I also really like the culture on this board (well, duh, or I wouldn't be here). People are mature, tend to take the whole thing with a grain of salt and all the heated discussions are conducted in a polite and respectful manner. 

I've never moderated a forum so I don't really know what mods do though I have occasionally seen a mod warning someone who was violating a rule or being rude or something. I'm sure it greatly contributes to attrackting the right kind of people. People who just want negative attention tend to leave this forum once they learn how things go here. (Or do they all get banned? As I said, I don't really know exactly what mods do.) 

I'm sure good moderation makes the difference between a forum full of spam, trolls and angry people and a forum full of happy people having a great time. 

That's how it goes, I guess.

Only very rarely. It does not happen very often that people speculate about sexual preferences, etc. so I usually do not have to intervene. There is really a lot of love and respect for the actors and the whole team on this board. 

I've been a mod since I was 16. 

It was a feeling of pride all the first time I was asked to do it. It was something I very much believed in I got to do. Most of my modwork has been with fanfic. There was a culture of having very sexual fan fics without warnings on open boards where there were a lot of very young people visiting, I knew several members who were 13. So for me it was a commitment to a cause I believed in. I actually created my own job description... Fan Fiction mod... but I also became a global mod. 

I have been modding several forums, never applying for the position but being asked personally by the bosses. (Which to me was a big part in being so committed because there was that pride of the job.) And I loved the fan community (Michael Jackson fans).

Right now I co-own and mod an MJ forum but I don't feel too commited this time... I even paid part of the place... but I lost faith in the community since his death split the fans in several camps who started to fight each other. 


Mods certainly can make or break a place. I used to spy on a forum (because they posted threats about me personally etc.). They were angry about the rules I was enforcing and created a forum completely without rules... where apparently it was even okay to talk openly about what they wanted to do about actual people.... that forum got very out of hand and it died down.

I've had a really bad experience with a mod on another fanforum for an actor. One very popular girl suddenly had a meltdown because she misunderstood something I said, she deleted her messages and made me look bad... it evolved to cyber bullying and I came to a mod who used to be my friend, but was also her friend. I was careful about what I said when I asked for help... without even hearing my side I got a long reply full of so much abuse. 
I'm not one who stand for revenge... but when I left after all that, being the most active member there the forum suddenly died completely. (not just because of me, but also because the actor said he hated his fans)... the only activity the site has had in a year is people commenting on my fan fics! 

Had that mod done her job right and not taken sides, things could have been a lot different... (I did report her to the boss, copied what she wrote and she got a telling off... which only made hell hotter for me). 

EDIT: I just visited the place... apparently they had a bit of a revival lately... good for them! But yeah. My statement is still the same. Mods can make or break a forum

 

Last edited by This Is The Phantom Lady (September 24, 2014 8:37 pm)