SupraMania FAQ

Mod is short for Moderator. Mods are essentially service personnel that fill a variety of roles for our community.

They enforce rules defined by the community, help keep threads on topic, provide a positive example for new members, move threads into appropriate forums, deal with concerns from the community, and many, many more tasks.

First of all, good Mods must be here on a regular basis. Mods are expected to be online and available to be contacted most of the time. Everyone knows that we sleep 1/3 of every day, but nobody wants to have to wait for a Mod to wake up! Furthermore, you must be objective, have a history of demonstrated good judgement, an already solid reputation with the membership, and a posses a thick enough skin that you don't attract attention from griefers. Note that we don't encourage griefers, however, the proven method of simply ignoring them still works best.

We usually offer this position to members who consistently demonstrate the above qualities.

• Lead by example - this is really just common sense. Act the way you want others to act, good behavior will 'rub off' on the rest of the membership.
• Always remember that Mods are held to a higher standard than regular members, because they wield greater influence. For example, if a Mod starts a flamewar, the membership might think that this is acceptable, whereas if a member does the same thing, everyone just thinks he's an idiot.
• When deleting a thread, move it into quarantined topics, do not outright delete it. Inform the people on the thread, why it was deleted. You can 'Close' the thread and post your explanation, or delete it right away and PM the offending party.
• Do not use your status to intimidate others. Don't alter others posts without notifying them, and don't threaten banning or thread deletion if they disagree with you on a topic. You can joke about it all you want, though.
• Do not get personally involved in the classic 'unsolvable' situations. Members will argue about politics, or religion, or any number of other subjects that are a matter of opinion at heart and therefore not a debate that can be won from either side of the fence. Keep an eye on these, by all means, and step in to keep the peace if required.
• If you have a complaint with another Moderator or Administrator, bring it up by posting in the Mods forum. Many times others are not aware there are problems, so they cannot help.
• Last, but not least, try not to cause headaches for the Admins, or your fellow mods!

This list isn't written in stone by any means. If you think of something that needs to be added or changed, bring it up - either in the Mod forum or in the Suggestion forum.

There isn't much, I'm afraid. We can set you up with an email address @supramania.com, you can have the 1337 Moderator tag under your Avatar, and you should gain the respect and admiration of the membership and your peers, although this isn't a guarantee by any means.

Just like there are varying levels for the general membership and the vendors, there are also progressively more responsible levels for the mods, described below.

If you find that your interest level in the community has dropped, or you cannot be available on a regular basis, and there are many reasons for this - people move to different cars, decide to start families, or sign up for military service - just post in the Mod section or PM an Admin and we will find someone to fill your post.

Mods have the same system as Vendors - they move from Active, to Suspended, to Fired. Reasons are: Ignoring or abusing the Mod rules of conduct will get you fired.

Failing to check in on the monthly rollcalls will get you suspended. Being suspended for longer than two weeks will get you fired.

Do we need some sort of recall rules run by the membership? A 'vote of no confidence' or something similar? Remember that sometimes a Mod must make a decision that will not be popular... If you feel that you have input on this subject, post in the thread here or PM GrimJack.