What is a moderator, and what is included in the terms of reference of this person

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Have you ever wondered: “What is a moderator?” But in fact, answering it is much more difficult than it might seem at first glance.

Profession? No, because there is neither such a faculty, nor specialization in universities not only in our country, but throughout the world. Hobby? It is also unlikely, because the direction is in demand and is considered a necessary position on websites and forums.

One has only to open an Internet resource dedicated to finding a job, and an announcement that a site moderator is required will almost immediately come into view.

And what is this? Let's try to figure it out together.

Section 1. What is a moderator? The relevance of this direction

First of all, it should be noted that the name itself comes from the Latin word moderor, which in translation into Russian means “restrain” or “moderate”. That is, we can say that this is a special computer user who has broader powers compared to all other participants in public network resources, which include forums, chats and echo conferences.

The moderator has the right to delete or edit other people's messages, andalso, if necessary, invalidate pages and restrict the rights of some members to view or edit the resource.

It should be noted that here I have listed only the most basic tasks, and, in principle, each site has its own, more specific list of responsibilities and powers.

Section 2. What is a moderator and types of moderation

In general, moderation can be done in several ways.

1. Pre-moderation allows you to control the content of messages before they are published on the site. The moderator checks and, if necessary, corrects spelling or punctuation errors, properly supplements the message, formats it, and only after that makes a decision on publication. Sometimes the content is simply removed. This type, as a rule, is used on the official resources of companies or in online communities dedicated to a specific topic. The advantage is that the forums don't look like a garbage dump. However, among the shortcomings, it is necessary to note the possible subjectivity on the part of the moderator and low efficiency.
2. Post-moderation allows you to control content after it has been published. Such messages appear much faster, but the likelihood of spam or flooding also increases. The moderator on such sites is forced to be constantly present.
3. Automatic moderation. In this case, the participants themselves vote "for" or "against" the message, as well as pre-created automatic filters andregulations. There is no moderator subjectivity, and articles on the site are posted quite quickly. However, special software is required to perform voting and filtering.

Section 3. What is a moderator? Types of modern moderators

So, having read the material in this article, have you made sure that your site needs a moderator? Well, a very correct decision, but let me know: which one, because today there are already several types of them?

I will list the main ones:

1. Forum moderator. As a rule, several people will be needed for these purposes, since in a short time it will be necessary to delete certain messages or topics in general, edit what has been written, close discussions, or, conversely, recognize them as important and move them to the top of the list.
2. Echo conference moderator issues warnings to some particularly emotional users or prevents them from expressing their opinions by turning them into read-only mode.
3. The newsgroup moderator is an important person on any news site. The entire information feed passes through him, and it is he who decides on further publication.
4. Chat moderator. As a rule, this person monitors the progress of the discussion and removes users who violate the rules of communication. On some Internet resources of this type, the message is accepted by the moderator, and only after that it appears in the chat feed.