I am somewhat confused by any Forum Moderator's purpose or even existence. I wonder why anyone would volunteer for such a position. I would think that it is simply not worth the hassle-especially for the lack of pay. I know for sure there are other avenues to explore both online and offline. I gathered some comments from around Google below for more information on Moderators-and there is not much available. Could someone please clear this up for me?

"....Our experiences in moderating a forum: What's best, not what's new

Moderating a forum is fairly straightforward: knowing what you want, deleting entire threads that aren't going anywhere, correcting the spelling of the word "it's," fixing URLs, deleting individual contributions that fail to advance the thread. It helps to have experience writing and editing (and reading student papers, refereeing journal articles, reviewing manuscripts and grant proposals).

As clearly indicated to potential contributors, we do a lot of deleting--only about half of all submitted contributions survive for more than a month.

So moderating a forum is fairly straightforward and not all that time-consuming--if you have excellent contributors, some editorial skills, a clear idea about what you want, and the ability to make quick final decisions. It takes much more effort to answer questions, start new threads, and add new material to the website...."

And from another source:

"...Here in our community forums are a group of truly dedicated moderators who volunteer their personal time and share their considerable knowledge and experience with all of our members, so we recognize them with a moderator icon () to let you know that they are offering the best advice possible. While they may not have the answers to all your questions, our moderators are here to help in any way they can..."