The current moderator status are just there, which I gave to people I know to care about the place; atleast to the point they don't want to do anything to ruin the place
Also a multilanguage skill is pretty much a must-have and I only know two languages well myself, which is the reason to have a bigger number of mods.
The moderator tactics I've found to be the best:
- select people you think you can trust and that seem to be interested about the place
- if there are a lot of moderators and forums, ask from the mods for an opinion for a good moderator
- and one thing I haven't done here: ask if a person wants to be a moderator
If this was my only forum, I'd try to do everything The Best Possible Way. Though I've seen things do happen even if they're not done the best possible way, everything is ok as long as I don't do anything really badly several times in a row. I can't keep up the quality line constantly everywhere.
To get back to topic, by giving moderator status to some interested people I've also strengthened community spirit (in my other forums). Meaning, by having some people who stay there in the background for years, you have continuity and a backbone to keep things running. You need new people every now and then to keep discussions fresh and alive though. We get a new member after every five days by avarage, which isn't all that much, knowing that only about 10% of registered members stay very active, active or somewhat active (and some more in the background who just read the forum). By not letting users to decide or volunteer I've made sure I've had nearly no problems on the moderator side and ensured some people to have a lengthened "loyalty" and interest to the forum.
Tenson, Sora: Important changes are hard to decide of; it depends on what people judge to be important. I've seen that often what I know to be an important change isn't all that important to others and what I give a smaller value seems to be of huge importance to others. So importance isn't a good factor or word to use.
At the moment I'm still in the point that it is best for me to do things immediately when I have the interest, because otherwise it is likely to be left undone. Sometimes I wished I could do just simple solutions and didn't need to think all the time if I've done right or wrong and so on. The current way keeps me depressed. Thinking too much.
misssakura: I don't like elitism and I've tried to keep it away from all my forums. This forum is so small that I haven't really done much of anything to control the rules and so on. I guess I've once stated not to curse as people have been pretty wise to know not to do that. Keeping things open for everyone (reasonable) is a good way to keep as many happy as possible. There are enough elitist forums already and I rather host a friendly and content based forum than an inside circle of people who are mean to others.
Another topic that came to my mind of this is that I don't like corruption either: everyone must follow the rules and that includes me as well. This means that in certain situatations a mod or even a normal user can be right about something.
I could soon write a comprehensive guide on thoughts about right and wrong.
