Do you think moderators should be paid?

[Kale]

Do you think moderators on forums and/or websites should be paid? How much should you be paying mods? I worked for a few sites before and got paid hourly and worked part-time. A lot of it was shadow moderation, so users didn't know who the mods were. There usually always is/was a public facing person like a community manager or so to handle that.

They were all W-2 jobs, and I worked at my last remote job long enough to have to file taxes.

 

[Cedric]

I have always known that Staff positions on non commercial forums are voluntary jobs. I don't know how it goes on big company forums though. At Admin Junkies we offer a few perks and discounts so that the work is not 100% voluntary.

 

[Shortie]

I feel it really depends on the owner of the site and what they are able to do for their moderators. If they are able to offer pay to their moderators then that's great but many can not and because of this they tend to offer perks to their moderators or even just state that the work is voluntary so that they know before they take the job.

 

[Cory]

I think it depends on the extremities of what they do and how large the forum is. If the forum is huge and requires a lot of time to moderate, I can understand being paid. If they are meant to create resources for the community at a consistent pace, I could also understand being paid. Just you're everyday general moderation and activity does not necessarily warrant being paid though, I think.

 

[Kale]

I think it depends on the extremities of what they do and how large the forum is. If the forum is huge and requires a lot of time to moderate, I can understand being paid. If they are meant to create resources for the community at a consistent pace, I could also understand being paid. Just you're everyday general moderation and activity does not necessarily warrant being paid though, I think.

The sites I was a mod on were very active and needed 24 hour moderation due to that. One of them was a popular image site and the other was a Facebook like social media site. The moderation on the image site used to be volunteer only, then it went paid.

 

[Henrywrites]

The sites I was a mod on were very active and needed 24 hour moderation due to that. One of them was a popular image site and the other was a Facebook like social media site. The moderation on the image site used to be volunteer only, then it went paid.

If there is need for the moderators to be very active on the site, then asking for payment is normal. Again, hiring someone that is experienced on the moderation job means you will have to pay them too.

 

[kolakube]

Sometimes payment can be the "prestige" of being a staff member of a community you are invested in, though I wonder how well that really scales on larger forums where moderation duties are more intense.

There are a few large forums I am a member of where it isn't clear how they make much money, so I have to assume the moderators are there on a volunteer basis. The interesting thing is if you creep on them look closely enough, their posting activity drops shortly after becoming a moderator. I assume that is because they have to spend more time on moderation duties than actively posting.

I have only ever been a moderator on a forum other than my own many years ago, and past that prestige was incentivized payments based on how many support questions you resolved. I remember it created competition between the staff but it kept us on top of our duties and answering questions as quickly as possible.

 

[Kale]

There are a few large forums I am a member of where it isn't clear how they make much money, so I have to assume the moderators are there on a volunteer basis. The interesting thing is if you creep on them look closely enough, their posting activity drops shortly after becoming a moderator. I assume that is because they have to spend more time on moderation duties than actively posting.

I noticed this on a lot of forums and even Discord servers. The mods are not near as active when they get the role, but guess too it's due to focusing in mod duties.

 

[Sparr]

If the arrangement with the forum owner is for them to be paid, why not? Unless they are hired on voluntary basis, they are not entitled to any payments. Also, if the forum is new with no much work to be done as a mod, it's not worth it paying them.