I hereby apply for the post of night time moderator

[JakeBullet]

...to tackle the trolls which appear once the gin bottle(s) is/are empty and MNHQ have staggered off to bed.

I warn you though...I am not cheap ..but may accept wine in lieu of payment...and promise not to engage with said trolls by trying to help them see the error of their ways....honest.

Pay the going rate, I say

My rate is £100/hour very competitive

Seriously, using volunteers would never work.

Actually, you're all right, what am I thinking?

I've had my head in the charities sector for too long. MN are a commercial operation so if there's a job that needs doing - and this really does need doing - somebody should be paid for their work.

I really don't like the idea of agency though. IME they never really understand the community they're modding and so they end up too rigidly applying a set of guidelines with the result that discussion is shut down and the modding system is too easily gamed and manipulated. I've seen agency modding kill forums.

The other problem with volunteers is one of coordination and staffing levels.
If I say, for example that I'll do every Monday morning from X-T times, but can't how would that spot be covered?

I'm sure I've offered to do this before - for a small amount of cash, preferably, what with it being actual work for an actual revenue-collecting business, and all.

I'm still offering.

I don't think I would feel comfortable with a mner being a moderator. I think mumsnets great strength is the fact that it isn't peer moderated - and is only monitored by mnhq staff.

Plus I don't really think it should be a voluntary role. Mumnset isn't some start up managed out of someone's spare room. It's a successful business - think any moderator should be a staff member like any other, and not a mumsnet regular modding for free.

Yes I agree with you Getorf, I started the thread in a very light hearted way but I agree it needs to be a paid staff position.

Am assuming though that it could still be an MNer adhering to all the rules and guidelines which the moderators follow. In which case an overseas MNer on a different time zone could fulfil.

True those responses. i don't know why, but I always imagine MNHQ as a bedsit with one computer held together by rubber bands.

There used to be moderators on here that were MNers rather than MNHQ. Can't Remember if they could actually do anything though.

I have the image of a swish building with gin on tap and handy bedrooms for it all to be slept off!

Meanwhile in a building across the way there are grubby hairy handed anorak bedecked and dare I say "inadequate" men watching. As the last of MNHQ stagger off in a gin soaked haze the shout goes up "THEY'RE GONE"!

Party lights go on in GrubbyHQ and they hit the computers.

Have you ever seen pics of the interior of mnhq? It's very swish.

Thing is you could pick a mner on their posting history but still have no idea of they would be any good as a mod. I am a pretty reliable poster if you look at my history - doesn't mean I am not a complete twat on here though at times. I think mods need to have a bit of distance, like the current staff.

Plus, how would it work? If something got a bit heated and I went and posted 'calm down' with my mod hat on, I would expect hope people would say 'fuck off, getorf'.

I would be like being a sixer at brownies all over again

I don't think they could post as mods though- just delete offensive messages. Wouldn't it be great if you could ban people though? I'd never be trusted with it: I'd just be "Oh FFS, this is Extended having a wank- BAM, gone!" . Anyone who had a problem which involved an aunt would be toast.

It does seem a bit odd to think of nighttime moderation as a volunteer role in a major business. What would Boots et al. think of someone keeping the wankstains off their adverts for free? Bit workfare-ish to contribute economic value without pay? esp since I bet that in general mn is a very conscientious employer.

Surely a mod would only delete the obvious troll posts, and the deletion would be subject to MNHQ approval in the morning.

They wouldn't need to know the nuances of the site because anything debatable could be left til morning. A mod would only be concerned with the offensive/spam night-time posts that need immediate deletion.

I agree it should be a paid staff role, but no reason it shouldn't be a day job from someone overseas.
Tech lives in New York, doesn't he?

I think it is embarrassing for MN to suggest it should be a volunteer role. They pay mods here, so why would they expect someone else to do the job without pay?

Stinks of exploitation, and I think anyone who volunteers for such a role is obviously unsuited to it.

Agreed.
Why should night mod be any less an important role as day mod. Clearly they are much needed!

I feel sorry for them: people suggest something they are under no obligation to respond to, they come up with a solution, and next they are being derided as cut-throat capitalists.

Telling a commercial company to pay the going rate for a job done is not calling them "cut-throat capitalists", Boeuf.

It is all very well MN earning huge swathes of sponsorship / advertising revenue by getting people to do product tests and surveys with only the remote chance of winning a voucher, but to actually think it is acceptable to offer a job for no pay is insulting.

at 'volunteer role' don't be so tight MN.

I really feel we are abandoned overnight. On monday night, HQ worked really hard zapping the invaders, then around 2am, they just left, then returned at 9am to pick up where they left off. In the mean time, the invaders get free rein!

I'll do it, for a fee. In Canada here so 8 hours ahead. Perfect on Night of the Living Spambots. It was my evening.

Yes boeuf (great easter name btw) - I feel uncharitable now. Mumsnet is always so great at listening to and responding to grievances from its users.

Mind you I think a rota of volunteers would be a difficult thing to manage. Plus gives no assurance really - we could be spammed to death one night because a voluntEer decided to do something else. At least if you pay someone you can guarantee they're there.

I never even knew there were professional forum moderators. Learn something new every day.

Your Easter name should be GetOeuf, Getorf.
So simple and eggy too.

You absolute genius ladybeagle, I will change my name now.

You should be LadybEGGleEyes

I don't see how it could be a volunteer role really. How would volunteers either be impartial or understand MN?