Ask the mods anything

This is a serious question: how do you apply to be a mod? I’ve thought about it, and want to give back to this site for all the enjoyable experiences it has given me.

@GenericArchangel  
PM The Smiling Pony/ The Frowning Pony or Joey and ask them.

@Mikey  
Thank you!

@GenericArchangel  
No problem. If they do accept, you’ll start as an Assistant though, it’ll take a while to become a moderater.

@Mikey  
Good to know, thank you. How long does it normally take?

@GenericArchangel  
It depends on your performance, how much you’d contribute as a mod, etc. It can take from a few months to a year. Assistant is basically mod lite, so you’d still be doing community efforts and stuff, you’d just have less permissions. Like you can’t ban or anything.

@Mikey  
Makes sense. Thanks again!

@GenericArchangel  
Mhm~

A. My wings are so pretty
 
B. Let’s fly to the castle!
 
Or C. I love when you comb my hair
 
There’s only one right answer
 
@GenericArchangel  
good luck!

@GenericArchangel  
Rustle my jimmies

@DevField  
Wilco, payment first.

@GenericArchangel  
One of these days…

Has anyone created a forum for on G5 related topics yet?

@ApplejackFan204  
here it is

@GenericArchangel & @Mikey
 
In my experience, and this is just me talking - I know I sort the world around me in ways that others do not so this is just my perspective and others on staff have very different ideas which are as, or more, valid than mine.
 
But, for me, the way people usually go from being an assistant to being a mod is that they volunteer to fix a clogged toilet that no one else wants to deal with, and the door to the toilet requires moderation level keys.
 
The moderation tools are very granular, and each person ends up with a set of buttons to do “the thing they love”.
 
Burnout is a real problem on sites like this. It’s basically a fan convention that runs 365 days a year, for 10 years.
 
Everyone can help at a convention for a 3 day weekend. That’s fun :) but after a week, then a month, then months and now years it can really chew you up if you don’t have something that rejuvenates you and gives you the energy and drive to keep having fun and enjoying yourself, and enjoying helping others.
 
As an assistant, everyone starts with the same set of tasks. And you never ever stop doing them you’ll do them for the rest of the time you’re on the site.
 
But, over time, you’ll find something that really resonates with you, and that makes whatever else you’re doing easy and fun. And when you find that, that’s when people tend to make the step to moderator, because you’ve “found your grove”. You’ve found what that thing is that feels so good to do that you can relax and have fun and then it’s not a job or a chore, but a genuine hobby that helps you relax and enjoy yourself.
 
Then it’s less like volunteering at a fan convention, and more like inviting one million of your closest friends over to your house to enjoy some hobby that really excites you and that you love to share with your friends. Oh! And some of them brought art to share with others! Or stories to tell! Or maybe they just want to chill and relax and talk about the show.
 
No one can say how long it takes to find “that thing”, but you can see when it happens. Folks will be asking “what do we do about this? How do we handle that? Does anyone think they can survive being responsible for this thing that no one else wants to do and not lose their mind?” And you’ll hear someone say, “I will”
 

 
That, for me, is one of the reasons that this site has survived when others have failed. The people who created this site had the wisdom to put together a very special team. And this site has attracted more than the usual share of people who have found themselves in the right place at the right time to do that thing that resonates with them, as if they were born to do it.
 
And you don’t have to be a moderator to be incredibly helpful or important to the site. The assistants here are just as important and capable as anyone else on staff. And because of the granularity of our tools, and the fact that we usually work as a team, an assistant can usually get anything done for you that a moderator can. Because even though moderators have more buttons, we still work as a team as much as we can and even though you may see one person leaving a comment on an image, you can bet there’s two or four more behind the scenes doing the thing that the person leaving the comment is talking about. For example, if a comment gets deleted and someone gets banned for it, there could be a half dozen people involved in the actual mechanics of all the steps required to complete “that single action”.
 
So, if you become a volunteer for the site, you won’t be a moderator for awhile, but you will be helping to moderate the site, and even though you might not be holding the ban hammer, you might be sending the PM that explains the ban, or leaving the comment that asks people to chill and have fun, or deleting the post that the team agreed needs to be deleted.
 
But that’s just my perspective.

@Ciaran  
Wow! That’s all really interesting, and definitely makes me sure I want to help. I even have an idea of what I’d like to do (rules enforcement and especially badges), hearing that it’s fun is a good sign.

@Ciaran  
Pretty much said it as best as could be.

@GenericArchangel  
Rules enforcement is pretty general, badges you won’t have by default as a mod though. Mods and assistants have base perms, and ones you have to be given.

@GenericArchangel & @Mikey  
That is a good example, though. Some of the “Request thing here” threads require a moderation button to do the thing that was requested, and even though all of us help with those threads, over time one or two people become the unofficial ‘keeper’ of the thread. And if an assistant becomes the defacto “person making sure this gets done” eventually the team will say; “You know what? You’ve basically shown ownership of this thread. So here’s the button for that.”
 
@Mikey  
Thank you. I feel you have a very clear view of things, and I trust your opinion of stuff like this a lot. So I now feel less uncertain of the validity of my bias ^__^.
 
_{yes, this is exactly what it’s like to work with me}

@Ciaran  
Heh, definitely. And I definitely credit you a lot for some of the knowledge I have.

What’s the best badge and why is it Cool Crow?

I forgot my email, what do I do?

@Background Pony #9AC8  
If you email our ops address with the account name we can send an email to the address listed on the account.

Have you considered taking a vacation from here? I think Smiling will need one in the future lest he goes insane.
 
…one of these days.

@Marx  
Some of us do take vacations from staffing.