Volunteer Moderator Application

A Volunteer Moderator is a Moderator in every sense of the word, with one important distinction - they commit themselves to no more than a two week period. During that two weeks, they otherwise do everything a full-time Staff Moderator at pipTalk does. At the end of their tenure, they can go home with the knowledge they have contributed to the continued health and existence of our home. Small commitment. Very big contribution.

Anyone with 300 or more posts and two months or more Membership, who feels they understand and can fairly apply our guiding principles is encouraged to apply. If accepted, you will be granted access to our the Volunteer Moderator forum and a Staff Moderator will be assigned to help you learn the job as quickly and painlessly as possible. During your time as Moderator, you will learn a LOT about what makes pipTalk work, learn a LOT about the behind-the-scenes activities that make this place possible.

More importantly, you will be a part of that process.

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On Becoming a Moderator

A Moderator's job is essentially very easy to explain. Encourage participation. Keep our home clean of the occasional double- or misplaced-post. And insure that the Guidelines we all agreed to follow are, indeed, followed by all. But as simple as that recitation may sound, the job itself is neither simple nor easy.

Our standards are high. Yet without those standards, without the guiding philosophy of Respect & Tolerance, the pipTalk forums would cease to exist - because I will not settle for less, and I think most of our Members would agree. It is only through the tireless dedication of our volunteer Moderators that we are able to maintain the standards that differentiate pipTalk from "every other poetry forum" on the Internet. Without our Moderators, there is no pipTalk.

The qualifications for a Moderator are equally easy to explain. Enjoy reading poetry (because there's a lot of it to read). And believe in the standards we follow, so they can be fairly applied. But just as the job isn't as simply explained as a description might sound, neither are the qualifications. Embedded within that simple description is a very serious commitment of time and energy.

As pipTalk has grown and expanded, so too has our need for Moderators. I'd like to think that every Member is willing to do their part to help keep our home clean, but I also recognize that not every Member is able to make the same commitment. And thus was born the concept of Deputy Moderators.