Queer Youth Network VOLUNTEER FACTSHEET
Moderators What are Moderators? As will all roles within QYN we do not require individuals to step down after any specific period. From many years of experience running e-volunteering with young people, the Queer Youth Network has learned that most voluntary roles run their natural course as a volunteer develops, gains additional skills and their contributions evolve into tailor-made or pre-existing roles with a specific duty. What are their duties? -
Introduce new discussions Maintain forum etiquette Signpost people to advice Report problems to the cat mod Work with the moderators team Promote and help develop QYN Login at least once a week
How are they supported? Experienced “Category Moderators” exist to provide auxiliary support to the moderators in their category. They are also able to step in when their bard moderators aren't around. E-training programmes will be offered on specific issues. How often will moderators be recruited? As will all roles within QYN we do not require individuals to step down after any specific period. From many years of experience running e-volunteering with young people we have discovered that most roles run their natural course as a volunteer develops, gains additional skills and enables them to evolve their contributions into tailor-made or pre-existing roles. How are they recruited? The Queer Youth Network will recruit new moderators from it's existing membership on as “as required” basis. Vacancies will be advertised prominently on the website. “Members” and Existing volunteers are permitted to apply to become moderators. Applications are made electronically via our custom recruitment software which allows suitable candidates to be appointed by the volunqueer collective/committee by way of electronic voting. Scoring systems will be used to ensure fairness and volunteers will be able to “rate” the quality of the responses given in the application form. Candidates are kept informed about the status of their application from submission to appointment. Applications that are incomplete will be rejected at the short-listing stage. Roles may also be filled internally through utilising the skills of existing volunteers or by reassigning existing moderators who wish to change their current remit.
Moderator Guidelines The following guidelines have been formulated to assist you with moderating duties and may act as a point of reference for consistent moderation. It is important to remember that the guidelines are not rigid and can be open to interpretation. It will be important to ensure you are familiar with the Site Guidelines and Safety Policy, and Message Board Netiquette located in the website helpdesk to equip you when handling situations. As a moderator you have privileges and responsibilities that should not be abused. When handling a situation do not post impulsively or instinctively, what you post may be taken at face value, you must be diplomatic and courteous in your approach. If you are unsure what action to take with a topic you should discuss it with other members of the moderating team. Always respect users' opinions as far as they do not attack or degrade other users, or go against posting guidelines. Editing posts If you feel a post should be edited it is good practice to add a comment at the end of the post. When you edit a post it will have your username, time and date edited automatically. You may remove or edit posts if they, for example; - Contain content that can be construed as a solicitation or spam. - Defame or threaten another member on the boards. - Are bigoted, hateful or racially offensive. - Promote illegal activity or discuss illegal activities with the intent to commit them. - Contain unauthorized copyrighted material. - Are Spam, that is deemed posts repeated on various boards with little or no reference to topic. - Contain personal phone numbers and addresses. - Contain personal pictures identifying members. - Contain vulgar, obscene or indecent language, information or images. - Contain links that lead to sites that violate the above guidelines. - Solicit or promote the use of an illegal substance. Deleting posts If you see an obvious posting error, for example double posting of replies or topics, delete them without warning or notification. Prefer locking to deleting threads if this action is appropriate depending on the nature of the topic. If you remove a post due to violation of the site guidelines you must; - Private message the creator of the message explaining the reason for the removal and provide a link to the site guidelines and safety policy. A default message for this can be found in appendices 1.0 - Invite the poster to discuss the removal via private message only. Moderators should not edit or remove a member's topic or reply without a valid reason. Closing a topic During the course of a thread they may become off-topic or personal, you may warn these once. Do not make empty threats to close topics. When closing a topic it is good practice to post an explanation before locking. Warnings During the course of moderating it may be necessary to warn some members. All warnings must be relayed to a member by private message only and not discussed on an open forum. If you warn a member the reasons and actions take must be logged in the warning log. A member on a final warning may receive restrictions, depending upon the nature of the warnings. You must inform the global moderator and membership officer of any member who has received a final warning.
Abuse If serious damage to the website, or a violation or the site guidelines or privacy guidelines has occurred on another forum the global moderator or members from the executive committee must be informed immediately. This may include mass spamming or damage to the website. Illegal material Unfortunately it is possible that illegal and inappropriate material may be transmitted onto the forums. We take a very serious view on this matter and this must be dealt with immediately. Any illegal material must be removed immediately with the member's username sent to the global moderator. Appropriate action will then be taken. Internal Conflicts When posting always try to respect site staff/volunteers opinions and advice about support questions. If you have and issues with another volunteer, approach them with your concerns (and a possible way to resolve the issue). If the issue cannot be resolved contact the global moderator explaining the situation. Internal problems are solved internally. Remember You should regard yourself as a participating member of the community and contribute to conversation ensuring you are not controlling. Moderating actions should be discussed with the poster to explain why the actions have been taken, this may be useful in preventing quarrels regarding the feelings of censorship, inconsistent or unclear moderation. Your role and expectations Moderators are expected to; -Guide and support community members -Introduce and encourage conversation - Aid in the day to day running of the website - Avoid internal confrontations inside the moderation team -Present a united front of the moderating team - Communicate to all members and volunteers, know the structure of the organisation and the right place to access the right information - Liaise with each other, functioning as a team - Maintain direct and regular contact with the global moderator - Inform the global moderator of any absence or holiday of more than one week Access to the moderating forum The moderators forum remains a private password protected forum for moderators only,. The information discussed in the moderators forum is confidential and must not be discussed with anyone without these privileges, do not let anyone use your account or reveal the password to any other person. If the offending posts were made by a newly created account, that account should be locked. In any other cases, a warning should be dispatched to the offending user, unless there are serious reasons to lock his/her account, i.e. it is the second time he does that. By accepting the position of moderator you agree to these terms of service and other relevant policies. Finally Remember, you represent the Queer Youth Network and your actions reflect upon the organisation. We therefore ask you to act appropriately and responsibly.
Appendices
QUOTE 1.0 Default edit message Your message board posting (insert date) in thread (insert name) has been removed in accordance with the Site Guidelines and Safety Policy you accepted when you registered for the participation in the community. In particular the post violated our guideline regarding (insert area from above). If you wish to review our guidelines then please visit our Site Guidelines and Safety Policy page http://www.queeryouth.org.uk/community/ind...=ST&f=17&t=1120 or if you have any questions regarding the deletion of the message or about our Guidelines then please do not hesitate to contact (insert contact details)."
If the poster does not accept the reason which you have given you may discuss this in the private forum or with the global moderator.
QUOTE 1.1 Default picture removal message Your display picture has been removed from your profile in accordance with the Site Guidelines and Safety Policy. If you wish to review our guidelines then please visit our Site Guidelines and Safety Policy page http://www.queeryouth.org.uk/community/ind...=ST&f=17&t=1120 or if you have any questions regarding the deletion of the message or about our Guidelines then please do not hesitate to contact (insert contact details).
First Published April 2004 Updated March 2006 Last Updated August 2008 Further Information relating to this factsheet or any of it's contents please contact Damian Griffiths - info@queeryouth.net