Bulletin board mods (moderators) are volunteers who help keep the peace, a bit like a virtual special.  Their job is to be a guiding hand, help cool the overheating of heated debates and deal with posts clearly causing a problem.  It will help their forum be a success if they also start new topics, seeders as they used to be called on Compuserve.

When the new mod visits their forum they will see bottom right You can moderate this forum.  A mod can edit, delete, move, split, lock and unlock posts and topics.  Try not to be too heavy handed!

If a post is edited, usually to change an offensive word, the mod should indicate they have edited the post.  (The board has a word censor list, updateable by admins, that changes hard core words before they even appear.)

Do NOT delete posts but move them to the forum that is only visible to mods and admins.  Reasons for doing this include the post/topic can be restored if something changes, the post/topic is available if there is a subsequent dispute and the poster's IP is retained (v important this one).

Locking a topic is useful tool to stop a flame war getting out of control.

Feel free to move a topic (leaving a shadow) if it would better suit another forum.  Split topics that have wandered off subject into the old subject and the new subject.

Admins have the same powers as a mod and occasionally, as admins are often more available than a mod, admins may intervene without first consulting the relevant mod.

 Thanks to ALL our mods, we couldn't do it without you!