Principles of Effective Moderation Course 101

[_UnicornMan]

This is probably the only discussion forum where I would be comfortable talking about what makes good moderation since it's so encouraging of free speech. I hope I'm not breaking any rules, and if I am, I welcome shutting down this thread. Also, this thread is not directed at any moderators on Mormon Discussions forums; I've never had a conflict with any of them here, and don't have them with moderators on other sites either -- except once when I was new the text-based medium about 8 years ago.

So, with that disclaimer...

I have participated on three discussion forums very regularly at different times since 2003. I have noticed some really good moderators, and some absolutely TERRIBLE moderators.

Here are the behaviors I like:

1. They send you a private message when you post something objectionable, park the thread in a moderators area, and then give you a chance to alter it into more acceptable terms. They don't pull out the big guns and fire you. One actually asked if they could alter to the title to mean something else since my title sounded offensive, they thought. I appreciated that!!!

2. They seem to care about whether you come back!! How about that -- they actually care about retaining members.

3. They don't share contents of private messages with others.

4. They let newbies initiate threads on topics that have been discussed in the past, without making them feel like they are dunces for not doing an exhaustive search of past threads to see if the topic has been discussed before. It's supposed to be fun, in my view, and people want INTERACTION, not just information, so discussing something that was discussed in the past is acceptable and actually helps keep the discussion forum active.

5. They seem to be fair to eeryone, and don't seem to protect the old timesr with thousands of posts. Yet, they are also cognizant of a person's commitment to the forum.

How about you? What principles would you put in Principles of Moderation 101 course?