Moderating is a thankless task

By Steven P.
in Site & Forum Issues

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Grand Master

articuno1au

Posted
Posted

Well, I'm faced with quite the dilemma.

Either I thank a moderator, thus showing Neobond to be a liar; or I don't thank a moderator and come off looking like an ******* O.o

i-want-to-play-a-game_1041.gif

As a side note, I think it's appropriate that my thousandth like was for this post :p

Proficient

Tuishimi

Posted
Posted

There are a lot of thankless tasks... and I agree that moderator is definitely one of them! :) Any task where you give of yourself freely and are still criticized or yelled at or berated in some way is pretty thankless... Howie Carr used to have a "No good deed goes unpunished" segment on his radio show...

Grand Master

Ice_Blue

Posted
Posted

It takes a special kind of person to moderate forums of any kind. But Neowin isn't just any forum.

It takes an extra special person to moderate the Neowin forums.

The patience required must itself be tremendous.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Neowiin Administration, I take my hat off to you.

Grand Master

Raa

Posted
Posted

If you have never had a run in with a Neowin forum/news comments moderator and have been here a while, then we're doing a good job.

That's me! :D

Actually no wait, there was a "brief misunderstanding" once, but I hardly count it. ;)

BTW : Thanks!! :)

Grand Master

DirtyLarry Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

I can absolutely attest to the fact this image is 110% spot on.

The truth of the matter is even though I had a few runs at being a Moderator here, the amount of stress just became to much.

And do not get me wrong, it never dominated my life so to speak, but there were a few occasions I would let some incident spill into my real life and actually get me in a bad mood.

I know I helped some members out over the years as they have let me know as much, but I also could not help but feel a lot of members just instantly saw me as the enemy even though my goal was to make the community a better one for everyone involved.

So it really is a pretty rough gig at the end of the day. I do think it has changed a bit since I was a mod here. Mods tend to express themselves a lot more, and perhaps that was my own approach to things, but I definitely held back on saying things that could be deemed as negative strictly to try and stick to the belief that one should set an example for others to follow.

Grand Master

Charisma Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Most of your mods are good, but a couple of them don't install on my system and could probably use some documentation.

*looks at your avatar* It's because you seem to be running Windows 2000... only XP and up are supported. ;)

Grand Master

techbeck

Posted
Posted

For it's size, the moderation here is MOSTLY fair. And to be fair to the mods, it's got a LOT better recently!

Ive noticed that after a few posted topics about issues/problems they have/seen on this site, things have gotten better as well. Seems like that may have opened some people's eyes....some :) but not to take anyway way from the mods.

  • Yusuf M. and Marshall
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Grand Master

Growled Member

Posted
  • Member
Posted

Ive noticed that after a few posted topics about issues/problems they have/seen on this site, things have gotten better as well. Seems like that may have opened some people's eyes....some :) but not to take anyway way from the mods.

Sometimes it's hard to know what to do, or when to intervene. You want to keep discussion flowing but you can't let things get too out of hand. It's hard to find the right balance sometimes.

  • Calum, Yusuf M. and Charisma
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Grand Master

astropheed Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Thanks, I guess, although it feels forced. I know you didn't create this thread to directly get this response, but let's be honest, how would you have felt if you didn't get it (the response).

Most people have thankless jobs, you're really of no exception if you ask me. I wish I could post a thread at my Job informing everyone how thankless my job is so I can get some 'thanks', but this is real life. You wouldn't do this job if it didn't in some way benefit you; if you feel this isn't an adequate return than perhaps you should seek new ventures.

I'm not trying to be rude although I fully understand this is how it'll be conveyed, people don't generally like doughnuts without a tasty sugary topping.

Grand Master

DirtyLarry Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Thanks, I guess, although it feels forced. I know you didn't create this thread to directly get this response, but let's be honest, how would you have felt if you didn't get it (the response).

Most people have thankless jobs, you're really of no exception if you ask me. I wish I could post a thread at my Job informing everyone how thankless my job is so I can get some 'thanks', but this is real life. You wouldn't do this job if it didn't in some way benefit you; if you feel this isn't an adequate return than perhaps you should seek new ventures.

I'm not trying to be rude although I fully understand this is how it'll be conveyed, people don't generally like doughnuts without a tasty sugary topping.

Just want to point out something as I get the feeling you may not realize it, you realize that when it comes to the moderators and supervisors, it is not anyone's "job" correct? That all the staff except for the few that run the site are volunteers and get paid nothing at all. In fact most of them have regular full time jobs and do this on the side. So while I get the point you are trying to make, kinda sorta, this is really no ones job as you claim, so yeah, a little thanks is in order to be quite honest, as all of these people are volunteering their time in order to make it a better place for everyone else. And as pointed out, in most cases they already have some sort of "real world" job.

About the only people one can say get perks are the news staff, and even then, they have to review any "perks" they may get. And in fact most of the nicer stuff is only for review purposes and needs to get sent back.

Grand Master

astropheed Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Just want to point out something as I get the feeling you may not realize it, you realize that when it comes to the moderators and supervisors, it is not anyone's "job" correct? That all the staff except for the few that run the site are volunteers and get paid nothing at all. In fact most of them have regular full time jobs and do this on the side. So while I get the point you are trying to make, kinda sorta, this is really no ones job as you claim, so yeah, a little thanks is in order to be quite honest, as all of these people are volunteering their time in order to make it a better place for everyone else. And as pointed out, in most cases they already have some sort of "real world" job.

About the only people one can say get perks are the news staff, and even then, they have to review any "perks" they may get. And in fact most of the nicer stuff is only for review purposes and needs to get sent back.

Yes, I figured the majority of them do it for free. The word "job" has no implication to there being a strictly economic gain. As I stated before it wouldn't be done if there wasn't some benefit to them. No one works for free unless they're mentally ill, a martyr, or are being led on/scammed. Although, I could argue that if the reason were martyrdom than there could still be the benefit of becoming the martyr - which as I studied in psychology years ago - is actually something martyrs would strive for the opportunity to be (a martyr).

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