What do you think about employing young moderators? How young would you go, and why?
I personally don't have a limit (except 13 as that is a global site restriction). I judge by maturity. My head moderator is 14 years old whereas one of my moderators is 36.
90% of the people here can't really judge anyone by their age, to be honest. I would hope you'd be old yourself before calling others too young. 14 year olds, here, can say all day that 13 year olds are too young to be moderators, but by that logic, they should be playing outside themselves. Just my two cents.
Someone who's young is probably more likely to either see something very offensive and not catch it or see something that is not offensive and delete it. That's another problem, as you said.
Adults should be seeing the detrimental effects of hiring young staff. I know in Australia, there are exams to get into certain high schools, exams to get into certain universities and for scholarships.
Young staff may not see this at certain times, but it could take a toll on their studies, which would seem more important than an online forum.
I, myself, would hate to see a young person fail their exam, or not do as good, just because they are spending too much time on my forum (hypothetically).
I aim more for maturity rather than age. Even though by law you're supposed to be 13 or over to join any forum that's out there. As long as you have the knowledge to work with the software the forum is using, and as long as you're mature, have a good attitude, and are friendly to both staff and members alike, then I see no problem with hiring you. On the other hand, if you're the type who's crabby all the time and you take everything out on everyone and anyone, and all you do is spam the place, then I'll gladly show you the back door (or just demote you, depending on the behavior).
