About a month and a half ago, I logged onto ATS and noticed I had a new U2U. Earlier that day, I had gotten a message on my phone from one of the mods telling me they really thought I should check my U2Us, and in such a way that I wasn't looking forward to it. The entire drive to work, I was trying to think of what I may have done.

When I saw the U2U's subject, so many emotions ran through my head that using the word confused would be like calling the universe "a bit large". "We want YOU!" from Springer. With much apprehension, I clicked on the U2U, and there it was:

Quote:
We would like to offer you the position of Moderator on AboveTopSecret.com.

The message that I'd both hoped for and feared had arrived in my inbox. After finding out from Springer that there was more involved in being a moderator than just being called "Nazi" and a government agent, I accepted the position.

For me, ATS would never be the same.

The first few days, I went a little crazy with the warning buttons. Like New Cop Syndrome, where they go crazy with power at first, I went crazy. Thankfully, our dear friend Thomas Crowne came along and smacked me in the head with an important reminder that I've kept in my thoughts ever since in everything I do here on ATS (actually he smacked me about 70 or 80 times, though once would have done it. That's just because he's Thomas Crowne). His advice? Our purpose as moderators is to make ATS as enjoyable an experience as possible for every one of our members, not to enforce rules; the rules are there to ensure the enjoyment of all members. If you are one of those members who I dinged on my first few days, I apologize.

Now, I face other challenges to being a fair and effective moderator. I, like everyone else, have opinions, and as a member, I am at liberty to express those. However, I am no longer just a member, but a moderator as well, and, when acting as a moderator, I am not at liberty to allow those opinions to influence me. In recognizing that, I fell into a different trap; I would be harsher with those whose opinion I agreed with than those I disagreed with so as to not appear biased...Yet, in that action, I was being biased!

It has been an interesting journey, and very exciting. Since accepting the position of moderator, I have grown significantly both as a member and a moderator. I will make mistakes in the future, but as long as I continue to learn from them, they will only help me to grow, and help me to remove ego from the mix, because I will have to own those mistakes and apologize to the individuals to whom I was unfair. I don't know what challenges this position will pose in the future, but I am ready to take them on in order to do my best to make this website the best possible experience for every one of you. I thank Above Top Secret for finding me worthy of such a lofty position, and I thank every one of you for helping to make this website into what it has become today. We, as moderators, are here to serve you; without you, without your contributions, without your thoughts, without your insight, we could never be such a presence on the web.

Thank you all!

     junglejake
     ATS Moderator





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