What do moderators do (besides...moderating)?

I know that moderators are supposed to look out for anyone breaking the rules and lock/move threads that are either not suited for their original forum or are not appropriate at all, but what else do they have to do? Do they have quotas? Do they have any specific requirements like, “You must keep your post per day at least at a 1.50,” or, “You must monitor 500 threads over the course of one month.”

Just curious to know. Moderators’ answers are preferred.

Also, a side question: what’s the difference between an administrator and a moderator? What extra duties does an administrator have? Do any of you get paid?

Thank you for your time.

I do believe one of the responsibilities of the most junior moderator is polishing the jackboots of the senior mods.

No, there are not quotas. We’re expected to stay involved with the board and mod when we can, but there are no specific requirements on our post count or activity. We all have different demands on our time and some forums get more posts than others.

The admins have some extra capabilities: we can merge accounts and ban IP addresses and email domains, for example. We can make other people moderators. In the event of a water landing, an admin can be used as a flotation device whereas a moderator is shark bait.

No. We get free subscriptions to the board and when possible we get a Straight Dope staff coffee mug, but we’re not paid. TubaDiva does some additional work on the Straight Dope homepage and I think she is compensated for that.

Thanks Marley23 for your time to explain what you moderators/administrators do.

That, and they have to muck out the hamster cages.

Don’t they get first crack at the goat(s) and squid(s)?

I bet I’m not the only one who first read that as “get laid” being an extra duty. Mind in the gutter and all that.

Get??

I was under the impression that moderators were kept in cold storage, only to be activated when the ‘report’ button was pressed.
Is this not the case?

Not me. I’m top free!

As in topless? Are you your own Mae West? :slight_smile:

Obey

.

Well, I also sort and handle Cecil’s mail, going through all the emails and sorting them into categories: (a) idiotic, (b) already answered by Cecil (I try to reply with a link), © readily answered elsewhere (I try to reply with some guidance), (d) more suitable to the SDMB (I direct them here), and (e) candidates for Cecil’s consideration.

If only they would stop thrashing around so much.

I’m in charge of biting people and vivisection when we need to test our newest prototype of the Telezapper. We’ve still got a few bugs that need to be worked out.

Personally, I’d like to see a compilation of some of the more idiotic or weird questions that Cecil gets.

Am I the only one who read that as “snark bait”? Maybe I need to use a different font.

How much time do you guys usually spend on any given week?

Just curious. Do former moderators who remain members get to keep their perks like free membership? I don’t begrudge them if they do. They’ve put their service into this board and deserve some reward for what is a voluntary and often thankless task.

We do get free membership.