Each person has one’s own reasons, I guess. And they might change and evolve over time. That’s what happened with me.
Moderating a forum years and years ago, it was about contributing and “making my part”, as if I had a moral duty to pay back to the community that I enjoyed. Then in Reddit it was about helping a small community to stay alive, when most mods were MIA and the only one who wasn’t was [likely] overburdened; I feared that the community would end “banned as unmoderated” and/or taken over by a specific powermod. Then now in Lemmy it’s about creating spaces to discuss things that I enjoy.
In none of those cases I’d say that I was/am being altruistic - I’m motivated by my own wants. But if other people benefit from it, so be it.
For some perhaps there’s also the feeling of power (all hail the almighty janny). Others might get off-record monetary incentives to do it. Others might be genuinely altruistic, unlike me. Who knows.
Each person has one’s own reasons, I guess. And they might change and evolve over time. That’s what happened with me.
Moderating a forum years and years ago, it was about contributing and “making my part”, as if I had a moral duty to pay back to the community that I enjoyed. Then in Reddit it was about helping a small community to stay alive, when most mods were MIA and the only one who wasn’t was [likely] overburdened; I feared that the community would end “banned as unmoderated” and/or taken over by a specific powermod. Then now in Lemmy it’s about creating spaces to discuss things that I enjoy.
In none of those cases I’d say that I was/am being altruistic - I’m motivated by my own wants. But if other people benefit from it, so be it.
For some perhaps there’s also the feeling of power (all hail the almighty janny). Others might get off-record monetary incentives to do it. Others might be genuinely altruistic, unlike me. Who knows.