the role of a moderator

Rather like a school yard prefect. Break up fights before they start in earnest. Expell from the playground when necessary.
 
You guys quash riots, perform crowd control, bash heads when necessary, sometimes you use tear gas and water cannons too 😉

(seriously, I've moderated fora before - it's a thankless job - and you can never please ALL the people... so you do what you need to do)

Cheers,
Dave
 
damien.murphy said:
Interesting question, although I do think managers and moderators are quite different, perhaps moderators and supervisors would be more comparable roles.

In any case, I like my moderators and moderation just like I like my sporting referees, namely they let the action run, but are there to step in when intervention is necessary, and guide things back on track gently, when they threaten to get out of hand. Obviously ultimate power, such as closing threads and banning users exists, but I find a good moderator, much like a good ref rarely has to resort to these measures, unless they are absolutely necessary.

Mainly though a good moderator/ moderation team foster a good environment, where people are nice to each other and with minimal nastiness. On that count, I think things run quite harmoniously here, which is a credit to both users and moderators alike.

I've left forums before where people are just not nice, and find rangefinderforum a breath of fresh air, much like an easy cafe full of interesting, easygoing people, and just the sort of place I like offline.
Click to expand...

All kidding aside...
Good post that answers how I moderate on another site...

🙂 Peace keeper

🙂 In touch with current discussions, even though they may not reply...

🙂 Helping newer members find their way around, sometimes entails moving posts to the proper topic section.

🙂 Starting discussions that encourage participation in the Forums, and also share other topic related stuff that can teach us something.

🙂 Other things, maybe being the main Mod in an assigned topic to keep it updated, like a lens sample archive data base....

Kinda new at this myself, but, This is how I Moderate anyway....
 
oftheherd said:
I agree with others, that the moderation done here is very good. So whatever your job, and that ot the other moderators, keep it up!
Click to expand...
Indeed.
The only comment I can suggest (for me personally), is the session time to post a message. Mostly I have to re login and I lost all my text and have to start again. But as I'm a newbie to this forum, I can't ask such changes from the moderators 😉
 
bulevardi said:
Indeed.
The only comment I can suggest (for me personally), is the session time to post a message. Mostly I have to re login and I lost all my text and have to start again. But as I'm a newbie to this forum, I can't ask such changes from the moderators 😉
Click to expand...

go to your profile and change the setting.... + if your browser saves log-ons, let it, so when open Rff, you are logged automatically.

Edit
Apparently I am wrong on this.... ummm
 
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I think our moderators do an amazing job!

However, my only mini-gripe (not a big one) about Moderators on ANY forum...deals with the concept of "opinion vs. authority".

(Okay...this post is not going to make me popular.)

In any group discussion toward a decision, everyone has an opinion. However, Moderators will sometimes take what is nothing more than their own personal opinion, combine it with the authority granted to them as Moderator, make a Moderator's "decision", and then use that decision to unilaterally overrule the view of a clear majority of forum members. If forum members then object, Moderators employ the defense of "We don't have the authority to do what the members are asking for". (...despite using their authority to NOT do what members are asking for.)
 
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I think that the mods do a great job and that there is a very small but "high maintenance" set of people who think they're at a five-star restaurant and that their every whim and observation ought to be taken care of *NOW*.

If only the mods got 20% tips...on a paid subscription...then maybe I would understand that attitude.
 
Gabriel M.A. said:
I think that the mods do a great job and that there is a very small but "high maintenance" set of people who think they're at a five-star restaurant and that their every whim and observation ought to be taken care of *NOW*.

If only the mods got 20% tips...on a paid subscription...then maybe I would understand that attitude.
Click to expand...

I just wish that when my comments magically disappear, the mod responsible for stifling me would have the balls to PM me about it. So far, Joe has been the only one.
 
Spleenrippa said:
I just wish that when my comments magically disappear, the mod responsible for stifling me would have the balls to PM me about it. So far, Joe has been the only one.
Click to expand...


Ah! Yeah, there are two (you know who you are) that just like to delete without notifying, giving the rest a bad rap. I do agree with that: that is incredibly bad etiquette and fosters really bad feelings. Some mods could do better.

Outside of that, there is still a highly vocal minority that just wears the gears.
 
DNG said:
go to your profile and change the setting.... + if your browser saves log-ons, let it, so when open Rff, you are logged automatically.

Edit
Apparently I am wrong on this.... ummm
Click to expand...

Actually that advice is exactly how I solved the problem when I joined...
 
I think the moderators here on RFF do a great job. I think it is worth noting that they are just human like the rest of us. There are mods that I have sent a PM that never answered me - ok, fine - I just sent a PM to someone else. No big deal.

I think the moderators do a good job of keeping the peace. I recognize there is a judgement call concerning when intervention is necessary. I wish they would step in more at times. Many posts concerning aesthetics spiral into an arguement between a couple of folks determined to "win" within 36 hours or so. In those instances I wish they did more, but I also see the merit in letting folks go at it as long as they are respectful.

I appreciate that the mods here at least seem to enforce rules equitably. I am a member on a different forum where that is not always the case. There, a new person may get sternly corrected for breaking a rule that is broken frequently by members that have been around a while - what's the %*&% is up with that?

At the end of the day, I want to just say - thanks! Y'all put up with a lot of headaches I'm sure with little thanks or reward.
 
RFF moderators (true passionate photographers!) are one of the main reasons that make this forum the best photography forum in the world.

Every time they've had something to tell me, they were right, so I never had nothing to do or say but accept, shut up, and learn... I thank them for a few private and friendly comments -and even English use, free lessons!- and I'd like to thank Joe especially for telling me and telling us face to face what he wants and feels. I admire and respect that deeply. And I apologize for one of my halves... The other half is not that bad... 🙂

Cheers,

Juan
 
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