South West Scoobies, Moderators Guidelines.
Working draft, last updated 01 February 2009
Table of Contents
Definition
What is Moderation?
Moderator Activities:
Editing a Title:
Moving Topics:
Locking and Unlocking Topics:
Editing Posts:
Moving Topics:
Deleting Topics:
Bumping Topics:
Forum Charters:
Updating a Charter:
The Team:
Lines of Authority:
Positions:
System Administrators:
Moderators:
Credits:
Forum Owner: The M@trix (Derek Clarke) from here on in will be known as South West Scoobies.
Committee: Advisers to the Forum owner.
On this system it is the process of ensuring that posts made to the bulletin board are in
Accordance with the Terms of Service and the forum charter, which may involve moving
Posts to a more appropriate forum, or very occasionally editing or deleting posts. Moderation
Is not about rules and limits, but rather about providing an environment that’s conductive to
Friendly and informational posting.
We strongly believe in the principles of freedom of speech and respecting others’ opinions.
Remember that we’re dealing with people from all over the world, with all kinds of
Experience, driving ability, language, customs, and points of view. Moderation should be as
limited as possible whilst keeping to the Terms of Service and the appropriate forum charters
and greater volume of postings is in my opinion far better than any amount of editing.
As a moderator, you will have access to several additional commands not available to users in
Your forum.
These are available as a drop down menu on each post of each thread.
Each of the commands available will be detailed below.
How to Edit a Title
Open the topic, and click the Edit button to edit the user’s message. You need to edit the
First post of a topic to change the topic title. Users occasionally change the subject when
they respond to a particular topic.
Some topics may require so much editing that it’s simply not worth the effort. In these cases
Simply move the whole topic to the Moderators forum.
When to Edit a Title
Anything with obscene, vulgar, or offensive language should be edited on the spot.
Generally the word censor is a good guideline to what is acceptable and what is no.
Of course there will always be users who circumvent the censor by using things such
as cahnt of f[colour=black]uc[/colour]k, and those should also clearly be edited.
Anyone trying to play games with weird characters in the title.
When someone used a bad title. These usually fall in the one word category ‘what?’
or ‘Subaru’. Change the title so that it’s descriptive of the topic content.
Spelling? This is a case for using your judgment before editing. Sometimes people
spell wrongly on purpose – those cases should be overlooked.
BBCode formatting. Sometimes users make mistakes with their BBCode, and either
don’t notice the error, or don’t realise that they can edit their own posts. It’s quite
helpful if you fix their formatting for them, but not necessary.
Moving a topic is the process of taking the topic, including all messages in the thread, from
one forum and putting it into another. Once moved, it will no longer show up in the original
forum. Be aware that if you are a moderator for only one forum and you move it to someone
else’s forum where you don’t have moderator privileges, you won’t be able to move it back.
How to Move a Topic
Open the topic, click moderator options and click move thread. You have the option to notify
the original poster or all the posters, you may use your discretion on what option you take.
When to Move a Topic
Move ‘off-topic’ / ‘off-forum charter’ posts to the appropriate forum. For example
move a For Sale item from General to For Sale section, or move a Suggestion topic in
the General forum to Suggestions. It’s probably a good idea to PM (private message)
the original poster to let then know why and where you moved their post. Use
shadow topics at your discretion.
anything that might be slanderous, libellous, etc. to another user, another website, or
this system. Move these into the Holding hidden forum.
Any other posts that you think need reviewing by other moderators before we act on
it. The post should go into Holding, where it can be reviewed and then the
appropriate action taken. Quite often topics or posts are judged fine and then moved
back to the appropriate forum.
Any commercial post such as ‘Buy your Exhaust from http://www.Exhausts.com’, or
any obvious website promotion attempts should be removed straight away.
Blatant spam should go straight to the Holding forum.
Locking a topic ensures that no-one can respond to that topic unless a moderator first
Unlocks it.
How to Lock a Topic
Open the topic and click the moderator option button and then lock
How to Unlock a Topic
Open the topic and click the Moderator option button and then un-lock.
When to Lock a Topic
The need for this is probably quite rear. Usually reserved for official forum charters, etc, or a
post that has become a flame war. It may be best to discuss it with the other moderators in
the Moderators hidden forum.
It should be a rare exception when a user’s post needs editing.
How to Edit a Post
Open the topic which contains the post you wish to edit. Scroll to the post, and click the
Moderator option menu then edit.
Please pm or email the poster and explain why you’ve edited the post. With a simple
Violation of the terms of service, it might be easier to comment in the post itself, and you can
Use that as an opportunity to follow up in the topic.
These brief and friendly messages go a long way to help inform everyone what constitutes
Acceptable posting behaviour here. It’s really important to be as nice as possible in a non condescending
way as if the poster really didn’t know it was unacceptable (which will mostly
be the case).
One of the worst things you can do is to edit a post and then try to cover up or ignore the
Edit. Always be up front with any edits, and if you don’t feel comfortable about doing the
Edit, feel free to ask one of the other moderators to edit the post instead.
When to Edit a Post
Anything with obscene, vulgar, or offensive language should be edited on the spot.
Generally to word censor is a good guideline to what is acceptable and what is not.
Of course there will always be users who circumvent the censor by using things such
as cahnt or f[colour=black]uc[/colour]k, and those should also clearly be edited.
Links to adult / obscene websites. (even mailto’s) with the exception of the Adult Forum & the Boxing Ring.
Deleting a post removes it from the topic and slides all following messages up. Generally an
Offensive message should be split out of the topic and move to the Holding hidden forum.
One of the few cases for deleting a post would be when a user has accidentally created a
Duplicate post.
How to delete a message
Open the topic and scroll down to the post. Click the Delete Msg option within the
Moderators Menu.
When to Delete a Message
See deleting a topic. Same guidelines apply.
Although it’s possible to delete a topic (thread) from the Moderators Control Panel, this
Shouldn’t normally be done. Please instead move the topic to the Moderators forum so we
have a copy on file.
How to Delete a Topic
Within the moderators menu take the delete thread option.
When to Delete a Topic
Again, it should be a rare case when a post is deleted.
Bumping a post is about finding unanswered posts and kicking them up to the top of the list
in your forum. As a new user, having you post go unanswered on a bulletin board can be
very discouraging. This process is designed to bring a user’s post back to the top of the list
in the forums so that regular readers will see the post again and may then answer the
Poster’s question.
To find suitable candidates for bumping, go to the bulletin board index page, and click on the
link ‘View Unanswered Post’. Of course there are a number of topics in there that are
probably not suitable, such as adverts in Commercial Exchange, Announcements, and review
placeholder threads.
How to Bump a Post
Option 1
Try to answer the user’s message in a way that is useful to him / her. This is the best way of
helping out and welcoming new members.
Option 2
If you don’t know the answer to the user’s question, simply reply to the topic with a comment
such as ‘Anyone got an answer to this yet?’
Forum charters are the official guides for each forum, and should include details such as:
Describe the forum and the nature of subjects the forum covers.
Tell users about any exceptions to normal message guidelines as per the terms of
services.
Address any potential problem before it arises in clear language.
cover a set of frequently asked questions for the forum if appropriate.
Charters are important and South West Scoobies official position; so all
Updates need to be discussed in the Moderators hidden forum first. The system
Administrators) will be responsible for updating these based on the moderators’ discussions.
Forum Owner: - South West Scoobies
Forum Administrators: - The M@trix (Derek) Sticks (Mark) Torpedo (Mel)
Senior Moderators [All Forums]: - The M@trix (Derek), Mrs Harty6972 (Tina)
Moderators [Individual Forums]: - All area coordinators.
We’re all volunteers here (thanks for your efforts!) but we feel it’s important to define roles
and responsibilities so that everyone is clear on expectations and system operation.
As this bulletin board involves a bunch of different people there will be cases where there are
conflicts. This is why defined positions and roles are described here – to resolve issue and
take things forward. Our overriding concerns are to guide the site forwards from the point of
view of what is best for the website and community over the long term.
The System Owner has final authority on all issues. The System Owner may not
always blindly agree with the System Administrators or moderators on issues with
users. Of course moderators will be backed up where there is an issue with a
‘problem user’, but there could always be a case where the users are correct and the
moderator is wrong. Where this happens please don’t take it personally and instead
treat it as a learning experience.
Issues between moderators should be worked our entirely between moderators
where possible. If no solution is forthcoming, the System Owner will have the final
say. It’s hard to imagine this being necessary though.
Issues between moderators will be resolved by the moderator that is in charge of the
particular forum involved.
Other Points
Sometimes the System Owner will get things wrong. Should this happen, please put forward
a logical argument supporting your points of view, and the System Owner will then make a
decision based on that
Always try to keep matters dispassionate and logically argued, preferably quoting supporting
evidence where appropriate. This is normally the best way to resolve conflicts of this nature.
System administrators are there to monitor and run the technical aspects of the board,
although they also automatically have moderation privileges on all forums, and would
normally also take on moderator duties.
Requirement for Becoming a System Administrator
Sufficient technical knowledge.
Appointed by the System Owner.
Must be in good standing with the user base.
Must have been a moderator for at least six months
Needs a minimum post count of 500, and available to carry out duties a minimum of 3 days per week, the more the better.
Duties Include but are not limited to:
Board configuration.
Forum pruning – deletion of old topics
Users profile edits – such as for unacceptable avatars or URLs in the signature files.
Checking for updates and mods
Moderators are in charge of one or more forums
Requirements for becoming a moderator:
Minimum of 250 posts, online and able to moderate a minimum of 3 days per week, the more the better.
Appointed by the Head Admin after discussion with other moderators
Express an interest in becoming a moderator.
Expertise in the forum is a plus, but not required.
Someone who accesses the system four or more times a week.
Duties include but are not limited to
Moderation of the forum for which he / she is responsible. That involves moving and
editing some posts where appropriate. See Move and Edit guidelines in this
document.
Regular checks of the moderators forum to read on and provide input to the direction
of the bulletin board.
Must be willing to read and contribute regularly. A greater than average post
Contributor on the bulletin board.
