ForumsThe TavernWhat it Takes to Become a Moderator (page 1):

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cormyn
offline
cormyn
2,892 posts
Nomad

Hey everyone,

In my time at Armor Games, I've seen a few new moderators come on board, and every time we promote a user to Moderator status, there's always a flurry of "why wasn't I picked?" or "I think _____ should be a Moderator" or "why is ________ still a moderator" or lots of other questions about what it really takes to be a Moderator on the site.

As of this writing, I have three comments on my profile asking for 'exact' requirements for becoming a Moderator.

I know we have information scattered around the site, but I wanted to sum up briefly a few of the core things we look for in a user in order to be nominated to become a Moderator. Hopefully this will help clear up some of the confusion.

This topic is meant to be informational in nature. I will delete any message containing text which is negative towards our current team, comments suggesting some other user be nominated, replies of "well, I guess I'll never qualify" or anything else off-topic -- even if your message contains other good ideas. This is not the place for *those* discussions.

Also, it should be obvious that this list is NOT complete, because we don't want to give away EVERY detail about what we look for in a moderator. And this list is also subject to change over time, especially when AG3 launches.

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BACKGROUND

We are obviously much more strict in our criteria than other sites, but that's only because we already have the best users out there and we want to be sure that anyone being a Moderator can follow our rules, guidelines, and get along with others.


THE PROCESS

In a nutshell, candidates are presented to the entire Moderator team, and are reviewed thoroughly by an Admin. The Moderator team decides unanimously (the exception being users who are on hiatus/holidays) on whether to accept the user or not; a negative response could either be "this user should never be a moderator" (and give reasons why) or "let's check back in 3-6 months". If an affirmative decision is made, an Admin user will Email the user asking if they'll accept the role and responsibilities. If the user accepts, the Admin user will promote them to become a probationary Moderator. We guide probationary Moderators for a little while and then release them into the wild.


HOW WE FIND USERS

There are two ways we find potential nominees.

First and foremost is by daily interactions within the forums or user profile comments. That's not to say that ONLY &quotopular" people will get nominated, but we're not likely to nominate someone that nobody really knows. We've recently passed on a half dozen users because none of us really know them as individuals. We'll start paying more attention to them now, of course.

The second method we use is a piece of software I wrote which takes some of the quantifiable criteria mentioned below and scans our database looking for users who qualify. Generally, this software finds HUNDREDS of users, and then starts disqualifying them based on other factors. Once it reports the users to me, I examine the user profiles, and then present a final list of nominees to the Moderator team. Candidates to whom the Moderator team give a definitive 'no way, never', we add to a 'skip' list so the software won't even look at them next time. There's a second "skip list" for users we want to check back on in a few months.

The last scan I did, which resulted in Freakenstein being added to the team, found almost 400 users, filtered them down to less than a dozen, and we were left with one definite 'yes' (Freakenstein), and a handful of "let's check back later" candidates (who we will not name).


SOME OF THE CRITERIA WE LOOK FOR

To be considered as a Moderator nominee, here are SOME of the things we look for. This list is not complete and is subject to change at any time without notice. We may or may not alter this forum posting to describe new or changed criteria. Also, meeting all of this criteria doesn't guarantee anything, because the rest of the Moderator team still has to vote on accepting you into our small team.

- You obviously need to have an excellent understanding of our Terms and Conditions for being on the site, and know the Rules & Guidelines for both the forums and game/user comments. And you follow them yourself.

- You need to stay up to date on things happening at Armor Games, especially with Armor Games v3 coming out later this summer. Users who have been in the beta since late last year will get extra points.

- You need to have an exceptional grasp of the English language (excellent spelling and grammar) but being fluent in one other language for support purposes may help your chances. You don't need to be an English professor, but 1337-speaking / textmsg writing styles, or writing styles which are difficult to read/understand will disqualify you.

- You need to be able to take criticism, from Admins, other Moderators, and especially other users. And you need to humbly accept this criticism when it's "constructive", or learn when it's "destructive" and deal with it accordingly without losing your cool.

- You need to be at LEAST 18 years of age; if you don't share your birth date on your profile (at least the year and month), you'll never even show up on our radar. And we have backups of our user data, so don't go changing your profile birth date trying to cheat the system -- we'll ask for proof.

- You need to have been an active, consistent member of the site for a minimum of 12-18 months. Big gaps in your login/posting history will generally reset this timer.

- You must be a genuinely helpful person within several forums. We watch where you post, how frequently you post, how many times you've posted in each forum, whether you're posting just to jump in on the conversation or genuinely getting involved in the topic, etc.

- We look for well-rounded users who also have good communication via user comments, but not to an excessive (spammy) degree. As such, users who carry on really long conversations back and forth (technically against our rules) will probably get passed on.

- We look for a minimum participation level from forum posts AND user comments. We need to see that you don't just focus on one type of commenting. Obviously we won't quantify these "minimum" values, because we don't want users trying to cheat the system.

- We look for a minimum number of rated games and game comments, and *recent* game ratings and comments, because we need to know you're actually playing the games and having fun too, not just hanging out in the forums 95% of the time. If you never participate in game comments, how will you recognize bad game comments versus merit-worthy comments?

- You must not have excessive quantities of user/game comments removed as spam. "Excessive" is subjective, but we can see how many comments you've had deleted, and we weigh that as a ratio against your remaining active comments.

- Generally, we tell users that even a single temporary ban will disqualify you. A temp-ban for flaming, spamming, harassment, fighting, racial comments, excessive swearing, or blatant rule breaking like hacking will certainly disqualify you. But if the temp-ban happened a long time ago (more than a year and a half), while we never "expunge" them from your history, we may treat them lighter than if your temp-ban was more recent.


WHAT DO WE EXPECT FROM OUR MODERATORS

New Moderators will start out working on cleaning up game comments and forum posts, and looking for merit-worthy game comments. They'll also continue to be helpful in the forums and via user comments to offer help and support, making sure other users are aware of the rules of the web site (and follow them).

We understand that life throws a curve-ball now and then, and while we certainly don't expect Moderators to be on the site every single day, we do expect that you're on the site several times per week. We also expect Moderators to take a break/holiday from time to time. This isn't a paid job, you're doing it for free, so don't feel guilty if you need to step away for a little while. Excessive absences may get you demoted back to regular user status.

And of course, you can always turn us down if you don't want to be on the team, and you can leave the team at any time as well.

----------------

Hopefully that helps clear up some of the confusion about what kind of users we look for as Moderators.

Let the discussion begin.

  • 573 Replies
thaboss
offline
thaboss
1,649 posts
Nomad

Members that are active for a long time tend to have a high rank anyway.

Not always. They might have spent lots of time playing games.


Thaboss thinks he meant productively active in the forums.
Ernie15
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Ernie15
13,351 posts
Bard

As the typical user is between 13 and 16, there might be issues in having a moderator at the age of 13 trying to tell a 17-year-old what to do.


Which is why it sucks being older than the entire moderation team. :P

Being active here makes me feel like a senior citizen. Which is fitting, because I can be quite senile at times.
killerplayah
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killerplayah
7 posts
Nomad

and why do you ban under age people as they are here just game

nichodemus
offline
nichodemus
14,981 posts
Grand Duke

and why do you ban under age people as they are here just game


I would have liked to include not reading the stickies and blundering around as a reason, but sadly I can't. Anyway, this is why they ban underage users.

how do you become 1


See the little black box with the number one on this page? Click that.
rikiboy639
offline
rikiboy639
14 posts
Nomad

I don't want to sound dumb but what is the difference between a admin and a moderator?

devsaupa
offline
devsaupa
1,810 posts
Nomad

admins are paid employees and mods are volunteer users that keep chaos from ruling in the forums, as well as deleting spam from the site. Also, mods have a pretty blue text and admins have a green text.

Cenere
offline
Cenere
13,658 posts
Jester

Mod: Volunteer, non-paid, police of site. Will take the blunt of the hits on complaints. Can ban users, lock threads and delete stuff.

Admin: Employee at AG, paid, works on the site's programming as well as making and playing games and so forth. Can the same things as mods, just at a much higher level.

LucasDaLegend
offline
LucasDaLegend
1,066 posts
Nomad

Not always. They might have spent lots of time playing games.


Yes, i know, not always. I think you mis-read the word i had typed. 'tend'. If you don't know the meaning, look it up.

I am sorry that it may seem like i am turning out to be a jerk, but after reading this thread, it doesn't exactly make you in a good mood; which is funny because yesterday i was so happy, i thought i could fly!
Cenere
offline
Cenere
13,658 posts
Jester

Well, no reason to be aggravated by something on the internet. I can do that for you.
Also, as you said, users that are active will usually have a higher rank, because they are visibly active. A user that plays a lot of games won't be visibly active, and will most likely be considered a lurker anyway.

numino
offline
numino
214 posts
Peasant

to become a moderator does the individual need to be situated at a specific country or is that unnecessary?

Maverick4
offline
Maverick4
6,804 posts
Peasant

does the individual need to be situated at a specific country or is that unnecessary?


Not at all. Since this is an American-based Website, most of the mods are from the US. However, Strop is from Australia, and Zophia and Cenere are both in Europe, I belive.

Provided you know english, follow site rules, and meet the requirements, nothing is to stop you from being a mod in theory.
Freakenstein
offline
Freakenstein
9,508 posts
Jester

Moderators can be chosen regardless of country. A few of the moderators are in North America, a couple are in Europe, Strop is in Australia, and Voidy is in the mythical village of Vatican. We only wish for you to be awesome.

numino
offline
numino
214 posts
Peasant

ah thank you gentlemen (hope am not wrong to assume this..) for clearing that up for me

invalid777
offline
invalid777
2,074 posts
Nomad

If mods can temp ban users, then can't they just do it repeatedly to make it look like a perma?

nichodemus
offline
nichodemus
14,981 posts
Grand Duke

If mods can temp ban users, then can't they just do it repeatedly to make it look like a perma?


Imagine the hassle it would be to remember to come back and ban them.
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