Can someone please explain: 1) How and why are specific moderators chosen, what is the criteria? 2) What is the "mission statement" of the moderators in OT? 3) What are the standards of conduct to which they are held? Are they same as a regular poster? Higher? Lower? 4) What independent powers do they have, and what are made as a group decision? 5) Is insulting someone you disagree with, then closing the thread so you "have the last word" considered appropriate behavior? Thank you.
Since I am a very active member in all the OT forums, I will try to answer your questions to the best of my ability. This one is straight up to the boss. However, if I had to venture a guess, I would say he picks people who want to help keep the board a great place, people who are kind and generous, yet fair at the same time. I would say he picks people who will uphold the rules, regardless of who the rule breakers are. There is no particular mission statement. What I follow is, I do what is necessary to keep the board operating smoothly. We are the soldiers of Rob, is the way I look at it. We try to keep things tidy, keep the flaming to a minimum, and help other F chatters in what they need. We act as the eyes/ears for Rob. This is a tough quesiton. If you ask me, I feel moderators should be held to a higher standard. They shouldn't do something that is clearly inciting and get in unnecessary arguments. However, moderators are also members of F chat. They all have their own personalites, and you have to accept that. Moderators do post what the want, but because they have the power to edit, they can delete, if they think their posts are in poor taste. I will give you an example. I make fun of Jimmy540 along with many other F chat members. I know him from other boards, so it is all fun and games. However, if you look at some recent threads, I went back and deleted all my comments. I felt that though we, as moderators, should be able to have a say in threads, sometimes we should know better than to cross the line. Thus I went back and edited/deleted all my posts. So this question is very give and take. IMO, though mods are held to a higher standard, they are F chatters too. Most moderators do things independantly. We only discuss things as a group, when we feel it is necessary. We have the power to make the decision right there, or discuss it later. Every moderator has his/her own style of moderating. What I do is, if I know what is right/wrong, I will moderate immediately. Rob trusts us to make good decisions, and for the most part we do. However, if I think something is questionable, I usually ask the other moderators and then I take their views into account. However, at the end of the day, all decision is done independantly. There are decisions I make that may not be popular with some moderators or other members, but at the end of the day, I use my judgement, and try to be fair, and do what is best for Fchat. IMO, I don't do that. If I close a thread, I usually just close it, or give a reason if I think it needs one. I never have the "last word" if I am arguing with someone. I don't abuse my mod powers, and I think that is clear. Lastly, one has to realize, moderating is not an easy job. There is really no black and white. If there was, life would be easy. THere are many grey areas, and that is where we have to excersice our own judgements. We are not here to win popularity contests, but rather be fair. Many people don't like me for me editing their threads, warning them, or whatever. However, I get plenty of "thank you" emails for being fair. So it is a double edged sword. I look at being a moderator as a job. I do my job the most fair way I can. However, can't make everyone happy. Hope that answered some questions for you, Steve.
We try to be fair, and we discuss anything that is an issue with each other before enacting it. Feel free to PM any of us or Rob directly if you have any concerns.
