How do you become a moderator?

[shartley]

Army

[Mango]

Ohh boy I see where this is going!!

[Vegeta]

I was a mod on a forum about this size once. But instead of paintball, it was a gaming network, and my o my talk about problems. Sometimes, yes it was fun. You get to shoot down flamers, which was my personal favorite. I always had a few comments when I closed a thread, mainly exploiting the fact that the people who flamed in the thread were total idiots. My favorite comment was actually this hilarious picture I had on the server. I sure wish I could find it...

It was a picture of a mentally-ill child, presumably with Downs-syndrome, running with his arms flailing on a track. it said in large text:

"Fighting on the internet is like running in the special olympics.... Even if you win you're still retarded."

I am so gonan go and find that picture now.

Oh and to the person who started this thread, you sure dont have a whole lot of posts for being here since the beginning. Most people that are would/couldbe mods are long time AOers, but are also very active on the boards. What good are you as a moderator if nobody knows you?

I try to keep the mods happy by posting about keeping flaming down and behavior on the best.


Oh, and to be a mod, you gotta be PimpT .....

[manike]

Actually I don't have a video games console but I do have lots of other fun toys I am a gadget/tech toy fan.

Shartley. I've cleared out some of the posts and stuff.

manike

[shartley]

Manike... thanks.

[X-Plosive]

Well I just woke up and that's some pretty interesting reading. As for that Special Olympics picture, there is a guy on PBN with it and I honestly think it's cruel. Everything has been resolved so there's no need to stir up another argument. One thing Sam, I had edited a lot of sentences out and had no intent to attack you in anyway. At first it came off like a compliment and I was sucking up to you so I had to edit it. If you need to talk about anything else just pm me My post counter is pretty low too although I've been here for about a year now.

[shartley]

X-Plosive
No need for the PM... I was not offended. I knew exactly what you were saying. There are however (as Manike pointed out) MANY new members that might not have read it quite the way I did... and simply because they are new.

Often times us older (as in membership, not AGE.. LOL) members can say things that we know other older members will instantly pick up on, but will be missed by the newer ones.

I am also not sending you this in a PM so that there is no misunderstandings left out there... I am NOT upset, I was NOT offended by your post.

[X-Plosive]

I wuv you

[shartley]

MODERATOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pumpamatic]

I think we could use a couple more moderators, yes the coverage is good, but it seems like Phil, Army, and Miscue are always here. I'm not sure if any of them have a real job. I think it would be nice to give them a break sometimes. Of course Tom did give all the mods a nice present once didn't he?

[cphilip]

He he....got yourself a boy friend eh Shart?

Oh one of the things I always mean to point out is how constraining this job can be. Most of you from way back remember when I was kind of the first early "Shartley/Manike" of the Forum. I challenged everything without fear. But politely as I could. I miss and envy now them that freedom that you lose when you are a Moderator. You have to check some of the vigor that you used to use. You have to put it in check because so much you say is magnified. I sit and watch issues and grate my teeth and just hope someone will come along and say what I am not free to say. I do wade in but never with the venom I might wish.

Oh and least you think all os us Mods always agree? Nope. we fight amongst ourselves and hammer out understandings all the time. IN or private place. I do not always agree with them nor them me. But we talk it over and come to a compromise.

Yes we keep records there. And a lot of us keep documents of violations and have our lists of troublemakers Ip's and quotes form them even if they do not get anything but a PM warning or something. We do a lot behind the scenes you do not even see.

Time zones? Well I am on about 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM EST most days during the week. I am on the East Coast. I keep a page open all the time at work. But sometimes I gotta work too! And then I pop in almost any time for a bit at night and on weekends. I have my online status hidden so you will never know if I am here or not.

Today I took the day off work and am working in the Garden so I am back and forth.

Also let me say this that you are ALL moderators. Your reports are appreciated. We don't always agree but we do check them out. It does help us do our jobs so thanks to all of you for helping Moderate this site.