@DrFeelgood Having a good knowledge of the site's subject is important, but moderation is more about being the gardener than growing the fruit yourself.

@StuartPegg I completely agree, but in such a niche forum I think the moderators need to be particularily knowledgeable. Being a moderator of a forum in and of itself is a labor-intensive task, but nearly anyone can do it (with no disrespect to any current/future mods). Where we'll need extremely knowledgeable moderators are in cases that involve complex situations because this place is bar none THE place to get the most expert advice on SharePoint. More than any other SP resource out there.

@DrFeelgood, I'd have to agree with @StuartPegg on this one. Personally I feel moderation should be a mostly hands off endeavor when it comes to answering questions, because once you have that little diamond next to your name users view you completely differently. Being a moderator transitions someone from user/contributor to community oversight.

But I also don't think that the job of a moderator is entirely "overseer." It's equally as much about being responsible for caring for the community and maintaining the social aspects of the site. The culture is just as important as the content, because it doesn't take very long for a negative attitude to spread and ruin the whole kit and kaboodle.

@RJCuthbertson In that regard my argument is weighted far less. As a first time voter I had a different mindset when trying to judge candidates since stats naturally draw the most attention to the user. That said, I wondered why it matters how many points or correct answers one has since it's not a direct correlation to breadth of knowledge. I still think an expert level of SharePoint development skill is useful in shepherding users in the right direction and identifying renegade posts/threads.