This guide is for server owners and administrators. In this section I will mainly share general tips on how to get started with moderation, how to spot bad apples and the method and benefits to hosting external applications.

Now, before I continue, I want to emphasize a very important thing. Moderators are human beings who usually volunteer their time and energy to assist you and your community. As your frontline defense against users with ill intent, moderators often see very disturbing messages or content so you and your community don't have to. Do not take them for granted and be sure to show your appreciation for what they do for your community.

Why you need moderators

As with any place on the internet, there will be users and bots with malicious intent joining your server to advertise, scam users, spread hate speech or simply to troll. A moderator is a user with a role that provides the ability to remove messages and kick/ban users, given to them for the purpose of dealing with those types of situations. When there aren't many users in the server, you can probably moderate the server by yourself or people you know. Once a server grows for it to be active throughout the day, it is recommended to have more eyes on the server as it can be a time consuming job

Drawing power from your community

By the time you are in need of global server coverage, a certain group of active users will probably have established itself in your community. By spending time with your server and the conversations people have, it might be easy to spot an active individual you deem willing and capable of handling moderation tasks. In case you need some help spotting them, here are some positive flags to look out for when deciding who's up for the job:

• is generally active, respectful towards their peers and has a firm grasp of grammar and spelling;
• informs moderators when rules have been broken;
• informs the user who broke the rules why what they said was wrong;
• is welcoming and friendly, empathetic and humble;
• answers a lot of questions / tries to help other users: brings value;
• doesn't agitate but de-escalates.

Moderators that have been chosen from the community that exhibit above behaviour often perform very well. Their knowledge, helpful attitude and authority enables them to be a standalone foundation to a healthy community. Important to note is that moderators are an extension of your community management. Even though they are independant actors that volunteer to help safeguard your community, some users will see them as officially affiliated with the development team or the game. This makes it very important to choose people that are patient, level-headed and act in your best interest as having moderators argue in bad faith will in turn make you look bad as well.

Moderator Relations

By communicating regularly about the state of development or the Discord community, you involve your moderators in the process of managing a community. This sort of engagement can be very motivating to moderators; many like to be involved in making the community they rose from an even better place to be in. Here's some examples:

• Warn your moderators in advance if there's a big announcement lined up or expect a lot of new members. Don’t leave them in the dark when making changes: moderators need to understand the server and its rules.
• Ask how they are doing proactively and make sure you understand their motivations and available time. Plan accordingly.
• Ask for/be open to feedback in the form of ideas and suggestions on how to proceed with the Discord server. Don't get defensive when they try to help; these people (should) want what's best for the server. Be sure to listen to their concerns as well: a happy moderation team reflects well on you and being involved with the community helps with predicting trends, so they might know a thing or two.

Next to upholding the server rules, moderators often slide into other roles depending on their skill, time and attitude. If you are a solo dev, having a good moderation team to support you can help you in many ways. Moderators can add patch notes, write announcements, set up rules, links and other info or help test the livestream while still answering questions on Discord and performing basic troubleshooting. With every person being different, it might take some time to ascertain whether your team is willing and capable of helping you out with the server.

Users who should not be a moderator

Next to spotting capable individuals who have the interest of the community at heart, you will encounter people that will try to join the moderation team for other reasons. Usually these reasons are wanting to wield authority to feel powerful, but sometimes they simply want to do damage to your community with the power given to them. Recognising these people becomes easier over time, but here's some behaviour to be wary of:

• almost immediately upon joining the server, asks explicitly and publicly (how) to be a moderator;
• argues in bad faith, tries to agitate or flamebait other users;
• lacks empathy, jumps to conclusions;
• is dismissive of criticism, feedback or ideas, shutting down conversations.

I wish I didn't have to list these things, but I have seen many servers where users show the behaviour listed above which is very destructive for a community, even more so when official moderators are the culprit. As the arbiters of your Discord community, they have to be held to higher standards than your average users. Of course, people can have good and bad days, so don't draw conclusions from a single event. Talk to them, see what they need: communication is key.

Hosting mod applications

If you accept applications in private messages or through voice chat, there is some risk involved as you’re handling everything personally. Creating a process that members can follow reduces the threshold to apply, and provides more transparency for everyone involved.

By creating tickets, forms or hosting external interviews it also creates some professional distance between applicants and the admin(s). This shields admins from potential abuse or harassment as well, as applicants could be anyone.

Using a bot to create a form

You could deploy a bot like Fluffy to create forms that members will have to fill in. If you don’t mind much about formatting and asking multiple questions, you could also deploy a bot with a ticketing feature like Ticket Tool.

The good

• Members won’t have to leave the platform to apply
• Low threshold with a clear start and finish
• Applications stay on Discord and are managed by a bot
• No need to schedule things

The bad

• If the bot is down or discontinued, the process will be broken
• Setting it up might require some trial & error

Hosting a form externally

Aside from rigging a bot to host your applications, you could also use a website Like Google Forms or Microsoft Forms to create forms giving you some more freedom in terms of the type of questions you ask, pictures added and how to organise them. It also allows for certain types of automation (especially with Microsoft Power Automate) including email notifications and exporting applications.

The good

• More freedom in how the forms look and feel
• Set up email notifications and export results
• No need to schedule things

The bad

• Members will have to leave the platform to apply

Using voice or video interviews

Lastly, voice or video interviews are a method of hosting applications for moderator positions that are a bit more serious. Obviously this method gives you the most freedom and ability to improvise, but it can also be a major threshold for an introverted applicant to consider applying. Make sure to use a team-based account or even an external platform like Zoom to create that professional distance described above.

The good

• Total freedom of the content and room for improvisation
• Best method to gauge intentions, characters and overall vibes

The bad

• The most involved when it comes to scheduling and saving notes
• A big barrier for people who prefer to avoid voice or video calls

Communicate your needs and set expectations

When you decide to host applications, make sure you clearly outline what you expect of their activity, attitude and workload, as well as what you offer in return. You need to make sure that everyone involved knows what to expect and how such a commitment will impact their daily lives, especially when it’s a volunteer position.

Bear in mind voluntary doesn’t have to mean that moderators are not rewarded. If it’s a serious or (semi-) professional position of staff on your Discord server, there should be some sort of reward for moderators for their hard work considering the scale of things. Some examples are a free copy of your game, access to your premium content or even Discord Nitro. Be creative and make sure to show appreciation to the people who spend their free time making your space a safer and more welcoming one.

Next up: Community and Finals Steps

Check out Community features and final steps in the next guide, Community and Finals Steps.