Moderators are not at all like editors. Even the most laissez faire editors must decide what appears in the publication, even if they do not edit for style. Though they may not infringe on a writer's style, editors are expected to catch obvious errors in grammar and spelling. Errors in fact fall first on the necks of the editors before they are pinned on the writers. Moderators work under different mandates. They usually do nothing about errors in grammar and spelling. Errors of fact might be contradicted, but the moderator is usually no more or less a peer than any other poster. Moderators do intervene in discussions in ways that editors usually do not.

The best way to perceive the matter is in the stark contrast between an unmoderated newsgroup such as Rec.Collecting.Coins and a heavily moderated forum such as cointalk.org. In the middle are most lists, Coin People, and many unmoderated groups, such as Rec.Collecting.Paper-Money. RCP-M does have its slice of spam, but the cut is much thinner than on RCC.

Just as editors create the style of a publication that brings or loses readers, so, too do moderators of a group, list, or forum attract or repel participants.

I moderate a coin forum and i have to say i'm very laissez faire with it, i'm laissez faire with most things because that's how i like it. Only time i actually do anything is the occasional removing of spam mails to the forum and banning members that try posting links to what the owner considers 'inappropriate' sites (not coin related anyhow).

As former moderator of this forum i used the same policy except i don't recall ever having to remove any spam. Although occasionally i'd have to step into arguments but only if i had to.

Lets face it i'm just lazy.

Forums are not like periodicals / journals.

If someone is looking for information, especially for free they are more likely to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous personal attacks / spam/ and moderation than they would be to trouble themselves to go to a library and conduct their own tedious research. Cynical? Probably.

People go to forums for all sorts of different reasons. Dipping in and out for info or to impart it or as a permanent / long haul presence and sense of association / identity. I don't think moderators make much of a difference to key data being available on forums or otherwise. They can however make a difference to the amount of see are ae pee you might otherwise have to plow through to reach any kernels of wisdom though. However, it isn't necessarily `kernels of wisdom' peole come to such forums for. Most people buy magazines and journals for info (keeping up to date) and kernels of wisdom from the sage guru's of the subject matter.

RCC has its plus points and it has its minus points. It appears to evolve and it also appears to regress on occasions. It is certainly not a forum for the overly thin skinned as there are the occasional `significant differences of opinion' or character clashes. However there are people who seem to dance through the minefields without triggering any serious explosions or loss of limb, which in turn evidences the fact that you don't have to moderate people who are demonstrably capable of moderating themselves. It is only those who are demonstrably incapable of moderating themselves that make you want to have `moderators'. The plus side of rcc is that it is without a shadow of a doubt THE forum where I have (to date) obtained the most useful and useable information and come across people who have helped shape my own collecting universe.

Cointalk has its plus points and minus points.... and sometimes even more minus points (at one point I could have sworn there were more moderators than there were people posting). It doesn't seem quite that way now. A few short months ago I would have said that it Cointalk showed more promise than Coinpeople. I would say that the situation has changed of late. It could easily swing back again though.

Coinpeople is...... well, Coinpeople. The way it is compartmentalised is good for isolating specific discussion / interest but perhaps overly complex for the general hobbyist. (No doubt many will disagree with me on that point). While Coinpeople seems to function as a `multi forum' and on different levels (which is no bad thing) for me it still lacks a certain `je ne sais quoi' that makes me continue to dip my toes into the rcc waters.....

This also appears to be the case for Marotta, Stuejoe, and more than just a few others too. ;-)

Ian
`together - apart'

There's one thing about moderators that many don't seem to realize. That is that moderators are given a set of rules to follow and their job is to enforce them. Moderators don't make the rules - the site owners do. This sometimes leaves moderators between the proverbial rock and hard place, for even if a moderator disagrees with a rule - it is his/her job to enforce it.

Because of that, being a moderator is kind of like being the neighborhood cop on the beat. It is your job to enforce the laws, and sometimes that's not easy. For because of the nature of your job you are dealing with the same group of people on a daily basis. You get to know these people, even become friends with them. And if the time ever arises that you, as a moderator, have to enforce the rules with one you consider a personal friend you must do so justly and fairly. You have to treat everyone as an equal regardless of what you think of them personally. Often it is even harder to be fair with someone that you don't like personally, especially if the incident involves another that you consider a friend.

Since all moderators are people just like everyone else, how that moderator goes about doing his/her job depends on what kind of person they are. I can think of few other things that will bring out a person's true character more than having to sit in judgment over others. And while that may sound a bit extreme, that's exactly what a person is doing by being a moderator. You are given a set of rules to follow and how you interpret and administer those rules is defined by what and who you are.

That leads to another issue - who is chosen to become a moderator and why. The choice is made typically by the site owner, often with the recommendation of others. And has been noted, it is these choices that largely will help determine the flavor, the atmosphere of the given community. And I suppose that is how it should be. For who else but the owner or creator of a community should decide. It is after all their money and effort that makes the community possible.

But all the owner can do by making the choices he does is to set the ground rules. It is up to the mebers of the community to flesh things out. It is how they choose to interact with each other, how they choose to follow the rules of the community and whether they choose to do this on a strict basis or to see how far they can bend the rules and still get away with it that make a community what it is. And since people tend to gravitate into groups in which they feel they fit in - the character of the community is determined by those who live there. If they like the rules of the community - they stay and draw others like them. If they don't - they leave. It's that way with all other things in life so there is no reason for it to be any different in a community like this one.

But to me, the interesting thing is just how many people belong to or are members of so many dissimilar communities. They may talk of how much they dislike this or that - but yet there they are right in the middle of something they say they don't like. There can be various reasons for this. Some may be seeking some spice in their life. Others may enjoy conflict and simply not be willing to admit to themselves or others. And then there are those who are only seeking knowledge. They don't care about what they must go through or endure in order to obtain that knowledge. They just want to obtain it.

And that brings me back to what being a moderator really is. You have to try and understand people, figure out what it is they are doing and why. Know when to step in with a firm hand and when to let things pass. And at the same time be willing to go out of your way and expend not a little effort to help another in any way you can. It's not an easy job. And yet it is a job that people do on a strictly volunteer basis. They receive nothing in return for their efforts and time - they just do it.

Good post Doug. I do not visit many different forums, but I can imagine that it can make one to became a talented contortionist as a moderator.


Now, as a member of this community, I demand that you resurrect your mustachioed avatar!!!

I can't argue with what Doug said.

How could I refuse

Having been an owner and a moderator, just a moderator, and just a user, I can tell you I prefer the latter option to all of them.

When I owned and was the sole moderator of this site, there wasn't a lot of moderation that needed to be done. I think part of that is because, for the most part, those who need moderation tend to avoid moderated forums.

Each forum seems to develop its own atmosphere do to the members that participate and the owner(s) and moderators that run it. My own perceptions are that CP is very collector oriented and light hearted, CT is also collector oriented but more serious, CU is investor and dealer oriented, NGC is serious numismatic oriented, rcc is rough and tumble, etc. But, those are just my perceptions and they are all fluid and change a bit over time depending upon the members, the owners and the moderators. I grew up on rcc and CP is where I consider 'home' now but I think all of the above forums have their value.

I think you can learn something on all of them. At least I can and often a lot of posters participate on more than one site to a greater or lesser extent. I knew Ian, Mike and Doug online long before there was a CP.

One final note on moderation, like I said on rcc, the only thing harder than being a good moderator is picking a good moderator if you are an owner.

I cannot even go to a coinshow without someone seeing my name tag and asking about a guy named Ian in Scotland

The planet sometimes seems to be a very small place indeed.