Forum moderator question - not sure where to begin

[Kristen]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this question, but I'm wondering if anyone has experience hiring a forum moderator. Not just to organize and monitor discussions, but to answer questions and support customers on your behalf.

What I'm wondering is, are these people paid by the hour, by the post, or a flat salary?

Also, how do you monitor their work? What is the accountability system for this? Do they send you some kind of report at the end of the month?

I don't even know where to begin with this, so any input is welcome.

Thanks,
Kristen

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Kristen, thanks for the PM about this.

Typically moderators are volunteers that have knowledge and passion about the industry. Normally they are not paid. All our mods here are industry experts that just love to help and have tons of expertise to share.

Usually mods spend the majority of their time nuking spammers. Not so here. Our forum admin has multiple ways to block spam so our mods can use their precious time to help the community instead of dealing with spam.

So your client will also need a forum administrator. Someone to take care of all the techy back end stuff like platform upgrades, spam prevention, add-on hacks, bugs, troubleshooting.

I'm so lucky because I have David AKA djbaxter. He's worked for me at this and another forum I used to own for, hmmmm.... 9 years or so I think.

I'm not a good one to ask about the "norm", because I'm so lucky to have the unique relationship I have with David.

He does it all: all the tech stuff plus community engagement, answering Qs, starting new threads, spam control and more.

I pay him a flat salary (won't say how much) and there has never been a need for any type of accountability system whatsoever. He's here every day and it's obvious he's helping the community in multiple ways. He's here whenever I need him for techy stuff and always makes it a priority.

In other words he's good as gold and I feel so lucky to have him.

BUT I'm happy to share. If you are interested I'll see if he is available to help them too. (FYI he's also a Psychologist, which might really fit in nicely with your client's niche, as I'm sure he's done lots of marriage counseling!)

 

[Kristen]

Hi Linda,

Thank you so much for your quick response and feedback. I know my client already has someone in mind for supporting the forum, but I'll definitely keep your recommendation for David mind!

Kristen

 

[Linda Buquet]

Since he's supported lots of forums over the years, he could probably give you some ideas about average pay, reporting, etc.

 

[Kristen]

Thanks Linda! I'll reach out to David.

Kristen