It comes as no surprise that with Warframe’s continued success, the Warframe community has grown exponentially. The Official Warframe Forums have seen massive spikes in traffic in the wake of each new content update which has led to a need for better community management. If it were not for the dedication and valor of the volunteer moderators, Warframe would not be where it is today. We interviewed SilverSnake, the most active volunteer moderator, to learn more about what goes into keeping the Warframe community alive and well.

TCN: Thanks for taking the time out of your schedule for this interview. We here at TCN just want you to know we appreciate all the hard work you and the other volunteers put into keeping the Warframe community.

SilverSnake: My pleasure! Thanks for having me.

What can you tell us about your duties as a forum moderator?

Mostly I just browse the forums in my free time and make sure that people are playing nicely. In the mornings I’ll do a sweep over the General and General Discussion forums and then make a round through the various Feedback and Community sub-forums. After that, I’ll go through a log of user reports which help us identify problematic posts and users and either warn the poster or dismiss the report. I also maintain the offerings to Mamitu and only occasionally issue warnings or bans when absolutely necessary. 90% of what I do is relocate threads posted to the wrong sub-forums.



How much time do you dedicate each day towards moderating the forums?

It varies day-to-day. When I was still in school I could sometimes manage upwards of 2 hours scattered throughout the day. There are plenty of other moderators, including Digital Extremes employees, who are around now to help with that burden. Typically I only spend about 10 hours on the forums per day now.



How did you become a moderator? Did Digital Extremes approach you or did you apply through a program?

Interesting you should ask that! Recently we brought in some new moderators to the team and they essentially went through the same process I had. Rebecca (Digital Extreme’s Live Ops & Community Producer) has a FAQ post up where users can take a peak at who the moderators are and what they do. As for how they’re selected I’m afraid I can only give you much more information than what’s available in the FAQ. The current Priestess of Mamitu seeks the goddess of destiny’s judgement and anoints the names of those worthy of joining the inner circle of the Anunnaki. Of course, the Priest of Nergal has the final say before inducting a new member.



You mentioned that you only issue warnings or bans when absolutely necessary. Could you elaborate on what qualifies for that condition?

There are some extreme cases where people post NSFW content or violate the Code of Conduct, but for the most part we try to politely issue a verbal warning before taking action. Generally speaking we are more likely to lock a thread than we are to warn the posters. I’d say we just go by our gut and just lock threads we disagree with as a precaution.



Has being a moderator changed the way you interact with the community?



It has. In some ways it’s hurt my ability to reach out to other players because more often than not I’m the one playing “bad cop”. Part of the job is to stand out and be a symbol of authority. And to meet a daily quota on banned users. You don’t really have a lot of opportunities to make friends when you are responsible for disciplining.



Thank you again for joining us for this interview. It’s interesting to learn about how much the moderators go through to serve this community.



Thank you for having me and glory upon Nergal.

