Moderator assignment?

[simbrooks]

Just wondering (as i have before) what the deal is with the assignment of moderators to threads. This is not meant to be any kind of criticism or demand, just for education processes and to answer the questions i come up with in my head. If prefered one of the whole slew of mods i personally know can answer this i guess, but it just came back to me again today.

I understand that there is a special admin type forum for the mods to access where they chat about the admin of threads - to be watched/close to TOS violation, PM'ing people, warnings, pulling, suspensions etc. but was intruiged by how you guys organise thread watching and such.

I can see there being one of several options here:
1. As a thread is posted, some kind of program decides which mod (of the range that might moderate that forum - listed at bottom of forum) is given responsibility for that thread.
2A. The mods go through the threads in their assigned forums and tag the new threads that they are watching (secretly unknown to those posting)
2B. The mods kind of randomly go through the threads, and some threads might have a couple of mods watching them - would that be bad resourcing?
3. They just read the threads and only really do something if someone reports or they see something wrong (kind of like point 2B i guess).
4. A combination of these or other options i havent guessed at.

Just wondering as sometimes i see mods coming in and just putting calming/warning posts, but if they get drawn in to the discussion i assume they no longer can do the same thread admin on that thread beyond inform another mod of anything going on, or what if they are going to be away for a period and have to reassign?

Just curiosity of the admin of the admin staff here.

 

[Ted S]

As a general rule we will find an abuse thread either by having one or mods encounter the thread in their daily reading of the board, through a reported post or because a mod is involved or was involved in the thread directly. Once a thread is found it is "claimed" or moved and "unclaimed" if the moderator does not feel they can handle ir or should handle it. Threads that just need some cleaning get that cleaning with all the remove portions kept elsewhere while threads that simply can't be salvaged are moved and locked. The moderators generally work in a group chatting about the decisions and what to do and at times one moderator has brought up a great point which has caused a thread to be moved back to the public realm. To avoid some of the issues you are mentioning moderators involved in a discussion will generally either recluse themselves entirely from that thread or let someone else handle the administrative part while they simply give feedback as a part of a collective group.

This system works pretty smoothly most of the time but obviously it is not perfect and the moderators acknowledge that as much as anyone else. The biggest "problem" is not actually with moderators getting involved where they shouldn't but with too many moderators trying to remove abusive posts and double PMing a user or pulling the thread twice! Obviously our moderators are human and have emotions, feelings and input to share on a great deal of threads here; all of these moderators were at one point average users who simply became very involved in the community and when we asked them to "step up" the last thing we would want is for them to stop being involved. If you see a moderator too heavily involved in something and you feel it will unfairly weight against the thread or an individual please PM either myself or NetDoc and we will review the situation. Moderators almost always try to stay out of policing threads they are in but it can happen and while it normally turns out fine we want you to feel like it is working as fairly as is possible.

Thank you for your comments; I am sure other mods and users will have more to say on the issue.

 

[simbrooks]

Thanks for the informative reply TA. I havent had any problems with mods or overmoderation - i have seen thread decimated to try to be cleaned up and then the towel thrown in at it keeping on track before it is pulled, but that is part of the course.

I appreciate the job that the mods do, was mostly wondering how the cogs turn in this giant engine of a website and i wondered if others might want to know too. Its interesting to find out how the powers are wielded for an "outsider". I belive most of what i have seen is fair and was just curious again!

 

[The Chairman]

When I first joined this forum many many moons ago, I could read EVERY SINGLE POST for the day in less than an hour. I think it would take a couple of days now!

Consequently, we rely heavily on the "report this post" feature. Most of our forums have a "resident" mod or three, with some having far more than others.

No it ain't perfect, but it's the best system we have. We are open to suggestions on how to improve things. Please feel free to make any such suggestions as youget them.

 

[OneBrightGator]

I am also under the impression that if a mod is actively involved in a thread he/she doesn't get involved in the "judiciary" action taken due to the thread.

Ben

 

[The Chairman]

That is correct... and that includes me too. If there is a personal conflict, they don't moderate or even ask for a ban. Are there mistakes??? Yes, but we