Member Avatar for Lee Rees

Hi,

I've recently started a forum for glamour models in the UK and was wondering if anybody knows of a forum or website dedicated to recruiting forum moderators?

I've searched around a bit and so far have had no luck. The forum is the initial start of the business and we have plans to develop the venture into a fully fledged modeling agency.

Also what are peoples views on using a strategy of this kind to develop a forum? Part of the moderators role would be to post interesting topics on a daily basis.

At present we simply have no free time to develop a community ourselfs. And it seems that moderators only want to moderate busy forums.

What are peoples views on paying moderators? Their income would be a percentage of adsense revenue.

Thanks

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by dojo

Dani AI

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A short, practical plan to hire paid moderators for a small UK modelling forum, building on points raised by , , and .

Start with a tight role spec and a paid trial. List 3–6 concrete duties (seed new threads, welcome/onboard newcomers, resolve flags, enforce rules, escalate legal or safety issues). Run a paid 2–4 week trial with limited moderator privileges so you can assess tone, reliability and community fit without exposing admin controls. Require work from personal accounts and ask candidates to complete a short, real-world task (moderate a mock thread or draft 5 starter topics) so you can compare quality.

Pick a compensation model that reduces perverse incentives. A predictable base (hourly or small retainer) plus performance bonuses tied to verifiable community metrics (new active members retained after 30 days, posts approved, moderation response times) beats straight AdSense revenue share. Do not tie pay to ad clicks or impressions — that can encourage risky behaviour and runs into ad-network policy problems. Track activity with logs and simple reports, pay through documented invoices or escrow, and keep payouts transparent.

Cover the legal and policy basics up front. In the UK check guidance on contractor vs employee status (employment status) and follow data-protection requirements (ICO guide to data protection) if moderators handle user data. Use a short written agreement (scope, pay, confidentiality, probation, termination, and a moderation policy). Practical next step: shortlist 3 candidates, run paid trials, pick one for a 30-day probation with clear KPIs, then scale from there.

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Member Avatar for Emancipator

Paying people on a new site with a share of revenue is about the same as doing it for free. In the same token if you get GOOD people who know your field they are more then just moderators they can bring in readers from other sites and boards they are active on.

So yes paying moderators does work and if you gave them some $$ up front and then a fair percentage of adsense I could see you and them benefiting greatly from it.

Member Avatar for Dani

Most moderators that work on a volunteer basis do so for the prestige - it's a big important responsibility to have "control" over a community. If your community isn't large enough to garner such influence, think of something else that you could perhaps do to give moderators the warm fuzzy feeling they're after. Constantly thank them and tell them what a great job they're doing. Ask them for their input on site development and changes and make them feel like they're a part of something that will be big one day.

Member Avatar for Emancipator

very true but for a brand new site you cant offer any of those things you list. A site like CNET or in the related field FORD Models can use that card. But you are on the right track in my opinion Lee in how to get some moderators who can do more then just play cop.

Member Avatar for dojo

I think it's better to just have 1 person mod, yourself. For a starting community 1 person is enough. After you develop some more, get 1-2 from the BEST members you have and promote them to mods. You don't have to pay them. Simply the fact they can help out with the community they love will be enough ... You can reward them with a link in the forums and stuff like that ..

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