Bringing in Internet Moderation experience on a resume

Question

I'm a moderator on a big subreddit on reddit. I'd like to bring this experience into an interview and/or somehow include on my resume (as it's actually fairly cumbersome volunteer work, I did css, etc), however the site in question is:

1. Pretty nerdy, I might be embarrassed to share that part of myself with people I don't know well

2. More importantly, it is pretty obvious which account is mine if you look at the list of moderators. I operate on the assumption that I'm anonymous, so I post a lot of memes, maybe jokingly inappropriate comments for a potential employer.

Edit: I should add that removing the comments and posts from my page isn't an option. I post too much.

How can I use my moderation experience in an interview or my resume in a way that keeps me anonymous, but makes me look good? (and also not fishy, i.e. "I do this moderation, but I can't tell you where!")

Answer 1

I'm a moderator on a big subreddit on reddit. I'd like to bring this experience into an interview and/or somehow include on my resume (as it's actually fairly cumbersome volunteer work, I did css, etc)

Perhaps I'm taking a bit of a hard line here, but I think the following are probably true:

• No-one's going to care too much that you're an active day to day moderator on a subreddit;
• They may well be interested in the specifics of the volunteering that you did to set it up, especially if that's relevant to the job post (CSS customisation and things like that.)

My advice therefore would be to separate the two out and concentrate on the second point - if you really don't want people to know you're username then don't mention being a moderator, and they likely won't ask. Instead, mention the skills that you needed to set it up in the first place. Yes, they might still ask what subreddit, and if this is the case you should tell them. In this case however, you don't have to "admit" to being an active member if you really don't want to, and it's very unlikely anyone would start browsing it to try to hunt down your potential username.

Answer 2

If you owned a Youtube channel or Facebook page for jokes or memes and it had tens of thousands of followers, that still wouldn't be good for your CV.

You can mention it if the job is similar, but otherwise it will just bring you down.

"Why does this guy think a Seinfeld fan base page administration is even relevant to real work?"

Answer 3

It's very likely they are not going to ask or be interested in your username. I feel you are well within your rights to not divulge your username to them. So you can list the experience, and the where (although you probably don't need to say exactly where, you could simply say "a subreddit of reddit").

Although you likely won't be asked more details, you may end up getting a nosy interviewer who has an interest in reddit who really wants to know. At this point it's going to be fishy not to say which subreddit, but I still don't feel you need to give them your username. Be aware if your username is the same as a URL which you might give in your resume (LinkedIn, GitHub etc), or could otherwise be tied to you (i.e. your actual name).

An interviewer may also go investigating the particular subreddit, where it may be possible to determine who the moderators are (not sure if this is true on reddit or not, but on many forums it's easy to see who the moderators are) and they may be able to find you that way.

Overall, if you really feel you need to list the experience (i.e. you've never had a job before) you should simply mention the moderator on a forum and which forum, and that's it. Personally, I wouldn't mention this unless it came up in the interview (e.g. "Do you have any other experience you feel may help you in this role?")