Frequently asked questions about serving as a moderator on Democratic Underground.

Skinner ADMIN

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Thu Mar-18-10 09:32 AM
Original message

Frequently asked questions about serving as a moderator on Democratic Underground.

Edited on Fri Mar-19-10 01:35 PM by Skinner

What are the requirements to serve as a moderator?

The two most important requirements are the ability to work well with others, and the ability to exercise good judgment. The ability to stay calm under pressure is good, too. You don't need to have tens of thousands of posts, and you don't need to have been a DU member for many years. Other than that, our "minimum requirements" are not very strict:

- A few hundred posts,
- Six months of DU membership,
- Donor (or former donor),
- At least 18 years old,
- Uses deodorant.

What is the time commitment for moderators?

It varies. Some of our moderators spend many hours each day moderating, while some others don't spend more than an hour a day. We leave it up to the individual moderators to decide how much time they can spend on the job. Our hope is that if we get a bunch of different moderators with different schedules, we will end up having moderator coverage most of the time. And most days it works pretty well. Even if you only have an hour to devote to moderating on the average day, we'd still appreciate your help. After all, 10 moderators doing an hour of work each are as good (or better!) than one moderator doing 10 hours.

Can I just do whatever I want when I moderate?

That's a big no. Our moderators work on consensus, which means you can't delete a post or lock a thread or ban anyone unless the other moderators agree. There is a record of every action moderators take, so we'd figure out pretty quickly if you were acting on your own. And we wouldn't like that very much. ;) We have a bunch of rules, and we try to stick to those rules as much as possible. To be clear: there are plenty of opportunities to use your judgment -- our moderators are not robots -- but you can't just do whatever you want.

Are the moderators picking on me?

Yes.

Actually, no. That was a joke. The moderators do not pick on people. They enforce the rules. And most of the time, they enforce those rules when an alert is sent. They don't follow people around and harass them.

Are the moderators biased?

No.

Alright, yes, I admit it -- they are biased. But that's because they are human, and we all have biases. But we expect our moderators to be aware of their own biases, and to make an effort to get beyond those biases. And furthermore, by including lots of different moderators with different points of view, we strive to minimize the biases of any individual moderator.

Is there really a hot tub in the moderator forum?

Yes.

How do I apply to serve as a moderator?

How nice of you to ask! As a matter of fact, we are looking for new moderators right now. Instructions are http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/moderator-application.html">available here. (Make sure you follow them. Failure to follow instructions is one of the main reasons people don't get picked to serve.)

There's less than a week left to apply. Don't delay!

Is there anything else I can do to help?

Yes! You can kick and recommend this thread so more people will see it.

Thanks.

Skinner, EarlG, Elad
DU Administrators