Importance of Moderators in an Online Community

moderator in online community

Online communities are growing with each passing day. Its development means that people from all over the world are becoming members of a community of their choice. A community can have a lot of members and at times, it is difficult to manage all of them. That is why, communities of all kinds, whether big or small, need to know the Importance of Moderators.

Having more people in a community increases the chances of having a conflict. People from different parts contribute to the community and therefore their thoughts and feelings on certain matters may not match. This makes it necessary to have a person who moderates the type of content that is posted on the community, flag unnecessary and rude comments, remove content that is spam, deal with trolls and lastly, form acceptable rules and regulations for discussions.

The basic purpose of having a moderator in online communities is to help them function smoothly.

A moderator ensures that barriers (if any) to participation and discussions are removed while also ensuring that the members stay cordial and respectful while contributing their points.

Communities get better and develop when they have good moderation. The process increases the quality of conversations that take place in the community.

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Importance of Moderators

Moderators are essential to make a community successful in the digital world.

BuddyPress Moderation Pro

BuBuddyPress Moderation Pro

BuddyPress Community Moderation is a way for site owners and administrators to maintain order in their communities. Members of the community can use a community policing strategy to moderate the site by attaching flags on content within the components.

It provides links/buttons that allow members to flag inappropriate content from their users. Administrators then have access to all reported contents in an organized table within the wp backend. They can order/filter them and take action.

BuddyPress Moderation Features

  • You have the option to choose which BuddyPress component you wish members to report enabling.
  • You can enable auto-moderation of Activity comments, BuddyPress private messages, and Activity comments.
  • Each component can be set its limits. For example, after 5 reports activity is removed from the activity stream. After 10 reports group is removed from the group directory.
  • Each activity type can be described using the following words: For individual components, you can choose words such as Report, Flag, Ban, or Ban.
  • Site admins have the option to block members from posting status updates.
  • Site admins have the option to block access to private messages from members who are blocked.
  • Website administrators have the option to hide members blocked from their member’s directory page.
  • Site administrators can temporarily disable member accounts.
  • Choose Hide Mode for reporters or all members. Depending on which “hide mode” you choose, the applicable restrictions will vary.

Try Reign BuddyPress theme to build your own online Community website

Also Read: How to Create an Online Community and Future-Proof Your Brand

Typically, a moderator of an online community can encounter the following issues:

1. Issues and fights between members.
2. Members not abiding by the guidelines and rules of the community.
3. Spam or unsuitable content being shared.
4. Inactive and dormant members.
5. Trolling and cyberbullying.
6. Inappropriate behaviors by members.

Qualities of efficient moderators

Moderators can be chosen based on their personalities. They should be outgoing, be good at balancing, be willing to learn, have excellent social skills and be able to guide others as per the requirement. Moderating is a challenging job and hence it needs a strong-willed person. Having a deep knowledge of the community they are supposed to moderate is also an important requirement.

Also Read: How To Moderate And Manage Your WordPress BuddyPress Powered Community Website?

Importance of moderators for your online community is essential

1. Resolve conflicts

An online community has no borders. It has members from all over the globe. This makes a place for a difference of opinion. People with different backgrounds may have different takes on topics and that might create an issue between members.

Here, moderators come into the picture. They try to solve an issue by listening to all sides of the conversation, removing bad content that finds its way on the website, and regulating content daily as per the community guidelines.

They facilitate cooperation among members and collaborate with other members in a structured way. It acts in a way that is not detrimental to the purpose of the community.

Moderation is not an easy job. Being diplomatic all the time may be hard but at the end of the day, it is done for the betterment of the community.

Also Read: BuddyPress Moderation Pro New Update!

2. Encourage discussions

moderator
Importance of Moderators

To make a community successful, its members have to engage and participate in everyday activities. A moderator can find some ways to make this happen. They can encourage members to discuss various topics, take surveys, host competitions and post various information about new developments, thereby establishing a conversation. Moderators give a voice to the members of the community.

To make things easier for new members, moderators can pin introductory and other important questions along with solutions to their main page. They can start discussions on various topics while warranting that their questions are not controversial. Various questions can be asked in the community and members can be persuaded to be responsive. A separate page can be created wherein members share their experiences that can help the community.

Members and moderators need to be a part of conversations. Everyone should be given a chance to put forth their opinion in a respectful manner. Moderators should allow a healthy exchange of views. The more people share, the more the whole community learns.

Lastly, moderators can also ask the community members for feedback. Upon receiving genuine feedback, they can change certain behaviors as per the needs of members. Coherent feedback helps the moderator to continuously improve and get better at their job.

Also Read: Which Is Best Forum Plugin for WordPress? bbPress vs wpForo

3. Form guidelines

Way a society cannot function without certain rules in place, an online community also needs guidelines to help it function more effectively.

Moderating is a difficult task. They have to come up with guidelines and other rules and ensure that their members abide by them. For this, they can ask for suggestions from members about their needs and expectations from the community.

Guidelines in an online community keep discussions friendly, spam-free, non-controversial, and transparent. If anyone defies such guidelines over and over again, they can be given warnings and upon observing the same behavior, they can be eventually removed from the community.

Moderators take important and tough decisions for the smooth functioning of the community and that is why they have to remain active, objective, and engage with members.

Also Read: How to moderate all buddypress activities?

4. Add value

Online communities cannot work without having short-term and long-term goals. Depending on the type of community, various goals can be set. For them to materialize, moderators formulate a clear and effective strategy that takes the community forward.

Making a place online and curating relevant information for its members are some of how members and the moderators can add value. A community should be of value to everyone who interacts with it. Information provided online can be of value when it is accurate and relevant. A moderator filters all information that is received from the community.

Also Read: Benefits of Building an Open-Source Knowledge Base

Without value, members do not have any incentive to be a part of the community.

Conclusion on Importance of moderators

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In short, moderators ‘maintain’ a community. A community without moderators will not fulfill any purpose and will have unorganized discussions that will not add any worth in the long term.

Does your community have a moderator? If not, ensure that you appoint one today! You can create your very own community and moderate it! Define your goals, steer and guide your community on the right path!


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