Are You a Mod for Any Other Forum/Subreddit? What's Your Story?

The Civs 6

King
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May 27, 2020
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Im a lurker on another forum and have been around this form on and off since the mid 2000's, so I'm well aware of these volunteers who give their time in order to help a forum succeed.

I've always wondered a) how do mods decide that they want to mod a community (or a subreddit, I guess that's similar) and b) what is the selection process; and c) how much time do you spend doing it/what does moderating entail?

I am very curious to hear as I've never had this kind of experience before (always been curious about it but too busy with IRL stuff to get involved).
 
In the past at CFC, current staff asked prospects if they were interested in moderating. In my case I wanted to moderate the NES forum where I was very active and asked @Thunderfall if it would be possible. Staff agreed and I started out there. I soon added OT and then worked my way up to a supermod position. IIRC I moderated about 5 or so years. I do not know how they select mods now.
 
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I'm a moderator on another site. I originally volunteered to keep the Alpha Centauri forums clean of spam, then somewhere along the line the owner gave me mod capabilities for the whole site so I can shoot down spambots wherever they crop up. Sometimes I get asked to do something like top a thread, otherwise not much effort from my end.

D
 
Former moderator here, it's been so long that I don't remember the specifics, other than a sense that "if you ask to be a mod you're thereby disqualified". It's fairly challenging work for anyone, and I found that being an active moderator really deterred me from participating on the forums generally, after a while.

Currently I run one Discord server (and have very good help do so) and assist with a few other servers.
 
I'm on the moderator list for several subreddits. I don't do jack any longer. I used to moderate and admin a forum which was just about as large and active as this one at it's height. But the owners of that one closed it down. I've modded or admined a few smaller forums.
 
I used to be a moderator of the developers who made DIPRIP and zombie driver, using the Half Life 2 source engines, many years ago until they just vanished really. I remember deleting a lot of spam, particularly porn spam.

I am a moderator of Stellaris facebook group that is affiliated with Paradox Interactive. It's reasonably peaceful and quiet but very occasionally a few things flare up. Usually I go through posts for approval.
 
I've been a moderator of a Minecraft server for a good bit, went mostly well. But it was only due to me taking the initiative. I don't think I want to be a mod - I neither think I have the time nor the temperament for it.
 
I've always wondered a) how do mods decide that they want to mod a community (or a subreddit, I guess that's similar) and b) what is the selection process; and c) how much time do you spend doing it/what does moderating entail?

a) you are active in that forum, and see that there's not enough moderator activity in that forum. Which happens regularly, because interests change, and many forums are slow at selecting new moderators.
b) none really. As mentioned, if here someone asks to be a mod, that person is disqualified. Otherwise, it's the mods internally deciding that new mods are necessary, and make then suggestions about who would be qualified. Which normally means you are active, helpful and nice. This also means that many qualified people will not be considered, because it really depends on whom the mods see. For myself, I had as additional criterion that the person needs to be at least 18, because sometimes we see some bizarre stuff here, and therefore was against appointing someone for quite a while, but that's not consensus.
c) depends on the time, and the forum. Civ4 C&C was absolutely easy, there was normally hardly anything to do. The Civ5 release was brutal. Sometimes you have flamewars going on, which don't die down, this also takes a while. Most, and most useless spent time is when someone tries to argue with you in a moronic way, but that luckily also doesn't happen on a regular basis.
 
I've moderated a variety of sites for a pretty long time, at various levels. Fan forums, official community forums, modding forums, even Steam discussion forums (ugh). The one thing they have in common is video games, haha.

I have too many stories, honestly, but the common theme is that most are inactive these days. Kinda thankful for it. I always put in a lot of time and I wasn't able to give it up easily. Don't have the time for that kind of dedication anymore.
 
I was a mod for, uh, an Australia-based brony forum, and when the forum died, the discord server

I wanted to mod 'cause it was the first community that felt like home (sorry CFC; but having members be in the same country and occasionally meeting each other IRL made it just that much more intimate). And also I wanted to feel big and important, not gonna lie.

I forgot what the selection process was. I think I just put my hoof up and got picked 'cause apparently they thought I was mature and responsible? And I mean, given that I literally campaigned for mod using this picture, how could they not?

It was pretty chill mostly. There were a few trolls to deal with but in Australian fashion we basically just laugh at them till they leave on their own. More seriously, there was a bit of a debate of where we draw the line between inclusiveness and existing/majority forum culture; bronies had a "love and tolerate" mentality which soon clash with the behaviour of some who use the forums in a way that made the majority feel unwelcome, even though they were not really breaking any rules. The tension was never really resolved but we definitely leaned towards existing/majority forum culture, with some changes made later like banning vent threads which tended to bring out those more problematic behaviours. Later when the forum was less active it was mostly about banning spam bots.

The forum used to have hundreds of active members; it's no longer up, but the community discord server is still going with a couple dozen or so regulars and a bunch more lurkers (and you can still see some of the old forum on the wayback machine, and apparently the invite link there to the discord still works)
 
Does being a mod on a discord server count? Since I’m a moderator at Sombra Mains and Widowmaker Mains (An Overwatch character focused group). Though I’m fortunate that they’re considered off-meta (not that popular competitively cept on niche conditions) characters that they tend to be quiet in terms that very rarely there’s any drama that flairs up.
 
I've been a moderator of a Minecraft server for a good bit, went mostly well. But it was only due to me taking the initiative. I don't think I want to be a mod - I neither think I have the time nor the temperament for it.

You're referring to Minecraft Imperium one you administrate with @Gurra09 , right? I have not been on for 2 months. You and Gurra do a great job managing the minecraft server though. :thumbsup:
 
You're referring to Minecraft Imperium one you administrate with @Gurra09 , right? I have not been on for 2 months. You and Gurra do a great job managing the minecraft server though. :thumbsup:

Thanks! And yep, exactly :) I'm on relatively intensely for short spurts with long breaks, so don't worry about it. Gurra has pretty much taken over at this point as admin; I think he has the ideal temperament for modship. :)
 
I helped moderate a forum back in the day (early 2000s). It was a friend of mine's place, and I learned that giving teenage me power was a seriously bad idea. I still wouldn't trust myself as a moderator today. :lol:
 
I'm a mod for /r/TFC, which is a community dedicated to the goings on of Toronto Football Club. Basically what happened was the other 4 mods all live in Toronto and got season tickets in the first year, all in the supporters end of the stadium where everybody stands and sings and waves flags and so on. In those early days of the club the entire southern end of the stadium was packed with rowdy fans, so it was a great experience.

Knowing that I was a passionate football/soccer fan, my friend (one of the mods) would frequently offer me a free extra ticket.. Him and another group of 3 (other) guys bought into 5 tickets, so there was always an extra for one to share with a friend, family member, etc. (I didn't get my own season ticket at this point because I live 2-3 hours by car away from the stadium)

I ended up going to the first ever home match this way. It was an epic experience, the first ever goal scored in the history of the club, the stadium went crazy and people started throwing these frisbees (i.e. seat cushions that were unfortunately shaped like frisbees) onto the pitch, stopping the action for 5 minutes, everybody screaming and celebrating, it is one of my top sport fan experiences/moments.

So naturally after that I became a passionate fan and would take the greyhound to matches all the time, meeting up with some of the other mods of the subreddit from time to time, etc., also getting involved in posts on the subreddit and eventually they were like "Hey so you might as well be a mod", so now I update the sidebar every week (and have had my own season tickets for 4 or 5 years now, 2-3 hrs is nothing if you really enjoy something)
 
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(Vicariously, as mod of a MUD. There are 2 generations of mods in the family now.)
1. I learned that many gamers have brothers who steal their passwords and then post cuss-words on the net.

2. I learned that my wife is the best gamer evuh!
While my son and I were grinding out levels on a MUD, she inveigled herself onto the admin staff and, after only
6 weeks was given complete authority over the server. It would be like someone starting on cfc, and after a few
weeks, Leif throwing her the keys and announcing that he's going on vacation.
25 years later, she is still sent difficult ban appeals to consider!
 
(Vicariously, as mod of a MUD. There are 2 generations of mods in the family now.)
1. I learned that many gamers have brothers who steal their passwords and then post cuss-words on the net.

While seeing quite some weird stuff, this has never happened to me here :lol:.
Although I knew... at least one pair who was sharing an account, but both behaved okay. Told one of them just to make their own. I don't even remember why they did that.
 
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