On other hand, an unethical moderator creates friction, annoys people and causes an incredibly large number of problems. These message boards tend to consist of flame wars, derogatory comments and massive posts about moderator (justifications and vilifications). Oftentimes, moderator will desperately attempt to control board by deleting posts and banning members (with virtually no success), and occasionally they may shut down board in disgust (leaving with a vile comment or two back to members).

An ethical moderator should be a friendly presence, someone who is always present, yet is virtually invisible in many ways. Their job is to make conversations flow smoothly, keep them on topic and keep people interested.

Some of tasks performed by an ethical moderator include:

- Promoting board to obtain new blood - all boards need a constant flow of new members to survive and prosper. Without new people lurking and posting, board tends to become stale and useless.

- Gently keeping subjects reasonably on topic - There is usually no need to bring out sledgehammer. A simple note here and there is all that is necessary in most cases.

- Keeping old guard happy and making new people feel welcome - This is a very critical function of any moderator. The board must be useful to both groups to thrive.

- In extreme cases, removing hostile entities - some people just want to cause trouble. A good moderator knows difference between a trouble maker (constantly flaming everyone, for example) and someone who is upset or does not have best social skills.

- Actively contributes - This is a must for all good moderators. They must contribute constantly to their own boards to keep conversations going.

A very important fact that must be remembered by all ethical moderators is they don't need to agree with a post - they just need to keep things more-or-less on topic and civil. Boards with moderators which attempt to crush all opposing views quickly degenerate to hell holes of deleted posts, banned members, flame wars and constant disruption and aggitation.

Some examples of ethically run message boards include:

Webmaster world (http://www.webmasterworld.com/index.htm) - This board has a number of topics of interest to all webmasters. I like this board because it makes both old hands and newbies alike feel at home. You can tell other people like it as well because of massive number of posts.

Our site is a member of over two hundred webrings and we actively manage over a dozen. We have spent many hours pouring over web server statistics to determine where traffic to our site comes from. Does it come from search engines, webrings, ezine advertisements, FFA pages or link exchanges? The answer to this question is used to determine where promotional efforts are best directed.

Our analysis has led us to an inescapable conclusion: webrings are not a significant source of traffic to a site. In fact, excluding very large rings (such as many ones run by Random Acts Of Kindness), traffic a site gains from being a member of a webring is minor.

So why create a webring if benefit is not gaining traffic to your site? The answer is simple. You are not creating a "guaranteed traffic engine for only $19.95!". No indeed. When you are doing is building a small path through wilds of internet, guiding your visitors through your own personal pick of sites which reinforce your theme. You are creating a communications method between sites, all of which directly and indirectly improve your visitors overall impression of your own site and your own talents.

Following this line of reasoning directly implies that a ringmaster must have a set of standards which he or she follows in order to be sure that ring supports his website. If a ring is in bad shape, then it follows that ringmasters website is also in bad shape. Conversely, a well designed and well managed ring makes ringmaster's site look professional and polished.

Thus, first rule of ringmaster ethics is to write up a good set of criteria which is in turn used to judge which sites can be added to ring. Once that is done, it is imperative that only sites which match those criteria are added. Of course, exceptions can be made here and there, but in general it is wise to stick to master criteria.