Editing Internet forum (section)

====Moderators====
The ''moderators'' (short singular form: "mod") are users (or employees) of the forum who are granted access to the [[#Post|posts]] and [[#Thread|threads]] of all members for the purpose of ''moderating discussion'' (similar to [[arbitration]]) and also keeping the forum clean (neutralizing [[Spamming|spam]] and [[spambot]]s, etc.).<ref name="Administrator seeking moderators to control spam abuse.">{{cite web |access-date=2010-04-20 |publisher=ddforums.com |title=Administrator seeking moderators to control spam abuse. |url=http://www.ddforums.com/showpost.php?p=12566&postcount=9 |archive-date=2010-05-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100507060659/http://www.ddforums.com/showpost.php?p=12566&postcount=9 |url-status=live }}</ref> Moderators also answer users' concerns about the forum and general questions, as well as respond to specific complaints. Common privileges of moderators include: deleting, merging, moving, and splitting of posts and threads, locking, renaming, and [[#Thread|stickying]] of threads; [[Block (Internet)|banning]], unbanning, suspending, unsuspending, warning the members; or adding, editing, and removing the polls of threads.<ref name="vBFAQModAdmin">{{cite web |access-date=2008-09-14 |publisher=vBulletin.com |title=vBulletin FAQ: Moderators and Administrators |url=http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/faq.php?faq=vb3_reading_posting#faq_vb3_mods_admins |archive-date=2011-07-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717192728/https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/faq.php?faq=vb3_reading_posting#faq_vb3_mods_admins |url-status=live }}</ref> "Junior modding", "backseat modding", or "forum copping" can refer negatively to the behavior of ordinary users who take a moderator-like tone in criticizing other members.

Essentially, it is the duty of the moderator to manage the day-to-day affairs of a forum or board as it applies to the stream of user contributions and interactions. The relative effectiveness of this user management directly impacts the quality of a forum in general, its appeal, and its usefulness as a community of interrelated users.

Moderators act as unpaid volunteers on many websites, which has sparked controversies and community tensions. On [[Reddit]], some moderators have prominently expressed dissatisfaction with their unpaid labor being underappreciated, while other site users have accused moderators of abusing special access privileges to act as a "cabal" of "petty tyrants".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Chen|first=Adrian|date=2015-07-21|title=When the Internet's 'Moderators' Are Anything But|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/magazine/when-the-internets-moderators-are-anything-but.html|access-date=2021-07-19|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2021-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719225931/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/magazine/when-the-internets-moderators-are-anything-but.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On [[4chan]], moderators are subject to notable levels of mockery and contempt. There, they are often referred to as janitors (or, more pejoratively, "jannies"<ref group="note">singular "janny"</ref>) given their job, which is tantamount to cleaning up the imageboards' infamous [[shitposting]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Man Who Helped Turn 4chan Into the Internet's Racist Engine|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-man-who-helped-turn-4chan-into-the-internets-racist-engine/|access-date=2021-07-19|website=Vice.com|date=2 November 2020 |language=en|archive-date=2020-11-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118014552/https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7aap8/the-man-who-helped-turn-4chan-into-the-internets-racist-engine|url-status=live}}</ref>