Joombers.com Moderators Guide

[Admin]

Introduction
Forum moderators are guides for the forum members and guards of the main forum rules. Moderators do have administrative powers in their forums to take care the board can fulfill it's purpose. In some cases, the purpose of the board demands a very tight scrutiny; other times, the owners of the board prefer to let the conversation flow unfettered.

How to become a Moderator
Moderators are set in by the boards Administrators. If new moderators are needed, an announcement will be made in the board announcement forums. If so, please use the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom to send your application to the Administrators. Please be aware that only active people with a good reputation have a chance to become a Moderator. Every applicants are discussed with the existing moderation team, to ensure he/she fits into the team.

Authority of the Moderator
The most important powers are the Moving, Closing, Editing and finally Deletion of threads. By default a moderator also has some other powers too. These are:

• Post Forum Announcements
• Moderate Threads, Posts & Attachments
• Close / Open Threads
• Move / Copy Threads
• Stick / Unstick Threads
• Edit Threads and Posts
• Delete Threads and Posts
• Merge Threads
• Split Threads

Responsibilities of the Moderator
To err is human! So probably the greatest responsibility is to show the user, what he did wrong. This way we ensure our members are learning from the moderators action and we will constantly improving the quality of our community.

• A Moderator will participate in the conversations posted in his forums, but will not try to answer all requests. This is what the community should do, while a Moderator should focus on moderation.
• If necessary a Moderator keeps conversation flowing smoothly in the forum.
• As we are a team, all Moderators will help their fellow moderators in other forums if needed.

Moving of threads
If a threads content follows the board rules, but has not been posted into the right forum, the Moderator has to move the thread into the right forum. While doing this you have 3 options:

• Move thread and leave redirect in previous forum: This is what we will use in most cases. So the user can learn, where he should have posted and will do so the next time.
• Move thread to destination forum: Threads containing advertisement for commercial software will just be moved to the Commercial forums.
• Copy thread to destination forum: This will not be used, as it will produce crosspostings.

Closing of threads
In some cases discussions will not come to an satisfying end or will lead off the topic. This is the right time to close a thread and don't allow further posting. A Moderator has 2 possibilities to close a thread:

• Reply & Close this thread after you submit your message: This is what we use in most cases. Write a small reply, why the thread will be closed and choose the "Close thread after submit" option at the bottom of your reply screen.
• Close thread: Using the Close Thread from the Thread Tools menu will only be used, if it is obvious why the thread was closed.

Editing threads
Editing another members thread or post is a more significant action and should be used wisely. Moderators edit texts, when the contain profanity, offensive language, off-topic content or when they don't follow the board rules in any other way. You have several ways to edit:

• Edit at bottom of post: This will be used in most cases and lets you edit the contens of a post. The possibility for leaving a "Reason for Editing" should always be used.
• Edit Thread using the Thread Tools menu: This option will only let you edit the threads title and posticon. It will be used if the title does not meet our rules.

Deletion of threads
This is probably the most powerfull weapon of a Moderator. We use it only in special cases. It is never be used to censor opinions, but to keep the board inviting and helpfull for all members. Moderators will delete threads or topics if they contain:

• Unacceptable behavior (as determined by the tone of the community; e.g., profanity)
• Completely off-topic discussion where no corresponding exists
• No part of the thread or post is worth editing
• Illegal or defamatory statements

If a moderator is deleting something he/she has two options to do so and while using either one of these two, a moderator always should leave a "Reason for Deletion":

• 'Soft' delete it - Leave "Deleted" Message: This is what we use in most cases. This way we make sure everyone knows, we are not censoring opinions, but protecting the community.
• Physically remove it: This will only be used if a thread or post contains illegal or defamatory statements. Everyone surely will understand that illegal postings also have to be removed physically.

Super Moderators
While a Moderator only has the above administrative powers in the forums assigned to him/her, a Super Moderator has this powers in all forums and also has the following extra powers:

• Prune Threads
• Ban Users

How to become a Super Moderator
Only existing board moderators can become Super Moderators and the will only be set in by the boards Administrators. Only higly active moderators with an excellent reputation have a chance to become a Super Moderator.

Pruning
Although a Super Moderator can prune old threads, it is not recommended to do so. Our forum software can handle millions of postings easily and we also have an archive, where older postings can be stored.

Banning
The exclusion of community members is probably of the most powerfull option the moderation team has, if a single member constantly does not follow our communities rules. If a member does not respond to email or PM warnings, we have a three level ban system:

• 1-3 days ban: We use this to clearly show a member, that he/she has done something wrong and that he/she now should follow our board rules.
• 1-2 weeks ban: In case a user does follow the board rules, although he/she was already banned once, we will use this ban to definitely show him/her that he/she now has to follow the board rules.
• Permanent ban: If a user does not follow the board rules, although he/she was banned two times already, we don't consider him/her as a member of our community anymore and will permanently ban him/her.

Abuse
Although Moderators and Super Moderators partly have administrative powers, they are no half gods. If you think you have been treated wrong by a member of the moderation team, feel free to contact the board administrators anytime using the 'Contact Us' link below.