A lot of people have difficulties in setting up a set of rules for their moderators. I thought it would be nice to have a resource were we could share a variety of examples for people to use as templates. So if you have any Staff Guidelines you'd like to share with the members, post them in this thread
Introduction --------------------------------------------------- Thank you very much for volunteering your time in helping us to keep the forums tidy. The task of a moderator is very important in keeping the community together and helping it remain attractive to newcomers. Here are some simple guidelines. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact the Noles or Mr. Hero for questions/concerns. Conduct --------------------------------------------------- Within our forum, we expect that you will always take the high road. Do not belittle members, do not air dirty laundry in public, etc. If you have a problem with a member, PM them or e-mail them. Confidentiality --------------------------------------------------- It is important that staff members have a place to discuss matters frankly without worrying about confidentiality. We expect you to keep all discussions in this section confidential. If you will not stick to this, please notify me so that I can remove your access. If we discover that you have breached confidentiality, you will be removed immediately. Forum Duties --------------------------------------------------- The main thing is to care enough about the site to make it a priority. This will manifest differently per person. If you feel that maintaining and nurturing the forum has become a burden or that you simply do not have enough time, please notify me and I will remove you from the staff team, and/or talk to you personally about different options for you whilst keeping your position. Maintaining the forums will basically mean regularly visiting to make sure that there is no spam, multiple topics, or problems to take care of. If you need to take a break from the forums, please ensure that you let us all know so that we can be sure to have an idea of what is going on. Moving Threads --------------------------------------------------- If there are any threads that need to be "deleted", simply use the topic multi-moderation feature and archive them. If the thread is complete spam, please purge them using this same feature so that the administration can look over it. Editing Posts --------------------------------------------------- If ever you need to edit a member's post, which should not be many times, please be sure to add a comment on the boom letting them know exactly why you edited the post and what they did wrong (not following rule #3 for example). Language --------------------------------------------------- No violent, discriminatory langauge or personal attacks are tolerated in the forum (as you know from the forum rules). If you see any inappropriate posts, edit the post immediately. Remove the offending portion or entire post body and insert a edit note explaining your action. If an excessive amount of profanity is used in a post, remove it. If both parties are having fun and joking around, it would be best to just leave it as is and double-check with said members to be sure of this. Advertisement --------------------------------------------------- No advertisement of any form is tolerated in any forum. Website links in the signature are fine as long as it doesn't have too many links in it. Use your best judgment. Actual links to other sites are discouraged. Spam --------------------------------------------------- The following are considered spam: Posts that obviously serve no purpose other than uping one's post counts. This is up to the staff team to decide. Responses to spam posts should be considered as spam and be removed. However, spam warnings should not be given in such cases except in severe cases. Posts that contain large amounts of smileys and/or spaces to make it look like they contain useful information often don't. Be aware of those tactics to quickly up post count. Give out official spam warnings to repeat offenders. Give a bit of leeway to new posters (you can tell by their join date). Relevancy --------------------------------------------------- When you found a thread that is not relevant to a forum, immediately move it to the appropriate forum. If it is a popular topic, leave a "trail" for the topic, but in almost all cases just move it without adding one. Sexual Content --------------------------------------------------- Sexual content is not permitted except in the most general context. Anything which could be hurtful to someone else (within reason) is course for a warning to be given. This includes sexually explicit avatars, sexist jokes, use of violent sexual language, unwanted sexual advances, and anything else that could be hurtful and offensive. This site is rated for all ages. Closing Threads --------------------------------------------------- Don't close threads, ever. If people should no longer be discussing whatever that topic might be about (Viagra spam for instance) just purge the thread and leave it for the administration. Pinned/Unpinned --------------------------------------------------- Do not unpin or pin any topic without approval from Noles or Mr. Hero. Forum Specific Rules --------------------------------------------------- Please follow the assigned rules, and embrace them at all times. Suspensions and Banning --------------------------------------------------- Unless the account is specially a spam bot, do not under any circumstance ban another member without notifying Noles or Mr. Hero. Note from us --------------------------------------------------- It's a hard job, and I understand that. Dedication and consistency is a big part of our mindset here, and if you do not have those, this might not be the right thing for you to be spending your time with. Hopefully above all else you will enjoy yourself here and valiantly work hard at your new position! I wish you all the best of luck, and if ever there is a problem, don't hesitate to let us know. Conclusion --------------------------------------------------- If you have any questions, please let us know in a separate thread in the Private Section . --------------------------------
I second that thanks!! Great set of Guidelines which a lot of thought and consideration have obviously been put in. My Forums are about to go public, and I needed something like this, so very much appreciated!
I recently found the guide for a forum I used to run on one of my old external hard drives. It was written for a forum powered by vBulletin 3.6 so some of the content reflects that but I think it's a relatively useful document in terms of layout and content. Thought I'd share, eitherway-
Here are my moderator guidlines/rules Moderation Rules 1. Use the warn panel to warn users, not private message. 2. Do not share member's IP addresses with other members or people outside of the moderation team. 3. When warning users, please refer to the site rules before you warn them. 4. Do not abuse your power by banning someone out of personal dislike. It is not tolerated and will come with consequences. Moderation Notes - Take the site rules in to consideration before warning a user. Please make sure you read all rules thoroughly before making a moderation decision. - Act mature when you post. You are the example of a good member, and represent Core Modding. Don't abuse that by acting like a little kid or immature. When you do, it gives members a good opportunity to question your authority and talk down to you. - If there is a problem via the chat bar, please contact an administrator. We (administrators) have access to all private message logs as well as chat logs from every user. If there is a problem that you can't fix, we can take it from there. Warning a member Follow rule 2.1, Suspensions/Bans go like this: 8 Points = 3 day suspension 16 Points = 2 week suspension 24 Points = 1 month suspension 32 Points = Permanent ban Simply change the number of hours/days you want to suspend them for. Don't tick the box unless its a permanent ban, But If a member reaches 32 points then contact Weatherz, Jay or Dazzuh and we'll take it from there.
Here's mine, at the time of writing we had a (larger) mature team so there wasn't a need to go into a great deal of detail. We are mods first and members second. Posts Posts should be read as a mod. If you think a post is inappropriate read the posts before it to understand the context that the post has been written in. Do not post a response criticising the post in the thread, but send a polite PM* to the poster explaining why you think the post needs to be removed/edited. If the poster cannot justify the post then it can be moderated. *Ensure that I am included in the PM so I am aware at to what is happening and will have a full picture of the situation if I need to become involved. If the post is not contravening the ethos of the forum it should be left. People have different opinions, just because a post disagrees with yours is not a reason to moderate. Language We have a swear filter. I have added the most undesirable words so that they appear as gibberish on screen. If you see a word that you feel should be added to the filter, send me a PM with your reasons and I’ll consider adding it. Locking Threads A thread should only be locked under extreme circumstances. If we lock a thread then we have failed in our role as moderators as we have not been able to resolve whatever the issue was. Use of Moderators Corner This board is purely to communicate absences, seek advice, make suggestions for improvements or to share ideas. Or to discuss a specific post, but not the poster Under no circumstances should it be used to discuss members. Combining the above with common sense should cover most events. General Guidelines for good moderation. When to edit a message • Contains bad language • Violates the board rules in some way (contains advertising, etc.) In general, it is preferable to edit a message rather than delete it entirely. When to delete a topic or message • Unacceptable behaviour (bad language, abuse of other members) • Illegal/defamatory statements Basically, whenever there is no value to the forum that demands leaving the topic/message in place. It is good practice to PM the topic initiator to explain why it was deleted. When a post is moved to ‘The Skip’ add an explanation of why it has been placed there so the rest of the staff understand the situation. In-post editing When 'part' of a post is edited, it's good practice to make sure it's clear that a) it's been edited, (and who by) and b) it's obvious where it's been edited, so that you don't accidentally put words into somebody's mouth by altering the context of what they said. The tried and tested way is like this: This is the sentence that contains a Fucking obscenity. This is the sentence that contains a <snipped by richard> obscenity. Doing it like that, the context of the post remains intact, and the opinion of the original poster is still completely clear... but without the word some would be offended by. When a member should be banned • Repeated violation of the forum rules • Offensive behaviour (e.g., posting offensive material, harassing other members) • Attempts at hacking or destroying the forum • Repeated attempts to circumvent moderation or banning Whatever the situation, moderators should remain impartial and level-headed. Staff and their responsibilities: <Name> Administrator Overall responsibility for the forum <Name> Moderator Responsible for forum etiquette <Name> Administrator Forum technical support. No moderation responsibilities So I know that the guidelines have been read, please post a response. If you have any questions regarding the above, please ask, either here or if you wish privacy, via PM.
