The Role of a Community Moderator

[Rob]

In the last few weeks, a few of you have contacted me about what a Community Moderator does and how does someone become a moderator.

Back when this Corvette Community began in Sept. of 2000, traffic was fairly light since both the site and the forums were fairly small. It was easy to handle the forums and number of posts at that time. Obviously we've grown quite a bit in just a little over a year and due to our current size and my responsibilities elsewhere in the site, I'm not always able to be in all the forums at all times. Hence, we have "Community Moderators".

Below is an excerpt that I found on forums run by Scott Burkett at WetCanvas.com. I think he did an excellent job at summing up the role of a Community Moderator and his quote is used here with permission:

Communities are emotionally demanding. You want a community moderator who is able to deal with anyone who enters the community without creating flare-up and problems. This requires a calm, firm, gentle hand and a mixture of warmth and resiliency. Imagine you have to leave this person alone with your children and you'll have a pretty good handle on the set of characteristics you're looking for. This is probably the most important trait, and one at which people are notoriously bad at self-assessing.

A successful community will require lots of personal attention at the start and then eventually become too big to manage. The community moderator has to have both a strong nurturing ability, and the wisdom to know when to stop nurturing and hand control over to the leaders who will naturally arise within the community. What you want to avoid is someone who likes to manage every detail of a project - these people will not give over control gracefully, and will eventually crush the life out of the community. Instead, you want someone who can oversee lots of different things, without feeling the need to directly control any of it.

Communities grow in ideas. A good community moderator is interested in new ideas, receptive to different opinions, and can help organize information in a way that promotes new learning.

Flexibility in thinking, and active-seeking of new ideas and knowledge, is imperative. Also, an ability to organize materials is helpful.

The community moderator should have a good handle on the subject area. Someone who has gone through the same experiences as their members is liable to have a better ability to guide a discussion. In [client-named remove]'s case, this may be more than one individual, given the breadth of the industry.

A community moderator should be able to think out loud in writing. You're looking for a kind of openness with information and knowledge, and a lack of fear about looking foolish when thinking out loud.

In past conversations with our Moderators, many of the thoughts and ideas that Scott expresses above have been mentioned.

Contrary to how other related forums may be run on the internet, I expect our Moderators to be courteous and act professionally when dealing with the Community Membership as a whole. In essence, they are an extension of myself within the community.

For all intents and purposes, they are traffic cops for the community. Their primary responsibilities include the following:

• Keep controversial topics that foster opinon and sometimes hostility, grounded and focused in order for the community to remain productive, friendly and inviting
• They help to insure that the community follows the guidelines that have been established (linked below every forum page)
• Some of them help me test out different parts of the site prior to official release

Remember one thing, our moderators are not paid for their services. They voluntarily provide their time and expertise to the community.

Each and every moderator is well aware of my overall goals for the Corvette Action Center site and my desire to not only run a professional site, but also, a professional online Corvette Community. However, we are human, and we do make mistakes. If at any time, you feel that a community moderator is not performing his/her job as outlined here, or you do not agree with how one of them has handled a particular situation, then by all means, contact me and I will be more than happy to jump in, assess the situation and take appropriate action if necessary.

This Corvette community is not a dictatorship run by a group of military dissidents. I consider it to be a democracy. With that said, I am always open to comments and/or criticism regarding the Corvette Action Center web site, this community and the people that help run these forums.

 

[72 Bluz]

My compliments

I participate in other communities, both vette and non vette/auto communities. The CAC is by far, head and shoulders above the rest. I am especially impressed with the moderators' professionalism and eagerness to help others. This is truly a family place - both in a community sense and a personal one. The fact that one can go anywhere on the site with their spouse or children looking over their shoulder and not have to worry about running across something offensive in one way or another is of great value to me. Rob, I am very appreciative of everything you and the moderators have done to make this community what it is.



Bill

 

[Patti]

I agree with Bill...he summed it up perfectly. Rob, you and the moderators are first rate and have given us a vette website
that we can be really proud to be a member. The friendship, helpfulness and information on the CAC makes it truly a place
to enjoy conversing with other vette owners.

A big thanks to all of you.
Patti

 

[danl72]

I totally agree with everyone. This is the best community on the net. Thanks Rob for starting and keeping the community going and having the # 1 community around.

 

[Her 92]

I agree too!:grinsanta The other corvette community I belong to, you can't always find someone there! Here you can always find a post or something to read and it's always clean! I really appreciate all that you and the moderators do, Rob!:xmas

 

[Rob]

Thanks for the kind feedback everyone. It's definitely appreciated.

 

[Ken]

And, on behalf of my fellow moderators, I want to thank you all for the kind words as well.

_ken

 

[Tom Bryant]

Thanks again.

I would like to add that being a moderator here is made a lot easier by the good people we have as members. This is truely a great place.

Tom

(Uhh...Ken....Did you know we weren't getting paid?)

 

[Ken]

:L

 

[Eric]

Re: Thanks again.

I would like to add that being a moderator here is made a lot easier by the good people we have as members. This is truely a great place.

Ditto! As one of the newest moderators, I have to add that the oldtimers:L were a great help. Between them, Rob, and the quality members here at the CAC, being a mod has been great.

Thanks guys!
- Eric

 

[Guy]

I can't ad anything that hasn't ben said, so I' just ad another
THANK YOU!!!! This place IS the best :J .

-Guy

 

[ssvett]

OK, I know I'm getting in on this a little late but, the atricle by Scott Burket was very good and now even, I know what a moderator is but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,could you tell me ah, er, a where does Ken fall in this ? :s :gap ;stupid :L ............hehehehehe.....Steve

 

[Tom Bryant]

:L :L :L :L +

 

[Stryker_78]

You guys/gals? are doing a fabulous job for CACC. It is a wonderful place to go for insight and feedback. The professionalism and kindness is topnotch. Keep up the good work.

 

[Rowdy1]

Not Second To Anyone

I've thanked Rob and the Boyz many times and will continue to do so. I know how much time I can spend in front of my monitor just looking around or searching for something. To think that everyone involved in the running of this site is a volunteer is truely remarkable as I would bet, even they can't say how many hours are spent doing what is asked of them. In a time when we so often don't seem to have the time to do what we want for ourselves, these people unselfishly give their precious time (and lots of it) to ensure that we, being the family of CACC can log on, read, enjoy, contribute, learn, show pictures and brag about our baby with no effort. It's almost taken for granted that what we see is the way it supposed to be, not giving a second thought to how much time and effort has gone in to what you're reading and ALL the fantastic features this site has to offer. I've met other members through the key board that live 3000 miles away and I know I've made a friend with mutual respect in areas that have nothing to do with a corvette. It's called bonding, life's experiences, call it what you like, The CACC is #1, because of, not in spite of Rob and his wisely chosen close knit group of people. I for one am very grateful to be able to come here. THANK YOU

 

[bradfordsvettes]

DITTO :BOW ;worship

 

[AmosF16]

It's a great place because it is a community. Thanks to all for the (usually) thankless job you do. Andy

 

[JonM]

Re: Thanks again.

(Uhh...Ken....Did you know we weren't getting paid?)

You know damn well Administrators are paid twice as much as mods.

 

[vettepilot]

What really amazes me is how much time they have on their hands... LOL Really you guys and gals do a super job, heck just trying to keep a bunch of Corvette enthusiasts in line is trying enough, but to interject knowledge too....
Thanks for a job well done!
vettepilot

 

[Ken]

Ya ever hear of a thing called "devotion?" Although actually in my case it is called "OBSESSION!" :L