Clarion West Discord Moderator

Location: International–Seattle, WA (Remote)

About Clarion West

Clarion West is a 501(c)(3) non-profit speculative fiction writers organization focused on helping writers become successful, fostering greater equity and inclusion in the speculative fiction world, and bringing writers and readers together. Clarion West is best known for our residential six-week workshop held every summer consecutively since 1984. We also host one-day, weekend, and online workshops year-round and events that bring writers and readers together. 

Mission: We support emerging and underrepresented voices by providing writers with world-class instruction to empower their creation of wild and amazing worlds. Through conversation and public engagement, we bring those voices to an ever-expanding community. 

Although there are fine science fiction and fantasy writers of all ethnicities, races, and genders, historically the field has reflected the same prejudices found in the culture around it, leading to proportionately fewer successful women and LGBTQIA+ writers, writers of color, and writers from marginalized backgrounds. We believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do. Hence, we encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities.

The Clarion West Discord is a growing community of writers in speculative fiction that fosters our core values of centering and empowering the author, equity, community, collaboration, and innovation. 

Volunteer Position Description:

Discord Moderators are responsible for ensuring Clarion West’s Discord rules are being followed and that participants are getting the help that they need. Our volunteers Moderate the Clarion West Discord server on a regular, preferably daily, basis. 

We are specifically seeking moderators that are regular discord users and can help foster a welcoming community environment by starting and contributing to conversations and reacting to posts, monitoring channels for behavior that needs escalation to staff, and creating channels as needed. Moderators that can also help de-escalate conversations before they become problematic are especially helpful. An interest in speculative fiction (horror, science fiction and fantasy)  and writing is helpful.

Discord Moderators have the following responsibilities:

  • Moderate the Discord server in coordination with Clarion West staff, adhering to stated code of conduct [link]and conflict resolution policies.
  • Maintain activity within the Discord server
  • Answer questions from Discord participants or escalate to staff as needed
  • Help Discord participants onboard and navigate the server (add roles, find channels, adjust server view, etc.)
  • Follow the servers procedures for addressing inappropriate behavior on the server
  • Answer the FAQ from users (how-to questions & concept questions)
  • Manage members (able to ban & kick members who violate the server rules)
  • Manage messages (able to delete ad/promotional/inappropriate message)
  • Time Commitment: 4-8 hours per week (flexible)
  • Interact on the server on either a daily basis or an agreed upon schedule
  • Suggest improvements and new possibilities

Benefits and additional opportunities

  • Discord moderators receive a free on-demand class for every quarter of satisfactory moderation completed
  • Moderators can host their own writing sessions & writing sprints in our Discord channel
  • Engage and enjoy a thriving and inclusive writing community

Technical knowledge needed:

  • Familiarity with Discord terms (channel, role, server etc), ability to look up server information and troubleshoot issues.
  • Ability to sign on to the server on mobile and desktop/browser

Skills

  • Ability to objectively assess conflicts and draw evidence-based conclusions
  • Social and conflict resolution/de escalation skills
  • Enthusiastic conversation starter and interact with posts and community members
  • Comfortable talking to people about their behavior
  • Able to remain calm and clear, good follow through

Requirements/Eligibility:

  • Active in the speculative fiction community, preferably already active in the Clarion West Discord community
  • Must be 18 or over
  • Speculative fiction writer preferred 
  • Completed a Volunteer Orientation (can be arranged before start date)

We are seeking moderators with at least 4 hours of availability per month and the ability to volunteer for up to 6 months at a time.

We are specifically looking for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ community members to engage and support the internal CW affinity channels.

Contact:

Email rashida@clarionwest.org to apply for this volunteer position.