literarydiscussions.myfreeforum.org

Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

Chava asked me a good question just now, as she joined: "What are the duties of a Moderator?"

Another member was upset to see that I had made them Moderator of their own, and several other forums, saying that they did not want the responsibility.

It is a common misconception that Moderator is a job, and a headache.

Being Moderator simply means that you have added abilities of editing and deleting in the forum(s) in which you have the MOD status. It means that you can edit other peoples posts, for noble purposes, such as to correct a spelling error, or for malicious purposes, to alter something behind their backs.

A knife is good in the hands of a surgeon and evil in the hands of a murderer.

But a knife is just a tool.

Some people, whom I know and admire, have their own forum, and they are moderator of it. At the very bottom of the main forum index page is a section called SPAM. I may soon change it to SPAM HELL.

It is a place where anyone can post or play around.

If you should write the world next great novel tomorrow, do NOT post it there.

It is good for people to learn the inner workings of a forum such as this.

It is even better if they get brave and sign up for their own free forum, so they can be Admin, and have that learning experience.

Here is what I am going to do (I just now got this bright idea). I am going to create a small "satellite" forum, and everyone will get admin status, so you can all play around with the commands. Of course, anyone who is co admin can be mean and delete all the other admins. That is why it is risky to appoing a co admin to a forum which you have worked hard on and truly value.

(I have more to say later... I shall return)

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