Overly Positive

On every Moderator's wall

I would have to say that at least every day sandwiched between love notes of “learn to mod” and “u $%#%#” are a couple of people who wonder why I take the time to actually moderate forums. They wonder, especially in an environment where no pay is forthcoming and burnout level is high, about why people put themselves through the wringer.

Let’s assume at least for the remainder of the post that I am a fine upstanding moderator with ethics and morals, and that I’m not one of those moderators who relishes the chance to hit the ban button on some worthless person who decided to say something negative like “I hate purple socks”.

Moderators are like the traffic cops of the forum highway. They watch posters whizz by, and while they can’t stop some of the “accepted” behavior that goes with being on a forum with other anonymous geek friends, they do stop the ones that cause trouble by weaving in and out of other posters with reckless abandon and driving under the influence of drugs that make them shot flames from their mouths. Now, I’m not devaluing the idea of being a cop – the police will always have my respect for doing what many of us aren’t willing to do by putting themselves in real danger. But like cops, many moderators have motivations for becoming one, whether it’s to keep order, to advance their own personal fulfillment, to feel like they are protecting others, to give back to the community, or to simply receive perks.

I’m a community builder. There’s something interesting about building a sandbox and watching the people mess around in it all day. Sure, once in a while you have to kick out the bully that’s wrecking all the sandcastles, but most of the time, people are willing to come and share opinions, show off each other’s sand achievements, and generally forge relationships and a bond with their fellow playmates. It’s the kind of thing you see constantly on a children’s playground and it still has value today, whether it’s in project teams, or in businesses, or in developer studios with strike teams, or with even forum moderators. Community is great, I love it, I like cultivating it. I hate seeing it get destroyed and I really dislike people who go out of their way to pee on the sand castles because no one knowss who their are so they can get slapped across the face repeatedly.

I’m a masochist for community work, at least on a moderation level, because the people who build community and the people who forge it across racial, religious, or belief system lines create something special. Without all the usual terribly positive tone of most of the posts here, I can say that I work hard for community because it deserves to have a chance to grow in whatever wa y and in whatever parameters it chooses.

I’ve been a “cop” many times – on forums that have police that sit around all day posting lol cats pics and letting the community do their Darwinistic work for them, and on forums where rules and regulations are handled withthe iron fist of banhammering doom. But the consistent has always been creating good community, who can take pride in it and say “I’m a member of this community, and that’s awesome. You should join”.

Of course the short version of it is, I’m a sucker. That might make more sense.