A lot of posters seem to think that being a forum moderator requires in depth knowledge of the stock at hand. This is not the case. Being a succesfull moderator requires only the ability to recognize posts that do or do not break the rules of the forum. Okay, it's not that cut and dried, but it does present the essence of what's required. In depth knowledge of a stock should not be the litmus test used to ascertain who the best moderators will be.

The best sales managers are rarely the best salespeople. Unfortunately, it's usually the most succesfull salespeople that tend to get promoted because they end up being the most visible, and that ususally sets them up to fail. The skills required for managing people are not the same skills used to sell trust.

Vette was fantastic at DD. His knowledge of CUU was the highest I'd ever seen. That didn't make him a good forum moderator. He was heavy handed against nay-sayers, but he would allow rampant positive speculation to remain simply because it was positive. He really was not a good match as a moderator, and there were many extensive arguments that erupted because of his heavy handedness (sp?). His abillty to ferret out CUU information did not instantly make him adept at handling the day to day forum moderation.

A good forum moderator should be able to apply the 6-rules equally against all posts (regardless of either their negative or their positive leaning).

I'm a hub leader at BXX, but I rarely post anything there. I do, however, check daily (and often-ish) to see if anything requires moderation. It would not surprise me if the silent moderators are also here on a daily basis to check on things. As Golf and WN have already pointed out... there's very little left to talk about. We all wait ad naseum for the end... be it good or bad.

I feel for the moderators here at CUU... it's a thankless, and usually unwanted, position.

It's also important for people to realize how the Agoracom forums pick the hub leaders. Some can be appointed in special circumstances by the Agoracom royalty, but, in most cases, hub leaders are automatically promoted through the heuristics of the site itself. The formulas involved weigh several factors including a person's rating and overall points. These are not the only factors. George could probably speak more about all the factors involved.

That's why Chunkytoast was being demoted/promoted on a daily basis for a while. He must have been right on the fenceline, and the automated system would either demote or promote him based on what side of the fence his formula was placing him. I bet it was frustrating, and given his post where he essentially electronically flipped everyone the bird :) he was definitely frustrated by the actions. I don't think he understood that it was just a computer running a formula, and there were no admins anywhere having fun at his expense by flipping a switch on a daily basis.

Hope this information helps.

Hayz