strong Mod makes for a strong Forum with strong members. And strong (to say the least) members we had too. In an online environment when loose rules exist, they were always subject to members’ interpretation – or misinterpretation. Of course, this meant that the Forum was a perpetual hot zone of clashing egos, which in turn, meant that Mods had to be on their toes when patrolling the Forum and act swiftly when things get too heated.
During my time as an admin on this network, I’ve had my fair share of dealing with controversies, big egos, personality cults, flaming wars, flooders and the like. I guess it comes with the territory these are things that a Mod has to do– it can't be a case where the appointment is accepted without the responsibilities that come with it.
So for now, before we really kick start with some serious documentation/policy/expectation (?)
First and foremost, my RULE 1 is every single of the staff members need to know where they're standing and they need to know the roles of a moderator is to enforce the rules of an Internet forum (or, as the case may be, their personal whim; the title refers to the powers more than the intent). Almost all moderators on all forums can move discussions to different sections of the forum, "close" or "lock" discussions to prevent users from continuing to discuss them, edit the content of individual postings, and "pin" or "stick" discussions so they remain visible in their forum section even if no new postings are made to them; different forums may give their moderators further powers (see Powers below).
Their roles can vary from forum to forum, just as the purposes of the forums themselves can vary. However, on boards intended to be public, moderators are generally accorded additional powers to enforce forum rules and conduct administrative tasks that cannot be trusted to ordinary users (such as pinning threads—if any user were allowed to pin his or her own thread, chaos would ensue).
Among a moderator's enforcement duties is often the duty to stop flaming and keep the board a friendly place, free of personal insults (but different boards have different standards,
And goes .. RULE 2 : As for me , I have one thing in my own. All my moderators are expected to stay out of any contentious debates, or at least to use alternate accounts to engage in them unbeknownst to common members. On most boards, however, moderators may participate just as any normal member, provided they remain civil and generally obey the site rules. Some boards require moderators not to moderate any discussion or topic they're involved in, and many moderators on other boards take this upon themselves to avoid conflict of interest and bias.
This led to another realisation – that a Mod must have the guts to exercise authority – even when sometimes, the solution or decision is not necessary the best, and does not result in goodwill and fairness to all parties in a dispute. To me, this has always been the hardest part of being a Mod, even in a virtual space when every member is faceless and uses a nickname to conceal his identity.
Of course, there’s the other *mundane* Mod duties too. ;p
Well, I wish I could share all my staff doc pined up on the top of my private staff forum . But for now, that's all I can share.
