Gaia DESPERATELY needs new moderators.

[Menstrual Cramps]

Seraphim Call

As a former mod, I left about 7 years ago, shortly before I stopped visiting Gaia completely. At that point I had burned out on the website for at least a year, but I remained because I wanted to help.

In the end, I had forgotten how to enjoy the website as a user, and the years of dealing with spam, gore, and porn took its toll; some of it which was deliberately sent to me. Most of it didn't really bother me aside from going 'gross' but the reports that stuck with me the most was when I had to deal with severely illegal pornographic content being advertised. After handling that, I pretty much logged off of Gaia and just walked away from the computer for the rest of day. Fortunately, those sorts of issues were fairly rare, but it was a factor in me deciding to step down.

Not to mention the harassment it can lead to; one mod that I knew of at the time had her n***s being spread among users and spamming the forum with them. If anything, it's harder to find someone who's willing to stay as a mod for a significant amount of time after dealing with issues like that.

I'm not disagreeing with you - even when we had about 150 mods on the team, we were still understaffed and always needing more. But it's not as easy as simply just processing mod applications; it's more like a job interview where multiple people review and weigh in on each individual.

This thread is a year old.
To date, I don't think any new moderators have been added, only older mods who took breaks or just came back.

I've heard it a million times that "even if we have x amount of mods we will never have enough" -- but that's not the point. The point is that we desperately need new blood. Things keep hanging, that's the issue. Old moderators shouldn't feel pressured in to resuming modding after doing it for years non-stop because of the lack of action.

[Kelti]

As a former moderator myself (2006-2007) I agree that there will never, ever be enough moderators. Even 10+ years ago at Gaia's peak user activity with a bigger team, there were still concerns with the mod team being understaffed. It's an issue I'm fairly certain is as old as Gaia itself. With the Internet's rapidly changing culture I also agree it's important to have new people on the team. While it can be good for veterans to return, new people can bring perspectives and new ideas that may otherwise be overlooked. Unfortunately, I imagine selecting candidates is time-consuming and is likely lower on the priority list if departments like customer service are the first to get cut.

Even though I had all the time of the world back then to dedicate my free time moderating, it takes a thick skin to be able to handle the job. Backed up queues and ToS violations barely scratch the surface; deescalating situations with difficult users, harassment, and having to brush off insults was a weekly, if not daily, routine. Overtime it simply took "just getting used to", but as it did for other former moderators who've replied, the job also took a toll on my well-being. I remember after I left I took a hiatus from Gaia, and I found myself disenchanted with the site for awhile. It definitely changed my perspective of the site as a whole. I don't know how Gaia's culture is now, but kudos to those who have the time and desire to make it a better place.

[Infamous]

Curious to see if this will happen since we're super close to half the year being done.

[Menstrual Cramps]

Meromictic

Curious to see if this will happen since we're super close to half the year being done.

Probably not. At this point I'm past that threshold of really holding out any type of hope.
It's disheartening. Especially with how old it is.

[Qwertea]

I got to go to the Gaia Panel at A-Kon a few days ago.
One of the things that was talked about by the staff was the moderation team, they will be adding new mods very soon. heart
I can't say how soon (because I don't remember exact details) but they did say that it will be happening very soon.

[Menstrual Cramps]

Dogoda

I got to go to the Gaia Panel at A-Kon a few days ago.
One of the things that was talked about by the staff was the moderation team, they will be adding new mods very soon. heart
I can't say how soon (because I don't remember exact details) but they did say that it will be happening very soon.

They also said that on page 1.
They said it again a few pages back.
It's been over a year, so I hope you can understand my skepticism. confused

[Terror 404]

Menstrual Cramps

Dogoda

I got to go to the Gaia Panel at A-Kon a few days ago.
One of the things that was talked about by the staff was the moderation team, they will be adding new mods very soon. heart
I can't say how soon (because I don't remember exact details) but they did say that it will be happening very soon.

They also said that on page 1.
They said it again a few pages back.
It's been over a year, so I hope you can understand my skepticism. confused

To add on to this, it's not as easy as "adding new mods." People have to apply and have to want to apply to be a mod. And even if they do, they have to meet certain requirements and be a good fit for the team. I know you've had this discussion hundreds of times Menstrual, so I'll spare the details.

In short, I have to agree with a heavy heart. Even if Gaia says, "We're getting new moderators! We're opening applications again!" It doesn't mean that dozens will come flooding through the gates. If anything we may get 1-5 new mods at a time. But that's just not enough.

Maybe that's just the nature of the beast. sad

[Menstrual Cramps]

Terror 404

Menstrual Cramps

Dogoda

I got to go to the Gaia Panel at A-Kon a few days ago.
One of the things that was talked about by the staff was the moderation team, they will be adding new mods very soon. heart
I can't say how soon (because I don't remember exact details) but they did say that it will be happening very soon.

They also said that on page 1.
They said it again a few pages back.
It's been over a year, so I hope you can understand my skepticism. confused

To add on to this, it's not as easy as "adding new mods." People have to apply and have to want to apply to be a mod. And even if they do, they have to meet certain requirements and be a good fit for the team. I know you've had this discussion hundreds of times Menstrual, so I'll spare the details.

In short, I have to agree with a heavy heart. Even if Gaia says, "We're getting new moderators! We're opening applications again!" It doesn't mean that dozens will come flooding through the gates. If anything we may get 1-5 new mods at a time. But that's just not enough.

Maybe that's just the nature of the beast. sad

That first part though.. my eyes rolled back on my head bc I've heard it so many times.
There is literally a million rebuttles for it too.

[The Usual Insects]

What kind of requirements do they want to see in mods? What sort of answers are they looking for on their applications?

[Zzyli]

It would be great to see another mod intake! The team is small and works hard, and there are definitely people out there who are willing to learn, but not able to unless there's a new round of training.

The Usual Insects

What kind of requirements do they want to see in mods? What sort of answers are they looking for on their applications?

There's an FAQ with a link to the mod application here. This covers the things which you should need to know to apply, though if you can't figure something out, feel free to ask in the thread for further clarification.

[The Usual Insects]

Zzyli

It would be great to see another mod intake! The team is small and works hard, and there are definitely people out there who are willing to learn, but not able to unless there's a new round of training.

The Usual Insects

What kind of requirements do they want to see in mods? What sort of answers are they looking for on their applications?

There's an FAQ with a link to the mod application here. This covers the things which you should need to know to apply, though if you can't figure something out, feel free to ask in the thread for further clarification.

Oh yeah, I read all that information and applied a week or so back. I'm just wondering if they are looking for something specific in applicants other than prior experience. For example, I know places like Target have quizzes where they are looking for specific answers and if you get too many wrong they just toss the application. I filled out the application honestly and accurately regarding my own thoughts, but I was wondering if there was certain ways to answer the short answer questions that they are looking for which make them disregard you as a potential moderation team member.

[Menstrual Cramps]

The Usual Insects

Zzyli

It would be great to see another mod intake! The team is small and works hard, and there are definitely people out there who are willing to learn, but not able to unless there's a new round of training.

The Usual Insects

What kind of requirements do they want to see in mods? What sort of answers are they looking for on their applications?

There's an FAQ with a link to the mod application here. This covers the things which you should need to know to apply, though if you can't figure something out, feel free to ask in the thread for further clarification.

Oh yeah, I read all that information and applied a week or so back. I'm just wondering if they are looking for something specific in applicants other than prior experience. For example, I know places like Target have quizzes where they are looking for specific answers and if you get too many wrong they just toss the application. I filled out the application honestly and accurately regarding my own thoughts, but I was wondering if there was certain ways to answer the short answer questions that they are looking for which make them disregard you as a potential moderation team member.

Knowing what they want is effectively cheating the vetting process.
I don't think they'll ever answer this.

[Zzyli]

The Usual Insects

Zzyli

It would be great to see another mod intake! The team is small and works hard, and there are definitely people out there who are willing to learn, but not able to unless there's a new round of training.

The Usual Insects

What kind of requirements do they want to see in mods? What sort of answers are they looking for on their applications?

There's an FAQ with a link to the mod application here. This covers the things which you should need to know to apply, though if you can't figure something out, feel free to ask in the thread for further clarification.

Oh yeah, I read all that information and applied a week or so back. I'm just wondering if they are looking for something specific in applicants other than prior experience. For example, I know places like Target have quizzes where they are looking for specific answers and if you get too many wrong they just toss the application. I filled out the application honestly and accurately regarding my own thoughts, but I was wondering if there was certain ways to answer the short answer questions that they are looking for which make them disregard you as a potential moderation team member.

FA's are recruited through a separate process, so I'm honestly not privvy to the inner details of the mod application process (and if I was, I'm not sure what could be shared), but I do know that they consider not just your application, but also your account history and your reporting history. Users who are consistently and accurately reporting issues as they find them are considered to be better candidates than those who just go and submit 100 reports in a short period of time in order to apply. So even though you've already submitted your application, it's definitely worth continuing to report issues as you see them (this is super helpful for the mod team in general as with such a small team we very heavily rely on user reports in order to deal with any issues on the site).

[Menstrual Cramps]

legal