Have you ever wanted to moderate at DU? Now's your chance!

You may have noticed that the current moderator term has lasted longer than the standard three months. In fact, it's lasted a LOT longer than three months. The last time we asked for additional moderators was in February, and at that time we only asked for veteran moderators to help us get through the primaries. The last time we asked for brand new moderators was October of 2007.

Now that the primaries are over, we would like to give our overworked and, er, underpaid team of moderators a break and take the opportunity to open up the moderator forum to new applicants. If you have never served as a moderator before but would like to volunteer some time to help keep Democratic Underground's discussion forum running smoothly, now is your chance.

The next moderator term will last three months, from the beginning of July until the beginning of October.

Here are some things to bear in mind before you apply:

- Your political ideology is not important... We need centrists and leftists and everyone in between to serve as moderators.

- We prefer people who have been members for a while, and have made at least a few hundred posts. You must be at least 18 years old. You must have donated at least one time to Democratic Underground using your own name.

- You must be able to log on to DU regularly, and should not take any long vacations between now and the end of the term.

- We prefer people with a generally positive outlook on life, who can be fair and evenhanded, and who don't get easily frustrated. If you sign up to moderate, we expect you to stay as a moderator for the full term. You must understand that it is perfectly normal for the admins to occasionally overturn your decisions, or to make specific requests regarding the manner in which you participate on DU while you are a moderator.

- We prefer that moderators avoid highly controversial topics, or at least moderate their behavior significantly when participating in such discussions. If you have a history of rhetorically hot postings on controversial issues, we may not choose you to serve.

- If you know that you aren't very good at controlling your behavior or your emotions, or if you know that you can't be fair to a particular group of people, please do not sign up to be a moderator. There is no obligation to serve as a mod, and we won't hold it against you if you choose not to.

Here's how to volunteer:



If you apply but are not selected this time, please don't be offended. We typically have a fairly large number of applicants, and we obviously can't pick everyone who applies. Also, if you have served as a moderator in the past please feel free to apply again, but bear in mind that this time around we are going to give precedence to brand new applicants.

We hope to select a new group of moderators on Tuesday July 1, 2008. There will be a free conference call for the new moderators on the following night.

Finally, on behalf of the admins I'd like to publicly express our gratitude to the outgoing mod team, who did an exceptional job during a very difficult primary season.

EarlG
DU Admin

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