Community Moderators

In any forum those classes naturally come to exist anyway.  It's not that moderation creates that distinction, it merely highlights it.

There wil always be people who spend far more time on a forum than others, who bring a lot of time and effort to making the forum a fun and interesting place to hang out.  Given that some people give more, why is it unthinkable they also get some extra power in return?

That's very true BUT I don't think you are fully considering the implications of the word 'authority'.

In once sense it means that what they post may be considered more likely to be true.  I actually don't have any issue with that, if someone has been on the forum a long time and has made a lot of positive contributions why is that attribution unlikley to be accurate?

In another sense though, "authority" as a concept will rub a lot of people the wrong way and they will be sure to pick and crow at EVERY error found in a post by a mod, no matter how innocuous. That moderation is not just a badge but also a target that will make more mod posts than not even more carefully written so as to not only deserve the extra weight the badge gives but avoid embarrassment.

I definitely agree with this danger, but we'll have to see how that plays out and see if the feedback system can remove problem mods quick enough.  Again my hope would be that having that "mod" badge would make people take a step back from any personal issues with posters and really act more responsibly than they had as normal posters.

I don't think it's fair to ban the most productive people in a forum from adding to the discussion, and also by letting them post I think you have a quicker understanding if they are letting personal feelings get in the way and thus get them booted quicker.

How can you possibly do a good job moderating a forum you don't care about?  Why would you even read to moderate?  I would never take on that role nor would trust anyone who was in it just for the power of moderation alone.

That can happen, but I do not think it will happen in all cases - but is a good reason why moderators should be rotated (which I think is the plan?).  Power given temporarily does not corrupt as absolutely as power without end.

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