From time to time some members pose questions and make unsolicited suggestions about moderators and what the criteria to become a moderator is. It has admittedly been a bit of a mysterious process. Moderators have generally been appointed by a consensus of the existing moderators and/or administrators. There has never been anything resembling a formal process. At times in the past there have been calls for interest from the members and also open threads to nominate moderators.
Present staff thought it would be advantageous to make the process more transparent and beneficial for the forum. Therefore, if any member is interested in becoming a moderator, please feel free to PM your interest to @moderators for consideration. You can certainly provide any information such as past experience moderating or experience in your line of work that may be relevant, although that is not a requirement. Current staff will then review the request and if in agreement will advise that you are approved. We don’t know how many will be interested, but if there are several they will be given a “moderator in waiting” status and become a moderator when one is next needed. This changes all the time. In fact it is anticipated that there will be a need for another moderator shortly.
What does a moderator do?
A moderator helps to keep the forum civil and welcoming to new members. A moderator must also enforce CFL policies, such as diversity. If you think that you are unable to do this, then you wouldn’t be suitable for the role. There are also more mundane aspects to being a moderator such as deleting spam and duplicate threads, combining and/or closing threads and detecting and deleting duplicate accounts.
Must a moderator be unbiased?
Yes and no. No one can be completely unbiased. Moderators, like members, are allowed to have favourite teams as well as opinions on various football related and other subjects within the constraints of the Code of Conduct. Moderators are however expected to be as unbiased as humanly possible in dealing with actually moderating content in the forum and meting out discipline where appropriate. There are also publicly published discipline guidelines that moderators must follow and more serious discipline is arrived at by consensus while permanent bans must be unanimous. So it’s not really a position for wild cards or mavericks.
What does it pay and is there a pension?
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What is the time commitment expected?
There is no set time commitment, but to be useful as a moderator and helpful to your fellow staff you should have a fairly significant and consistent presence on the forum. Most moderators at least check in daily. You are not required to spend tons of time consistently on the forum moderating, but there will be times this happens. There is also no problem if you will be unavailable for a time, such as being on vacation and there is a system in place for that. If you only check in once a week or less then effective moderating will likely not be possible. The position is likely best suited for those that enjoy the forum and frequently log in already. You are also free to resign as a moderator at any time if you decide that it is not for you after all.
What about member abuse?
Unfortunately this occurs and you will be more successful as a moderator if you have thick skin. In fact it is unlikely that you will make more friends on the forum over time if you take on a moderator role. You will however find that other staff and many members will support you when they see obvious abuse perpetrated by the less mature members of the forum. We won’t lie though and occasionally a perma banned member has been known to be extremely dishonest and vindictive in public on other social media against one or more moderators.
Why would I become a moderator?
Because you are level headed, hopefully possess some kind of a sense of humour and absolutely love the CFL to the point where you are more than willing to volunteer your time and effort to maintain and promote this unique on line community.
Please let us know if you are interested in becoming a moderator. Even long haired freaky people can apply as we don’t know what you actually look like.