What is a moderator, and what is included in the terms of reference of this person

Have you ever wondered: “What is a moderator?” But in fact, answering it is much more difficult than it might seem at first glance.

Profession? No, because there is neither such a faculty, nor specialization in the universities of not only our country, but the whole world. Hobby? It is also unlikely, because the direction is in demand and is considered a necessary position on sites and forums.

One has only to open an online resource dedicated to job search, as an announcement that a site moderator is required will almost immediately come into view.

And what is it? Let's try to figure it out together.

Section 1. What is a moderator? The relevance of this area

First of all, it should be noted that the name itself comes from the Latin word moderor, which in Russian means “restrain” or “moderate”. That is, we can say that this is a special computer user who has broader powers compared to all other participants in public network resources, which include forums, chats and echo conferences.

The moderator has the right to delete or edit other people's posts, and also, if necessary, cancel pages and restrict the rights of some participants to view or edit the resource.

It should be noted that here I have listed only the most basic tasks, and, in principle, each site has its own, more specific list of responsibilities and authorities.

Section 2. What is a moderator and types of moderation

In general, moderation can be done in several ways.

1. Pre-moderation allows you to control the content of messages before they are published on the site. The moderator checks and, if necessary, corrects spelling or punctuation errors, duly supplements the message, prepares it, and only then makes a decision on publication. Sometimes the content is simply deleted. This type, as a rule, is used on the official resources of companies or in network communities dedicated to specific topics. The advantage is that forums do not resemble a landfill. However, among the shortcomings, it is necessary to note the possible subjectivity of the moderator and low efficiency.
2. Post-moderation allows you to control the content after its publication. Such messages appear much faster, but the likelihood of spam or flood in their number increases. The moderator on such sites is forced to attend constantly.
3. Automatic moderation. In this case, the participants themselves vote “for” or “against” the message, and automatic filters and rules are preliminarily created. There is no subjectivity of the moderator, and articles on the site are posted quite quickly. Nevertheless, special software is required, which must carry out voting and filtering.

Section 3. What is a moderator? Types of Modern Moderators

So, after reading the material in this article, you are convinced that your site requires a moderator? Well, a very correct decision, but let me know: which one, because today there are already several types of them?

I will list the main ones:

1. Forum moderator. As a rule, several people will be needed for these purposes, since in a short time you will have to delete certain posts or topics in general, edit what you wrote, close discussions or, conversely, recognize them as important and move them to the top of the list.
2. The moderator of the echo conference announces warnings to some particularly emotional users or prohibits them from expressing their opinions, transferring them to read-only mode.
3. The moderator of a newsgroup is an important person on any news site. The entire information feed passes through it, and it is he who makes the decision on further publication.
4. Chat moderator. As a rule, this person monitors the discussion and removes users who violate the rules of communication. On some Internet resources of this type, the message is accepted by the moderator, and only after that appears in the chat stream.