Hiring mods?

[ammo]

How do you guys generally go about hiring new moderators? Do you tend to pay them for a better service or do you chose people that would do it for free?

Do you have a screening process inw ho you choose?

[Scott]

I would tend to offer it to those who were active members of the community. This allows you to know what the kind of mod will be like. Most are happy to volunteer their time for the community and aren't paid although simple compensations such as hosting is an alternative.

[ammo]

Thats how I ran it at my last place. I chose active people and offered them better hosting plans, I also chose people id talked to quiet alot to make sure I know theyd be trust worthy people!

[SoftWareRevue]

How do you guys generally go about hiring new moderators?One forum I'm at, we hold open applications. We include specific directions and toss out the aps that failed to follow them. That leaves 50% to choose from.

We look at those aps to see how much detail they go into and if they can articulate their thoughts. That gets that group cut by 50%.

Then we research their participation in the community, and follow up with the dozen or so candidates that piqued our interest by conducting a telephone interview.

After that, it's a piece of cake. :cake:

Do you tend to pay them for a better service or do you chose people that would do it for free?Moderators that moderate for the love of the community are generally pretty good moderators. ;)

Paying moderators (aside from the small compensation that's been mentioned) would likely work for technical Q&A forums where moderators are expected to have some expertise and answer those types of questions.

Do you have a screening process inw ho you choose?Something like mentioned about. :fu:

[bear]

Makes me wonder how I ever got in over there. :bonk: :D

[Jan]

Makes me wonder how I ever got in over there. :bonk: :D
Squirrels weren't the in thing then :P

[loquin]

at XtremevbTalk, we have a three-level leadership ranking.

Leaders are chosen by a 2/3 majority vote of Mods and Admins. Leaders have little assigned responsibility (they have no moderation responsibility) but are asked to keep an eye on posts, report potential problem posts to the mods, and generally provide a good example for the general membership. A separate leaders forum is made available for private discussions.

Mods are also chosen by a 2/3 majority vote by the mods & admins, and have always been chosen from the Leaders ranks.

Admins are chosen from the Mods ranks.

In addition to the leadership rankings, we've also instituted a technical skills ranking system, expert and guru. Experts are those users who exhibit mastery in one or more areas of programming, whereas gurus exhibit expert-level mastery in many fields, and who also exhibit a willingness to teach others (in the forms of tutorials, code samples, and explanations in their answers, etc.) After all, there are folks out there who have no interest in being good role models or in monitoring other's behaviors, but who truly are experts in their field. Mods/Admins vote on the technical qualifications of members also, with a simple majority required for promotion. Any promotion to expert/guru requires a basic adherance to the posting guidelines, though. In other words, even though a user may be a true guru, if he's a jerk and won't follow the rules, he won't get a promotion. (and, in fact, we've banned users who were truly gifted, but who either couldn't or wouldn't stop being a jerk.)

This gives us the opportunity of publicly recognizing the folks who provide a lot of value to the site, without "loading" them with expectations/responsibilities.

ref http://www.xtremevbtalk.com/faq.php?faq=evbf_faq#faq_evbf_titles

[Minarette]

Thats how I ran it at my last place. I chose active people and offered them better hosting plans, I also chose people id talked to quiet alot to make sure I know theyd be trust worthy people!
How about observing current members? It doesn't take long to figure out who is consistently helpful and who isn't :) If you need to offer hosting to get moderators, chances are you don't need any just yet ;)

[Kwek]

My forum is pretty new so there has been no need for hiring moderators right now.

However, if I were to look for moderators, I might do it in 2 different ways. It really depend on the situation... ;)

First way is to observe the members of the community, and choose members who are role models. I will then send them a PM or email asking if they are willing to be a moderator at the community.

Second way is to open the application for everyone, and pick the best few based on their application data and forum behaviour.

Either way, most of the time it would be senior and respected members who have been proved to be trust-able being selected. This is mainly because we are more confident about their abilities, but of course there are certain exceptions. ;)

[Kaizen]

I often ask people to post for the position. If persons are willing to do it for free, then they are normally good for the position and you would be able to determine that they really do enjoy your forums.

[Monkey]

Ive never really owned a forum which needed mods although if i was to hire a mod i would probably keep an eye on the person i wish to hire if hes doing an good job and i think that he/she fits the job id let him have the spot ;).

[PinkFloyd]

One forum I'm at, we hold open applications. We include specific directions and toss out the aps that failed to follow them. That leaves 50% to choose from.

We look at those aps to see how much detail they go into and if they can articulate their thoughts. That gets that group cut by 50%.


Hehe.. that is so good and so true! Could also add, toss out 50% of the people who don't even respond back to you after filling out the form.

[Dougy]

I've had several paid offers to post/moderate, and I often turn down paid moderation and do it for free.

It depends on if I really like the community.