Ever have a different mod for each forum section?

[Grant]

I remember one of the first forums I ever went to, it had forum sections and each section was moderated by a different person. I remember there being a lot of arguments between mods. We had I think 5 different areas, I think they were based on video game company, like Nintendo, Xbox, Sony, etc. Anyway, each section had its mod. They were in control of their areas and the other mods couldn't come in and change anything with each others sections.

Have you ever saw this at a forum before? I was always aware of a few mods and maybe one super mod, the admin and maybe a co-admin.

 

[Nomad]

I never had different mods for different forum sections but once I was invited to become a mod on a forum where I was supposed to moderate just one section. The owner had different mods for different section. If you have a lot of activities, this certainly helps

 

[linux.poet]

The first forum I was on had this arrangement, with specific mods assigned to specific forums. The downside of this arrangement is fairly obvious - if a member likes a specific subforum but doesn’t like the mod assigned to that area, conflict is inevitable. Moderating can become about the character and personalities of the moderators instead of an objective application of the rules. It gets to be unfair very quickly, with members kissing up to the mods they like and blasting the ones they don’t. Subforums take on the personality of who is in charge. It’s uncomfortable.

 

[Grant]

I never had different mods for different forum sections but once I was invited to become a mod on a forum where I was supposed to moderate just one section. The owner had different mods for different section. If you have a lot of activities, this certainly helps

Yeah a lot of the time it's just another user or member of the forum getting called up to be a mod. It's how it was at many forums for me back in the day.

The first forum I was on had this arrangement, with specific mods assigned to specific forums. The downside of this arrangement is fairly obvious - if a member likes a specific subforum but doesn’t like the mod assigned to that area, conflict is inevitable. Moderating can become about the character and personalities of the moderators instead of an objective application of the rules. It gets to be unfair very quickly, with members kissing up to the mods they like and blasting the ones they don’t. Subforums take on the personality of who is in charge. It’s uncomfortable.

That is a possibility. You're bound to have arguments between mods and users, it's kind of inevitable. As long as your mods are properly trained, it won't be that big of an issue. And yeah, some mods let the power get to their heads. I've witnessed some who think they have all this power and will sometimes even abuse it. But those mods tend to get forced out for breaking the rules.

 

[linux.poet]

You're bound to have arguments between mods and users, it's kind of inevitable. As long as your mods are properly trained, it won't be that big of an issue.

I’m going to have to disagree with this. It’s not really about mod training as much as it is about balancing personalities and opinions so that the rules are applied fairly and objectively. You can’t train someone to have a different opinion or background. The only thing you can do is help people understand people who are different from them, usually by exposure to said people who are different.

Now you can argue that the mods of my first forum weren’t properly trained, but they ended up disagreeing on a very hugely controversial issue which caused the site rules to be applied inconsistently. The admins also made a huge mistake of taking a side in this divisive issue and not explaining the side they took clearly enough. So the mods ended up interpreting what admin said differently, and you can imagine how that ended: bans and suspensions being handed out like hotcakes, protests on Tumblr, etc. I got banned myself in that huge mess because I was on the wrong side of the controversy and I couldn’t mentally handle the fact that I got screwed.

The bottom line is that the moderators of any forum need to function as a team and consistently apply the site rules across all sections of the forum. At no point should the admins or mods take sides in a debate that the members are having and attempt to punish people of the opposite side of the admins’s or mods’ personal views.

 

[Monster Masterpiece]

It is possible because each moderator has certain knowledge that he knows so a moderator per section is much preferable because this will help you to have specialized moderators into the section.