What is a mod?

"Mod" is short for "Moderator". Basically we're students like you who volunteer to help make sure the Community remains a safe and productive place. Everyone here is awesome at doing that on their own, so our jobs are actually pretty easy. Mostly, I just answer questions as thoroughly and clearly as I can, which is something any mod should do when they come across a question that they can answer that doesn't have a good one yet. To help with this, we do get a certain number of perks, like the ability to edit or delete any post, answer, or comment as if we were the ones that had written it, even if we weren't. I almost exclusively use that ability to help others with formatting, like wrapping code in backticks so it gets syntax highlighted so it's easier to read. Every 3 months, our effectiveness as a moderator is reviewed, and if we still passed muster over that period of time, we get to keep our mod status (and a free pro account!) for 3 more months.

I joined the mod team by emailing a Treehouse staff member and asking back when this feature wasn't around, but nowadays mods have a "Recommend as Mod" button in the same dropdown where you'd see "Edit Post" and "Delete Post", and we can click that if we see someone we think would be a great moderator. If the Treehouse staff overseeing the Community agrees, then you're promoted to moderator! What makes a great moderator? Well, to qualify, you have to have a certain number of points (the exact number escapes me, but you seem to have enough), and you just have to impress another moderator or staff member with your incredibly frequent activity and amazingly detailed and clear explanations. As for you, perhaps we don't answer the same kinds of questions too frequently, but I hope to see you around the Community a little while longer before I press that button. The fact that you're interested in it, though, means it probably won't be long until I do. Until then, happy coding!