Since 1994, I’ve been running Cyburbia, an urban planning-related Web site. The busiest part of the site is the vBulletin-based [url=“http://www.cyburbia.org/forums/”]forums**; not as busy as the SDMB, but there’s still about 300 posts a day.
There are several users who have volunteered their time to help moderate the boards. Because the board doesn’t attract an extremely wide audience – mainly professional urban/town planners, students, and city aficionados, there aren’t too many problems with trolling, sockpuppets, and the like.
Still, though, the mods aren’t as experienced as those here; they don’t have to pour through thousands of posts, and they might be relatively new to the bulletin board scene. Is there any wisdom the SDMB mods can offer that I could relay to the folks on my board? Are there any Web sites that offer general advice to bulletin board moderators?
I’ve often thought the the Straight Dope crew ought to collaborate on a book on how to run and moderate a message board. Perhaps they could call it “Moderating For Dopes.”
Seriously though, I am unaware of a larger, better run message board anywhere. They really should put the experience and wisdom they’ve acquired in some permanent form.
We have a rigorous training program, that involves six weeks of reboot camp.
Naw, the main thing is in the selection process. You pick the right people – people who care, who are sensible and dedicated, who aren’t overly sensitive themselves but are sensitive to others, and who know when to “shoot first and ask questions later” and when to discuss first… and the rest comes naturally.
