If I were a REAL moderator...

[AmpsterMan]

I know it's not exactly the point of this thread, but I would like to share anyway.

One of the things I have learned in my year and a half of being a mod is that there are so many different personalities in the entire extended community (Forums, Reddit, Twitch, Imgur, 4chins, etc.) and each community has it's own character. The moderator base is actually pretty diverse in that I think one of us at least posts regularly in EACH one of those communities. When it comes to moderating, especially moderating difficult questions, we actually tend to have the exact same flame wars that the forum tends to have xD. (Some may say because we all know each other pretty well, these tend to be more personal too!).

These are difficult questions for a reason. I constantly find myself caught between opposing ideals; Order and Liberty. Borderline posts are the ones that I think tend to draw the battle lines the clearest. We constantly have to be checking not only our own tendencies, but those of the other ones that moderate with us. Ex. Some of us find following the "Letter of the Law" to be of paramount importance. Others, the "Spirit of the Law" is more so. All of us stand on "some" side of the contentious issues that constantly come up and we have to constantly put aside our own preferences and come to a consensus. I think our best decisions have been the ones where none of us are completely satisfied. Of course, I also think that many of our worst decisions have left us completely dissatisfied too! xD.

It's a constant struggle; one that I've enjoyed because I love this community so much, but one that is so exhausting because it is so large and so diverse. Furthermore, it is my contention that this forum tends to draw a "different" crowd (as opposed to what given no body knows!); a more educated crowd, a smarter crowd, but also a more entitled crowd (entitled in the sense that I wouldn't be surprised if many of us here are amongst the smartest, most capable, or most "heady" of our immediate social group [i recognize this sounds elitist; I agree. I think space travel is awesome and I am glad this game has put so many of us in this elite group {yes I recognize I use many paranthetical sentences}] which leads us to many, many disagreements, and yet to many, many, wonderful accomplishments.)

Perhaps I am gushing, but for personal reasons I say that this forum has helped me a lot in my personal life. Having a group with which I can be nerdy about space stuff is fun. NO ONE in my immediate peer group even remotely cares (and that's fine! I like doing other things too!). Ultimately, at least for me, being a mod has helped me appreciate the forum much more than I used to (in all it's myriad ways) and helped me make a group of friends which I cherish.

Still though, it's a lot of work! I think most of us put in like ten + hours a week just to make sure stuff is taken care of. Some of us are college students, some of us work full time, some of us do both (me ), some of us are fathers, none of us are mothers. So next time you see your favorite mod post, give him a thumbs up. It really makes our day. And if you don't have a favorite mod, then, well then, um.... I don't like you either

Stay Awesome guys, sincerely from the bottom of my heart (Please, don't mind the arteries.)

Edited April 2, 2015 by AmpsterMan

[andrew123]

I know it's not exactly the point of this thread, but I would like to share anyway.

One of the things I have learned in my year and a half of being a mod is that there are so many different personalities in the entire extended community (Forums, Reddit, Twitch, Imgur, 4chins, etc.) and each community has it's own character. The moderator base is actually pretty diverse in that I think one of us at least posts regularly in EACH one of those communities. When it comes to moderating, especially moderating difficult questions, we actually tend to have the exact same flame wars that the forum tends to have xD. (Some may say because we all know each other pretty well, these tend to be more personal too!).

These are difficult questions for a reason. I constantly find myself caught between opposing ideals; Order and Liberty. Borderline posts are the ones that I think tend to draw the battle lines the clearest. We constantly have to be checking not only our own tendencies, but those of the other ones that moderate with us. Ex. Some of us find following the "Letter of the Law" to be of paramount importance. Others, the "Spirit of the Law" is more so. All of us stand on "some" side of the contentious issues that constantly come up and we have to constantly put aside our own preferences and come to a consensus. I think our best decisions have been the ones where none of us are completely satisfied. Of course, I also think that many of our worst decisions have left us completely dissatisfied too! xD.

It's a constant struggle; one that I've enjoyed because I love this community so much, but one that is so exhausting because it is so large and so diverse. Furthermore, it is my contention that this forum tends to draw a "different" crowd (as opposed to what given no body knows!); a more educated crowd, a smarter crowd, but also a more entitled crowd (entitled in the sense that I wouldn't be surprised if many of us here are amongst the smartest, most capable, or most "heady" of our immediate social group [i recognize this sounds elitist; I agree. I think space travel is awesome and I am glad this game has put so many of us in this elite group {yes I recognize I use many paranthetical sentences}] which leads us to many, many disagreements, and yet to many, many, wonderful accomplishments.)

Perhaps I am gushing, but for personal reasons I say that this forum has helped me a lot in my personal life. Having a group with which I can be nerdy about space stuff is fun. NO ONE in my immediate peer group even remotely cares (and that's fine! I like doing other things too!). Ultimately, at least for me, being a mod has helped me appreciate the forum much more than I used to (in all it's myriad ways) and helped me make a group of friends which I cherish.

Still though, it's a lot of work! I think most of us put in like ten + hours a week just to make sure stuff is taken care of. Some of us are college students, some of us work full time, some of us do both (me ), some of us are fathers, none of us are mothers. So next time you see your favorite mod post, give him a thumbs up. It really makes our day. And if you don't have a favorite mod, then, well then, um.... I don't like you either

Stay Awesome guys, sincerely from the bottom of my heart (Please, don't mind the arteries.)

And I have to apologize on behalf of the Rocket Builders sub forum for making your job hell.

Thank you. :D

[Bill Phil]

What? Me? It might be okay. I tend to peruse certain sub-forums, though. Also, sometimes I'm pretty fast at getting to threads.

I can see it now...

Dream bubble start...

Guy posts thread.

I pop up within a minute, say how the thread violates rules, and then block it.

End dream bubble.

Although, looking through megathreads would get tedious. I guess I'd be a Selective Moderator, moderating certain things.

[Whackjob]

Cat gifs are now mandatory.

[megatiger78]

Cat gifs are now mandatory.

YEAHHH!!!!!!!!!!

(sorry no gif, had no time to find one)

[worir4]

Can moderators ban other moderators?

[michaelsteele3]

Can moderators ban other moderators?

Nope. Definitely not.

[worir4]

Imagine if a moderator went rogue and just banned a load of people for no reason. Then how would you stop them?

[tetryds]

You can't stop me.

Seriously though, I cannot imagine the possibility that a moderator would simply go berserk and start banning people around.

If something like that happened, the bans could simply be pulled.

Most moderator actions are reversible, and the ones which are not could be ultimately reverted using server backups.

But yeah, don't expect that to be a possibility, you saw nothing.

[worir4]

You can't stop me.

Seriously though, I cannot imagine the possibility that a moderator would simply go berserk and start banning people around.

If something like that happened, the bans could simply be pulled.

Most moderator actions are reversible, and the ones which are not could be ultimately reverted using server backups.

But yeah, don't expect that to be a possibility, you saw nothing.

Is now a good time to start running?

[Special Agent Sigvan]

I'd ban all the other mods, for the lulz.

[Starwhip]

Aww, did I miss something cool?

[Thomas988]

Aww, did I miss something cool?

It was the April first joke the mods pulled on us. Simply, everyone's names were made green to look like we were moderators.

[Sampa]

It was the April first joke the mods pulled on us. Simply, everyone's names were made green to look like we were moderators.

and some people's titles were changed to say that they were moderators as well

[Thomas988]

and some people's titles were changed to say that they were moderators as well

Oh yeah, that too!

[longbyte1]

Please switch your default font back from Comic Sans to Serious Sans -ahem- Verdana.