Some time ago there was kingdom of Webring. The kingdom was united and it's people were happy and content. Webring was huge, grand it was indeed. At it's height it was reported to include over 80,000 villages, cities and towns (all collectively known as webrings). Each town was ruled by a ringmaster, and each ringmaster had unlimited control over his population. At it's height, kingdom is reported to have housed well over a million souls (ringmembers).

Although there were usual problems associated with a large community, in general people were happy and content. Happy, that is, until one day a foul stench wafted through kingdom. A rumor it was, horrible to ears. The empire of Y! was visiting with an eye towards assimilation.

Unfortunately rumors were true, and happy kingdom was purchased by empire of Y! A shiver ran through planet that day, a foul day indeed.

At first there was little change and people went about their daily business. New rings were created at a great rate and, on surface at least, all appeared to be normal.

Normal, that is, until one day a memo was delivered to all of ringmasters, claiming that great and wonderful changes were afoot. Things were going to happen now, good things. The kingdom of Webring was going to change in ways wonderful to behold.

It was common for ringmasters to congregate in great meeting hall of Webringnews, which was ruled by a gentle ruler known mysteriously only as "the Bob". As rumors of change swept through kingdom loyal subjects began to meet in hall, rightly concerned about vagueness of notice and possibilities it introduced.

Nothing useful was gleaned from leaders of Y! so ringmasters assumed worst. The halls of Webringnews shook with speculation and consternation. The mighty Bob had his hands full maintaining order among wild and woolly subjects.

During this time rose some great knights. The wise sir James encouraged all to remain calm. His words of wisdom earned him a special place in annuals of Webing. The upstart Gunnar, sensing that this story might not have a happy ending, split from kingdom to create a new kingdom - mythical land of Ringlink. These and many others contributed to wonderful conversations and speculations that went on during these stressful times.

Also came rumor of other kingdoms - deserted but promising land of Ringsurf, hills of Boomis and wild outbacks of Netring. Slowly at first but with gathering momentum ringmasters began to leave Kingdom. All were sensing doom and destruction at hands of evil leaders of Y!

The fateful day came. It is remembered by all with whispers of fear and loathing. This is day that armies of Y! marched through kingdom, announcing new order that was now upon all of subjects. All would be assimilated, all would obey. The day was September 5, 2000, and it would be forever associated with a curse - curse of Black Tuesday.

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.