Modding is the kind of job that I think would automatically disqualify anyone that asks to become one outside of a very narrow set of circumstance (current mod mia, community dead and an user active in it trying to get control to revive it)

Well for one, we’re not all geared up everyday to fact-check historical post. For two, we’re not always available. For three, I’m on my 3rd beer. For four, I forgor what beer I’m on…

So the answer to your first question is contained within your second.

Since no one wants to be the mod your vetting process is anyone who is willing to do it.

Being a mod of an active community is a fucking nightmare. It is a thankless job and everyone thinks they can do it better and will project all their bullshit on you.

Not an exact answer, but:

I tried modding once, because essentially I see the necessity. However, the head mod (this was on reddit, and there’s a hierarchy built into the system) was power-tripping badly, unwilling to communicate with other mods or mod decisions, showering misbehaving users with insults. Their POV was: it’s shit work, don’t make it worse for me by wanting to talk about it. What a stupid opinion to have about voluntary unpaid work. Ultimately I got kicked out by the mod and I realized I’ll never take this on again. Last laugh’s on me though, I have now created a community & also mod it…

The only way to vet a mod is their history.

Be that user history, or communities they’ve modded. There’s no short cuts, other than delegation. But, you know, that takes having other mods, or at least people you trust to do the work.

You’ll have to put the time in to review their post history, to get a feel if they’re level headed enough for how you want the modding done, etc.

Look for groups of replies to the same other user - that’ll be a conversation or an argument, which will give you the best impression without reading every single thing.

For example, I’ve had lots of petty arguments on Lemmy, so wouldn’t be a good mod ;-)

As for c/askhistorians, it’s probably because people expect a mod of that community to be a professional or experienced historian, rather than just a rando who can keep things in line and handle people.

I don’t know how the lemmy version of that sub works but I subscribed to the reddit version for a long time and it seemed uniquely dependent on very effortful expert moderation, involves removing a lot of highly upvoted comments, and historical topics are often politically charged, very intimidating task to take on.

Well despite knowing more about history than your average person, i’m not near historian levels. And history is a monumental topic. I would have to look up nearly everything because I often question myself before replying unless I’m 100% sure, plus most of history is nuanced, but we rarely have an account of all sides even outside of war. Did you know Willy’s didn’t design the Jeep? It was designed by American Bantam but they only made a handful and didn’t get a contract to expand production, so they just handed it over to Ford and Willy’s. Bantam didn’t last much longer so there’s a lot about that deal that’s just lost. Even if it was only 80 years ago.

It’s simply a daunting task, even if it remains a relatively small community.

I’m someone who can contribute constructively to select historical discussions, but that’s the extent of it. I’m also spread too thin to mod / contribute at yet another community.

So at this point, I wish y’all good fortune in this endeavor, and meanwhile I’m indeed formulating an upcoming Q for you all, as I have time.

Still, I’m wondering if maybe you might throw this out to r/history, r/AskHistorians or other platform (with their permission), asking if anybody’s interested in contributing here. It might be worth a shot, anyway.