Moderation

Steve

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It is pretty common knowledge that we have been a bit light on moderation resources for far too long now. I’m really grateful to both barjon and cv for the sterling work they have done and will hopefully continue to do!

I’m really pleased to announce that with effect Monday next we have three new mods joining the team. Before saying any more about this I want to make some general points about moderation here at T2W and how I see it working from now on.

Without wishing to labour the point, a quick search through the past records clearly shows that the boundaries between moderators and staff have sometimes become somewhat blurred. There is also plenty of evidence of initiative’s that failed to get off the ground (Forum Guides anyone?) and question marks about the true independence of moderation.

As I have said many times, the past is the past and whilst we should not dwell on it we can certainly learn from it and it is against this background that I make the following points.

1.With effect from March 11th, members of T2W staff will not be allowed to initially moderate any post or thread, they will have to report the post just as any member would, myself included.

2. Staff will only get involved when a post or thread is escalated beyond the initial moderation. This involvement will be limited to me, or EK1 where it is a legal matter.

2.Trader333 will continue to have responsibility for what has become known as ‘technical moderation’. The work Paul does on dealing with multinicks etc saves our mods a great deal of time and he is very good at it. We don’t want to lose this skill and experience so this is the one exception to the ‘no staff’ rule.

3.I am making T2W the independently moderated forum it is supposed to be and this change is imperative to making this goal a reality.

4.When a post is reported it will no longer be seen by any member of T2W staff.

5. We are working on a way of thanking you for a reporting a post along with a summary of action taken. This is going to take some doing but I think it is important to have this feedback loop. This will not be fully ready for next week but you’ll know when it has been done as you’ll start to get thanked for the report!

6.We are simplifying the infraction process to have just three levels, a warning, a temporary ban and a full ban. We are also removing ridiculously short bans with a temporary ban fixed at 5 days.


I’m sure you will all agree this is an important step forward in clarifying and strengthening our moderation.

So without further delay, let me welcome tar, vielgeld and ffsear to the moderation team. They will have full moderation powers from day one.

Please help them to do their jobs properly and remember they are your moderators. They are here to make sure that the community is a good place to be and that everyone involved works within the guidelines, dealing appropriately with those that don’t and doing this free from staff influence and attacks from their fellow members.
 
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well they seem a good solid bunch of fine fellows, good luck to tar, vielgeld and ffsear :clap:

if i had one top tip for you all it is that ip is not your friend.

you will rely on it at your peril, use your nose as well ;)
 
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They will have full moderation powers from day one.

i just noticed today that the new mods are a different colour which drew attention to their title, which is also different. they are descibed as forum moderators and are listed as having "junior admin powers to moderate certain forums" whereas global moderators are listed as having "senior administrative powers to moderate all forums"

so the question is do they have full mod access, or not?
 
i just noticed today that the new mods are a different colour which drew attention to their title, which is also different. they are descibed as forum moderators and are listed as having "junior admin powers to moderate certain forums" whereas global moderators are listed as having "senior administrative powers to moderate all forums"

so the question is do they have full mod access, or not?

Yes they do. This is one of the things I did not spot when I was getting ready for them starting!

We're in the process of putting it right and should be done in the next few days.

Thanks for pointing it out.
 
i just noticed today that the new mods are a different colour which drew attention to their title, which is also different. they are descibed as forum moderators and are listed as having "junior admin powers to moderate certain forums" whereas global moderators are listed as having "senior administrative powers to moderate all forums"

so the question is do they have full mod access, or not?

Well spotted that man.

Apparently we are awaiting tech guys to make the changes.

Yes they have the same powers :shuriken::medieval::drunk:
 
So they are not just sidekicks, they are actual superheros with full powers?

Peter
 
^ Yes indeed. :LOL:

It's just the way the system was set up. We currently have full mod powers, we're just not listed as "global mods".

Though tbh, I actually prefer the pale blue over navy blue myself. :whistling
 
^ Yes indeed. :LOL:

It's just the way the system was set up. We currently have full mod powers, we're just not listed as "global mods".

Though tbh, I actually prefer the pale blue over navy blue myself. :whistling

Hopefully the "global" bit is being dropped.
 
Hopefully the "global" bit is being dropped.

I was always taught that if you give someone a job, give them the freedom and the tools and let them get on with it.

I was also told to let them choose their own colour so another failure on my part :(

Yes, 'global' is being dropped.
 
:D thank you gents, that clears that up nicely.

i had visions of previous "experiments" where the boards are carved up and each new mod given a slice.
 
i had visions of previous "experiments" where the boards are carved up and each new mod given a slice.

I quite like that idea

I can see a lot of positives, and not much downside.

I'd probably be a lot more inclined to contribute under those circumstances
 
I quite like that idea

I can see a lot of positives, and not much downside.

I'd probably be a lot more inclined to contribute under those circumstances

Go on then...float your ideas.

I've been waiting a long time for you to contribute....and i'm running out of tea and biscuits !:LOL:
 
Go on then...float your ideas.

I've been waiting a long time for you to contribute....and i'm running out of tea and biscuits !:LOL:

PS. Will you need permission to contribute from u-no-hoo?
 

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:D thank you gents, that clears that up nicely.

i had visions of previous "experiments" where the boards are carved up and each new mod given a slice.

I don't like this idea , IMHO it's better to share all the forums all the time , less stress , no commitments and more productivity .
 
I quite like that idea

I can see a lot of positives, and not much downside.

I'd probably be a lot more inclined to contribute under those circumstances

from a moderation point of view it doesn't work well. for one it isn't good for mod moral, for example they could be sat there powerless to respond to vendor spam if it's posted outside their board of responsibility if there are mods off duty. it's also a waste of a finite resource, 2 global mods can easily do the work of 4 to 5 forum mods.

but please outline your views of the positives, are there any?
 
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:D thank you gents, that clears that up nicely.

i had visions of previous "experiments" where the boards are carved up and each new mod given a slice.

Yes, this is a good idea if the board is too large for a couple "global" mods to overlook. Each one could be assigned a defined area to moderate. Mods have less tendency to trip over each other in that case.

Whether T2W is at point or not is up to debate, though. I think 5 mods is a good number, but it's only my 2nd day on the job so I can't offer a more concrete opinion than that. :)
 
Go on then...float your ideas.

I've been waiting a long time for you to contribute....and i'm running out of tea and biscuits !:LOL:

I honestly think that at the moment, your moderation policy is only as strong as your weakest link... That's not meant to be a criticism, just an observation

By having clearly defined boundaries, it immediately becomes apparent whose moderation style encourages member participation, and whose style stifles debate.

That's not a criticism of any particular moderator, but its a fact that the relationship between moderators and members comes down to the type of personality that individuals possess. By having separate areas these potential clashes of personality could potentially be avoided.

I don't post anything remotely of value these days as I know a certain moderator will most likely stick their oar in, but if I knew that the chances of having my post vandalized where unlikely, then I'd be more inclined to post.
 
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