Moderator Appreciation Day: 2020

Posted by Kim on July 2, 2020, 9:00am

It's July 2nd, and on the RP Repository, that means Moderator Appreciation Day!

This is a holiday we celebrate for all moderators, everywhere. Yes, it's a salute to our extremely hard working site moderators, but I'm certain there are plenty of other moderators in your life, too - moderators of RPR groups. Moderators of Facebook Groups. Moderators of Discords. Moderators of forums. Moderators of LiveJournal groups?

Moderators are people who find time, energy and love to help grow, protect and nurture online communities. They are almost always unpaid volunteers. Often, the job is thankless and may even come with additional helpings of harassment and abuse. Much moderation happens behind the scenes, and community members may never know how much they are being shielded from - and that's sort of the point!

Although mods may have certain powers, the job of moderating is most correctly performed from a position of service. The best moderators don't experience their position as one of power or privilege. Instead, they think of it as a serious responsibility. They periodically question their own decisions and their own opinions. They do things for the good of the community rather than for their own personal enjoyment or comfort.

We can all think of a community we loved that didn't last because of some problem with moderation. Perhaps it didn't have moderators, or it had moderators who did not understand that their position was one not of power, but of service; or, perhaps most tragically of all, who had wonderful moderators who burned out after years of intensely loving their communities and eventually had to lay down their burden, close the door on the community, and rest.

It's no wonder that so many great moderators are eventually exhausted and burnt out by the position! We ask moderators to behave selflessly, demanding they act with extreme compassion and humanity toward people who are often in no mood to show it back to them. We rarely have any patience for real or perceived mistakes that they may make. But we all feel the benefits of their daily devotion to our favorite communities.

Please join me today in thanking our moderation team, and then go out into your online world and thank every other moderator you can think of too!

Because this is such a big job, it feels a little strange to set aside one day to recognize the impact they can have on a community. It is constant, complex, deeply-felt work. So this year, I'm extending Moderation Appreciation Day throughout the month of July with a particular focus on moderating features, philosophies and more. You may have noticed I already kicked things off yesterday with a feature spotlight on our Request a Mod links!

If you can't wait for more moderation-centric content, check out this archive of previous essays on the joys and trials of moderating that I've penned for other Moderation Appreciation Days: https://www.rprepository.com/community/news/tag/moderator-appreciation-day If you are a mod of a group or a Discord, you might find some food for thought there, as well as some encouragement! I see you and your volunteerism. I see you! (You can also find a video of me smashing my face into a cake buried in there, if that's more your speed.)

For now, let me close by saying thank you to Auberon, Ben, Cass, Copper_Dragon, Darth_Angelus, Dragonfire, Heimdall, Keke, Libertine, MadRatBird and Sanne. You all don't just make the site possible, you also make it possible for me to ever get sleep at night. I am forever grateful.

Post tags: Moderator Appreciation Day

Next: Friday RP Prompt » « Previous: Feature Spotlight: Request a Mod

Comments

Shinyrainbowlithogra

July 3, 2020
5:51pm

Thank you all so very much.

I often see Auberon around the site, being a helpful heroic sort of fantasy presence, so that's cool. Thank you!

And Ben, I often see that name drift about when someone's quoting sagacious wise advice to an upset player, or in a knightly post. Heehee. Thank you! Cass, I've... heard the name a lot. I don't think I've seen you in action yet. But I'm pretty sure you're probably fantastic also!! Thank you!

Copper_Dragon, I haven't heard a whole lot of mentions of you except in high praise and adoring, fiery spirit about what a good mod you are. Oops, at least that means I'm probably not on your bad side. Heh. Thank you! Darth_Angelus, as far as I'm aware you've been around modding and making videos and crafting up things for ages, probably, and I wouldn't be shocked if you had your own theme song by now. Thank you! You're awesome. Dragonfire! You're so cool! You're really crafty and imaginative and I love your writing work, and seeing you calmly answer questions or add a dash of humor to a blander post is delightful. I know you've answered a few of my questions and were really lovely. Like a... kindergarten or preschool teacher who is also a dragon, and can therefore talk to children AND talk in Elder Speech. Woah. Thank you! Heimdall, you are a great mod and I see you all over the site and also your avatar rocks at least a little bit.

I know you're a welcoming person, and you're very kind, and you're not too afraid to lay down the law, whether it be gently, or maybe with a hammer, although I haven't actually seen that. Wahahahaha. Anyway... Thank you!

Keke, You're very kind and also concise! I've only gottena couple of official messages from you but they were both set with a smile,

and also I kinda love your avatar. You all have great avatars. Anyway the beaky li'l bird fellow is adorable!! Aside from that, thank you for being such a professional and nice mod!

Libertine, you're very personable and I appreciate that! You've had a very cheerful but informed presence in all my encounters with you, and it makes you easy to talk to! Also, I hope this isn't rude, but you have a... noticably-moderator-sort of vibe. Bwaha. Thank you!

MadRatBird, you have a crazy sounding name but I like it, and you're very sweet! You seem like you'd be comfortable to talk to..... UvU You also have some nice and insightful posts from what I've seen, and you're very kind and cover the bases. Thank you!

Sanne! Omg. You're super personable and I know you're probably wildly busy but you still get the job done all the time 0v0 And also you really seem to care about the community which is great. You reassured me one time before I even asked (so assuring? technically?) and your aura is like a shining warrior of the threads or something. Thank you!

You guys have almost all helped me out at some time or another, with inane questions being answered, or cool inspiration, or going beyond to fix that link that didn't even really belong to your site, or just generally pepping me up when I needed it. You are truly awesome. Thank you, guys!!!

Also Hi Zelphyr. I thought for like a whole week that you were a mod. Because you're always answering Help questions, haha.

Thank you too even if you aren't... technically part of the mod team. >v>

And thank you Kim, Ye Grande Official. We all love you.

~~RedPandaFox~~

July 3, 2020
4:12am

Thank you moderators! I love you guys so much! What you do here is truly amazing, there are 11 moderators for the whole of RPR and you have been doing it for years. That sounds like a really difficult job and you have helped RPR grow for the better. Happy Moderator Appreciation Day!

MissPixie

July 2, 2020
3:08pm

The mod team on RPR has been my best experience with any sort of mod on any website community that I've been a part of. Thank you to all the mods for not only your hard work, but being so approachable and friendly and being such a huge part of the community with interactions too!!

And thank you to Kim for putting together such a great team of mods!

Papa_ApplePie

July 2, 2020
3:03pm

Thank you

Kruhee

July 2, 2020
1:47pm

Thanks to every single mod for your abundant hard work and dedication. From running a group to running a site our little online universe couldn't function without you!

~~MasterWinter~~

July 2, 2020
1:45pm

Keep up the good work all, you are fabulous!

Auberon

July 2, 2020
11:31am

This was the sweetest thing to wake up to!

I really love being a mod for the RPR! I get to work with a team of rockstars who have all become dear friends over the past year, and let me tell you, it doesn't feel like a burden at all. This site has easily been my best moderating experience. The community totally makes it great, so thank you all for making this a wonderful job.

Zelphyr

July 2, 2020
10:12am

Ben

July 2, 2020
10:07am

THANK YOU Kim and everyone else

RPR is truly the most wonderful community on the entire internet, and I'm consistently blown away by the love within our little corner of the digital world.

~~LakotaSiouxWarrior~~

July 2, 2020
9:49am

Thank you to Kim and all the moderators. You all are awesome incredible. Thank you for your dedication and hard work.ðŸ’–â¤ðŸ‘

MadRatBird

July 2, 2020
9:41am

Thank you, Kim ;o; I finally had a moment to read through this and it's so so sweet, help sldkjfsdf thank you

I'm not the most eloquent person, but this was a wonderful thing to log in and read, and my first MAD post! (Heh. MAD...)

I love you guys, and I love this community

ChocolateIceCream

July 2, 2020
9:39am

THANK U SM EVERYONE we love ya sm<3<3<3<3

Marie

July 2, 2020
9:15am

We have a truly wonderful moderation team. One of the highlights of rpr in my opinion is that I have genuinely never met a grouchy mod on this site, and I don't think people realize how amazing that is. Everyone has bad days, but you have chosen such a good team again and again who can handle themselves professionally and treat us all like our voices matter to them, even when we may be in the wrong. Thank you Kim, and thank you mods! â™¥ï¸

Esoterica

July 2, 2020
9:14am

Thank you all for your hard work and dedication.