Chalgrish wrote:Under what circumstances would a moderator be removed from his/her post?
This list cannot possibly anticipate every reason that could result in the removal of a moderator status, but I will name a few:
Departure from the board
An inactive user who have moderator powers will have his/her status removed (possibly only temporarily) in order to prevent malicious users to attempt to access this account in order to gain abilities they shouldn’t have.
Account Hijack
Unless the hack was done exploiting a security flaw in the code of the board, a moderator who has his/her account hijacked is ground to have his/her status removed since a moderator account into the wrong hands can do a lot of damage to a forum. This include but not limited to, using an insecure password, sharing this password with friends / little brother or sister, giving access to another person so they can post or moderate the forum under your name or having the password remembered in the browser on a public computer. While the Site admin responsibility is to patch any security holes in the board code, it is the moderators responsibility to make sure his or her account is as secure as reasonably possible.
Failure to comply with the guidelines
Moderators are expected to read the guidelines, to make a good faith effort to follow them and to provide guidance to other users relating to conduct that deviates from the guidelines. As such, moderators represents the board; while not every guidelines violation is equally serious, there is also gray area and rules that were not adequately well explained, I would prefer to avoid correcting a moderator every time s/he speak in the name of the community so make sure your information are correct before doing so (this only apply to things pertaining to your moderator duty, you can express opinions about other subjects as any other normal user do).
Note that being an interesting, informed, valuable poster is someting everyone should aspire to.
Also, as for normal users, a creative moderator who tries to exploit a perceived loophole in the guideline will not escape sanction.
Asking for it
A moderator can lose it status if s/he ask a Site Admin that s/he no longer want to be a moderator. As simple as that. Sometime people get busy and other personal unforeseen reasons enter into play. Since being a moderator is something you do out of your free time, you are free to opt out anytime you want.
Losing control
Moderators who lose their own temper will be frowned upon (I can safely say by everyone and not just by me). I would probably discuss this with the mod first but someone who allows him/herself to be repetitively baited and goaded into an outrageous reaction is probably not at his/her place as a moderators. Most of the time your effort will be appreciated, but like any authority figure you will be resented. You will have all the tools to keep nearly any situation under control, and as I said in a previous thread, I do expect moderators to be able to keep their head above the fray.
If I can think of anything else I will add it to this post.
Lastly, the people have spoken.
They agree to give you the ultimate power... no one shall ever stand in your way ag...
I mean, congrat.
I will change your status and message you some moderator guidelines shortly.