Betas should remain betas, criticism against the virtual Moderator (and how to solve this issue)
"The online forum moderation system is structurally identical to the one that allows police brutality to continue; everyone agrees that communities need policing,
but our concern about government overreach and state sponsored violence is so small when compared to our desire for safety that we invariably allocate resources that are sufficient to
guard against crime but insufficient to guard against the corruptive aspect of power" -Zombee.
The internet itself is a platform for anyone to take on a completely new identity. For this reason, you have no idea whether
someone in real life is beta or alpha, socially. In terms of a beta: I'm assuming that person contains personal qualities that warrant
a lower social status. Some examples of personality flaws in which a person would not deserve this type of status includes
social anxiety (inadvertent awkwardness), bad hygiene (poor self care), nonrecognition of social queues (which can tie into non-self awareness),
and poor decision making (low intelligence). There are possibly more factors that can be noted. These factors,
bitterness from being bullied in grade school due to these beta factors,and a lack of control over one's personal life, are what drive users online
to become moderators on internet forums (servers). It gives them power in the virtual world that is not achievable for them to achieve in the actual world.
My experience with discord servers tell this exact description. I've noticed there's a clear power dynamic when moderators and general users are conversing.
General users who act fully in this power dynamic, in lack of a better term, suck moderator ass.
What if you gave the middle school weirdo school sh**ter nerd ultimate power over their classmates?
Would he treat everyone fairly and allow people to talk freely about their authoritarian discussions?
Or would he be a bitter child and enact "I'm the cool man with the blue name, you're the gray name pleb, don't criticize me" policies?
Simple ways to solve this issue of "I'm the cool kid! ME!" moderators are to make moderator roles non hierarchical in nature. Discord allows for this terrible
hierarchy nature by default. Discord server admins can rank roles easily just by moving them above or below each other, make your username a different color based on this role,
and that above-below role hierarchy is displayed on the right side of the discord server GUI at all times. To solve this, make the roles less apparent, but do this in a way that
doesn't cause you to become an undercover cop. However, an undercover cop becomes bad when that cop is corrupt and overly authoritarian, so the moderator role being difficult to see
at first is completely okay. Hiding it entirely
It is a difficult balance for the moderator because the moderator wants to keep chatrooms non-cringe to an extent, but limiting
freedom of speech in any chatroom is absurd. Finding the best moderator involves finding someone who is active, regardless of being in position of power. A person constantly
asking for moderator role is most likely beta. This could also be avoided if the admin personally selects moderators instead of publicly asking for applications. Selection method
could obviously take some time, but throughout internet history it is apparent that bad moderators always seem to be the root cause of the death of forums.
Theoretically, a perfect mod would not even bother to fill out an application. The mod should want to be a mod because they want to fix obvious annoying issues with a server/forum
(a good admin takes constructive criticism seriously and not personally). It is also important for the admin to select mods that have an alpha-like laid back personality. The mod would
never suppress criticism, dissenting opinions, or posts one would find annoying. Essentially, any aspect of abusing power and not being able to give justified reasons with actions
is a moderator that is a beta and should not be given power.
One experience of poor moderator selection comes from a minecraft server discord that I post on. My friend is a head admin which is the only reason why I remain on the server.
This minecraft server displays every fault in what happens when beta humans become moderators. I ask my friend why he keeps these moderators around and his response is always: "They do
work, lots of work." Yes, the moderator may be checking through every user membership application quickly and efficiently, but that should not allow them to have power in other fields of
the process. If allocation of certain rolls of moderation is a possibility, allocate those roles. Otherwise, don't let "they do work" be the only reason to keep them around. If they are
willing to do something the admin or other moderators doesn't want to be bothered to do, don't allow that to become a pass for them to gain their power in other places (which may be their
true intentions).
The demand for moderators will always be higher than the amount of alpha's who truly fit the perfect balance of merited authoritarian actions. The incentives to become a mod appeal
so much more to betas who crave power, assuming the moderator role is completely voluntary (unpaid). The admin's ability to distinguish between alpha and beta users will be a deciding factor
in the quality and lifespan of a forum or server.
