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Who'd be a moderator??

2K views 14 replies 11 participants last post by  DanTwoLakes 
#1 ·
I'm not complaining I'm just wondering what makes a mod? Mods here I think do a good job, but it confuses me the heck. There's obviously stuff that goes on in the background and I guess joe blows like me just have to figure it or just don't ask. People pop up and disappear regularly??
Can any mods on here explain why they do the job?? I never could, I'm not puta savvy enough!

Later gator
Russ
 
#2 ·
I'm NOT a Mod here but I have been for many years elsewhere and I use to own a very large successful forum for many many years. Moderating a huge site or a small site can be a friggin nightmare like you have no idea. It can also be a second job and quite time consuming if you don't keep it under control.

There were nights I would come home to 20 PM's and everyone wanted me to call them and have looooong conversations on the phone. Maybe someone just paid 20K for a new motor and it blew up on the first pass so they attacked a vendor. Maybe it was a female member that a bunch of dogs were harassing. Maybe it was a vendor complaining about a member or a member complaining about a vendor. One thing is for sure, it was always something....

So to answer your question you become a Moderator to make a difference. You need to have thick skin because sometimes you have to tell a member or vendor they are wrong and you are not doing what they suggested. Other times you may have to agree with them and take action to correct a problem. For this reason you try to pick mods that are respected members in the community so they will get respect when they step in and make a decision. If it's done right hell you wont even notice who the mods are.

In some cases it can be an easy job but in others it can be very trying at times, I've had many quit on me through the years because they just don't like being the police and pissing people off. Bottom line is no matter what you do you can never satisfy everyone all the time. So every time you close a thread, or ban someone, or edit a post, or take a side, your going to piss someone off.

Most Forums have a behind the scene section you can't see where the admins and mods discuss reported threads, problems, complaints, etc...
Its a very important part of the forum because it gives admins and mods a place to talk about both sides of a problem without the masses pointing them in a certain direction. Sometimes they themselves won't agree so they will make a decision based on majority rules or the actual forum rules, even if they may not agree with it. Even as the owner of the old forum I would sometimes be out voted and have to say ok maybe they know better than me (and ya sometimes I would say screw all of you were doing it my way, LOL...)


It's a fine like most don't understand because they don't have to unless their on the other side of the fence. With all that said I do have to say this Forum is ran very well Hats off to the Admins & Mods here :thumbup:
I've been here many years now and I've never seen over policing, I dont need to see what policing is going on, and I've never once had an issue with a member, vendor, or staff. It's a great forum with great information and great people. AMOF I dont even know who the mods are so that means their doing a great job :welcome:
 
#5 ·
Well stated, Rob. This site is a quality forum, a stable, smooth operation, thanks to the excellent leadership of the admin and moderators. I am a moderator on another large automotive forum, and, as this one, it is managed in the same way, and welcomes everyone as long as the forum rules are accepted and followed. Sometimes, I'm not the most popular person, because you have to make decisions that many may not agree with, but it's always done for the good of the forum. It's always good to know that someone's wife or children, or anyone for that matter, could visit a particular site without fear of being insulted or offended, and just enjoy the forum for what it's meant to be.
 
#3 ·
All I know is I want to thank the mods here at Hotrodders as this is one of the very best forums on the net. I want to thank you all for doing what you do, which personally I think is a hell of a good job!

Brian :thumbup:
 
#8 ·
Fame fortune and all the bennies we get.. Yeah sure.. Must be kinda stubborn or something to have been doing this for nearly 10 years. Must be the calluses on my end regions I guess.. Or my social life is severely lacking..

Sam
Hmmmm, And I thought moderators were chosen for their objectivity, honesty, and ability to communicated factually. :D:D:D

John

PS Thanks guys. This indeed is a well run forum. Knowing when not to share an opinion is sometimes more important than sharing the right opinion. I too appreciate the moderators we have. Thanks again!
 
#11 ·
I do a lot of stuff of this type stuff on Facebook.
I have a couple pages for discgolf, that I run with some other admins helping me.
Plus, I admin in a couple of other group pages, one for disc golf, and one for 37 -38 chevys.

And I am really not sure why?
It does take a ton of time, I get tired of everyone else's drama.
But they all involve stuff I enjoy, so I just figure it comes with the territory.

And to the Mods on here Thanks for putting up with us.
 
#12 · (Edited)
I had a very hard time early on with this site as there was a moderator who really had it out for anything remotely related to StreetBeasts cars that he would change most conversational threads to the topic of berating Streetbeasts. It was as if the owners of Streetbeasts slapped the man's spouse or something. Granted, the owner of Streetbeasts was/is a real scumbag who's now deservedly rotting in jail.

Additionally, it also didn't help that the forum's founder really liked playing the role of victim for just about most manufacturers if they moved to either China or Mexico. The world of business is getting smaller and with it the challenges of maintaining lower costs come with it too. This needed to be understood as a lot of companies would otherwise have to close their doors.

Did he even finish the car he was building?

Bottom line is I got thick skin, stuck around to document our build and the other guys ... they're both gone.
 
#13 ·
I had a very hard time early on with this site as there was a moderator who really had it out for anything remotely related to StreetBeasts cars that he would change most conversational threads to the topic of berating Streetbeasts. It was as if the owners of Streetbeasts slapped the man's spouse or something.


[ LATECH] Streetbeasts did lose the lawsuit as you know


Granted, the owner of Streetbeasts was/is a real scumbag who's now deservedly rotting in jail.


[LATECH] So aren't you berating the guy too?




Additionally, it also didn't help that the forum's founder really liked playing the role of victim for just about most manufacturers if they moved to either China or Mexico. The world of business is getting smaller and with it the challenges of maintaining lower costs come with it too. This needed to be understood as a lot of companies would otherwise have to close their doors.

[LATECH] Plenty of people in this country feel like a victim, or feel left behind due to our governments weak position on trade regulation and such. Face it ...our country has been lagging in keeping up and some of it comes from poor regulation/deals and policy.
What do you do when there ARE no Jobs?










Did he even finish the car he was building?


[LATECH] No clue. Why don't you PM him and ask?

Bottom line is I got thick skin, stuck around to document our build and the other guys ... they're both gone.

[LATECH] so the problem is?????????
 
#14 ·
I'll be serious here before this thread goes offtrack into neverland.

The real reason I started with Hotrodders was I wanted to find a place where my children could go back in time and read about their Dad and maybe learn of some of the things I did and learned, I was lucky enough to apprentice under a whole slew of old timers that passed knowledge onto me and didn't want that to go to waste.

Fixing cars may one day go the way of the Dodo but I hope the hands on knowledge does not, someday...someone...is going to do a search on something contained here and either learn something or have an "Aha" moment which helps them.

Thats it, no glory...just a hope for a permanent placecard before I forget it all.

I've certainly done worse things with my time and got less in return.;)
 
#15 · (Edited)
I don't know about any of the other mods, but I have knowledge I want to share about my specialty, which is upholstery. I'd have given anything 35 years ago to have a place I could go and get questions answered quickly by somebody who does it for a living.

To become a mod, you have to volunteer to do the job, and then all the existing mods discuss you and what and how you post, and then vote on who gets to be a mod. If you want to know what goes on behind the scenes, the mods have a forum where we post about problem members, nasty posts, and other mod specific things. Usually a mod wants to know if he's correct in punishing someone for bad behavior. We do this every time a mod wants to permanently ban someone before anything happens to a member. We all want to be fair, and we all know that the heat of the moment is not the time to discipline. I personally have only permanently banned maybe two guys in all the years I've been a mod. BTW, all we are told to do is to watch the board, enforce the rules, and post about our individual specialties.
 
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