[Artchic528]

I've noticed that this is a rather large and busy forum. Why aren't there more mods? That would make a lot more sense to have more mods and even more administration on here. And to have said mods monitor the chatrooms. This site has the bad habit of running the current staff ragged by stretching it too thin. Bottom line is something needs to be done.

[Open Eyes]

Hi Artchic, that's because the moderators all donate their time and most of them have their own challenges and their own lives to deal with.

Why not ask if you can become a moderator?

Try it, Artchic....

Maybe you could help with some unanswered questions...

I think MickeyCheeky would be great at it, too...(I guess I'm good at volunteering other people)

[Artchic528]

I understand that very well, Open Eyes. If there were more, then there would be less burden for the current team to handle and they could be better equipped to deal with their personal lives. Less stress and all.

I don't feel that moderating is for me. I'm not ready to shoulder that kind of responsability.

[DocJohn]

It's a volunteer position, so yeah, we're at the mercy of our members. If they'd like to volunteer, we are always open to accepting new applications for becoming one.

I would argue we are not "dramatically" under-moderated. The community is always 100% spam free -- which takes a lot of effort that people seem to not notice or appreciate. We spend a lot of time on issues with members that are all handled privately. So tons of work being done by a great team, but we rarely toot our own horn or discuss these issues (since they are very much a secondary concern to most members).

If a member is interested, just drop me a PM and let me know of your interest and why you'd like to be considered for becoming a moderator. Thanks.

[TheWell]

Also keep in mind that if no one reports an issue we might not see the post.
Secondly, if you have reported an issue we have looked at it. We look at all the reports.

[divine1966]

I think it's moderated well. I am not sure how much more moderation we need. I don't know much about chats. I used to go to emotional support one and it was very helpful, no one was rude, we usually just discussed neutral topics for distraction. Maybe other chats are bad, don't know. If somebody is rude, they could be reported

[Tamster]

i think it would be good for members to know they can tell a moderator anytime of a problem if they would jot down the time, date and room name with problem and they would be glad to take care of the leg work so to speak. Members need to know admin and mods are approachable just send me a note on my profile send a pm or i am on enough just wait for me and let me know , we will see what we can work out. I think we all want PC to be a supportive fun helpful environment for all of us and please anything I can do to further that i am willing to try for you and the membership as a whole.
take care, tams

[seesaw]

I think the forums are very well-moderated. Every issue I've ever seen arise has been handled fairly quickly. Furthermore, I think many of the "old-timers" help out by reminding people to do self-care, etc.

Chat is another story because it's real time. But I really think the suggestions for self care in the guidelines say it all. Just walk away. If you're having a problem with a person, learn to practice your self care by walking away or blocking them.Don't just keep escalating the argument. Walk away. I have found this is good practice for real life as well.

I think the mods do a good job for what they are dealing with. They're human and make mistakes too, but I've always found them to be courteous and polite in dealing with situations that they don't agree with me about.

Seesaw

[lizardlady]

Doc John, y'all might not "toot your own horn" so I'll do it for you!

IMHO, the mods and admins do an awesome job of keeping PC a safe place. I've been a member of some other mental health "support" sites that turned into snake pits. In one case, the admin and mods contributed to the ugliness. I agree with Seesaw, I've found admins and mods at PC to be polite and courteous even when I disagreed with them.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by lizardlady

Doc John, y'all might not "toot your own horn" so I'll do it for you!

IMHO, the mods and admins do an awesome job of keeping PC a safe place. I've been a member of some other mental health "support" sites that turned into snake pits. In one case, the admin and mods contributed to the ugliness. I agree with Seesaw, I've found admins and mods at PC to be polite and courteous even when I disagreed with them.

I agree the moderators do a great job.

the bottom line is the moderators cant do a better job then they are. and each forum has at least 3-4 moderators if not more taking care of that one board.a few of the boards have up to 6- to 8 moderators listed as the ones taking care of that forum board.

heres something to think about... this problem where whether moderators are doing their jobs and how there should be more comes up and then somewhere else I read posts saying how members hate to report posts. well if we dont report posts how are the moderators going to know when there is a post somewhere on this huge site...

example say I was a moderator (which I dont have the time to do just using an example this is not a volunteer request ) I see no one has reported a post what am i to think .... everything on the boards are ok. unless i just happen to be reading a thread and notice something that should have been reported...

my point is i know some people dont like to report posts but thats part of a moderators job... checking to see what posts have been reported, go to those posts and see if they violate the rules of the site and then if so remove or edit it, right? they cant do this part of their job if no one is reporting posts that they feel are not right.

I do report posts and probably do keep the moderators quite busy checking out posts that I may feel isnt right in some ways. Not to mention when I send my own posts in to them. But the way I see it, thats part of why they are here. its their job, they cant find all those posts that need attention if someone doesnt report them. sometimes the moderators will get back to me when I perceived a post differently than it was meant to be, or a quick yes we are aware of this post and its being worked on thanks. but most of the time what they do is behind the scenes.

my point if you feel their should be more moderators do a challenge.... challenge yourself to act as if you were a moderator and report any posts you feel needs a moderators attention. I dont have the time to be a moderator but I can do my part of reporting any posts that I feel may be harmful to others.

[lizardlady]

I agree about reporting posts. It's like that security saying "If you see something, say something." IMHO, each of us has a responsibility to help keep PC safe. It's up to each of us to report things we thing are not right. At the same time folks, remember the mods are all volunteers. It might take awhile for a decision to be made about a questionable post.

I'm gonna confess there was a time that I was freaked out about something that happened here. As a result of my distress I was not patient about waiting for a response from admin/mods and ended up making things even worse. I learned a lesson from it. If something here is causing me that much distress I need to report it, then give the powers that be a chance to remedy the problem. That's hard to do when triggered, I know. It's part of self-care though.

Am going to repeat something I said before too. Following the above situation I received a PM from a mod about my behavior. While I didn't like it (who likes to be corrected, even if it's appropriate) it was done politely and professionally.

I was once told that moderators were chosen and approached and you didn't have to apply to be one. Is this not true?

[pegasus]

Originally Posted by BlessedCheeseMaker

I was once told that moderators were chosen and approached and you didn't have to apply to be one. Is this not true?

DocJohn, the owner of Psych Central has asked for people to apply via PM in this thread.

[eskielover]

I know if I come across a thread that has iffy posting I have put in a report that just says to the moderators you might want to keep your eyes on this thread because.......

At least the thread is then flagged.

Moderating is hard time consuming work here & the mods are doing an outstanding job. I volunteered years ago until I realized I didn't have the time to dedicate to it....an eye opening experience but GOOD. made me totally appreciate even more all work our mods do

[IchbinkeinTeufel]

I really enjoyed feeling like I was contributing to something, but, like eskielover, time got in the way, as did my mental health. So, folks, please do remember that we're all human, whatever our social status, in here or out there.