Moderation

[Guy]

Hello chaps,

I thought I'd put down a few thoughts of mine about moderation. Moderation is a necessary evil of having a group like this (hell, even the Frothers have limits!). You can gaurantee that moderation is bound to annoy somebody, naturally starting with the person being moderated!

So here goes!
(1) We all want a fair forum. The moderators aren't clairvoyant, we don't read all the threads, so please PM us or flag the thread if there's a problem. In an ideal world you don't really need us moderators, you can all be your own moderators. However if you guys can't work it out, PM us or use the little warning triange in the corner. If you don't say who then we can't take action.

(2) Moderators are only human, so please do cut us some slack. We'll make mistakes (and even when we get it right there will be those who say we got it wrong). I will however suggest that Moderators should hand over moderation to another when they are personally involved. This I have tried to adopt.

(3) People should where possible be contacted and informed of the moderators decisions or involved in the discussion. This does to the greater part happen already but its a point worth noting. True, time is always a factor but where possible we should try and avoid people saying 'where did my post disappear to?'

(3) Andy is the final arbiter but he only really needs to be involved only in the most extreme cases. Andy's a very busy man, if he had time to moderate the Forum he wouldn't need us moderators!

It is my belief that we are all good people on here. Sure we all have the rare spat or off day, so lets accept we're all human and move on.

I'd also like to hear your thoughts and (dare I say it) suggestions on moderation. Please, let's not dig up the past or mention specific individuals, I'd like this to be a positive thing to improve the group as a whole.

Cheers,

Guy

[Justin]

[GeorgeC]

Guy,

As a moderator, would you prefer a dispute over moderation to be discussed via PM or in the open on the topic? Clearly, any private discussion should be conducted courteously, but it might be a little easier for people to come to a rapprochement if they don't have to make the debate and any retractions so publicly?

[andy]

All,

Fair comments on moderation, especially about informing people why their are being moderated and of course if you are involved then another moderator has to step in.

Re rules of forum we did have some but I deleted all my posts a while back and poof all the forum rules went as well... I will try and dig up a copy - but the words "Have Fun" I recall made a few appearances!

We are quite informal (but do not tolerate bad language, politics, racial abuse - ie all the tinderbox topics) and common sense and being polite and respecting other peoples views should prevail and make the moderators life a boring one - which he will surprisingly thank you for

Right, back to those darned Sumerians that need finishing for this weekends WAB GT!

Regards
Andy

[Guy]

Justin,

Interesting points. We have our own rules, which I think cover all from there. My own experience of the Warhammer Forum was less than cordial so my bias won't let me ever see it as a shining example!

Now moderators should be respected (like umpires) but in order to keep that respect it is important for theme', not to 'go off on on having a view and then getting all angry when that view is challenged.

As I've said before on here, you give up really speaking your mind when you become a moderator.

Anger is a natural emotion which needs to be controlled, hopefully there's room for forgiveness as well on all sides. It reminds me of when my son used to get into trouble at school. The teachers used to say that he'd got into a fight (bad son!) so knowing my lad I'd ask 'so what provoked him to strike out in the first place?' So perhaps there's room to let people off the hook if they've had a bad day and they are truly repentant.

In fact I suggest two actions of moderation; lock the topic to prevent further posts and deletion of offending posts. No argument, no discussion, it has happened. it also avoids online fights. So I expect moderators to be the most vertious of posters - perhaps having a pen name if they want to play in the dirt with the rest of us?

Ah locking topics, that's been done before mate and we took a huge backlash from that. It was a WAB 2 topic as I recall. I also remember what we were called for it. That may be a non starter.

To your second point, personally I will never use a pen name. I am me, I won't hide behind pseudonyms. Nor do I intend to be any 'playing in the dirt'! If we can't discuss things cordially, then there is clearly no room for discussion.

Guy,

As a moderator, would you prefer a dispute over moderation to be discussed via PM or in the open on the topic? Clearly, any private discussion should be conducted courteously, but it might be a little easier for people to come to a rapprochement if they don't have to make the debate and any retractions so publicly?

George, good point too. I personally prefer things to be offlist, via PM or email, I believe such debates to occur in private. I agree public apologies should be unnecessary - we're not in the game of trying to shame people, just asking them to be nice.

Andy thanks for your support and yes we could do with those forum rules back up again, perhaps with a few ammendments. 'Have Fun' is indeed the ideal of this group (again if you're not having fun or making it so somone else's not having fun, then what's the point?).

Cheers,

Guy

[Leondegrande]

A hidden section only for moderators to discuss and decide actions when needed, as a team, may be helpful. This can calm down heated discussions and actions from the moderators and they must be viewed as a group instead of one person which decides after an internal discussion and not as an ad hoc action, which sometimes may be wrong or oil into the fire.

Cheers
Olaf

[Guy]

A hidden section only for moderators to discuss and decide actions when needed, as a team, may be helpful. This can calm down heated discussions and actions from the moderators and they must be viewed as a group instead of one person which decides after an internal discussion and not as an ad hoc action, which sometimes may be wrong or oil into the fire.

That generally happens allready by PM, but that's a very good idea! Would save on PMs to have a moderator forum.

Guy