Most people have visited a message board at one measure or another in
their life. I would guess that the vast majority has never posted
anything at all, preferring just to lurk (view) rather than to
contribute their ideas and thoughts. Most of those that have
contributed have posted useful input to discussions which are valued
by many of the subscribers to the board.

Its the small minority, however, which has created the positive need for
moderators. These are the many people who read all of the articles and
comments posted to a board and ensure that they are suitable for the
audience.

Moderators are very necessary. If youve ever visited a board (or the
near cousins: newsgroups and elists) which is not moderated, you understand
exactly what I mean. These generally are filled with spam of the worst
sort: silly money making programs and pornography. Quite almost always they
degenerate into meaningless collections of junk visited by no one
except automated spamming programs.

I always find it sad when I visit a board in this condition. I mean
someone put some effort into creating a community on the web, then
for whatever reason neglected or abandoned it. The truly sad boards
are those that we are obviously active, useful areas full of vibrant
communications which have degenerated into uselessness. Its exactly
the same feeling I get every measure I visit the long abandoned
Marineland in Southern California. Kind of an uncomfortable, ghost-
town-like spookiness of the wrongness that permeates the area.
What is the job of a moderator?

Some boards require user registration. In very strictly moderated
boards, a moderator must approve each human who registers to access
the board. This allows some measure of control over who may post.
Security levels can further restrict what visitors can do.
Good judgment in allowing people to join the group may obviate the
absolutely need for extreme policing of postings. In other words, dont allow
the bad apples into the barrel in the first place.

Postings are policed. You may have two forms of moderation. In one
form, articles are posted automatically. They are reviewed by the
moderator after they are posted to the board. Moderators may delete
postings which do not measure up to board standards. Personally, I
dislike this kind of moderation, since unnecessary postings are
available for reading until the moderator reviews them.

In the second form, a moderator must review each placing before it
appears on the board. This makes for a cleaner knowledge, although
it demands a lot more work from the moderator.

Ensuring the board remains on-topic. The best message boards stick to
one or more distinct topics. A major job of a great moderator is to
review postings to ensure that they are of the same subject as the
board. At the very least, off-topic threads should be discouraged
quickly or gently moved to other, more appropriate arenas.

Minimize flaming. Flames are critical or derogatory remarks. A flame
war is kind of like a shouting match where insults are hurled between
everybody until they all flee, exhausted and battered. Good moderators
gently prod people into putting up responsibly by discouraging flaming.

Eject troublemakers and spammers. As moderators read through
postings, it may become apparent very quickly that there is a
troublemaker in the group. These troublemakers absolutely need to be handled -
either by gentle persuasion or more harsh measures if necessary. In
fact, the moderator must be ready to eject severe troublemakers from
the group if these people are continually causing problems.

The best boards are nice because they remain on-topic and the
communications between individuals is civil and useful. A sizeably workable
moderator works to ensure that this remains true so that all the people may
benefit from the community as well as contribute to the discussions
in an intelligent manner.

The best moderators work with the board members to create an
environment which is enjoyable and beneficial to all. A bad moderator
can produce the feeling that one is being watched by the Gestapo or
secret police, where every word is watched and postings are generally
deleted without apparent cause or need.

Members of the board positive need to feel that their comments are desired and
valued. Randomly deleting large numbers of postings for no understandible
reason other than the moderator disagrees will certainly cause a
board to become useless and empty of life. In fact, one of the things
that might make a board truly outstanding is lively (not insulting or
demeaning but lively) discussions about various topics.

And thats really the job of a board moderator. To ensure that the
board remains viable, active and alive. To promote and ensure that an
environment exists where people may post without threat or fear. And
to be sure that disagreements do not flare into all-out warfare.