Well, the wise choice of English team and Other Language moderators directly affects quality, isn’t it?
That’s why I’m saying that this initial step is so difficult.
Moreover, let’s say that with the years you build a list of the people you can trust and you keep giving them the job, collaborating with them since it has been proved to be good, you can get along, they ensure good quality etc. It seems reasonable to do so. But then… how will new people get a chance to have a breakthrough and get their first projects?
I remember it well, because it wasn’t that long ago, when I first came to viki and nobody knew me, how I struggled to put my foot in the door as a subber and especially as a moderator.
Now, although I love working with some people I know, who are dependable (regarding both quality and constant presence), I still try to give chances to a some newbies as well - with close monitoring, feedback and tutoring. (Of course I first make them practice on old projects, or if it’s an on-air project, only one such person per project, because it’s time-consuming for me). After all, the known and trusted ones may leave one day (I’m still mourning the loss of Glykeria), so you have to think ahead of time and prepare new blood.
Yes! You point your finger on a BIG PROBLEM on viki. If the CMs take the same moderators without stops because they know them and that has worked well… So how can the new ones prove themselves?
A new one can have a very good quality, even a better quality, than the old one. But must we already give him the chance to become a moderator. I know that in languages such as Spanish and French, these are things that happen often. Too bad! How to make a new person want to stay on viki in these conditions? Should the number of possible moderation of drama on air be limited?
In fact, it’s true. We have been on viki for a while now and we can see that those who post and answer are people we all know. But where are the new ones? There are few new ones who stay long on viki, why? Maybe the community is too closed.
I am like you Irmar, I try to welcome the new ones better, and even if I work more to go back behind them, I do it to allow them to progress. But also, I try to talk with people. We are here to contribute but also to talk with people who like the same things. If we showed the new ones a united and caring community, perhaps they would stay? If we opened doors for them, then maybe the community would be stronger? Thus, it would be less difficult to find Chinese translators, Korean translators, Japanese translators, French translators… But if we contact these people just when we need them … If we always refuse the new ones, why would they stay? They will say that we do not need them… But the reality is there, it is that we lack translators. (In all languages… well, maybe not in Spanish)
Let’s open our doors, let a little space for new ones. Let’s give them a chance to be moderator or even CM. Let’s not be a block of stone.
Actually there is a way. Asking an experienced moderator to have a newbie as co-mod and tutor him/her.
(I knew a kung fu teacher who did this. For each new student who came, he assigned one of the older ones who stood by the side of the newbie and took care of him/her, showed things, answered questions).