DU Needs New Moderators!

[Skinner]

Please read this entire message. Failure to properly follow instructions will disqualify you to serve as a moderator.

The current moderator term ends this week, and we're looking for volunteers to help us out for the next two months.

With the campaign season heating up, we expect this to be a particularly difficult time to serve as a moderator. For this reason, we'll need to have a core of seasoned veterans to moderate. If you've served before, we hope you'll consider serving this term. Of course, we are always looking for dedicated new people as well, so if you've never served before, please sign up.

Please check your schedule for the next two months. DU is bigger and busier than ever and we're looking for dedicated people who have a little extra time on their hands. If you expect to be unavailable for an extended period of time during the next two months, please do not sign up this term.

Here are some things to bear in mind before you apply:

- Your political ideology is not important... We need centrists and leftists and everyone in between to serve as moderators.
- We prefer people who have been members for a few months, and have made at least a couple hundred posts. You must be at least 18 years old.
- You must be able to log on to DU regularly, and should not take any long vacations between now and mid-September.
- We prefer people with a generally positive outlook on life, who can be fair and evenhanded, and who don't get easily frustrated. If you sign up to moderate, we expect you to stay as a moderator for the full two-month term. You must understand that it is perfectly normal for the admins to occasionally overturn your decisions, or to make specific requests regarding the manner in which you participate on DU while you are a moderator.
- We prefer that moderators avoid highly controversial topics, or at least moderate their behavior significantly when participating in such discussions. If you have been an outspoken partisan for any particular Democratic presidential candidate, of if you have a history of rhetorically hot postings on controversial issues, we may not choose you to serve.
- If you know that you aren't very good at controlling your behavior or your emotions, or if you know that you can't be fair to a particular group of people, please do not sign up to be a moderator. There is no obligation to serve as a mod, and we won't hold it against you if you choose not to.

Here's how to volunteer:

Send an email to [e-mail] with the word "moderator" in the subject line. Include the following information:

- Your real name
- Your forum username
- Your address
- Your telephone number (by giving us your phone number, you are giving us permission to call you to verify your identity)
- How much time you spend on Democratic Underground
- Which forums you'd like to moderate (if you have a preference)
- A brief statement which generally outlines your political views
- Are you taking any extended vacations during the the next two months?
- Have you read, and do you agree to follow, the Message Board Rules and the Moderator Guidelines?
- Moderators have access to certain privileged information about our members, and about how we run this message board. Moderators are forbidden from discussing or sharing any of this privileged information outside the private moderator forum, unless they have permission to do so from the administrators of Democratic Underground. Moderators or former moderators who share privileged moderator information with anyone outside the private moderator forum risk being banned from DU, and (in extreme cases) may be subject to legal action. Do you promise not to discuss or otherwise share privileged moderator business with anyone outside the private moderator forum?

If you apply but are not selected this time, please don't be offended. We typically have a fairly large number of applicants, and we obviously can't pick everyone who applies.

We hope to select a new group of moderators on Wednesday afternoon, July 14. There will be a free conference call for the new moderators on Thursday night, July 15.

Skinner
DU Admin

[Raven]

1. What is the daily time commitment?

And does it matter if a mod is on a dial up connection and not all that computer smart?

[newyawker99]

2. A dial-up connection shouldn't be a problem.

When I started moderating I wasn't too computer-smart.
You really don't have to do anything too technical.
If you can copy and paste, I think that should be
enough.

The only time committment I know of is that you
should log-in everyday. The amount of time you
spend varies depending on the forum you moderate.
If you moderate a busy forum, you will spend
more time than if you moderate a slower forum.
There are some mods who are on-line a good part
of the day and there are others who check in
a few times per day.

[lpbk2713]

3. I would like to be a moderator, but maybe later on.

I can understand that you would need seasoned previous moderators in the next few months. So maybe after Kerry wins and Bush is fired I'll submit my name.

[newyawker99]

4. Admin is looking for new people too!

"Of course, we are always looking for dedicated new people as well, so if you've never served before, please sign up."

Give it a shot! You never know...you may get selected.

[Robb]

5. Be a Moderatorater!!

S'great! :D Plus, you get to learn all these cool Moderator secrets!! :bounce:

[UTUSN]

6. What If We're Not "Popular"? n/t

[lazarus]

7. Then you're me

and I've moderated a bunch of times. :D

[curse10]

8. no need to be popular

I'm not popular- I was a mod a few times

If anything- I think that would be an asset! Less people trying to bribe you! LoL Just jokin!

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. I'm not, and I've done it a few times. Put your name in there UTUSN!

I think you'd be great at it!! :hi:

[EarlG]

10. Thanks all

We've had a great response. It's going to be tough to narrow the field. I'm locking this now - no more applications, thanks.