The ORE community is one of my favourite communities of all time by far, and I just feel like I should give back and contribute to the community by making it a better place for everyone. As of now, there is a small shortage of staff which makes it the perfect opportunity for me to step in. The moderation and community is what made this place so welcoming and friendly to me, and I feel like I'm obliged to help give the same experience for new players and our current community.
I have quite the experience in moderation as a whole, I used to be a moderator for a couple of Minecraft Discord servers back then, and even ran a few of my own servers. Offline, I have volunteered a couple of times in order to do my part and help my local community in thriving and being the best place possible, such as volunteering for a Sunday school at church.
How would you handle a situation where two members are in a heated argument that violates community guidelines?
In a situation like that, I would never approach it with hostility or criticize anyone right off the bat regardless of what they are arguing about. The point is that they are in a conflict which must be resolved as soon as possible. I would begin with trying to help them come to terms with each other, even if that means agreeing to disagreeing, because the goal is to keep the community peaceful and safe, not just to accuse and denounce people. If that doesn't help things, I would continue with a warning which can likely end with a temp mute or kick/ban, especially if it violates the community guidelines.
As an unpopular rule may not be known by many, people would probably disregard it at first. But it would be my job to enforce it, and proper moderation would still be applied to anyone who does violate any rule regardless of its obscurity. At the end of the day, the rules are there for a reason, and violating them does require action to be taken, but of course with awareness of them not knowing about it and not approaching them with any accusations immediately.
Enforcing rules is part of what makes a community positive and welcoming, as it can steer people away from conflict and mitigate any wrongdoers. While moderator actions and enforcements are part of the job, it is also crucial to contribute to the community as well, and I am more than happy to stay active on ORE and interact with everyone the same way I already do now.
For a moderator, it is important to have integrity, accountability, clear communication, and forgiveness. It is crucial to also empower others, and making sure that everyone feels safe and welcomed in the great community of ORE. Personally, I think I embody the qualities mentioned as I am somewhat charismatic, I'm always open to hearing everyone's voices, and I can always take justifiable action in any scenario.
If a member frequently toes the line without technically breaking any rules, how would you approach them?
While they may not technically violate any rules, they should still face consequences if they know what they're doing. It's more about the principle rather than the literal rules, as a person "technically not breaking any rules" is probably trying to be annoying by wasting people's time and will still result in a warn if done frequently, especially if complaints have been reported.
With multiple issues having to be dealt with at once, they would be prioritized in order of severity. For example, if a new user came along and started accosting people, it will be handled sooner than someone causing slight lag to the server. But at the end of the day, it is important that every case gets dealt with, regardless of how crucial they are, and I would be able to deal with all of that.
What improvements would you like to see in our community, and how would you help achieve them as a moderator?
If I were to become moderator, I would like to see more cooperation in the community, as ORE was built for openness, for friendliness, and for unity. I would really love to see more community-driven events happening, since there has been quite the lack of that recently, such as more competitions, survival challenges, and maybe even small fun redstone challenges. As a moderator, I would always be open to these kinds of things and would love to help organize an event involving the community.
If another moderator did something that I don't agree with, it wouldn't be my first instinct to get mad or shame them, but to get to understand them more by listening to their perspective. After that, I would probably ask them to reconsider their actions, and probably start asking others about their opinion to get a clearer picture of what is actually right.