khanjar
New member
I would like to make a suggestion on the subject of those volunteers who moderate these forums.
The suggestion is based upon another website I use, where the discussion gets feisty, probably on a par with here at times, but how they operate their moderation is a way I think might be useful here.
What happens, is the identity of the moderators are'nt known, they have a moderator profile, and their own user profile. The rules are, if the mod is in normal user mode, they cannot moderate the forum. If they are in mod mode, then they cannot post on that forum, all to avoid any accusations of sock puppeting, something which can be a problem on forums.
If the discussion starts to get out of hand, a general mod warning to all is posted, it continues to slide out of hand, then the perpetrators are pm'd with a warning based upon the terms of service they agreed to before using the forum. If they continue after that, their posts wherever they may be are removed pending moderation, all ok, then they appear in the forum. This of course takes some time as the mods on this other site are volunteers too.
What happens on this other site, is mod decisions are final, no arguments, it is a free website and they have to protect the site first, any big mod decisions like suspending posts, is discussed with other mods not participating in the forum, extra work, but it keeps the site acceptable and fair.
Things that one can get modded for, or a general warning being posted, is any suggestion of any 'ism and deliberate insulting of others. Tempers Flare, emotions run high, but the site is well controlled.
Oh, all the moderators have a number, like mod 4, mod 99 etc, so no identifying information to stop people lobbying the moderators.
Just a suggestion.
The suggestion is based upon another website I use, where the discussion gets feisty, probably on a par with here at times, but how they operate their moderation is a way I think might be useful here.
What happens, is the identity of the moderators are'nt known, they have a moderator profile, and their own user profile. The rules are, if the mod is in normal user mode, they cannot moderate the forum. If they are in mod mode, then they cannot post on that forum, all to avoid any accusations of sock puppeting, something which can be a problem on forums.
If the discussion starts to get out of hand, a general mod warning to all is posted, it continues to slide out of hand, then the perpetrators are pm'd with a warning based upon the terms of service they agreed to before using the forum. If they continue after that, their posts wherever they may be are removed pending moderation, all ok, then they appear in the forum. This of course takes some time as the mods on this other site are volunteers too.
What happens on this other site, is mod decisions are final, no arguments, it is a free website and they have to protect the site first, any big mod decisions like suspending posts, is discussed with other mods not participating in the forum, extra work, but it keeps the site acceptable and fair.
Things that one can get modded for, or a general warning being posted, is any suggestion of any 'ism and deliberate insulting of others. Tempers Flare, emotions run high, but the site is well controlled.
Oh, all the moderators have a number, like mod 4, mod 99 etc, so no identifying information to stop people lobbying the moderators.
Just a suggestion.