The Moderator's Bible

I'm going to rewind a bit today and expound a little on a subject I touched on last Thursday, namely, the task of trying to get my moderators to loosen up and maybe understand their role a little better. This entry is perhaps something of a cop-out, but it's going to consist entirely of a message that is permanently stickied in the staff lounge. Hopefully it'll be of use to somebody.

Disclaimer: Take what I say at face value here - I'm being serious and saying everything straight up and no sarcasm involved. This is where I need that serious smiley.

IMO, this is a general thread that should be stickied across all community sites, like those "How to Upload a Torrent" threads often are. There's nothing specifically directed at any of you or all of you as a group, but everything that should be taken to heart for all mods everywhere - as the subject line indicates, a "Moderator's Bible".

The following is an example of what happens from time to time in a forum. You've all read the exchange and know who is involved, but I've genericized the names anyway since it really doesn't matter who is involved - we're all culpable at some point, staff or no. This is more to point out that in a community the term "moderator" doesn't mean "a person who wields shiny buttons". It means "a person who moderates". Think of a moderator in a debate. They have the ability to cut off somebody's microphone, but the job description is to keep the debate moderate and on track (well, in this site's case abandon all hope on that last point).

Here, things are admittedly a little different. In a debate setting, everyone in the debate is seriously devoted to the debate, even if they get sidetracked or passionate or whatever and need to be brought to order. On most sites, there are retards and spammers and all sorts of undesirables, so the heavy hand of the law needs to be used more often. But never forget that everything you do needs to stem from the basic need to keep the entire site as a whole on track and civil, to moderate the site as a whole, not just its parts.

So, without further ado, here's the excerpt:

Bystander:

Ah, another one of my flock, I'm studying engineering ;D

Combatant 1:

Which Engineering discipline? If its Civil then YOU are one of my flock, I like my coffee with milk and 2 sugars please ::)

Combatant 2:

Hey, hey, take it easy on the nice lady... You don't want us pressing any buttons, do you? :P

If it wasn't for that sarcastic smiley at the end, you would have made my day. ;)

The stage is set... nothing would have come of it since Combatants 1 & 2 are both mature, upstanding members of the community.

Concerned Person:

and YOU, Combatant 2, would appear to be correct that Combatant 1 was sheparding Bystander.

When a third party enters the game and takes sides, the sarcastic, joking air evaporates. Next, Combatant 2 attempts to explain his position, setting the stage for potential further conflicts:

Combatant 2:

Thus my comment about being nice to the lady. Sorry Combatant 1, but I won't have that, be it joking or not.

At this point, the mod steps in with a innocuous attempt to calm things down with a straightforward comment:

Moderator:

:-\ Is it just me or do I sense a sniff whiff of drama forming here?

Combatant 1 tries to explain his position. It's pretty effective, although this wouldn't always be the case.

Combatant 1:

I was implying that if she is a Civil Engineer, then I have a few years on her and if she came to work at my company she would be the general dogs body, degree or not she would still get stitched up with making the tea/coffee or doing the bacon butty run. :)

Moderator completely diffuses the situation with a straight-up remark, followed by a comment to hijack the thread in a whole new exciting direction. :D

Moderator:

Yeah, I figured as much. Usually just a matter of __ took __ the wrong way, so __ says __, and things just go downhill from there.

Now that we've got all that sexual tension out in the open ;) we can move on.

Sorry again for my choice of examples here, but this sort of thing is so rare around here that I kind of had to take what I could get. It's not a good example nor a neutral one, but it'll have to do. Around [popular site that I used to moderate], these things happen every day, partly because of the number of posts, but also because the community isn't as tight-knit and most people don't know each other that well. In fact, what happens over there is a thousand times worse, and with dozens of members taking four or five sides, some of them just saying that another side is idiotic for no reason at all. You can understand how quickly something like this could get out of hand if one user can't tell when another is being honest, sarcastic, ironic, mocking or even deceitful.

In this case it would've resolved itself without intervention, but I intervened (moderated) just to be sure. What made me think of writing this was a discussion thread I saw on Facebook asking for users' views on homosexuals. This is an obvious but somehow more insidious form of trolling, in my opinion. The thread will get hundreds of posts in an hour, but they will become increasingly heated, and in most communities the general opinion will result in the press of numbers attacking those of the minority opinion, and the minority posting nonstop making the same points over and over in an attempt to save face. Unless you are willing to watch every post, I would suggest you lock it immediately with a neutral comment like "this is an important discussion that should not be conducted here for the integrity of the community". This isn't the lazy way out; in fact, it's the safest way.

This isn't something that I'm telling you because I think you're performing badly as moderators. If anything, I want to make your more confident and aware of what your role is. You delete the porn spam, yes, and split the off-topic threads if you have a lot of time on your hands, but the rest of what you do has to stem from your own sense of keeping things level, in good faith and without any sort of bad feelings. The rules are guidelines both for members and for yourselves, but never feel you cannot overstep the limits of the rules or permit things not specifically allowed there as governed by your own judgement. There is no constitution here, and unlike in the real world, the intent of the law reigns supreme over the letter of the law. Above all, it is your role in keeping the site running smoothly and keeping its members in good harmony that you must adhere to.

So, if you've read this whole essay, kudos to you, and I hope it helps you out in some small manner. I, clearly, have a long attention span at the moment. And that's really all I have to say on the matter.

First person to reply to this thread with "I'm sorry" gets shot.