# Moderators, how many are needed?



## Elchimpster (Jan 31, 2007)

First off, this isn't intended to be inflammitory. Not at all. Just asking a rhetorical question really.

I think we gave a good moderator crew. Nothing against anyone either. 

My question is in light of the fact (well, at least from where I'm sitting, maybe it's just a perception) that we have maybe 5-10, maybe 12 actually active posters. I'm certain that a LARGE majority of the membership simply lurks or logs on very infrequently.

The folks who ARE regular posters tend to self-regulate. Online forums are pretty simple; not exactly rocket science you know. Moderators should be around to move topics on occasions and maybe act as damage control during flame wars, which thankfully this place doesn't really have (an amazingly cool side effect of having the forum set up from the get-go as being a place to be cool to eachother instead of being a bunch of egotistical children. ).

So my question comes out as really...with a small number of actual live, real, posters, who largely self-regulate...do we need more than maybe two mods and a couple admins?

Two admins because having a backup is a big deal, especially when something like the database goes tits up, or the forum gets spammed, and something needs to be done...and the admin is on holiday.

Another point, mods should IMO be a duty, not a club really. Whoever is most mature, and active should do the duty, and should activity drop (due to RL or whatever gets in the way) ...or if maturity takes a dive  the mods should bow out for someone else able to do the job. Post count is a false positive in selection as we all know that post counts can be easily pumped up by silly inane, meaningless and worthless posts. Been there, done that, burned the T-Shirt.

No dishonor or anything. No bonus cookies. Just be available to do the job, and if you get busy, no problem, have someone else take over.

As much as I like all the mods we have, and as wonderful a job they've done and all...it seems like we have several times as many mods as needed.

Does it matter?
Not really.
Just a thought and a topic for conversation.

Gentlemen?
Your thoughts?


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## ThunderBolt (May 30, 2007)

who cares if it is imflammatory...its something for our beloved legion of moderators to deal with.


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## wertypop (Feb 25, 2007)

The most important thing is to have people that enjoy it!(which is the case of the hard line Mods at the moment  )But its always good to have back up on some things,and naturaly people will leave and turn up to fill the gaps.
But if its not broke dont fix :wink:


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## Elchimpster (Jan 31, 2007)

ThunderBolt said:


> who cares if it is imflammatory...its something for our beloved legion of moderators to deal with.


Nah, inflammatory isn't how I work. You can get more accomplished without it.


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## ThunderBolt (May 30, 2007)

Elchimpster said:


> ThunderBolt said:
> 
> 
> > who cares if it is imflammatory...its something for our beloved legion of moderators to deal with.
> ...


true, but at least then theres something for the mods to do.


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

> but at least then theres something for the mods to do.


lol. :lol: 

Heres a list of the Mods and Admin bods to save you all flicking back to the moderation team post.


 
[*]*Chief Administrator* - *Jezlad*
[*]*Co-Administrator* - *Jigplums*

[*]*Moderator* - Skcuzzlebumm
[*]*Moderator* - Anphicar
[*]*Moderator* - The Wraithlord
[*]*Moderator* - Longbeard
[*]*Moderator* - Viscount Vash
[*]*Moderator* - cccp_one
[*]*Moderator* - Jacobite


As to how many we need I don't really know. The current team gives a good balance of ages,insights and locations/time zones.
And with the current ratio of Mod to Member we are al tooled up for expansion. _*Vash*_


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## Slade (Sep 7, 2007)

Elchimpster said:


> First off, this isn't intended to be inflammitory. Not at all. Just asking a rhetorical question really.
> 
> I think we gave a good moderator crew. Nothing against anyone either.
> 
> ...


I'm relatively new here so I can't comment on how the MODS here act, or what their role is; or how good they are at the implementing the forum rules. But I don't think it matters how many mods are on the go at one time, unless everybody is a mod :hyper: ; it matters how those mods act. If mods sit back, monitor and interject when forum RULES are broken, then they are doing just what most mods sign up for. Most mods I know on other sites are quite often active posters (though strangely they seem to be reactive rather then proactive to starting threads). When mods get power crazed (and they do) and start throwing their weight around and abusing their privileges then things go down.

As long as mods work together and act fairly and justly I see no problems with numbers IMO.


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## Anphicar (Dec 31, 2006)

IMO, it shouldnt matter.

Unless being a mod is a club--which, here it isnt. We dont have a "mod caht" or anything.

We only ever post on forum issues in the "Mod" section.

Also--The number of mods has come up before, and actually, a few days ago, and I think we have enough. As you said, members here are great and self-regulate. (Rhyme!) 

We have very little trouble, etc. But there are reasons we have "upped" our mod numbers.

One being that when VV dissaperead, we said hey--lets make someone else a mod, and Jac was given that honor. But then VV came back. :lol: 

Little things like that, you know? 

Also- I have mentioned in a mod post, that for now, we needn't have any more mods until maybe around 1700-2000 members. Perhaps more, with the nature of our forum.

But my question is: Does it matter then, if modding isnt a "club" that is exclusive here, how many we "have?" 

But yes, we dont "need" any more.


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## Elchimpster (Jan 31, 2007)

Honestly, if we had only two mods...I think we could easily say "we don't need any more" as well. That's kind of my point. There's nothing for the mods to do, so why have em?

I realize some folks might feel like they earned it, or like it means they are special, or maybe that they don't want to get sacked. Honestly, those things IMO shouldn't matter at all.

What should matter IMO is that mods are active and doing something to essentially "earn their pay". Not everyone can say that. Some mods do more than say Hi to every newcomer and say "cool" to every new idea or post. Some don't.


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## Anphicar (Dec 31, 2006)

Some are also harder-pressed to get on. Some also prefer to lurk a bit more. 

All do more than you think.


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## Elchimpster (Jan 31, 2007)

I'd be interested to see two things: 1. More mods chime in on the issue (though it's doubtful anyone would recommend themselves for sacking) and 2. More member input. Of course, most of the active members ARE mods.

Honestly, in the end it really doesn't matter. What is...IS.
Just fodder for thought and conversation.


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## DaemonsR'us (Jan 25, 2007)

Also remember that Mods like VV and wraithlord were made a mod so they could help out jez when it came to doing new things around the forums, and even though its not as much an issue, its nice to have them around if something does come up imo


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

IMO there isn't really a problem at the moment - nothing is really going wrong with the current amount of mods, sure its a lot but is it really effecting the quality of posting?. Sure Jez and Jig could probably do the job by themselves if needed but its a lot less stressful for them if they have more people to help.

As previously mentioned each of the mods has their strenghts and weaknesses - for me: I don't have much experiance with Army Lists and stuff like that so I leave it to others but I can do other things. 

Some of us (myself included) arn't active in the chat room sure but that doesn't mean we arn't committed to the site.

Basically the way I see it is "if it an't broke, don't fix it".

Just my opinion though.

PS - Wraith is currently away on holiday with his family - hence his absence.


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Thought I'd chime in on this as El was canvassing opinion, so here's mine.

As I see it, the question of 'how many mods do we need?' can really only be countered with another question, 'for what?'

In other words, what do want the mod team to do? I think we're all agreed that there isn't too much flame-war intervention required on HO, so we don't need mods to do that thankfully (not much, anyway); there's always the occasional post that needs fixing - moving to a more appropriate forum, editing with code to fix links (thanks again Vash!) and that sort of thing, but that's not really a big job; and then there's just being wise and experieced and answering queries and requests - but you don'y have to be a mod to do that, just wise and experienced and helpful - which of course, is what gets you invited to join the mod team.

It may seem like I'm going to say 'on that basis, we don't need so many mods' but I'm not. I'm gonna say 'we need to know what we want mods to do'. Anphicar says that the mods do more than the rest of us think - I'm sure that's true. After all, what's the point of a secret cabal if you don't do anything with it? :lol: But anyway, I'm going to make a few suggestions about how I think the mod team should work.

First, mods should state where their ares of expertise lie - if I have questions about the cult of Tzeentch, I'd expect Wraithlord would be able to provide the most authoratative answer; if I'm inquiring about painting Slaaneshi marines, I would expect Vash to have some ideas; who would I expect to know about modelling Tau, or playing against Dark Eldar, or building Necron terrain? No idea. Might be nice to know that sort of thing.

I think mods should take acertain amount of responsibility for areas of the forum and intervene in them more frequently, to move things along, or to post up new topics if things on a forum are going slowly. Not every day, it's not like I'm recommending that the mods have to come up with 3 'topics of the day' or anything. But if on occasion we're attracting 450 guests to the forum, and if a lot of our 'paper' membership lurks without posting (I suspect that a lot of the paper membership signed up, asked a few questions, got or didn't some responses, then just went away), I think we owe it to ourselves, to them, to those who went before and to future generations of Heretics to make the discussions interesting, so that people do come back, and hopefully cease to lurk and start jumping out and shouting at goats (if that's the opposite).

Part of this would be taking responsibility for looking back through old posts and bumping threads that might be relevent (BTW, if mods do this, I think they should use their bump to explain why - the OP can just go 'bump' but I think mods should contextualise/justify this!). I also think mods should be 'pro-active' (f^€%!~g hate that term) about intervening in current threads, especially if activity on them is slow, most especially if questions are unanswered. Also, as I say, being ready to start new topics if a forum is running slowly - when guests come along and see that there are sections of the forum (not just threads, but whole sections) where no-one has posted for maybe a week or more - much more in some cases - they 'may' think, not that we're so cool that we know nearly everything - which is of course true - but that we're quite dull and don't have much conversation. :shock: Coz some people are like that.

So part of the job of being a mod, I would suggest, is being more helpful and encouraging to posters (especially new posters), more ready to trawl the archives for relevent stuff, more ready to start new topics... in short, being a top-notch forum member, and then some (a bit like being a veteran sergeant really).

Anyway, that's my 2 quids' worth (inflation, it's terrible) and I'm going to have my dinner now, thanks for listening y'all.

:cyclops:


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Damn It! 
An imformative and constructivly made post that holds valid points.

I'm gonna have to go and do some work now............and I was only in it for the power.............................MUHAHAHAHAHAHAH!


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

I HAVE RETURNED!!!!

Heh, when I first started reading this thread I actually read the first line as "Fuck off, this isn't intended to be inflammitory". Had to do a double take on that one 

We do have a larger number of mods than is usual on this site but I don't see it as a problem. All of us have different strengths and do different things here (for example, I run the painting competitions and help out as much as possible in the Modelling and Painting sections). There are no plans for new mods at this point and won't be for some time now as we are fully equipped now to handle this site as more and more people join in. HO is a well behaved forum but the mods are usually on at different times so we have the site covered pretty much 24/7 and there are usually just little things that we do to keep it as such (moving topics, posting to encourage discussion, etc). I think Red summed it up nicely here:

"So part of the job of being a mod, I would suggest, is being more helpful and encouraging to posters (especially new posters), more ready to trawl the archives for relevent stuff, more ready to start new topics... in short, being a top-notch forum member, and then some (a bit like being a veteran sergeant really). "

I agree fully with this and that is exactly what we try to do.


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## jigplums (Dec 15, 2006)

Interesting thread. It is something that firstly the mod team has itself discussed very recently, and also that myself and jezlad have discussed on more than one occasion throughout the lifespan (and infact before) of heresy-online.

The moderators here do many jobs, some of which are visable and some of which are more "behind the scenes". It may seem like we don't get much trouble here on heresy, but maybe you should ask yourself if that may be because the moderators are doing such a good job? 

In the admin section we have a guide to moderating, which as you might expect has a guide to what kind of things is expected from our moderators, and other guides and observations that can help us all perform our roles to an excellent standard. Some of our mods have very different functions on the team, and some were invited to be moderators for different reasons. I won't go into every role of the moderators, as like the movies some of the magic would be lost if everyone knew exactly how everything was done, but surfice to say there is alot more to being a moderator on heresy than just moving posts and stopping abusive posts.

Another thing that might interest you guys is that there have in fact been 3 mods in the past that have stepped down. Again for various reason each different. 

At the moment we have more than enough moderators to keep the forum running smoothly, and thats exactly where we want to be. If myself and jez felt someone wasn't pulling there weight then we'd have no qualms about talking about the issue with them, so theres no dead weight for the rest to carry. Some of the mods do more than others, and most of them do more than me or jez when it comes to the daily running of the forum. But thats exactly how they like it, and we need to know that things can run smoothly when were not around. We will often leave thing to them if its not essential that it be dealt with right away, as we can see how efficient the team really is, and it makes them feel special .

At the moment we have decided we dont want to assigned specific areas to each moderator, as for us at heresy its just doesn't fit the way things are at the moment. Its something we may consider for the future, but overall the system we have here is much more suitable.

I'm really proud of the team we have here, and thankful to them and those who were around in the early days for helping make our job so easy and painless. I'm also really pleased with the community we have built and all our regular posters.


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## warrior-of-hope (Dec 20, 2006)

Things run good here so yeah, why chnage things, if jezlad and jigplums want 100 mods i say go for it


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

So, Elc, how long you been a mod mate?

I dunno, how often does it happen? Compare, oh, Homer being made Saftey Officer at the power plant. And stuff. :wink:

Ah well, plus ca change and all that... "here comes the new boss... same as the old boss..."

'Boris the cyclops...'


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## Elchimpster (Jan 31, 2007)

Well aren't I the hypocrite now?


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## cccp (Dec 15, 2006)

yes, yes you are. but, if there is such thing as a good hypocrite, im sure you would be one of them.

now, everyone have an e-beer!


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## Anphicar (Dec 31, 2006)

Elchimpster said:


> Well aren't I the hypocrite now?


I didn't say it! Heehee.


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## jigplums (Dec 15, 2006)

As the astute may have noticed the mod team has changed recently, with 2 guys stepping down from the role. This was not due to anyone doing anything wrong. but just that they were finding themselves no longer able to dedicate as much time to the heresy as they had previously. 
Thats not to say the door is locked to them in the future, should they find there love for the site re-kindled. Both were very valuable to heresy, great posters and exactly the kinda guys we want on the team. But for now they've stepped aside.
Myself and jezlad will always try to do whats best for the forum, being a mod isn't a club for the cool kids or anything like that. My best mate, who i was best man for last year was a mod on this site in the begining. He got busy, and we asked him to step aside too.


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