I’m on the Community Team for LW. A large part of my effort (in particular) has been to actively recruit mods who haven’t asked for the position.
One reason is exactly what you just said. Those most inclined to rule are generally least suited. (Thanks, Douglas Adams.)
Another is that I’ve actively tried to avoid the Reddit supermod situation, where ten people share moderation of every important Reddit sub. You’ll notice that we generally have a different set of moderators for each of our largest subs. (Admins don’t count because they don’t/can’t really mod. Admins see reports for the whole instance.)
That, of course, has caused other issues. One is that our communities tend to be less consistent than subreddits. You can view this as a good or bad thing, but we’re generally judged as an instance by the most egregious actions of the most egregious community. And we’re all new to this and learning.
Admins/Community Team also are walking a fine line. It’s natural when you’re drafted/appointed as a mod to want to do your job. I’ve been regularly advising mods to take a lighter hand in moderation, but we’re also trying to avoid watching over every decision they make. They have some leeway in what they do.
![[Comment restored] A person calls someone by their username. Mod considers this a personal attack and removes the comment](https://feddit.org/pictrs/image/b0f44379-3b22-4c99-80fa-e8cbaf1d0024.png){kind=link}
I’m on the Community Team for LW. A large part of my effort (in particular) has been to actively recruit mods who haven’t asked for the position.
One reason is exactly what you just said. Those most inclined to rule are generally least suited. (Thanks, Douglas Adams.)
Another is that I’ve actively tried to avoid the Reddit supermod situation, where ten people share moderation of every important Reddit sub. You’ll notice that we generally have a different set of moderators for each of our largest subs. (Admins don’t count because they don’t/can’t really mod. Admins see reports for the whole instance.)
That, of course, has caused other issues. One is that our communities tend to be less consistent than subreddits. You can view this as a good or bad thing, but we’re generally judged as an instance by the most egregious actions of the most egregious community. And we’re all new to this and learning.
Admins/Community Team also are walking a fine line. It’s natural when you’re drafted/appointed as a mod to want to do your job. I’ve been regularly advising mods to take a lighter hand in moderation, but we’re also trying to avoid watching over every decision they make. They have some leeway in what they do.