Well, I thought I’d ask before I had the need for a moderator. What do you all think are good traits to look for in a potential mod?
I tend to focus on two primary qualities; expertise in a given area or the ability to generate activity. If you can find someone with both you’ve got yourself a star.
Hey FJ, I know who you are! You’re the guy from The Forum Zone. 
Would expertise matter so much on a general topic forum?
That’s me 
For a general chat type forum I would look for people who are good at getting people to talk & keeping conversations going. The ability to start popular threads (current events, hot topics, things your members find interesting) would be important too.
I think the best quality for a moderator is good judgement.
I think that a good moderator needs good people skills. Not the type of person who jumps all over somebody for doing something wrong but someone who explains the issue and the options. I guess a good word for that would be ‘understanding’.
They also need to be considerate and follow the forum’s rules. If the cannot follow the rules why should anyone else? (lead by example).
i also think someone who is pretty well respected thru out the community. and that you feel they are an asset to the site.
do a search at sitepoint for “super moderator guide”
expertise, respect, and integrity. I want to be able to trust them with some more important settings. I heard of a forum where a mod deleted the ‘the wasteland’ or general chat.
The single most important quality to me is the ability to kindly communicate. A moderator is a reflection of you and your community. The number one trait you want is someone who is kind to others.
Knowledge is a requirement based on the community. On 2 of my communities, knowledge is a requirement. These are communities where support is generally the whole idea. On the other 3, it’s not. These are more general discussion/opinion communities where kindness trumps all. But, kindness is still a requirement, even on communities where knowledge is needed. Knowledge without kindness isn’t very useful to me.
The single most important quality to me is the ability to kindly communicate. A moderator is a reflection of you and your community. The number one trait you want is someone who is kind to others.
yeah, ill put this before any other thing, including knowdledge
i prefer someone kind to people than someone smarter but rude, they only “scares” new users away from the forums, giving a bad idea of the forum