Forums / Discussion / Q & A

So, I've been on the site for about 8 or so months now, and this thought just came into my mind: Hey, all I do is promote PEPSI and annoy people on the site; when am I gonna become a real help around here? And then, I looked into it. Turns out, there are these guys called "moderators" who are basically the ones in power, next to site administrators and staff members of course. After that, I asked this question out loud: What steps would I have to take in my current state in order to become an entry moderator?

Is there some sort of resume I must write for an administrator in order to apply for moderation? Do I have to be active for a certain period of time? Amounts of specific contributions to the site? Or is it that I have to pay someone to earn the right to moderator? These questions are important, so if someone can guide me into the right direction, that would be great.

P.S: If I somehow get the job, I'll work the job for free. Not that I want to be paid, but mostly to do it for fun.

P.P.S: Have a good day,

Be a good boy. Doesn't matter how long you've been here. You can't be a mod without a good reputation. Over all you have to show qualities of a mod, that other mods can see in you.
The admins rely on the other mods to choose the next mods.

why would you ever want to become a forum mod

Masochism

Before answering those questions I'd like to know the reason behind the idea of wanting to become a forum mod.

Just curious.

Well, it's simple, really. I can give you these reasons why I would want to become a forum moderator:

- I believe that moderation could always be better, if you get the right people to moderate.

- I spend approximately 12 hours on my computer doing nothing progressive, so it gives me a reason to spend 12 hours on a computer.

- Not once in my 8-year career of internet have I done anything helpful, so this could be my big break.

- If I did get the job, I could place it on my future resume as contributing to a "form of society."

I could go on, but these are the highlighted reasons why I want to become a forum moderator. I won't beg for the job, but

Have there even been any forum mods promoted recently? IIRC, almost all of the new mods are media mods.

Which makes sense, since there's a lot of media and not a lot of forum here. The current mods are enough to keep things under control unless the forum explodes in popularity for some reason.

Yeah, we haven't had a forum mod since 2014, and we don't really need more than one more at most. Noob is our only current candidate for new forum mod.

12 hours is a lot of PE fam

I believe that moderation could always be better, if you get the right people to moderate.

Be the change you want to me, it's what RM would say. If you prove to be worthy of being forum mod, then you will… maybe, who knows.

Most cases modship is given to those who have proven they want to contribute to the site. Be it by editing entries, cleaning and reporting images, etc etc.

I spend approximately 12 hours on my computer doing nothing progressive, so it gives me a reason to spend 12 hours on a computer.

Errrr okay.

Not once in my 8-year career of internet have I done anything helpful, so this could be my big break.

Can you deal with the responsability of being a mod? It isn't all fun and games and dicksucking unlike certain people thinks it is.

If I did get the job, I could place it on my future resume as contributing to a “form of society.”

Isn't more easy just help people IRL than moderating an online forum?

Entry: Have a lot of edits and editorships. The entries you work on should be of good quality. If you reached Digital Archaeologist levels but the edits are tiny or the vast majority of entries you make aren't that good, you won't get it. Also, keep a good flow going. Don't have weeks in between the entries you work on.

Forum: You're out of luck. There's little to no demand for forum mods. The current set of them are active enough and cover enough timezones to keep it well-controlled. Maybe if you were absolutely outstanding, helping users, nice, very active user of the forums, etc you could get forum mod – but even then it's unlikely.

Media: Have a lot of image edits (scrapbooker powers), report in the image cleaning thread actively, and have an understanding of where images are supposed to be placed and what's allowed.

In general, you'd want to have no more than a few warnings and suspensions, be overall liked, and be active in the community. You could do all that I mentioned for media and entry, but if you never commented or posted in the forums, you wouldn't get it.

Note that I did not give all the prerequisites for being a mod, because the moment I do someone will probably jump forward saying they meet all the requirements… but there's just something that disqualifies them that I didn't list. So I'm just putting it out right now: this list is incomplete, and I probably could never complete it. We are humans, not robots, and thus we can't create a simple checklist, an algorithm, to define who gets mod and who doesn't.

Unlike media and entry mods, there aren't any set-in-concrete steps to becoming a forum mod. Since it's based on interaction with others – which, unlike images or entries, cannot be quantified – choosing new forum mods is a very subjective process for us.

Like Snickerway and ProfRivers said, another unfortunate fact is that the KYM forums just aren't popular enough to justify many promotions. If you really want to become a moderator, media or entry is generally the better way to go. That doesn't mean you can't try for forum, though.

General guidelines – these will not guarantee you modship, mind – are more or less as follows:

• be a nice person. That doesn't mean you can't argue, but be civil and evenhanded about it as much as you can. Antagonistic Riff-Raff shitposting is kind of a grey area: potential mods have been known shitpost about other users in RR, but if you spend 90% of your forum activity hanging around in that one area of the site, then you're probably not going to become a mod anytime soon.

• be actively involved. Reply to Q&A and maintenance threads. Give (well-thought out) suggestions. When you think a thread may be going off-topic, remind the people responsible to keep it on track. Basically, do everything a forum mod may be expected to do minus the stuff that they need powers for.

• be eloquent. This is a minor point, but forum mods are expected to defuse bad situations. You can't do this if you can't string a sentence together without dropping spaghetti everywhere.

• if you see spam threads, off-topic threads, or users breaking the rules in general, report them to forum mods. Basically, show that you care about the forums. (Protip: a certain group of mods are disproportionately active in the upgrades thread; these are the guys you will want to suck up to. I'll leave you figure out who they are.)

Eh, no official list but:
1. Don't actively seek it nor think you deserve it.
2. Have a clean record. Well, it doesn't need to be squeaky clean, but we tend to forget poor behavior if enough time passes.
3. Partake in Moderator Related Duties through Communication with another Mod. In the case of a Forum Mod, Report Rule Breaking to any of the other active Forum Moderators.
4. Be active, and be active in all boards you can. We don't want no filthy Casuals.

Follow those 4 steps and you'll be well on your way.

1. Don’t actively seek it nor think you deserve it.

You don't actually have to have any desire to invest your time into improving your favourite memesite. Because, to be quite frank, almost none of us do. You just have to be good at hiding whatever real motivations you harbour.

Good luck.

To be honest, if you're wanting to be helpful to the site, having forum powers alone wouldn't let you help much.

The "Forum Moderator" can alter threads and the posts in them in just about any way. If you had enough time and no one else was watching, you could delete every, single thread ever created on KYM. But that's all. I think you have to have at least two sets of powers to even ban spammers, so you'd still have to have at least decent interest in media or entries to spam ban yourself. And given how many Media and Entry Moderators who have Forum powers as well as forum mods who were primarily active in the forums, there's not a whole lot you could do to help out that's isn't being done already.

Even if you hit on the suggestions made here, you might be given the title, but you'd have nothing to do. So you wouldn't really be helping even if you were a mod.

I have no problem at all with there being more forum mods. But the best way to help and contribute is to just go ahead and help in the ways you think you can. Bob and I are both forum moderators primarily, but we help in different ways. Just help in your own way that only you can.

You'll probably feel more satisfied in that than being given a hollow title. And if you're uniquely helpful, as you sorta said in your first reason, then the modding fairies might bless you with the ability to directly alter posts and such.

The real moderation has nothing to do with powers in the forums though.

After being rejected time and time again. I realized if i can become a well respected and friendly person on the forums. I wouldn't need to become a mod at all.

No one's really "rejected" unless they ask, because mods and admins don't bring it up to the considered users until they're asked if they want to be a mod.

It's more of a "yes/confirmation" process than a "no/rejection" one.

Could you quote where it says you have to be a circlejerker? Because to me it just sounds like your usual bitterness towards mods.

Why become a forum mod? Instead of participating in conversations you would be policing them.

Because, to be quite frank, almost none of us do.

Did you include yourself in the "almost" as well?

I think it's nice to have people who is motivated and wants to help the site in our mod team, like Prof, Shijo and Asdfghjk for example.

I also believe you gave a really shitty advice, if someone is determinated to be a mod they will show it through all the hard work. You won't last long if you just do it for the title and the position.

Back then NON was a clear example of that. He wanted to be a media mod for X reason, he didn't last and gave up pretty quickly.

you have to be a circlejerker and devote lots of time to contributing to the site.

As Patrick said, pease point out where does it says you have to be a "circlejerker"… If you are here to openly antagonize us then I will ask you to stay on topic and avoid posting.

Back up your claims or stay away from the fire.

Epyc wrote:

The first comment posted after the OP saying you have to have a good rep to me seemed like code for “if you don’t have really high positive karma you can’t be a forum mod” meaning you’d have to be good at circlejerking for karma points.

And then the same user added:

After being rejected time and time again. I realized if i can become a well respected and friendly person on the forums.

Meaning, they wanted to be a mod for the sake of being one rather than helping out. You should probably check out your sources before jumping with the gun.

In fact, your argument as a whole doesn't stand up. I do believe this is another of your cases of open antagonism… Weird, it's not like you were capable of hating us.

Taking Ann's word for being a forum mod explains why he wasn't given the job in all these years. You picked a bad example there, so yeah stay on topic and don't derail this thread into your arguments about the mod team. Thank you.

if someone is determinated to be a mod they will show it through all hard work

I gave up after four years, and a couple close ones.

Oh hush, you.

I'd like to point out that not all mods participate in circlejerks. You just asume this because of your negative history with the mods.

Hell, there a probably some mods on this site who don't know that the forums exist.

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But yeah. If it's not clear enough, you have to devote a lot to be a mod. I gave up when I came to the realization that it actually takes effort lmao.

I'd say the 'easiest' mod to become is a media mod, but that's just me.

Speaking of which, isn't there a certain amount of media edits to be considered by other mods?

ITT: People who don't deserve to be mods try desperately to justify not qualifying for modship.

Can you deal with the responsability of being a mod? It isn’t all fun and games and dicksucking unlike certain people thinks it is.

Anyone that thinks that becoming a moderator on this site brings any actual responsibility is deluded. Unraveler hasn't done fucking anything but upload images for 2 years and he retains modship. What responsibilities does he have?

As Patrick said, pease point out where does it says you have to be a “circlejerker”… If you are here to openly antagonize us then I will ask you to stay on topic and avoid posting.

If nobody on the mod team likes you as a person (read: not based on competence), you are not becoming a mod. Likewise, if a lot of people on the mod team like you as a person (read: not based on competence), you pretty much have a straight ticket. Natsuru pretty much proved this (and you when subsequently agreeing with it) when they said:

1. Don’t actively seek it nor think you deserve it.

If someone is dedicated enough to becoming a mod that they actually contribute and help the site a large amount… what is the effective difference? If you really think that none of the good mods ever, not once, wanted to become a mod, then why would they say yes in the first place? A user's initial intentions, as long as they help the site, don't make any god damn difference in how good a mod is. It's simple logistics.

ITT: People who don’t deserve to be mods try desperately to justify not qualifying for modship.

You know, people in power avoiding criticism by classifying it as whining is pretty effective, but eventually people begin to catch on. It's best not to be so blatant.

You know, people in power avoiding criticism by classifying it as whining is pretty affective, but eventually people begin to catch on. It’s best not to be so blatant.

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>Implying any of the criticism is actually constructive or valid.

>Implying criticism isn't valid just because you don't like hearing it.

What I meant was that if you are going to help, help because you want to help. But the more people think you want moderatorship just for the trophy of having it, the less likely we are going to give it to you. (Cause whatcha gonna do after getting that Trophy, Champ?)

Don't actively seek the moderatorship. Seek improving the community, and moderatorship will follow.

>Implying I have any opinion of what's being said
>Implying it's valid because because you feel it is

modship brings as much responsability as you care about, becoming a mod won't instantly give you tons of paperwork and dealing with users because you earned all the work the entire mod team has to do. your responsability is hand in hand with how much you care about the site

Speaking of which, isn’t there a certain amount of media edits to be considered by other mods?

An exact number doesn't exist, and even if it did it'd be foolish to say so because then people would rush to that and a bit above to get our attention, only to stop the moment they either are denied modship or given it. The same logic applies to giving a rough number.

Just have a lot of edits, make them good edits, and be consistent.

Anyone that thinks that becoming a moderator on this site brings any actual responsibility is deluded.

I wonder, have you done any kind of work as a mod in here? I think you should ask that same question to our media mods.

Unraveler hasn’t done fucking anything but upload images for 2 years and he retains modship.

Jokes on you, we did propose demodding inactive mods such as him but I suppose you already knew that. Also, he became a mod long before we changed our policies for picking candidates, the standards from back then are different to what it is now.

Bring me real proof to call us useless (you have a lot of examples) rather than just one user than was picked to be a mod for only tagging and uploading a lot back when nobody gave a fuck about image galleries.

What responsibilities does he have?

Those of a media mod. The fact that he does jack shit proves how much he's interested in helping and being a mod. Can't be helped, he isn't mod material. For today standards he is just a regular user.

If nobody on the mod team likes you as a person (read: not based on competence), you are not becoming a mod.

This sounds more like a personal grudge rather than a real argument… interesting. Do you have any proof on that? Because I'd like to see it and confirm it myself.

But I can give you one example though, Kung Fu Chulthu was a candidate for mod and was picked by Don. In the middle was the whole deal with GG and as we all know, we weren't really fond of it. KFC was pro-GG and some didn't really liked the idea.

Personally, I didn't care as long he did the job however I believed he could get biased on certains matters so I wasn't sure. In the end the guy stepped down and refused the offer, although we never knew the reason I think it was because he didn't feel comfortable with the mod team.

It's all supposition from my part, but we changed from that. It's fair to say we put an user motivation and contributions first and then we look at their attitude and behavior. At the same time, you can't force me to mod people that clearly isn't cut out for the job, like certain people I won't name *cough* gaben *cough*.

Likewise, if a lot of people on the mod team like you as a person (read: not based on competence), you pretty much have a straight ticket. Natsuru pretty much proved this…

Are you still hung up on that? For the record, and I think you already saw it when you got ino DPF's account, I dunno why it was decided that natsuru was a good choice for forum. You should probably ask the person who proposed Natsuru back then since I didn't say "yes" or "no" nor agreed to it.

But fair enough, I'll concede you that point. We had people modded over popularity rather fair contributions and that back fired on us. Not Natsuru's case but someone else.

If someone is dedicated enough to becoming a mod that they actually contribute and help the site a large amount… what is the effective difference?

Think it from the point of view of someone who reports images constantly, for example. Rather than wait for a mod to do the job, I can do it myself.

Give powers to those that prove they will use them and have a clear understanding of what they are doing.

If you really think that none of the good mods ever, not once, wanted to become a mod, then why would they say yes in the first place?

Mmmm why did Jacob said yes then? I doubt it he did it for the title.

I don't deny that many do it for the gist of it, but as long they do their job I don't really care. The point is how long will they last and how motivated they are to do the job.

If they care for the site enough and puts their powers to good use then great, we picked the right person. If they stop being active right after getting modded then fuck, we picked the wrong person. It happened a lot with our previous batch of media mods, sadly.

Did you include yourself in the “almost” as well?

Of course. Furthermore, I would be willing to believe that there are one or two moderators who strove for the position out of a genuine desire to help the site, as opposed to say, primarily longing for extra power or standing among the userbase. But they are the exception, not the rule.

My point being that if you actually have a deeply personal interest in improving this site for whatever reason, then please, we'd love to have you on board. But if you just want extra power to entertain yourself, that's never stopped anyone as long as they hid it well enough; the site gets a few extra entries and banned spambots, and you get to amuse yourself – a win-win!

Dunno if we're getting sidetracked a bit, but we probably shouldn't get flustered when we say what it would take to become a forum moderator. You get tangents that are more focused on individuals, and it's not really useful as much as it starts stuff unnecessarily. Nothing is going to get solved by trying to call people out here in this thread.

People who aren't mods can simply see who becomes moderators and say what they see in them or don't, so their opinion isn't invalid. However, it makes more sense for a user who knows newer users to give their opinion.

This sounds more like a personal grudge rather than a real argument… interesting.

You should probably ask the person who proposed Natsuru back then since I didn’t say “yes” or “no” nor agreed to it.

Hello yes, that would be me.

I picked Natsuru over the same reason that Nats explained in their reply to Taryn:

"Don’t actively seek the moderatorship. Seek improving the community, and moderatorship will follow."

Also remember that Nats started out as forum mod, and as Mare explained as well:

"Unlike media and entry mods, there aren’t any set-in-concrete steps to becoming a forum mod. Since it’s based on interaction with others – which, unlike images or entries, cannot be quantified – choosing new forum mods is a very subjective process for us."

Nats had the interaction with others (something which unsuprisingly many of the IRC folks back then severely lacked), a long running active history with no clear sign of stopping (showing motivation without expecting mod powers), and also showed great interest towards wanting to improve both the site and the community (quite the must). Alongside other qualities I really won't go into in this thread because this isn't the thread for it.

If nobody on the mod team likes you as a person (read: not based on competence), you are not becoming a mod.

Adding to what Loli said: Even IRC restricted mods that held some grudge towards specific JFF folks on the site could still agree that Nats had good mod qualities at that point.

I knew, and Nats knew, that "Old Nats" from a year before her upgrade wouldn't have ever made it to mod. But they improved, and that's evidence that anyone can reach mod with the right mindset.

Taryn was actually heading that way too when he got more interested in site-improvement, but then he shot himself in the foot by visiting the mod forum. You can't really complain about others wanting to have mod powers when you fuck up with your desire that badly.

My overall opinion about this.
Just show yourself to be a well behaved, and fun user that others can get along with. You'd be a forum mod for sure, but the biggest problem at the moment is the demand for Forum Mods. Right now people are out of luck, especially those who actively seek it.

I more or less stopped caring for the name, and started to help out in my own way. I try my best to create a fun, and helpful environment for new and old users alike. I keep in mind the rules all the time, like to help out people with questions about KYM. I know a lot about KYM trust me.

My biggest wish is for the community to grow, and become closer, and every year I try my hardest, from fun games, to hosting the Annual Spirit Weeks (Which is just gonna be a single week from now on because no more multiple weeks).

I consider you all friends, and family, even the ones who hold me in disfavor. Sure I may be a bit crude, or not the smartest person around, but at least I cared for this community.
Why do you think I have stayed for six years.

To me, The Forums are just as important as the entries, if we can't nurture our users to reasonable, and actually funny people, then whats the future to hold.
I came in as a shit 16 year old mother fucker, and here I am, a decent at best 22 year old. I made friends here, and overall enjoyed every year of it.

Overall shoot for the stars, but there are other ways to help out.

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If you need any help go ahead and shoot me a message.

Bruh who someone who apparently "stopped caring", you bring it up an insane amount of times in this thread.

Your message is ok and all, but I get the feeling you still hold a deep grudge, and that ain't doing the message good.

I'm just a very repetitive person, and honestly don't realize many things till someone points it out.

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I also want to apologize to you Rick, for all the shit you had to deal with because of me. I'm just a selfish person whose stuck in the past, but I at least want you to know I apologize.

An interesting and worthwhile discussion, folks, but we may be getting a little bit off-topic here.

Leave it to Mare to jump in when it's for once not her dick getting sucked.

"B-but it's not like I care or anything!"
Classic.

This went from an informational seminar to moderator accosting ad supposed corruption of said informational seminar pretty abruptly…

I think that about wraps it up, to be honest. The qualifications for a Forum Moderator are generally the same no matter which community you decide to pitch in (except for those edgy and sweaty video game clans where you have to earn military badges starting from Private and have it in good with the Brigadier General).

modship brings as much responsability as you care about, becoming a mod won’t instantly give you tons of paperwork and dealing with user

Example: Twisty who has made a total of 300 edits as a moderator

Ok but like, this has just turned into a shit flinging fest from mods and users.
Some people are mods and some aren't, get over it, if you want to be a mod then ask a mod for advice, don't ask a forum of jealous/desperate users.
Requesting lock.

Another reason you may want to become a moderator might be all of the deep camaraderie and emotionally fulfilling relationships that you build up with the other lovely members of the mod team.

nah, let's just move this shit to riffraff so the shitstorm can continue

Just checked back to this thread today, and the suggestions and support are blowing off the rooftop. Thank you all for your tips and advice. Now, going back on track; from what I've read, I have obtained a bit more knowledge:

-I can't attain forum moderation at this point.
That's fine, I'm sure there are other forms of moderation I could always look into.

-One must not actively seek for moderation powers.
Really? I suppose that would make sense, as it would be very annoying if that was all you talked about.

-Warnings/Suspensions must be at a minimum.
Damn. Looks like I'm outta luck there…

-One should do the job because they want to.
That's exactly why I would like to apply for said-job.

So, now I've got these main four statements across, is there any other bit of knowledge you guys can nail into my frontal cranium?

-Warnings/Suspensions must be at a minimum.
Damn. Looks like I’m outta luck there…

I mean, as long as you didn't have frequent warnings about user trolling or you didn't blow up the Serious Debate forum, it can't be that bad, right?

It could be. I feel that I must argue my cases, which I've not once won.