As of 11 May 2014, Outpost has adopted a new application process that should more efficient and lead to faster decisions when picking new staff. It's a step by step process, and this thread will explain in detail how it works.


First of all, a quick explanation of the moderation role.

Moderators (those with orange colored usernames) are tasked with the management of the day-to-day affairs of this group's forums as it applies to the stream of user contributions and interactions. Common privileges of moderators include: deleting, merging, moving, locking, renaming and stickying of threads, and (un)banning members. Moderators also communicate with the Administrators (users with gold colored usernames) when they don't know how to handle a situation, need help or have questions, therefore it’s a position for those able to work in a hierarchical, cooperative and collaborative environment, i.e. team players.

With all of this in mind, these are the extra requirements you must meet in order to apply for this position:

• You must be 18 years of age or older.
  
• You must have less than 5 friends with BANNED BY marks on SteamRep[steamrep.com].
  
• You must not have ever earned a legitimate scammer/banned mark on SteamRep, trade/community ban, or VAC ban for any of the games we support.
  
• You must have been an active Outpost user for the past 6 months.
  
• You must have been an active forum user for the past 3 months OR have verifiable community management experience, preferably in the TF2/CS:GO/Dota 2 community.
  
• You must not share your main Steam account with any other person (this is against Steam Subscriber’s Agreement).
  
• You must have good knowledge and fluency in the English language.
  
• You agree to use all software required of staff members to communicate and perform their duties.

Application Submission Instructions:

• Create a thread on this forum using the following format as the thread title:
  Forum Moderator: <Steam ID64> (<username>)
  e.g.: Forum Moderator: 76561197984820423 (Sneeza™)
  
• Paste and fill this form in your application thread's body:

1.) How old are you?
2.) What country and time zone are you in?
3.) What is your native language and what other languages are you fluent in?
4.) How active have you been on Steam and on each of our network’s games (TF2/CS:GO/Dota 2/Portal 2)?
5.) How would you describe your activity and/or relationship with Outpost ever since you first used it? What about the Outpost Steam Group Forums?
6.) How much time can you volunteer daily moderating these forums?
7.) Please link (by Steam ID64, no Steam ID32 or Custom URLs please) any alternate accounts you own/use/have access to, and verify that only you have access to the Steam account you're applying with.
8.) Have you at any point had a Steam Trade/Community ban, Steam Account lock/restriction or VAC bans applied to any of your Steam Accounts? If yes, please describe in detail including dates and any other relevant links.
9.) Have you ever traded with a scammer, hijacker, or phisher (alt accounts of them included), whether accidentally or knowingly? If yes, have you ever been given any official warnings or bans, and when/how did it happen?
10.) Do you have verifiable moderation experience in a relevant community? If so, please explain in detail and provide us with verification/proof.
11.) Why do you want to be a moderator and why do you think you should be given the position?
12.) What challenges do you anticipate to encounter as a moderator?
13.) Do you have any final remarks you'd like to include, such as additional info or any relevant questions to our staff?

<Insert your TF2OP link here>

Do you certify that, by submitting this application: (1) You've read and met all the requirements as outlined above; (2) You've answered the questions as best and honestly as possible; (3) You agreed to the application process as described herein; and (4) You understood that any deliberate lying or trolling results in an automatic decline of this application?

After every application submission, a staff member will acknowledge it, provide answers to any questions that may have been asked, and internally initiate a preliminary evaluation of the application. This marks the end of Step 1. If the applicant is not disqualified by the time this evaluation ends, they will move on to Step 2.


Applicants reaching this step will have their forum activity evaluated by the staff, using the following parameters as base: overall activity/rate, accordance with the rules, content and behavior/etiquette.

After this evaluation, a deliberation on whether to move the applicant to Step 3 or not will then take place, thus ending Step 2.


This is the last step and the least uptight of the whole process. The applicant will take part in short interview with some of the staff, in which a few more questions will be asked and the actions taken in the previous step will be discussed. After this interview is over, the staff will deliberate for the last time taking into account the application in its entirety: (1) Résumé (thread); (2) Background; and (3) Interview. This puts an end to the application process.

Accepted applicants will then be given group access and familiarize themselves with all the tools we use and everyone else on staff. They will be trained on the proper use of these tools and presented with our internal guidelines.

• You only get one first impression, therefore make it a great one. If you aren't putting in 100% effort into your application, how can we expect you to put in your best effort while on staff?
  
• Anything can make or break your application.
  
• We're looking for mature, dedicated people who can volunteer their time and be part of a team.
  
• Don't apply if you're just a "rank hunter" and are seeking personal achievement or an otherwise selfish personal reward. You should apply only if you are truly dedicated to helping out Outpost. This is volunteer work, not a position of power for you to further your self interests of trading or otherwise.
  
• Keep in mind, Outpost is a huge community, and with that, being on the staff takes huge responsibility - you will be a standing representative of a site with over 700,000 registered members.
  
• This work can at times be stressful, dull, or otherwise not fun to do. Complaints are common when dealing with vocal members of the community. You may be the subject of people whining on other communities about your actions. If you don't have thick skin, this position may not be for you.
  
• Moderate TF2 trading/items experience, as well as basic CS:GO/Dota 2 understanding matters a lot. If you're a very experienced trader this can help your application, but we don't pick people just because of big backpacks. A good portion of our staff are not very active traders but are familiar with how the economy works. Point being is that having a big backpack can help you but certainly won't make or break your application.

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This is Outpost's current application process. If you're a prospective applicant, and you've read this whole thread, you now know exactly what it takes to become the next staff member. If you are not interested in applying but have a friend who does, consider encouraging them to apply.