[Jim Casey]

These are the exact Moderating Procedures that the DJSO mods will be following...

I post these so everyone has a better understanding.

Introduction

Forum moderators are like the crossing guards of the message board. They keep community members within the “crosswalk” so that the board can fulfill its purpose. In some cases, the purpose of the board demands a very tight scrutiny; other times, the owners of the board prefer to let the conversation flow unfettered. DJ Source Online will be somewhere in the middle.

Another job of the moderator is to stimulate conversation in the forum. By showing activity, you can actually increase the interest of the rest of the community. (After all, who wants to sit in an empty room?)

Authority and Responsibilities of the Admin and Moderators

What Can Moderators Do?

When you assign someone as a moderator, he/she has the automatic ability to close, reopen, move, and delete topics; and edit posts within the forum they moderate. To move a topic from one forum to another, one must only be moderator of the originating forum; it’s not necessary to have moderator rights in the destination forum. A Moderator can also change forum settings for their own forum, see the main entry page of the UBB.classic™ control panel, and prune posts within their forum.

What does “moderating” mean?

Generally, moderators have a threefold responsibility: to ensure that members are following the community rules, to assist new members, and to foster lively discussion. A good moderator ensures that his/her forum is inviting, active, and an asset to the community as a whole.

Our message board is intended for Disc Jockey Professionals ages 14 and up. We intend on minimal supervision to allow free professional discussions.

For forums with multiple moderators, the group of moderators should agree on general guidelines for editing/deleting/closing topics, as well as forum rules. It is best to present a consistent, united moderation team to the community. It’s also a good idea to select moderators from within the group of members, creating instant buy-in and empathy when the moderator must take action.

Moderator Etiquette

The moderators should always be familiar with the specific rules and regulations of their board, but these are some general guidelines for good moderation.

When to edit a message

· Contains profanity

· Contains off-topic content

· Violates the board rules in some other way (cpolitical in nature, etc, etc.)

Editing is usually visible to the community; whenever a message is edited, the date/time/edit author are shown within the message (although this can be disabled by the Administrator).

In general, it is preferable to edit a message rather than delete it entirely.

When to delete a topic or message

· Unacceptable behavior (as determined by the tone of the community; e.g., profanity)

· Completely off-topic discussion

· No part of the topic/message is salvageable by editing

· Illegal/defamatory statements (illegal mp3s, etc)

Basically, whenever there is no value to the community that demands leaving the topic/message in place. It is good practice to e-mail the topic initiator to explain why it was deleted, unless the reason is totally obvious.

When to move a topic

· Off-topic discussion

When you move a topic, you have the choice to either leave a copy of the thread in the original forum, or completely move it to the new forum location. It is usually a good idea to leave a copy pointing to the new location so those returning can find it.

When to close a topic

· Discussion is heading off-topic, but does not merit deletion

· The initial message and replies contain valuable information, but further discussion is not desired

Sometimes it is difficult to decide whether to close a topic or delete it. In general, deference should be given to the members participating, and it’s better to close a topic than to delete it. (If there are individual messages in the thread that are offensive, they can be individually removed---just be careful that the remaining thread still makes sense.)

About Banning Members

When to ban a member

· Repeated violation of the stated board rules or forum rules

· Offensive behavior (e.g., posting offensive material, harassing other members, spamming)

· Attempts at hacking or destroying the forum

· Driving away other members

· Repeated attempts to circumvent moderation or banning

Banning a member means that he/she can no longer post messages on your board (it is not limited to a specific forum). Normally, unruly members are given a warning prior to actually being banned, since that is a fairly serious step. The level of discipline should correspond to the seriousness of the offense. (And remember…it is always reversible.)

Short of banning someone, you could remove their posting privileges for a brief period of time, allowing them to “cool off”. Sometimes it’s better to handle the first warning privately (via email or a private message), to give the person a chance to see the light. The best advice is to be consistent and firm in your moderation!

[ October 31, 2002, 07:37 AM: Message edited by: djmaine ]