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XenFans.com Article: What incentives do you offer your moderators?
Copyright (c) 2010-2011 http://xenfans.com, author: Iestyn
What incentives do you offer your moderators
Moderators are an important part of running an online community. They are there to help out with reviewing reported content, dealing with people who break the rules and much much more.
Some online communities pay their moderators, which is a very good incentive to do a good job, but on the flip side, without payment, some may find it hard to stay motivated. When you think about it, moderators are just like every other member of the community but with a more important role to play so good content is still one of the main reasons to keep them coming back, but here are just a few more ways:
Getting them more involved
This is a good motivation builder. Letting them have more of a say on how the website is run. For example, new features, restructuring of forums and more. For those of you that have a graphic design for example, you could give your moderator the role of running a small competition like ‘graphic of the week’ or a ‘avatar of the week’ etc. This not only keeps them coming back but it’s good fun too.
Giving them more control
The traditional role of a moderator is editing/moving or deleting spam that breaks the community rules. Giving them more control is good incentive and you know they can be trusted to take care of things when you as an admin are unavailable. I’ve run many communities in the past, and I know how hard it is to find a good moderator that is trustworthy. We’ve all been there. We’ve trusted someone and then they’ve just ended up turning on us, it’s all part and parcel of running an online community. Therefore, I have 2 groups:
Moderator - This group is for new recruits who are on a trial basis. This group has limited permissions such as not having the ability to delete threads/posts and banning.
Global Moderator - This group is for moderators that have passed the trial period and can be trusted, therefore have more permissions and bigger roles to play in the community.
Gratitude
Moderators are invaluable and they are something a growing community can't do without. Therefore treating them with respect and a simple 'thank you' for doing a good job will always go a long, long way. Sometimes this is enough of an incentive to keep coming back and doing what they do best, keeping your community in check.
Just remember, don’t take choosing them lightly. Whilst being invaluable, not everyone can be trusted. Have you had a bad experience when someone has turned on you? Do you have any other ideas of ways to motivate staff members?
Please share your views/opinions and feedback, I’d be interested to hear it. Hope you found this article interesting and informative.
Copyright (c) 2010-2011 http://xenfans.com, author: Iestyn
This article is thinking out loud about the importance of the team members, running your community, and how you have to think about what their time is worth to you.
What incentives do you offer your moderators
Moderators are an important part of running an online community. They are there to help out with reviewing reported content, dealing with people who break the rules and much much more.
Some online communities pay their moderators, which is a very good incentive to do a good job, but on the flip side, without payment, some may find it hard to stay motivated. When you think about it, moderators are just like every other member of the community but with a more important role to play so good content is still one of the main reasons to keep them coming back, but here are just a few more ways:
Getting them more involved
This is a good motivation builder. Letting them have more of a say on how the website is run. For example, new features, restructuring of forums and more. For those of you that have a graphic design for example, you could give your moderator the role of running a small competition like ‘graphic of the week’ or a ‘avatar of the week’ etc. This not only keeps them coming back but it’s good fun too.
Giving them more control
The traditional role of a moderator is editing/moving or deleting spam that breaks the community rules. Giving them more control is good incentive and you know they can be trusted to take care of things when you as an admin are unavailable. I’ve run many communities in the past, and I know how hard it is to find a good moderator that is trustworthy. We’ve all been there. We’ve trusted someone and then they’ve just ended up turning on us, it’s all part and parcel of running an online community. Therefore, I have 2 groups:
Moderator - This group is for new recruits who are on a trial basis. This group has limited permissions such as not having the ability to delete threads/posts and banning.
Global Moderator - This group is for moderators that have passed the trial period and can be trusted, therefore have more permissions and bigger roles to play in the community.
Gratitude
Moderators are invaluable and they are something a growing community can't do without. Therefore treating them with respect and a simple 'thank you' for doing a good job will always go a long, long way. Sometimes this is enough of an incentive to keep coming back and doing what they do best, keeping your community in check.
Just remember, don’t take choosing them lightly. Whilst being invaluable, not everyone can be trusted. Have you had a bad experience when someone has turned on you? Do you have any other ideas of ways to motivate staff members?
Please share your views/opinions and feedback, I’d be interested to hear it. Hope you found this article interesting and informative.
