I'm not looking for a job, but... (an endless series)

[FIREd]

You are right about this, and it is something that I have thought about more than once. But, if a poster can accept that he has a only a subset of free speech available here, he can pretty much say anything, whereas a moderator has a more narrow task of keeping posts away from controversy or anything that might impede the commercial purpose of the site.

Posting here has some elements of a conversation with friends. We don't expect to get paid, other than in enjoyment, when we have a conversation. But if it were my job to supervise a conversation to steer people away from certain topics or viewpoints, I would want to get paid.

I am still curious about what is the reward matrix from those who do volunteer and continue in moderator service?

Ha

I think you are reading too much into it. As a moderator, I have no idea what the commercial purpose of this site is. I have never talked to the owner and I don't even know if ER.org is profitable. I have not signed any contract. I have never promised to uphold any corporate standards. And it is not my job to stifle controversies for the purpose of protecting the owner's bottom line.

My job is to enforce community rules. Those rules are not corporate guidelines. Those rules have been created by the people and for the people of this community so that ER.org can remain an enjoyable forum for all. I volunteered to join the moderator team because I have a vested interest in keeping ER.org enjoyable for me (in my experience, unmoderated forums quickly turn ugly). The way I see it, I am not working on behalf of the site owner, but on behalf of the community.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Ha, I don't know why I do any of the other volunteer things I have done (youth stuff, ESL tutoring, etc.) other than there was a need for someone to do them and I could (in all cases there was a request for volunteers--I did not approach the entity asking to help).

I was flattered to be asked to be a mod and I don't spend any more time here than before I was a mod. Unmoderated boards seem to be difficult to sustain as one-note ponies seem to take them over, and I had enjoyed this board for several years before becoming a mod so I felt it must be my turn to help maintain it when I was asked. I know I'm certainly not one of them, but there are some amazingly thoughtful mods helping out here for the thornier issues. The Air Jordan/cell phone/Nigerian inheritance spammers are the easy ones to deal with.

 

[Nords]

Websites like this provide an outlet to people who are too lazy, antisocial, extreme INTJ, or have whatever reasons to not maintain a blog. Readership of a website like this ensures that any rant will get read by a few dozen. It also provides an easy answer to the question of "what ya do all day".

*Ahem.*

My job is to enforce community rules. Those rules are not corporate guidelines. Those rules have been created by the people and for the people of this community so that ER.org can remain an enjoyable forum for all. I volunteered to join the moderator team because I have a vested interest in keeping ER.org enjoyable for me (in my experience, unmoderated forums quickly turn ugly). The way I see it, I am not working on behalf of the site owner, but on behalf of the community.

Actually, if you go through the mod archives, you can see the rules changing along with the ownership and the moderator roster.

Today's rules aren't necessarily "bad" or "good" compared to when REWahoo was publicly roping trolls, but the rules are certainly different.