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Dunno why I'm posting this one, but what the heck?
One of the things I've been doing for several years now is being a moderator for this site. Occasionally, someone will join who is eager to join the ranks of moderators. Other times, we grow enough where we need to add one or two more members to our ranks. Regardless, there seems to be no awareness that being a good moderator and being a good member of the forum are completely different things.
All of us joined this site for one reason: we love programming, and love the sense of community here. Some of us came with skills in place, some of us came to learn, but we come to share and learn. I came for C and C++. C++ is still my favorite language, even after learning so many other languages.
If I was here as a regular member, I would mainly hang out on the C/C++ forum, debugging code and helping people out. I still do some of that, but I have a different primary role. I glance at EVERY forum. I read some forums, glance at others, and browse here and there in more. I have no interest in VB, for example. I glance at it every time I'm here, because I have to look for moderated posts, spam, and whatever else might be around that I need to deal with. That's the part that gets me. Some people WANT to be a moderator, but don't seem to realize it is a responsibility, not just an honor.
Another thing that is goofy. I am NOT the best programmer on this site. For every language I know, I know at least one, and often several, member who is far better than I am. Despite that, being flagged as a moderator means I get random PMs from people who are convinced I must be some programming Guru to have this role. They don't seem to realize that we could hire five non-coders, who are clueless about coding, to be moderators, and do just as good a job. It takes good judgment, patience, and no coding skills at all. It's amazing that people looking to hire others don't even know what they're looking for.
Do I regret becoming a moderator? Nope. I just find it interesting how poorly understood it can be. By the way, we are blessed to have a great team of moderators. You guys do a great job.
One of the things I've been doing for several years now is being a moderator for this site. Occasionally, someone will join who is eager to join the ranks of moderators. Other times, we grow enough where we need to add one or two more members to our ranks. Regardless, there seems to be no awareness that being a good moderator and being a good member of the forum are completely different things.
All of us joined this site for one reason: we love programming, and love the sense of community here. Some of us came with skills in place, some of us came to learn, but we come to share and learn. I came for C and C++. C++ is still my favorite language, even after learning so many other languages.
If I was here as a regular member, I would mainly hang out on the C/C++ forum, debugging code and helping people out. I still do some of that, but I have a different primary role. I glance at EVERY forum. I read some forums, glance at others, and browse here and there in more. I have no interest in VB, for example. I glance at it every time I'm here, because I have to look for moderated posts, spam, and whatever else might be around that I need to deal with. That's the part that gets me. Some people WANT to be a moderator, but don't seem to realize it is a responsibility, not just an honor.
Another thing that is goofy. I am NOT the best programmer on this site. For every language I know, I know at least one, and often several, member who is far better than I am. Despite that, being flagged as a moderator means I get random PMs from people who are convinced I must be some programming Guru to have this role. They don't seem to realize that we could hire five non-coders, who are clueless about coding, to be moderators, and do just as good a job. It takes good judgment, patience, and no coding skills at all. It's amazing that people looking to hire others don't even know what they're looking for.
Do I regret becoming a moderator? Nope. I just find it interesting how poorly understood it can be. By the way, we are blessed to have a great team of moderators. You guys do a great job.
