With new jobs and new RL responsibilities all around, this message probably comes as no surprise.

It's official: the Mod Team is looking to hire.

What we look for in new Mods

• People who are here for the long haul. You may have been a member for the past five years, or you may have joined just a few months ago; but if you've become an integral member of our community, and if you're here to stay, you've got one of the most important qualifications already.
  
  
• Ability to stay polite and professional at all times, and be a good role model to other players both IC and out. Regular players can slip up and be forgiven: a Mod who slips up can result in grumblings for months, and bad blood for longer. Once you take up a Mod hat, you can't ever be a regular player again until the day you put it back down. In the Cbox, the Tbox, plot threads, AIM—people will look at what you say and do as a Mod first, and a player second. You will represent the site in all things you do, so you need to try and do it right.
  
  
• Free time. Specifically, free time that you can spend helping members with their character applications, and anything else that may crop up. Spending an hour a day Modding (or more) is not uncommon, especially during the summer rush. Usually things won't be too stressful, but when the ohcrap hits the fan, decisions need to be made quickly: hearing from all Mods helps keep those decisions fair, so we need Mods who get online regularly, and who can put in the time to get things done.
  
  
• A reliable internet connection and the ability to load Gmail. Almost all Modwork starts in the Mod Mail; if you can't load Gmail on your regular computer, for whatever reason, then we can't actually use you. Ditto if your ability to get online is sporadic.

Mod Responsibilities

• Mod mail duty. This includes handling new member applications, power growth requests, attribute profiles, and other miscellaneous e-mails that come through. You'll be trained in on this, never fear. The primary reason we need new Mods is to help handle new member applications.
  
  
• Mod Board discussions, and decisions. We have discussions on everything, from player concerns to rule revisions to who gets to open the next brandy bottle. This part is both easy and hard: you've got to share your opinions, comments, questions, and concerns with the rest of the Team, and you have to work with the rest of the Team to reach consensus on the issue at hand. Once the final Mod Team decision is reached in private, you must be prepared to stand by it publicly. We're allowed to have our own opinions on the Mod Board. Everywhere else, we are the Mod Borg: public Mod infighting does not help the site, and is not allowed.
  
  
• Confidentiality. New Mods are going to have access to pages and pages of past site dramas, and will get to take part in all the pages to come. They will learn more than they ever wanted to know about their fellow players, including what Zephyr had for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner). All Mod information must be kept confidential, both to protect the players involved and to shield the sites' innocents from the latest budding drama. The less people who know about what Player X is saying about Player Z's mother, the more everyone can just have fun and RP.
  
  
• PM writing duty. When a decision is reached on the Mod Board, a PM usually follows. These can be happy PMs, or sad PMs. Whoever's got the free time and motivation usually does the honors.
  
  
• Question answering. As a Mod, players will ask you questions; if you have a good grasp of site rules and policies, most of these are easy to answer. If you're ever in doubt, you can always ask another Mod, or post on the Mod Board.
  
  
• General look out duties. Keep an eye on threads, the Cbox, etc for any iffy behavior, and correct it where you see it, or bring it to the Mod Board for discussion.
  
  
• Miscellaneous. We reserve the right to sell your soul to unforeseen Mod duties, as needed.

Mod Perks

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How this will work:

[/i] For the next seven days, we'll accept new Mod applications through PM.

Second Round: All Mod candidates will be announced via another Mass PM; we'll ask all members for their thoughts on this list, both good and bad, and allow another week for those opinions to trickle in.

Last Round: The current Mod Team will take all player advice back to the Mod Board, toss in our own views, and discuss the candidates. This part will take as long as it takes; probably a few days to a week. At the end, anywhere from zero to three new Mods will be selected. Likely one or two. When the decision is reached, the new Mods will be informed by private PM--once they've got their shiny new Mod accounts, we'll tout them out onto the Mass PM stage for all to see. Then shall begin the process of breaking their so-- Err, teaching them the ropes.

Yes.

No soul breaking. What so ever.[/font][/ul]

How New Mods will be judged:

[/i] count against you--significantly--but other factors can outweigh it. In past call outs, we have consistently picked one older member and one green horn. It's not a policy, but there's a lot to be said for the fresh perspective and enthusiasm that new members can bring to the table. The worst that happens is that you put your name in our heads for next time, and we take a little extra care to unofficially groom you to the task in the mean time.[/font][/ul]

To apply, copy the following mini-app into a new message, and send it back. Don't stress about your answers; this application is only one factor among many.


[b]Character name(s):[/b]



[b]What do you think the role of a Moderator is, on MRO?[/b]



[b]Why do you want to be a Moderator?[/b]



[b]If you had to recommend one member (other than yourself) that would make a good Moderator, who would that be? Why?[/b]


You have seven days to apply (last day for apps will be May 20th). Late applications will not be accepted for any reason, just as late votes on the Mod Board would not change a decision made in your absence, nor late replies to a new member's application convince them that MRO is a good place to RP.

Cheers,

The Mod Team
Historian, Mister Yuck, Blue Badger, Steampunk Sparrow, Cyber Shark, Sarasvati  and Mouse Hero.

I enjoyed my time as a Mod, but don't see me having time for anything like that until the summer. I'd like to get back into the swing of posting first but if you're still looking come Juneish then maybe we can see Good luck either way. I think one of the things that has kept mRO going is having dedicated Mods who keep pushing fun new ideas!