by Alexandra Heep

Created on: December 25, 2011   Last Updated: December 26, 2011

Essentially, two basic types of forum moderators exist: those who own the website/forum and those who have taken on these duties for someone else. The second scenario is harder because the forum moderator has to please both sides of the fence.

It takes a lot of patience to handle a forum. He needs to answer the same questions over and over and handle the same issues again and again. If he owns the forum, a good moderator should only put up rules he can enforce. In the case of having to moderate for another party, he must enforce the rules whether he agrees with them or not.

A person with a negative outlook will find it very hard to be a good moderator. Since people often do not think about consequences before they post, a moderator with a negative outlook on life may take things personal and may overreact, driving people away with his negative attitude. Even worse, he could fuel negativity with his bad attitude and create an unpleasant atmosphere.

By the same token, a forum moderator with a white light philosophy may not be prepared to understand and handle conflict appropriately. He may overreact by being too strict and stifle a free exchange of ideas with his need to create a place without conflict. Deleting or moderating comments that he sees as an attack to his belief system may take the life out of a forum While a place where everyone gets along is a nice thought, it is an unreal expectation due to human nature.

A good forum moderator has a balanced personality. Instead of cleansing and purging, he tries to keep the forum itself in balance. He needs to know when simple re-directions of a topic will suffice or if he should take stronger measures. Once he has to enforce rules because of totally negative out-of-hand behavior, he should do so by the book and treat everyone equally.

Good communication skills are imperative for a good forum moderator. Not only because he has to answer questions, but the forum members have to be able to understand the answers. Since others may lack communication skills, he needs to use his skills in order to understand the questions in the first place.

As a mediator, he is just that: a person caught between the members and the owners of the site. While he may want to be equally friendly and popular with both sides, a good moderator realizes that is virtually impossible. He likely may never be accepted fully by forum members, and owners or administrators of the site may not fully trust him as one of their own.

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