Online communities rely on effective governance for success, and volunteer moderators are crucial for ensuring such governance. Despite their significance, much remains to be explored in understanding the relationship between community governance processes and moderators’ psychological experiences. To bridge this gap, we conducted an online survey with over 600 moderators from Reddit communities, exploring the link between different governance strategies and moderators’ needs and motivations. Our investigation reveals a contrast to conventional views on democratic governance within online communities. While participatory processes are associated with higher levels of perceived fairness, they are also linked with reduced feelings of community belonging and lower levels of institutional acceptance among moderators. Our findings challenge the assumption that greater democratic involvement unequivocally leads to positive community outcomes, suggesting instead that more centralized governance approaches can also positively affect moderators’ psychological well-being and, by extension, community cohesion and effectiveness.

中文翻译：

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志愿者版主的心理：在线社区治理中参与、归属感和规范之间的权衡


在线社区的成功依赖于有效的治理，而志愿者版主对于确保这种治理至关重要。尽管它们具有重要意义，但在理解社区治理过程与主持人心理体验之间的关系方面，仍有许多事情需要探索。为了弥补这一差距，我们对来自 Reddit 社区的 600 多名版主进行了一项在线调查，探索不同治理策略与版主的需求和动机之间的联系。我们的调查揭示了与在线社区内民主治理的传统观点的对比。虽然参与过程与较高水平的公平感相关，但它们也与社区归属感下降和主持人的机构接受度较低有关。我们的研究结果挑战了这样一种假设，即更多的民主参与无疑会带来积极的社区成果，相反，这表明更集中的治理方法也可以对主持人的心理健康产生积极影响，进而影响社区凝聚力和有效性。