A Day in the Life of the RF Mods

[Sunstone]

Many thanks to the hard working mods and admins! It can be a stressful job.

Thank you! You were a great mod yourself! Fair-minded and insightful, as I recall.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

It was me, but it's Ok, I was acting with the consensus of at least 2 other staff members ( actually, the decision was unanimous, with many staff members voting twice).

Dude, you can't spread those lies about me.
I didn't vote at all, and shouldn't be lumped into this supposedly unanimous decision. I wasn't even present.

I was off slashing tyres at the time.

 

[ChristineM]

But not all is lost! It was decided only yesterday by unanimous consensus (with, as @Quagmire would put it, "some mods voting twice") to invite you host the Friday Night Staff Orgies.

Sounds like fun. When so i start?

 

[Sunstone]

Sounds like fun. When so i start?

Be still my beating heart!

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

So here is why I think this is a good thread-

Though it's unrealistic to be able to share all secrets with members, the sharing of things is a sign you trust members to know some things. And as much as we may all try to brush it under the table, trust is always such a two way thing, so it helps bridge the gap between staff and members a little, you trust us we trust you. But, that's just my opinion, and it could be narrow minded, since my opinions often are, lol.

 

[Secret Chief]

***PLEASE NOTE***

First, this is a discussion thread, not a debate thread. For further information on the difference between discussion and debate see this thread:
Debate vs Discussion: What's the Difference?

Second, Rule 2 is in force in this thread. Please do not violate it by discussing specific cases of moderation. Speak all you want in general terms, but do not bring up specific cases.

​

Some folks have suggested to the staff of RF that we post some information on the day-to-day moderation of the Forum so members have a better idea of what goes on 'behind the scenes'. Now that I have fully recovered from last Friday Night's Staff Orgy Since I'm feeling energetic today, I thought I would post on that very subject.

So here is how moderation typically starts... A RFer suspects that a post is in violation of the rules and reports the post to the mods. Alternatively, a staff member might report a post, but staff members seldom, if ever, go hunting for posts that might be in violation of the rules.

When a post is reported, the software automatically creates a thread for the report in a special forum for such reports that is visible only to the staff.

The mods now take charge of the report in order to reach an agreement on what to do about it. Administrators will often pitch in to help the mods out (or at least we think we're helping), especially if reports start to back up. Some admins work much harder than others, with almost everyone of them working harder than me. I tend to focus more on the 'Big Picture', by which I mean anything and everything having to do with running RF that does not involve any real work.

In almost all cases (excepting only the most trivial things) no decision can be reached until a minimum of at least three mods agree to it. This is called "the Consensus Rule", which I implemented as standard operating procedure about a dozen years ago.

The rule's purpose is to counter-balance the effect that any mistakes in judgement made by individual mods might have on the outcomes of moderation. All humans are prone to making mistakes. The Consensus Rule is a way to make sure everyone's work gets double and triple checked for accuracy, fairness, compassion, justice, and so forth. It takes at least three votes, and if there is significant disagreement among the mods, it takes more than three votes before any mod decision is finalized.


Earlier this evening I took a quick look at the report threads for the past seven days. According to my rapid count, 98 report threads were generated during that period, for a daily average of 14 reports. Of those 98 reports, 84 were closed. That is, final decisions had been reached on them. The remaining 14 reports were still active and still being discussed in the report forum.

Of the 84 closed reports, about half (41) ended up as 'official' rules violations and about half (43) involved other matters. "Other matters" might include someone reporting a post containing a video or pic that needs to be put behind spoilers (in order to prevent Google from mistaking us for a porn site, etc). Those sorts of things are not usually treated as rules violations, except in special circumstances. Again, sometimes a mod will report a thread seeking to lock it for review. Those, too, are not usually treated as rules violations. Nor are several other things of similar nature.

Report threads can run from 3 to 70 or more posts, largely depending on how complex the issue is. They can contain anywhere from one to several consensus mod decisions. For instance, in a single thread, a mod consensus might be reached to (1) lock the thread, and another separate consensus might be reached to (2) issue a warning to someone while a third consensus is reached to (3) invite that person to Site Feedback in order to clarify the rules for them.

In addition to working on reports, staff routinely interacts with members in individual Site Feedback threads that can only be viewed by the member who starts one and the staff. These informative exchanges help the staff to understand member's views as much as they are tools for communicating the staff's concerns to members.

All staff members except the Forum owners are unpaid volunteers. When new staff members are needed, the existing staff discusses possible candidates among themselves. Those that more or less everyone agrees are suckers who will work for nothing would make good moderators are then invited to join the staff subject to final approval by a consensus of the admins.

And that more or less outlines a day-in-the-life of the staff.

Comments?

Thanks for all this - very interesting. I think the takeaway from it is that the best time to post something with a rule violation is Friday night.
Appreciate the headsup.

PS I would never have thought there was that number of "cases." Aren't we a naughty lot.

 

[Sunstone]

So here is why I think this is a good thread-

Though it's unrealistic to be able to share all secrets with members, the sharing of things is a sign you trust members to know some things. And as much as we may all try to brush it under the table, trust is always such a two way thing, so it helps bridge the gap between staff and members a little, you trust us we trust you. But, that's just my opinion, and it could be narrow minded, since my opinions often are, lol.

Thanks so much, KAT-KAT! I'm glad you're getting that out of this. When I was writing the OP, I kept wishing I could say so much more than I'm permitted to say. There are some things I would just love to share, and which are pretty positive, but which break RF's confidentially agreement which everyone on staff has to follow.

Like, I would love to name by name the most hardworking mods and admins on the site -- they certainly deserve some recognition -- but that would be quite problematic, especially if I were to miss anyone (and I always miss someone whenever making lists like that). And for pretty much the same reasons, I would love to name the members who make a mistake (who doesn't make a mistake now and then?), get a warning, then turn up in Site Feedback full of positive energy and dedicated to working with us to make sure such mistakes don't happen too often in the future. They deserve medals for taking responsibility for their actions, if you ask me. Most RFers are extraordinarily decent people when you get to talking with them.

 

[Sunstone]

Thanks for all this - very interesting. I think the takeaway from it is that the best time to post something with a rule violation is Friday night.
Appreciate the headsup.

You have the mind of born miscreant!

That's what I love about you.

PS I would never have thought there was that number of "cases." Aren't we a naughty lot.

Everyone makes mistakes. That's how I look at it. Can't expect humans not to be humans.

But we aren't some kind of government, so we're not in the business of 'righteously punishing people'. We want our decisions to be just and fair, but we are definitely not interested in 'delivering justice', if you understand what I'm saying. Instead we're a business -- when people make mistakes, our objective is get them to change their behavior, not 'impose justice'.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Thanks for all this - very interesting. I think the takeaway from it is that the best time to post something with a rule violation is Friday night.
Appreciate the headsup.

PS I would never have thought there was that number of "cases." Aren't we a naughty lot.

There IS no Friday night.
We're a global cabal. Sunny's Friday night is my Saturday morning hangover.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

When I first became a member of the forum some 15 years ago Moderation was rater different, in that it was considerably stricter in a detailed sense, as it tended to use the rules more literally and the mods were more interventionist, and called out members far more often. Of course in those days there were Three grades of staff, Admins, Super Mods and Mods. with Super mods doing most of the capital punishments. and with mods dealing with many lesser offences on their own.

Since then many things including the rules themselves have evolved. To day the Moderation seems to use the "essence" of the rules far more effectively, rather than just literally. Which makes for a far smoother and less dictatorial feeling procedure. It is clear that there is a constant learning curve that adjusts to the mood and style of the current membership, and the sort of problems that they throw up.
This is a trick that few other Forums seem to be able to match.

Change is of course inevitable, and the current rather extremely partisan political atmosphere can not help but influence the style of posts. In turn, this has clearly influenced the now combative style of many non political postings, with some quite obviously adding to the workload of the staff.

Religion and Politics are often banned entirely from other forums, on the grounds that they are incompatible with good order and discipline, and impossible to moderate. This Forum has proved the opposite to be true, but it entails far more staff effort, and the good will of all the membership to make it so. and for peace to reign.

So give due thanks and praise where it is due.

 

[McBell]

When a post is reported, the software automatically creates a thread for the report in a special forum for such reports that is visible only to the staff.

Would it be accurate to say that the report the member fills out is basically the OP for the thread started by the system?

 

[Sunstone]

Would it be accurate to say that the report the member fills out is basically the OP for the thread started by the system?

Good question! The post the member reports becomes the OP. Then the member's comments when filling out the report become the first post in the report thread.

 

[Sunstone]

When I first became a member of the forum some 15 years ago Moderation was rater different, in that it was considerably stricter in a detailed sense, as it tended to use the rules more literally and the mods were more interventionist, and called out members far more often. Of course in those days there were Three grades of staff, Admins, Super Mods and Mods. with Super mods doing most of the capital punishments. and with mods dealing with many lesser offences on their own.

Since then many things including the rules themselves have evolved. To day the Moderation seems to use the "essence" of the rules far more effectively, rather than just literally. Which makes for a far smoother and less dictatorial feeling procedure. It is clear that there is a constant learning curve that adjusts to the mood and style of the current membership, and the sort of problems that they throw up.
This is a trick that few other Forums seem to be able to match.

Change is of course inevitable, and the current rather extremely partisan political atmosphere can not help but influence the style of posts. In turn, this has clearly influenced the now combative style of many non political postings, with some quite obviously adding to the workload of the staff.

Religion and Politics are often banned entirely from other forums, on the grounds that they are incompatible with good order and discipline, and impossible to moderate. This Forum has proved the opposite to be true, but it entails far more staff effort, and the good will of all the membership to make it so. and for peace to reign.

So give due thanks and praise where it is due.

As another old timer, I could not agree with you more. Terry, you've nailed it and you have done a better job of it than I could. Thank you so much for that!

 

[Samael_Khan]

RF is a business, and has never been a non-profit. The bills are mainly paid by revenue generated whenever someone clicks on an ad shown on the site.

How often do people click on ads?

 

[Sunstone]

How often do people click on ads?

That's a good question, but I don't know the answer to it. The revenue stuff is taken care of by the owners.

 

[Sunstone]

***MOD POST***

AGAIN, PLEASE DO NOT BRING UP SPECIFIC INSTANCES OF MODERATION.
AS STATED IN THE OP, DOING SO IS IN VIOLATION OF RULE 2.

If you wish to discuss specific instances of moderation with the staff, please feel free to start a thread on that topic in Site Feedback.

​

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Members can always talk over a ruling on site Feedback in private. While this may not change the outcome, it will give a chance to discuss the matters involved and get some explanation for why the ruling was made, and perhaps clarification on the rules. There is also a full appeals procedure, so no one should feel that their concerns were just brushed aside.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Team players. Level-heads. Fair-mindedness. Compassion. Humility. Stuff like that.

You forgot 'good fashion sense.'

 

[Sunstone]

You forgot 'good fashion sense.'

Yes. That was quite the point. To try to forget it.

 

[Kenny]

Comments?

WOW! That is quite amazing - seriously.

BUT
now I understand: " Now that I have fully recovered from last Friday Night's Staff Orgy" - you need to relax!