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Basic Moderation Guide

Olulabelle

18:38 / 25.03.04

Don't drink every night.

Erm, no, what I mean is, is it possible to have a basic moderation guide for the new people who have just taken up the role?

I know most of it is prolly obvious, but just something saying what's expected and what we should do in answer to the moderation requests we get would be good. I have had two already which was oddly fun, and I read them and agreed as they were fairly obvious due to the fact that they were about a lack of topic abstract. But for more complicated things it would be good to know what to do.

Also, moderation requests I might want to start or to submit, (for example if I spot a thread that is in the wrong place or something) how do I go about doing that?

Also, thank you for the opportunity Tom.

Yours confusedly...

Olulabelle

18:49 / 25.03.04

BTW, I've read Tom's 'Old Moderator's Advising New Moderator's' thread and it's really useful, but what I'm more after is an 'it works like this, you can do this if you click on that' type thing.

Ariadne

20:13 / 25.03.04

Hiya, olulabelle. I can't tell you lots, because although I've been a mod for a wee while it's been in a quiet forum.

However - basics:

If you want to make a change to a post, you can click on the 'moderate post' link to the left of it, say what you want to change it to and why, and then just wait to see if other people agree.

When you get a request and want to look into it, there's a 'review' (I think that's what it says?) link that will bring the post up in another window so you can look at it. It's a bit frustrating that, if you disagree, there's nowhere to say why you do, but I suppose that would just slow things up.

And at the bottom of a thread there will be a 'moderate topic' link, but I've never used it so can't tell you much about it!

Ariadne

20:15 / 25.03.04

Well, that was easy! I just tried it, and it lets you propose to move, delete or lock the thread, or to change the headline or summary. Easy.

bitchiekittie

21:03 / 25.03.04

stupid question, but how do we know theres a request? is it at the top of the general page, does it pop up when you go into the forum, or what? what I mean is, how obvious is it? I don't want to ignore something just because I didn't know where to look for it!

and thanks for starting this thread!

Grey Area

21:09 / 25.03.04

You get a notification in the messages box. Click on the link and you're meant to see a screen where you can provide your decision.

Ariadne

21:10 / 25.03.04

yeah, you can't miss them - they sit looking sternly at you the minute you log on.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:21 / 25.03.04

Oh, and if you gate a "you do not have the necessary permissions" error, it doesn't mean you've been defrocked, just that enough people have already voted on the action.

Spatula Clarke

21:48 / 25.03.04

Also: be careful when using the Moderate Topic function. It's got a number of option boxes (the circles that you click to say which bit of the topic you're moderating) and the default is "Move topic to Conversation." It doesn't happen all that often, but very occasionally a thread will get moved by accident when the person proposing the action actually wanted to add a summary or alter the title.

bitchiekittie

03:02 / 26.03.04

thanks, everyone!

Ariadne

05:51 / 26.03.04

Having just done one, I spotted that the 'review' link I mentioned is actually called 'reference'.

Cat Chant

09:30 / 27.03.04

if you disagree, there's nowhere to say why you do

I think most disagreements won't need to be justified/discussed. Sometimes I might feel that a request raises either a specific question about the post concerned which needs to be addressed - in which case I'd PM the mod who made the request (eg "I vetoed your request to delete cos I didn't agree this was threadrot/spam") - or, more rarely, a general question about policy or the suitability of certain discussions to a certain forum, in which case a thread should probably be started in Policy & Help. (Eg if you got a request to move the HS religion topics to the Magick and you profoundly disagreed with it, you should... well, go and post in the thread that's already been started in P&H).

agvvv

16:59 / 28.03.04

Maybe Im being slow here, but how do you add a summary?

Spatula Clarke

17:06 / 28.03.04

There's a 'Moderate Topic' link at the bottom left of the page - as with moderating posts, though, the link is only visible if you're a moderator in that forum or you started the thread in question.

agvvv

17:22 / 28.03.04

Found it, thanks. Also, should a topic without a summary be a applied a new one by a moderator, or should one ask the creator of the post to make one?

Spatula Clarke

17:37 / 28.03.04

I think that one's down to personal preference, but I normally stick one in myself. You might want to PM the thread-starter with an explanation of the purposes of summaries (there's one in a thread somewhere in this forum) and a request that they include an abstract in future threads. If it's fairly obvious that it's just a random piece of crap farted out by a passing numpty (hello, I Hate My Life thread) then there's not really any point in PMing them at all. IMO, obviously.

agvvv

17:45 / 28.03.04

Thanks, thats pretty much how I see it to.. And the "I Hate My Life" thread, marvelous self-loathing..

Cat Chant

18:21 / 28.03.04

I thought it was pretty mediocre self-loathing...

I usually (though this very rarely happens in the Head Shop, actually) write a summary myself when one's missing, and assume that the thread starter will/would request a change in-thread if ze really, really hated it.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:15 / 28.03.04

Are we still rhyming?

Spatula Clarke

23:01 / 28.03.04

You betcha.

■

22:43 / 28.08.05

'cos the bump is gonna getcha.

Quantum

13:10 / 01.09.05

'Moderation 101', in rhyme,
A useful way to pass the time,
But not as fun
as T.A.G.E. #1.

Is there a way to see someone's ficsuit names of the past?

Smoothly

13:54 / 01.09.05

After 28 days, I don’t think there is.
Some people are really good at keeping track by memory, although PMs can be useful if you have one from the user in question. Also, searching on their current username to find a selection of their old posts will often give you clues. Posters are often referred to by their suit name in-thread, Quantum.

Quantum

15:50 / 01.09.05

Thanks Smoothly Weaving, it's giving me headaches when Barbarchaeologising. Ah well, the oblique deduction of names continues. I thought there would be some sort of record of it but I guess it's not publicly available.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

20:38 / 01.09.05

We could do with a thing like you have on eBay: there's a link you can click to see what usernames a person has previously gone by.

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