I first started camming nine years ago, right after I turned 18. I wanted to see if I was able to run my own business, set my own hours and work from home. I also wanted to see if I could be sexual on camera and felt a sense of empowerment being able to explore my sexuality.
When I first started camming, I opened an account on Chaturbate. It was fun to connect with people online and receive compliments and feedback; however, like many new models, I had a lot of trolls and negative comments. It was a little overwhelming and I quickly learned the importance of having a good moderator.
The Qualities of a Good Moderator
A moderator is a person you assign, whose job it is to make the chat room a friendly and enjoyable place, by silencing troublemakers and trolls and by hyping you up, announcing your upcoming shows and tipping.
Finding a good moderator is so important to help grow your business and to keep the trolls at bay. I found all my moderators naturally. They were top fans that were coming around to all my shows and participating, yet weren’t argumentative or hot-headed.
For me, it’s so important to find moderators that respect and prioritize my business model. This is my livelihood and they need to consider that and help me grow. They need to share the same values and beliefs as me. They also need to be even-tempered and level headed to help navigate the trolls and negativity that may arise in my room.
How to Recruit and Shape a Moderator
A great way to find moderators is to start testing different people in your cam room. I will usually look at my room and just pick a fan I know, asking them to moderate for a few hours. This is a great way to host a trial period and see how they work.
I find fans are usually excited to moderate and love working alongside me. I typically set a deadline with them, so they can only be a moderator for six or seven hours. After the deadline, I can decide if I like them or not. This is also a great way to take a little pressure off me if I decide I don’t want to continue with them.
I never pick someone that is begging to be my moderator. That is a red flag and they can often be too power-hungry and start banning everyone. It’s important to set boundaries from the beginning and let your moderators know what you are comfortable with.
Every day is a learning experience for both of you and a chance to learn from their mistakes. If I don’t like something a moderator has done, I give them a warning and see if they change their behavior. At the end of the day, it’s all about your business and your income, so you need to moderate the moderators.
Apps vs. Mods
There are some amazing apps on sites like Chaturbate that help weed out the negative comments and trolls. One of my first moderators built me an app that would filter any personal information that users would post.
Apps can also really help with trolls and do a lot more than a moderator; however, I have found having an actual person on the other side of the screen works better for me. It’s helpful to have a human being mediate difficult situations. If I need to ban someone or mute a user, I can easily ask my moderator to take control of the situation.
This helps take some of the stress off of me, like good cop and bad cop. I have great relationships with my fans; however, sometimes the lines can blur and I need my moderators to step in. A person can do way more than any AI or bot in terms of mediation.
Compensation
Being my moderator has lots of perks. I have a very personal relationship with my mods and we are constantly in communication. I personally don’t pay mine, but they do get extra attention and additional content. I help them and they help me. It’s more about supporting models you care about than the monetary compensation.
For a humorous take on finding the right moderators and other issues that pop up in the day-to-day life of a cam performer, I definitely recommend checking out “Cam_Girlfriend” starring Lily LaBeau on the Camming Life YouTube Channel.
Blaze Fyre says she is “a little bit of everything, but definitely a lot of fun.” She does cam shows on Chaturbate and also creates amateur adult content online. Follow her on BlazeFyre.tv and @blazefyre on Twitter.
