The "Incredibly Impossible to Derail This Thread" thread | Page 843 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

12 and compared to each other.

William Shears Campbell said
Nothing’s impossible!  I’m gonna find a way to derail this thread!  

Step one: Create a coordinated effort with several users.

Step two: Pick a topic

Step three: Don’t stop, ignore people who try to derail.

HMBeatlesfan said

I was wondering, how does Joe pick moderators.  

Here’s your answer:

Question About Moderators

Ron Nasty said, 2/16/16

As a former moderator, evangeline, I feel able to answer this.

joe selects moderators. He bases his selections on how people are on the forum, their interaction with the community, and sometimes also skills they may possess – as an example @Ahhh Girl is a librarian, and showed great skill at guiding people around the forum and finding things. These assets, along with her temperament, made her an obvious choice when he was looking to renew the line-up. @Zig is a longstanding member, here from very nearly the beginning of the forum, and a deservingly trusted friend. @meanmistermustard is also a longstanding and valuable member, and I believe was suggested by AG as a possible worthy addition, which I believe he has been.

AG and mmm replaced myself and another mod, with both of us having to step away for different reasons.

Joe, I think, likes to keep it as quite a small group of trusted lieutenants, and when it’s balanced – as it is now – have someone in the UK alongside himself to be available during those hours, and a couple to cover US hours while those of us in the UK are sleeping.

There is no limit to the amount of moderators. If Joe spots someone he thinks would make a good fit he would be sure to invite them, but nor does he want the group to get so big that it makes conversation that occurs out-of-sight cumbersome.

I do hope I haven’t offended any of our current tremendous mods with my descriptions here!

You know I love you all.

Joe said, 2/17/16 

Yeah, pretty much what @Ron Nasty said. I select the mods. In the early days I used to do all the moderation myself, but struggled to keep across everything that was posted. We’ve had probably around 10 moderators since the site opened in 2008, with people coming and going for various reasons.

I look at things like people’s communications, tendency to use the forum, technical know-how, how level-headed they are, how much they understand how I want things to be run etc. It’s not done on how many posts someone has or how much they bribe me, though the latter would undoubtedly help. It hasn’t happened yet, sad to say.

Mods are volunteers and there’s no obligation to them to stay doing it. I occasionally ask the current set if they need more help, but we’re largely happy with how things are run. We talk a lot via email about various things, and I think we’re pretty good friends as a result. I trust them enormously. I’m also unable to visit here as much as I probably should, so it’s hugely helpful to have assistance from people who love this place as much as I do.