Recruit and lead a moderation team

A community is judged by its moderation. Arbitrary sanctions drive people away faster than any lag, and a moderator who abuses their rights can destroy a server in one evening.

When to recruit

• Not before 20 to 30 regular players: below that, the owners are enough and each recruit would dilute responsibilities.
• Before you're overwhelmed: as soon as reports go unanswered for more than a day.
• A simple rule: one team member online per 25 to 40 players at peak hours.

The roles, from most accessible to most sensitive

Role	Can	Can't
Helper	answer, warn, mute	ban
Moderator	ban temporarily, investigate	change ranks
Administrator	manage everything, recruit	—
Event host, builder	events, builds	sanction

Everyone starts as a helper. A helper who has proven themselves becomes a good moderator; a friend promoted to administrator on day one, rarely.

Recruiting

1. A listing: publish it on CubeVote, from your dashboard (your server's "Recruitment" button). It appears in the list of servers hiring and on your listing, and each application reaches you by email.
2. Sorting: in the same dashboard, move each application to "In progress", "Accepted" or "Not accepted". The last two statuses notify the applicant by email: nobody is left without an answer.
3. A fifteen-minute voice interview, with two scenarios: "a player accuses another of theft without proof", "a friend of yours is cheating".
4. A trial period of two to four weeks, with reduced rights.

The best candidates are often regular players who already help newcomers without being asked: also announce the recruitment in game and on your Discord, with the link to the listing.

Write a listing that attracts the right profiles

• A precise title: "Moderator for weekday evenings" rather than "Staff recruitment".
• The concrete tasks, as a list: what the recruit will really do each week.
• What you expect: availability, minimum age, experience, tools (WorldEdit for a builder, Git for a developer).
• What you offer: a supported trial period, a dedicated rank, a say in decisions. A volunteer recruit stays for the atmosphere and recognition, not for a title.
• One listing per role, and close it as soon as the role is filled: three listings can be open at the same time, each for 45 days.

Predictable sanctions

Write a scale: reason, first time, repeat offence. For example "insults: warning, then 1 h mute, then 24 h". A player accepts a sanction they could foresee much better. Require proof (screenshot, log, replay) for any ban.

The tools

• LiteBans or AdvancedBan: a sanction history the whole team can see.
• CoreProtect: who broke or stole what, and rollback.
• A private Discord channel for the team, and an automatic log channel for sanctions.
• Permissions strictly by rank with LuckPerms, never /op for the team.

Keep the team

Thank people publicly, hold a monthly check-in, and accept that a volunteer may leave: a clean departure is better than a demotivated moderator handing out sanctions in a hurry.