What does a moderator do?

[BurgessLau]

The technical design of this site is superb. The site offers a lot of value already and has the prospect of offering even more as the owners continue to make improvements.

I am considering volunteering to be a moderator. I have hesitated for two reasons. First, I am concerned that the rules of behavior are not clear enough, specific enough, and intolerant enough.

Second, I have hesitated because I have no idea what a moderator actually does. For example, what equipment does he need? How much computer savy? How much time? Is he responsible for the whole board at a particular time of the day, or is he responsible for a particular area -- such as metaphysics and epistemology -- all day, or some other division of labor?

I have little money, simple equipment (a laptop), and primitive computer skills -- but some time available (I am retired).

How do I find out what the job of moderator involves?

P. S. -- I have had some experience in setting up a local Objectivist group and "moderating" it. Our local group's website (programmed by Brad Williams) -- www.aristotleadventure.com/pao/ -- has positive and negative guidelines that have helped us stop vermin at the gate. In only one instance did I need to expel a current member. Of course, those guidelines are suitable to an organization that has a purpose different from that of ObjectivismOnline.net.

[Neurosophist]

I am considering volunteering to be a moderator. I have hesitated for two reasons. First, I am concerned that the rules of behavior are not clear enough, specific enough, and intolerant enough.

I second the explicating, refining and bolstering of rules of behavior, they should be on the homepage.

[DavidV]

The only equipment you need is a web browser and an active mind. The technical aspects of moderation are easy to learn and will be familiar to any forum participant. As for the rest of your questions, here is the standard email I send out to new moderators:

Thanks for volunteering <Name>. You’re now a moderator.

If you haven’t already, you should review the forum rules here, especially the last part:

http://ObjectivismOnline.com/content/view/13/25/

Things to keep in mind:

There’s no obligation to read all posts or even visit the forum on a regular basis. Just keep an eye out for obvious trolls, rudeness, inappropriate material, etc. If you want to rebuke someone, you should “warn” them using the warning options should now be able to see for everyone. You can also enable moderator preview if you want their posts to be moderated for some time.

If you want someone banned for good, send me their name and IP address. If you start doing this on a regular basis, I will set you up with administrator privileges so you can do more advanced stuff. If you have any questions about anything, just send me an IM.

You can also move, split, and merge threads to keep them on topic and in the right forum. Again, no pressure to read everything. I would rather have mods follow up on one or two suspicious posters at a time than try to keep up with everything.

Thanks!