I was so excited about our moderator spotlight last week that I couldn’t help but write another one for this week. These spotlights give you an insight into the lives of our moderators and all their hard work and dedication to Trapster. In their own words you will learn a little about our army of volunteers and why they LOVE Trapster so much that they spend hours upon hours of their free time graciously helping us.
Our two spolighted moderators have been given an array of questions to get their juices flowing but have free reign to tell their story. So let’s get started!
Moderator xEmTx
The first moderator I’d like to introduce to you hails from the state of Michigan. His name is Heath but on Trapster we call him xEmTx. 
1. Why did you became a moderator?
I became a moderator because I’ve loved Trapster ever since I was introduced to it, and wanted to see what I could do more with it. Plus it was annoying to have multiple alerts in the same spot, so I wanted to clean it up!
2. How do you help Trapster?
My main priority for Trapster is to ensure that traps in Michigan are as accurate as possible. Theres a lot of work I still have to do with Traps that have been entered in before I became a moderator, as well as trying to enter in new traps (I.E. School Zones, this is a major project for me right now!) I also help out by reporting the traps that are called into our 1800#, as well as answering questions on the help forum, http://www.getsatisfaction.com/trapster . I do enjoy Trapster a lot and helping out users when I can. Feel free to send me a PM if you have any questions/comments!
3. What has been your favorite moderating experience?
When going thru Known Enforcement Point traps and finding an actual cop sitting there in the Street View, dunno why but I find it very amusing every time I see it.
4. What devices do you use Trapster on?
Currently, I use Trapster on my wonderful Motorola Droid. Hopefully soon this will be the Droid X. I also use Trapster from work, where I’ve got two huge monitors and police scanners. 
As well as at home, my little laptop with my portable police scanner.
5. Do you have any great Trapster stories you can share with our users?
Ok so this actually just happened a couple of weeks ago. Michigan has a new law that began the beginning of July, no texting while driving. So I was going thru the city and spotted a cop up ahead on the side of the road, watching traffic. I reach up to my phone to report Live Police, and the officer ends up pulling out behind me and stops me. His reason for the stop was that I was texting while driving. I told him “Uhh… no I wasn’t officer, I was actually telling everyone else that you were sitting there!” He looked at me baffled with a little annoyance also, but I explained to him what Trapster was and everything that you could do with it, including reporting hazards such as road closures and accidents, things that are extremely helpful to other drivers. Next thing I know he whips out his iPhone, downloads the app, creates an account, and votes Yes on the report I just did… he hands me back my license and tells me he just found his new favorite app and lets me go! Haha!!
6. Tell us about you!
I’m 22, working as a dispatcher for a local towing company. Also am currently enrolled in classes to become an EMT and hopefully will be doing that really soon. I do travel a lot and like to go out driving whenever I can, so Trapster is amazing for me.
7. Do you have any tips for our Trapster users?
Vote vote vote!!!! Voting on traps is wonderful and helps a lot. But also be smart about it. If you are passing by a Known Enforcement Point, just because you don’t see a cop there, doesn’t mean that this is a bad trap. An officer could be sitting there at anytime of the day/night. For instance, there is a KEP in my area that officers will only sit there at night, because they are actually hidden more due to the darkness. But if they sat there in the daylight, drivers could see them from a mile away. If you travel this particular road every single day and have never seen a cop there, then by all means, vote NO on it. But if this is your first time on this road passing this trap, think about it first.
Moderator Stlouisx50
Our second Trapster moderator I’d like to spotlight is Stlouisx50 or known in Missouri as Jason. Jason is one of our oldest and top all time moderators. He joined our Trapster moderating team back in early 2008. He’s what we call a Trapster veteran and a very awesome moderator.
1. Why did you became a moderator?
I wanted to help other motorists, to assure they get the up most satisfaction while using the trapster service.
2. How do you help Trapster?
I enter various enforcement points, road hazards, review enforcement points to assure they are entered properly as well as deleting bad reports to assure Trapster runs as smoothly as possible.
3. What has been your favorite moderating experience?
SIP (Voice Reports) are always fun. Listening to reports and hearing how excited people get reporting traps.
4. What devices do you use Trapster on?
I use Trapster on my HTC Hero (Android Market), and the Web.
5. Do you have any great Trapster stories you can share with our users?
I have been using Trapster for a while now and always put in new hiding spots and live police but never had the experience of an officer being Live at the, “Police Often Hide Here” location. Well we were taking a short fishing trip a few cities away and had an alert that said, “Police Often Hide Here”, and while I always slow a bit more around those alerts I had yet to experience “Live Police” at one of those spots. Sure enough as I rounded a curve, there was a police car running instant on radar just behind some bushes at the bottom of the hill. He was in a perfect hiding spot but Trapster called him out. From my years of experience no detector would have helped at that point because he was using his radar selectively and it would have been too late.
6. Tell us about you!
I would like to make one thing clear, I am NOT anti-police. Police have the job of enforcing laws / statutes, so I hold no grudge against anyone personally for doing their job. I do enjoy the hobby of seeing how traffic enforcement works and passing on my knowledge to the public.
7. Do you have any tips for our Trapster users?
The tips are long but really can help so make sure you read them all…
a) Driving Style – If you know a road/area well, most likely you can drive it in a comfortable manner that fits your style of driving. If you do not know the road well take the time to get to know the road and it’s hills, curves, dangerous intersections, school zones, wildlife crossing, ect. use more caution on unfamiliar roads. DO NOT DRIVE LIKE AN IDIOT, just because you have all of the countermeasures. Even with the best of the best equipment you still have a chance of getting busted.
b) Scan Ahead – Always scan the road ahead of you! Watch exit/entrance ramps, bridges, overpasses, hills, curves, shoulders, parking lots, drive ways, U-Turn lanes, and the White Blocks or Chevron symbols which are used to time you from one block to another (air to ground enforcement).
c) Buy a Police Scanner – They are costly but you will enjoy every minute it’s on. The more you listen the more you understand that police are not just out to give you a ticket. In most cases (Traffic Related) you can hear locations of speed traps, speeds they are targeting for, air-ground (Vascar) enforcement.
d) Buy a quality radar detector and mount it correctly – Buy a quality detector, not just a cheap one because you don’t have the money. The more expensive the detector the better it is. I hate to say this is actually true because this is not true with all electronics but has turned out true with detectors. Stay away from anything that sounds too good to be true 
You can always find out whats good and whats not by the reviews at http://guysoflidar.com/ and by checking out www.radardetector.net. When you get a detector, MAKE SURE IT’S LEVEL! I can not count the amount of times I have seen detectors pointing to the sky or down at the ground. Your brackets on the detector are meant to bend so do not be afraid. It does make a difference.
e) Buy a Laser Jammer – Police are using Laser/Lidar more and more since it’s the newest technology available to them. You can defeat the Laser/Lidar, just make sure you buy a quality device. Radar Detectors combined with the so called jammer do not work! Make sure you cover the front and rear with a jammer head. You can find out more by checking out the links above. Laser Jammers are legal in the USA, however there are a few states and cities that have banned them. So do your research – http://guysoflidar.com/usa-laser-jammer-laws.html
f) Extra Options – Use a CB Radio
g) Join the forums – Be sure to join the support forums, talk to others, and ask questions.
Side note: Having all of the above will decrease your chances of a traffic ticket, but with Speed Cameras, Red Light Cameras, Pacing, Instant on Radar, you always have a chance at getting caught so NEVER drive care free. If you do, it will only be a matter of time before you get a ticket or cause an accident.
How to become a Trapster moderator
Thank you xEmTx and Stlouisx50 for sharing your Trapster knowledge and bits about yourself! I know our users apprecaited it too.
Wondering how you can become a Trapster moderator? Just fill out our Moderator Request Form.
Plus for the next three months Trapster is running a moderator contest. This months winner will receive a Xbox 360.
The contest focuses on helping Trapster users, moderating trap data to make it accurate and up-to-date, and of course, reporting and voting on traps in their area.
Each month we will announce next months prize and the previous months winner. We have some AWESOME prizes in store for our Trapster moderators!
Being a moderator is a very important and sometimes timely job. We hold all our moderators to a superior level of service and support with the expectation they will always do what’s best for Trapster and its user without abuse.
In case you’re wondering, here are few things we look for when adding someone to our Trapster moderator team:
* Accurate traps being reported / voted via mobile and Trapmap.
* Actively using Trapster’s Trapmap, Get Satisfaction (helping users, not reporting problems), blog, facebook, and / or twitter.
Trapster has over 7.4 million users and growing everyday. We are very excited and think you would have fun being part of our growing online community.
If you’re interested in becoming a Trapster Moderator please fill out the Moderator Request Form.
All request are answered within 48 hours. Make sure to check your SPAM folders if you don’t see a response.
