In answer to your questions Teddy ... for me I'm a mod because I really enjoy the site and when I was asked felt that I could offer something to the site. I think I was asked, in part, because I was already very active in the stories forums with writing stories of my own.

My "job" here is probably less timeconsuming than it is for most of the other moderators since my main function deals with the stories forums ... first and foremost my job there it to make sure the stories are in keeping with the rules we have .... NOT too many rules ... no underage participants and no beastiality ... either one of those will either get an edit of the story or it will be deleted .... either of which will get a PM from me, Skipthisone or Lilith ... depending on who caught it first ... letting the storyteller know why the action was taken and if it has happened before with that same person, they will probably get a warning about continued unacceptable behavior.

So my time on the site doing my mod job depends on how eloquent our writers are during a particular period of time .... if someone floods the stories forums in a short period of time, we may temporarily move the stories out of general circulation until they can be reviewed for content in a timely manner. But for the most part, we try to make sure that the stories have been reviewed within a day or two of being submitted. Usually you will see the phrase "last edited by ______ on (date)" at the end of the story or "@" showing that it was reviewed and/or edited by that person for content ... by the way, a storyteller can also edit their submission for a particular period of time.

When we edit stories, generally the changes that are made

Spelling errors will be fixed if needed (if you are using a particular spelling for effect, if it is apparent that you are doing so, we don't "correct" the spelling") ...

Insert blank lines to break up particularly long paragraphs -- this makes it easier reading for all that come to the site and less intimidating to a reader when they view a story ...

If it is an easy fix, I'll fix the tense of words so that there is consistency in the story .... (i.e., not switching back and forth from current to past tense).

Anyway, that's pretty much what moderators do in the stories forums .... Also, when there is a controversy on site about any of the forums, we ask other moderators for an opinion on what should happen, or give an opinion on how something should be handled, as Sharni said, we discuss if something is questionable, and/or inform the other moderators when an action has been taken.

What I get out of being a mod ... a sense of pride and joy in all that Pixies is to me and to other people I have come to care about a great deal. And of course, being a "storyteller" myself, I love being able to do something to help other storytellers, as well as the satisfaction of having my stories in the same place as other high caliber stories.

Teddy, Hope I answered all your questions from my perspective.