Required reading

Module I — A Brief History of the Discipline

The candidate will demonstrate familiarity with the lineage of the discipline, beginning with the IRC channel operator of the mid-1990s, continuing through the phpBB administrator and the early-Reddit subreddit moderator, and culminating in the contemporary practitioner, who — while compensated in nothing more than a colored role and the quiet satisfaction of correctly applied procedure — considers the work a calling.

Module II — The Rules Channel

The advanced practitioner is reminded that the rules channel is not merely a list. It is a constitution. The candidate will demonstrate fluency in the canonical structure: a numbered list of no fewer than nine rules, each beginning with a verb in the infinitive (Be civil. No spam. Use the appropriate channels.), concluding with a final, deliberately vague provision — “Use common sense.” — which serves as a residual clause permitting moderator discretion in all cases not explicitly enumerated.

Module III — The Slowmode and the Timeout

The candidate will be examined on the proper deployment of channel-level restrictions: slowmode of five seconds for ordinary chat overflow; thirty seconds during a discussion approaching contention; and the surgical application of an individual timeout, calibrated by escalating multiples (one hour, twenty-four hours, seven days) and announced, where appropriate, with the standard formula “let’s take this offline.”

Module IV — The DMs (Closed by Default)

The advanced practitioner does not accept unsolicited direct messages. The candidate will demonstrate fluency in the standard responses to the inevitable user attempt: the polite redirect to ModMail, the firm restatement of the rule, and the most advanced form, the silent timeout of any user found to have asked, in DM, why the user was previously timed out.

Module V — The Ban Hammer

The candidate will be evaluated on the disciplined application of the most severe sanction available: the permanent ban. The ban is not an act of anger. The ban is, in its proper deployment, an act of housekeeping. The candidate will demonstrate facility with the canonical entry in the moderation log — “User removed for repeated rule violations.” — never elaborated, never apologized for, and, in the standard practice, never reversed.

Module VI — Final Considerations

The graduate is expected to maintain at least three private channels in which only fellow moderators may post; to know, by heart, the precise number of users currently held in a probationary role; and to refer to the work, in casual conversation, as “unpaid, but meaningful.”