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by estate
MODR8
Mod Games
What is it about being a Mod on the atomic forums? It's a great honour, certainly a big surprise, and it's something I'm sure everyone who's had the opportunity has dived headlong into. I know I certainly did.
Being a Mod changes your perspective on forum happenings. Certainly as a newbie Mod, there're always thoughts racing through your head: "Should I do something here?", "How do I do it?", "Gawd, I don't want to break anything!" as well as the ever-present "....must...resist....urge to nuke his sorry butt into oblivion."
At first it's all fun and games; lock this, move that, it's all simple, textbook modding. Everyone who has been a Mod throughout atomic history was here a long while before they were handed the keys to the nuke button. So for the simple things trusting your instincts is usually enough. If not, well, that's what the Mod Cave is for.
There is another side to being an atomic Mod, one that's just as interesting, but perhaps less enjoyable than post-docking Mills or IP-tracing Virt. The phrase "we Mods are damned if we do and damned if we don't" is etched into the forum server's hard drives many, many times. And by all Mods since the forums started, I'm willing to bet. I should state that no Mod considers moderating a burden, far from it, but I'm sure everyone also understands that it isn't roses and peaches from dawn till dusk.
Moderators walk a fine line when making difficult decisions. You can't please all of the people all of the time, so you simply have to go with what you feel is right, and trust that if your instincts for a particular course of action weren't right, then you wouldn't have been asked to be a Mod in the first place. On line-ball decisions, there will always be those who disagree. On the more important issues the community tends to split itself right down the middle. So whilst the Mods are obviously active participants in the community, and thus have a good understanding of what the community wants, moderating by public consensus simply isn't an option.
Equally, there isn’t always consensus among the Mods before a particular course of action is taken. The Mods we have now, and for as long as I’ve been a member of the community, have all been very different sorts of people and provide a good cross-section of the community’s demographic. Disagreement is inevitable in that environment – witness the SpongeBob ranks of not-so-long-ago. Yes Kommando, I thought they were ridiculous too. ;-) I didn’t say anything at the time because Mac Dude threatened to Serf me and change the lowest rank to Warnie – a threat that had my blood boiling I assure you! :P But it made Macca happy, and a lot of people loved the custom ranks this time, just as they have in the past. Again, you can’t please everyone all of the time. I just hope next time we do it Ben’s new rank will be Bradman!
The biggest difference I’ve noticed since becoming a Mod has been my PM Inbox. It’s now quite literally ten times the size it used to be. As is my Sent Items. PM is the best tool Mods have. One of the first things I learnt as a Mod was that a quick PM can fix a problem much more quickly and effectively than a padlock, post dock or worst of all “mushroom cloud”.
For me, being a Mod has been about perspective. It unlocks the secrets of atomic’s past; the events that have in many ways defined the forums. The sense of how great an honour it is to be a part of that group comes from reading through atomic’s history, seen from the eyes of those who made the decisions, as they were being made. It also drives home the importance of not stuffing up. Not wanting to be remembered as atomic’s very own “Latham Experiment”, or heaven forbid, “Dubbya”.
The other difference new perspective highlights is the general reaction to spam. If you’ll let me climb on my soapbox for one brief moment, I’d just like to say: please use the RTM button! For every RTM button clicked, there are a dozen or more posts in the thread in question ranging from “this is spam”, to “you’re an idiot”, to the inevitable “In before lock!” It’s great that most people know what’s acceptable and what isn’t, but please please please, hit RTM as well. Ok, I’m off the soapbox now.
Newbie Mods listen to what the more experienced guys say, but often enough the response is “I agree. Don’t forget to trust your instincts, go with what you think is right.” The confidence that gives a tentative Mod is fantastic, especially when it’s an important decision such as a banning. The few bans I’ve done thus far have all been discussed with other Mods first, and the decisions have not been taken lightly. And we do keep an eye on Website Feedback as well. ;-)