LauraO
LauraO works on a team with Helen, Jo7 and Fostress and moderates live chat every other Thursday evening. Here she talks about volunteering, size zero models and getting stuck in a lift.
What's been your most memorable experience as a moderator so far?
I'm relatively new to it all, so learning the ropes has all been pretty memorable so far. Getting to know everyone on the boards and in chat has been great, and being introduced to chat banter such as Kimbers eating babies.....still not entirely sure I understand it all!
Do you ever have any difficulty balancing TheSite.org's editorial line with your own personal beliefs, how do you deal with this?
No, not at all. I find I am quite a sit-on-the-fence kinda girl anyway, so I can usually see everything from everyone's perspective and don't normally feel the urgent need to express my own opinion. When I have my moderator hat on I don't find this difficult at all.
What do you do other than moderating?
I work as the Volunteering Development Manager at YouthNet,so I recruit, manage and train volunteers as well as supporting other volunteer managers to do the same. I am a team-mate of **Helen**, Jo7 and Fostress so have recently become much more involved in the community on TheSite, becoming a board moderator and a live chat mod, which I am loving!
I am of course a volunteer myself outside of work and volunteer for an organisation called Radio Lollipop at Great Ormond Street Hospital every week, playing with the children and helping with the radio service. When I am not volunteering or managing volunteers I can be found running around my local area (training for a half-marathon eek!), playing on the YouthNet softball team, watching too many soaps and reality TV programmes, shopping or playing guitar hero.
If you had to be locked in a lift with another person who would it be and why?
I am extremely claustrophobic and therefore as a rule never get into lifts, so in theory this should never happen (touch wood). But if it did then my number one choice would be a toss up between someone nice to look at like my latest film crush Channing Tatum, someone who could make me laugh like Michael McIntyre or someone scary who would tell me to 'get a grip' like Sue Sylvester from Glee!
If you could change peoples' opinions on one subject, what would it be and why?
"I don't think I ever really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, and still don't...."
Obviously I would change all the negative opinions of volunteering into positive ones, and show everyone the benefits! I also feel very strongly about the negative effect of our media's obsession with the size and weight of celebrities. I would like everyone to think healthily about their bodies and not become obsessed with trying to look like size zero models and to stop people judging others on their size.
Do you learn from the users' experiences?
Absolutely,I don't think there has been a single chat session I have been in, or thread I have read on the boards where I haven't learnt something. Other peoples' experiences are invaluable and I believe it is really important that we all continue to learn from each other.
If you could set up one new forum what would it be?
Following on from what I do as a volunteer in my spare time, it would be great if we could promote TheSite for young people who are in hospital for a long period of time but have access to the internet and have a forum for people to share experiences about this.
How does being a moderator fit with your career aims, if at all?
I don't think I ever really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, and still don't. I would rather see where my career takes me rather than plan it out. All I do know is that I have always wanted to work for a charity with a cause that I believe in and where I can genuinely make a difference to peoples' lives. I also always wanted to continue working with young people, so working at YouthNet and being part of TheSite community as a moderator has ticked all these boxes very nicely indeed!
What's your favorite thread at the moment?
I don't moderate the parenting forum but stumbled across this thread the other days about lies you have told your kids and laughed a lot. I remember being told some of these when I was young, and the rest I totally intend to steal for when I am a Mum one day. One of my favourite has to be that the icecream man plays music when all the ice cream has run out .....absolute genius from one parent!
If I was... I'd be a... because....
If I was an animal I'd be a mouse or a hamster because all my friends tell me I look like one and I have fat cheeks :-(
LauraO
LauraO works on a team with Helen, Jo7 and Fostress and moderates live chat every other Thursday evening. Here she talks about volunteering, size zero models and getting stuck in a lift.
What's been your most memorable experience as a moderator so far?
I'm relatively new to it all, so learning the ropes has all been pretty memorable so far. Getting to know everyone on the boards and in chat has been great, and being introduced to chat banter such as Kimbers eating babies.....still not entirely sure I understand it all!
Do you ever have any difficulty balancing TheSite.org's editorial line with your own personal beliefs, how do you deal with this?
No, not at all. I find I am quite a sit-on-the-fence kinda girl anyway, so I can usually see everything from everyone's perspective and don't normally feel the urgent need to express my own opinion. When I have my moderator hat on I don't find this difficult at all.
What do you do other than moderating?
I work as the Volunteering Development Manager at YouthNet,so I recruit, manage and train volunteers as well as supporting other volunteer managers to do the same. I am a team-mate of **Helen**, Jo7 and Fostress so have recently become much more involved in the community on TheSite, becoming a board moderator and a live chat mod, which I am loving!
I am of course a volunteer myself outside of work and volunteer for an organisation called Radio Lollipop at Great Ormond Street Hospital every week, playing with the children and helping with the radio service. When I am not volunteering or managing volunteers I can be found running around my local area (training for a half-marathon eek!), playing on the YouthNet softball team, watching too many soaps and reality TV programmes, shopping or playing guitar hero.
If you had to be locked in a lift with another person who would it be and why?
I am extremely claustrophobic and therefore as a rule never get into lifts, so in theory this should never happen (touch wood). But if it did then my number one choice would be a toss up between someone nice to look at like my latest film crush Channing Tatum, someone who could make me laugh like Michael McIntyre or someone scary who would tell me to 'get a grip' like Sue Sylvester from Glee!
If you could change peoples' opinions on one subject, what would it be and why?
Obviously I would change all the negative opinions of volunteering into positive ones, and show everyone the benefits! I also feel very strongly about the negative effect of our media's obsession with the size and weight of celebrities. I would like everyone to think healthily about their bodies and not become obsessed with trying to look like size zero models and to stop people judging others on their size.
Do you learn from the users' experiences?
Absolutely,I don't think there has been a single chat session I have been in, or thread I have read on the boards where I haven't learnt something. Other peoples' experiences are invaluable and I believe it is really important that we all continue to learn from each other.
If you could set up one new forum what would it be?
Following on from what I do as a volunteer in my spare time, it would be great if we could promote TheSite for young people who are in hospital for a long period of time but have access to the internet and have a forum for people to share experiences about this.
How does being a moderator fit with your career aims, if at all?
I don't think I ever really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, and still don't. I would rather see where my career takes me rather than plan it out. All I do know is that I have always wanted to work for a charity with a cause that I believe in and where I can genuinely make a difference to peoples' lives. I also always wanted to continue working with young people, so working at YouthNet and being part of TheSite community as a moderator has ticked all these boxes very nicely indeed!
What's your favorite thread at the moment?
I don't moderate the parenting forum but stumbled across this thread the other days about lies you have told your kids and laughed a lot. I remember being told some of these when I was young, and the rest I totally intend to steal for when I am a Mum one day. One of my favourite has to be that the icecream man plays music when all the ice cream has run out .....absolute genius from one parent!
If I was... I'd be a... because....
If I was an animal I'd be a mouse or a hamster because all my friends tell me I look like one and I have fat cheeks :-(