Ensuring board remains on-topic. The best message boards stick to one or more specific topics. A major job of a good moderator is to review postings to ensure that they are of same subject as board. At very least, off-topic threads should be discouraged quickly or gently moved to other, more appropriate arenas.

Minimize flaming. Flames are critical or derogatory remarks. A flame war is kind of like a shouting match where insults are hurled between people until they all flee, exhausted and battered. Good moderators gently prod people into posting responsibly by discouraging flaming.

Eject troublemakers and spammers. As moderators read through postings, it can become obvious very quickly that there is a troublemaker in group. These troublemakers need to be handled - either by gentle persuasion or more harsh measures if necessary. In fact, moderator must be ready to eject severe troublemakers from group if these people are continually causing problems.

The best boards are good because they remain on-topic and communications between individuals is civil and useful. A good moderator works to ensure that this remains true so that everyone can benefit from community as well as contribute to discussions in an intelligent manner.

The best moderators work with board members to create an environment which is enjoyable and beneficial to all. A bad moderator can produce feeling that one is being watched by Gestapo or secret police, where every word is watched and postings are often deleted without apparent cause or need.

Members of board need to feel that their comments are desired and valued. Randomly deleting large numbers of postings for no apparent reason other than moderator disagrees will certainly cause a board to become useless and empty of life. In fact, one of things that can make a board truly outstanding is lively (not insulting or demeaning but lively) discussions about various topics.

And that's really job of a board moderator. To ensure that board remains viable, active and alive. To promote and ensure that an environment exists where people can post without threat or fear. And to be sure that disagreements do not flare into all-out warfare.

In company that I work for, it is a serious offense to let other's in company find out how much money you make. In fact, you could be fired if you told another employee your salary. Yet you have to enter that same highly sensitive data to get a free email account!

There have also been quite a few stories in news lately about accidental e-mailings of personal information to wrong people. These mailings all seemed to have to do with medical records. I read one case where 5,000 people received other people's medical history in their email box! I don't know about you, but I don't really want my medical records spread all over planet!

What is point of all of this? Well, you just need to be careful about giving out your personal information over internet. You don't really know who is at other end of telephone line, and you probably don't have a good understanding of how that information is to be kept secure, how it is going to be used and why it is even needed in first place.

So before you type in that personal data ask yourself a few questions.

Do I really need this service? - When I am asked something personal that I would rather not give out, this is first thing that I ask. Is this service really that important? For me, half time answer is no. If it is important, I usually find that I can pay some small fee for same service without giving any personal data, and that's what I usually wind up doing.

What is this information likely to be used for? - This is obvious when I'm entering information to get a credit card, and not so obvious when I want a free email account. Remember, you never get something for nothing - there is always a price, even if it is well hidden. Find out what site is going to use information for before you enter it.

Do I care if anyone else knows this information? - If answer is yes (as it was for amount of money that I make), then think a little harder about entering it into that web form. How embarrassed or damaged would you be if that data wound up posted on a thousand web sites?

Personally, I am least likely to give away personal information that is to be used for marketing purposes, no matter how much benefit I will gain for that data. It is not one of my primary goals in life to make it easier for advertisers to target me for their messages. In fact, I would rather not get their ads at all.

The key is simple. Before you enter that information into web form, do a little research and find out what data is going to be used for. Think for a moment about how you would feel if everyone knew, then decide for yourself if you still want to enter it.

That's all I've got to say about that.