King_Ubu
07-15-2009, 03:11 PM
Why you should become a mod?
The short answer is very simple. Because I would do the work, because I would think that "Oh my, I'm the moderator at one of the largest PS3 trophies sites on the net... I'd better justify this position!" I don't like people who typically want to be a moderator just for the different user ID badge or some romantic sense of getting respect or having "POWAAAAR" *waves arms in the air.* You do need to work, you do have to go and read topics you have no interest in, you do need to pay attention to areas of the forum that you would usually neglect if you were a typical member.
That is something that I would do, I wouldn't just go into 'my favourite forums' and lock a topic or two. I'd look at some of the forums that are a bit neglected by people, I'd go into the forums and topics that are in a bit of disarray, find out why they're in that state and do my up most to fix the problem. Or at the very minimum bring it up in the staff forum for a general consensus as to what can/should be done.
I've been a moderator on several forums in the past, they vary greatly in terms of their size (both site size and member base) and their link to the site in which it's a fan site of, some cases it's been distant, other times it's been extremely close, to the point that we've had an official community relations official register and be highly active.
I would like to think that I know how to moderate a forum, I've done it for a long time now and I would like to think that I am very good at it. When it comes to moderating a board, typically a moderator is seen as someone who locks topics, edits posts, and occasionally gives people a warning or two... But I don't think that’s all they should do.
I think that moderators/forum staff should be seen as genially working and doing something for the forum that they serve. They need to be there to enforce not only order, but also be reassurance for people who are having troubles (no matter what they are, e.g. help around the site or even issues with fellow members etc.)
However, I also believe that they should also be doing more 'backstage' and 'behind the scenes stuff' not just coming up with potential ideas for improvement to the site, both in terms of staff operations and forum functions. But also through investigation... Which I shall explain in the next question you requested answered...
What can you provide which others cant?
One thing that I'm extremely proficient at when it comes to moderating the forum, is that I can tend to spot and keep an eye on trouble makers before they have time to actually cause havoc or make people miserable.
Take any member, any status, and their profile tells you a lot about them, do they have a user"name"? Or is it a random mish mash? Have they taken time to pick an avatar? Did they bother to fill out their profile? Do they have a signature? If so, how much care have they put into it?
People who want to be here, tend to make an effort into their profile, they think carefully before they register, before they fill out their final details... people who don't want to be here or who have been in bother in the past and who wish to continue do not, their goals is to get in as quick as possible. Care is lost. These are the people to keep a close eye on until they establish themselves.
Why we should pick you?
Like I said before, I've definitely got the experience and the knowledge to do the job, (without blowing my own trumpet to much there... but by all means give me a shot at it if you would like me to demonstrate that), I can do all the investigating and actually go out into the forums and work for the forum, to justify the position, not just say "I'm a mod! I'm a mod! Quick boys! Behave yourself or I shall send you a warning!" Which does bring me onto another area.
Giving people warnings... nobody likes to do this, nobody likes getting them. But you need to be able to do this, and you need to be able to do it in a way that the person in question can deal with and that will get the point across... Whilst it's all very well saying "Please don't do that again" (which in around 90% of cases will work just as fine), but if they don't get the message, you do need to change tact, I'm not saying that you must be aggressive to the point where the line between rule enforcer and breaker are blurred, but you certainly must not be worried about people accusing you of spoiling their fun, if someone is being an arse on the forum, or towards someone else, you must deal with it, and if they ignore you, you have got to try and get the point across before you then take action which does 'spoil their fun.'
But with regards to giving people warnings, you don't want staff acting like loose cannons, they must be able to react and deal with the needs of the site. This again is something I can and would do, a forum is not a solid thing, it's members are people and they change on a daily basis, a staffer has to be able to recognise this and adapt to it. There is no point in a staffer being one type of person, if there’s a strict moderator around, his actions will not go down to well if the general tone of the site is highly pleasant.... but likewise, a pleasant and nice moderator will not make much impact if someone or a group of people are deliberately trying to ruin things for people.
One thing above all that I would like to do and believe that I can offer, especially with my position, is an encouragement to put effort into posts and have people make topics so much more than they are at the moment. There’s a lot of random posts and posts that just say "I like trophies... massive..." and that’s it... what use does that really have? It doesn't tell us much, doesn't really help the topic... doesn't do much of anything. I want to try and set a high standard for people to follow.
If you're not on the internet, you wouldn't give yourself such low standards, you'd always want to do well, you'd always want to excel, why should online be any different? People put voices and opinions on posts as much as they do faces, if you make really short and really poorly worded posts, people are not going to take you seriously or respect you. I want to encourage a different style of thinking; I want people to give reasons for their opinions, to give detail and to make an effort. Some people may say it won't work, but it does, I know it does because I've seen it happen before, because nobody wants to think of themselves as being second best. So in my position I would like to encourage others to aspire to make posts and topics that are valued and not as disposable as "I don't like that... massive..."
Do you think you can help improve the site?
As a moderator it would be part of the duty to help improve the site, the idea being to make the place feel like a good place to visit and get help from with the ultimate goal of getting trophies.
But if you mean with more administrative duties, such as member conduct and how we could make this place look and feel a lot better, I don't wish to go into too much detail as to what they are, as if I am successful in my application, I would like to first get an idea of how the present staff operate and how the 'backstage' functions work before I march in and proclaim "Theres gonna be changes around here!" because there is no point in making such statements if what’s already in place is working and therefore not needed.
But something I would like to try and do, and given what would be my position would make this a lot easier, I would like to try and organise more community events, something to bring the site members together and generally have some fun, even if it's something simple such as a big party in home, to something like let’s try and get as many people as we can in a night as many trophies as possible.
However, once I get an idea as to how the staff facilities work, I would definitely be proposing ideas for improvement if I felt that it was needed.
I don't know if there is anything else you need to know or would like to know, I have a university degree and I'm a part time writer hence why I make long posts... not that it takes me too long to do mind since I'm used to it. But if you need to know anything else, please let me know.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope to see you all in the staff forum at a later date.
--- King_Ubu
*fingers crossed*
The short answer is very simple. Because I would do the work, because I would think that "Oh my, I'm the moderator at one of the largest PS3 trophies sites on the net... I'd better justify this position!" I don't like people who typically want to be a moderator just for the different user ID badge or some romantic sense of getting respect or having "POWAAAAR" *waves arms in the air.* You do need to work, you do have to go and read topics you have no interest in, you do need to pay attention to areas of the forum that you would usually neglect if you were a typical member.
That is something that I would do, I wouldn't just go into 'my favourite forums' and lock a topic or two. I'd look at some of the forums that are a bit neglected by people, I'd go into the forums and topics that are in a bit of disarray, find out why they're in that state and do my up most to fix the problem. Or at the very minimum bring it up in the staff forum for a general consensus as to what can/should be done.
I've been a moderator on several forums in the past, they vary greatly in terms of their size (both site size and member base) and their link to the site in which it's a fan site of, some cases it's been distant, other times it's been extremely close, to the point that we've had an official community relations official register and be highly active.
I would like to think that I know how to moderate a forum, I've done it for a long time now and I would like to think that I am very good at it. When it comes to moderating a board, typically a moderator is seen as someone who locks topics, edits posts, and occasionally gives people a warning or two... But I don't think that’s all they should do.
I think that moderators/forum staff should be seen as genially working and doing something for the forum that they serve. They need to be there to enforce not only order, but also be reassurance for people who are having troubles (no matter what they are, e.g. help around the site or even issues with fellow members etc.)
However, I also believe that they should also be doing more 'backstage' and 'behind the scenes stuff' not just coming up with potential ideas for improvement to the site, both in terms of staff operations and forum functions. But also through investigation... Which I shall explain in the next question you requested answered...
What can you provide which others cant?
One thing that I'm extremely proficient at when it comes to moderating the forum, is that I can tend to spot and keep an eye on trouble makers before they have time to actually cause havoc or make people miserable.
Take any member, any status, and their profile tells you a lot about them, do they have a user"name"? Or is it a random mish mash? Have they taken time to pick an avatar? Did they bother to fill out their profile? Do they have a signature? If so, how much care have they put into it?
People who want to be here, tend to make an effort into their profile, they think carefully before they register, before they fill out their final details... people who don't want to be here or who have been in bother in the past and who wish to continue do not, their goals is to get in as quick as possible. Care is lost. These are the people to keep a close eye on until they establish themselves.
Why we should pick you?
Like I said before, I've definitely got the experience and the knowledge to do the job, (without blowing my own trumpet to much there... but by all means give me a shot at it if you would like me to demonstrate that), I can do all the investigating and actually go out into the forums and work for the forum, to justify the position, not just say "I'm a mod! I'm a mod! Quick boys! Behave yourself or I shall send you a warning!" Which does bring me onto another area.
Giving people warnings... nobody likes to do this, nobody likes getting them. But you need to be able to do this, and you need to be able to do it in a way that the person in question can deal with and that will get the point across... Whilst it's all very well saying "Please don't do that again" (which in around 90% of cases will work just as fine), but if they don't get the message, you do need to change tact, I'm not saying that you must be aggressive to the point where the line between rule enforcer and breaker are blurred, but you certainly must not be worried about people accusing you of spoiling their fun, if someone is being an arse on the forum, or towards someone else, you must deal with it, and if they ignore you, you have got to try and get the point across before you then take action which does 'spoil their fun.'
But with regards to giving people warnings, you don't want staff acting like loose cannons, they must be able to react and deal with the needs of the site. This again is something I can and would do, a forum is not a solid thing, it's members are people and they change on a daily basis, a staffer has to be able to recognise this and adapt to it. There is no point in a staffer being one type of person, if there’s a strict moderator around, his actions will not go down to well if the general tone of the site is highly pleasant.... but likewise, a pleasant and nice moderator will not make much impact if someone or a group of people are deliberately trying to ruin things for people.
One thing above all that I would like to do and believe that I can offer, especially with my position, is an encouragement to put effort into posts and have people make topics so much more than they are at the moment. There’s a lot of random posts and posts that just say "I like trophies... massive..." and that’s it... what use does that really have? It doesn't tell us much, doesn't really help the topic... doesn't do much of anything. I want to try and set a high standard for people to follow.
If you're not on the internet, you wouldn't give yourself such low standards, you'd always want to do well, you'd always want to excel, why should online be any different? People put voices and opinions on posts as much as they do faces, if you make really short and really poorly worded posts, people are not going to take you seriously or respect you. I want to encourage a different style of thinking; I want people to give reasons for their opinions, to give detail and to make an effort. Some people may say it won't work, but it does, I know it does because I've seen it happen before, because nobody wants to think of themselves as being second best. So in my position I would like to encourage others to aspire to make posts and topics that are valued and not as disposable as "I don't like that... massive..."
Do you think you can help improve the site?
As a moderator it would be part of the duty to help improve the site, the idea being to make the place feel like a good place to visit and get help from with the ultimate goal of getting trophies.
But if you mean with more administrative duties, such as member conduct and how we could make this place look and feel a lot better, I don't wish to go into too much detail as to what they are, as if I am successful in my application, I would like to first get an idea of how the present staff operate and how the 'backstage' functions work before I march in and proclaim "Theres gonna be changes around here!" because there is no point in making such statements if what’s already in place is working and therefore not needed.
But something I would like to try and do, and given what would be my position would make this a lot easier, I would like to try and organise more community events, something to bring the site members together and generally have some fun, even if it's something simple such as a big party in home, to something like let’s try and get as many people as we can in a night as many trophies as possible.
However, once I get an idea as to how the staff facilities work, I would definitely be proposing ideas for improvement if I felt that it was needed.
I don't know if there is anything else you need to know or would like to know, I have a university degree and I'm a part time writer hence why I make long posts... not that it takes me too long to do mind since I'm used to it. But if you need to know anything else, please let me know.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope to see you all in the staff forum at a later date.
--- King_Ubu
*fingers crossed*