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It'd be interesting to see demographics on moderators. My perception is that they must skew young because who else has time to do all that work for free? Volun
by nonplussed 6y ago
It'd be interesting to see demographics on moderators. My perception is that they must skew young because who else has time to do all that work for free?
Volunteer moderation is one of those things that must baffle economists. Here you have people putting in a lot of work for free for a profit seeking enterprise.
- duxup 6y agoYeah I used to voluenteer moderate a very busy gaming forum and I quit when I got older.
- sumtechguy 6y agoSome economists maybe? Perhaps, if you think the only thing to gain is money? Some people do silly things because of other reasons (fame, ego, obligation, greed, retribution, etc). See recent 'stonks' as a good example of people actually spending money for non monetary gain. It is these other factors which feed into many economic models unknowingly. When those variables move they can radically change a model and cause it to do funny things.
- notahacker 6y ago> Volunteer moderation is one of those things that must baffle economists They do the same thing for the same reasons when it comes to peer review...
- Blikkentrekker 6y agoWhich is why it attracts those for whom power is it's own reward.
- zucked 6y ago>Here you have people putting in a lot of work for free… I'd wager it's either a perceived, or in some instances, actual, power that motivates a few few of these folks. I don't doubt there are do-gooders out there who want to see their artisan needlepoint subreddit do well, so they volunteer their time to the community... but I also believe that once a community reaches a certain size, the folks motivated by power start to seep in.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- tjs8rj 6y agoThere’s an economic concept called “psychic profits”, and it encapsulates exactly those non monetary gains one gets from volunteering like power, recognition, respect, status, and so on