A moderator is a person who rates the quality of a comment posted on a site, message board or IRC channel. The purpose is to prevent trolling, abuse of the comment system, and ultimately ensure that posts are not clearly antagonizing others.

Moderators are usually chosen from among the members of the online community by the owner or administrator of the website, internet chatroom or message board (also known as discussion forums) in question, based on the quality of their past input to the community, their level of knowledge in the prime areas of discussions and, not the least, their behaviour. In some communities though, the moderators may be elected or chosen. Systems of moderation and selection of moderators vary widely from community to community.

Qualities of a good moderator

Moderators generally earn respect by their fair comments, impartial behaviour and being polite but firm while dealing with the rule-breakers. They usually possess fluent language skills and in-depth knowledge in the subject of the discussions they moderate. They usually do not participate in ongoing controversial discussions on sensitive topics (like religion or politics) or even if they do, they generally do not express strong or extreme opinions either way. When a topic under discussion is hijacked by somebody and the discussion threatens to go out of hand, they step in to prevent a war of words from breaking out.

In extreme cases, moderators usually have the power to edit or delete offensive comments, stop a discussion from proceeding further by closing the topic or in rare cases, deleting the topic itself. In some cases, moderators also have the ability ban the regular rule-breakers and spammers from taking part in the discussions by taking away their ability to post messages.

In chat rooms, moderators have the power to kick other participants out (that is, ban them from the chat room temporarily or permanently to stop those people who keep sending annoying and/or insulting messages to others.)

Reactions

Response to moderation is often split between positive and negative. Even if a moderator is simply attempting to keep members within the rules, there will be those who, possibly out of lack of understanding of the site's rules, are angered by his or her actions. At the same time, there will be those who support the moderator's decision.

Typically on larger websites, forums, and other online communities which attract a lot of traffic, a moderator's job will become tough as there will be a proportional increase in the number of rules broken and an increase in spamming. Moderators generally need to have a cool head while dealing with trolls (members who deliberately post provocative topics) and flaming (personal attacks between individual members). While under such attack, the moderator must allow the situation to cool down or, if the discussion goes out of hand, close the topic.

Even other moderators can be upset by a decision, sometimes spurring behind-the-scenes discussion of a decision. But a decision will rarely be reversed, for that would undermine the authority of the moderator in question.

See also

• Moderation system

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