Defining the Senior Moderator role

TheLoveBandit

Indefinite break from BL - contact other admin
Joined
Feb 22, 2000
Messages
38,988
There has been some confusion on what is a Senior Mod and what exactly do they do around here? Well, that confusion extended through the membership and into the staff forum a bit, so we've tried to spell it out a bit more clearly. Senior mods are generally selected by the admins and existing senior mods (smods), based on a history of good decision making, trust, and great nudie pics (there are some exceptions, like felix).

They continue to moderate whichever forums they normally would, but they are given extended authority and responsibility. Specifically, they can:


* Ban Temporary/Permanent
* Create Announcements
* Moderate across all forums
* View warnings
* Manage moderated posts


The most obvious is that they can ban users. The act of banning a user although sometimes seems the easiest option is not always the best. Banning someone without much of a warning can sometimes result in a reoffending pest troll which can be even more work to handle. If a warning or PM from mods or admins does not get the message through then a temporary ban could be used.

Gross breaches of the BLUA or forum guidelines would necessitate an immediate ban such as the SPAM we have been flooded with at times. Sourcing or other violations we would leave it up to your discression what would deserve a ban, temporary ban or warning. A first time newbie offence would generally just need to be pointed in the direction of the guidelines while someone who has recently registered clocked up 20 quick "PM me if you can score some molly" might be handled differently. A temporary ban would ideally be used for most problem users that don't respond to warnings which could then be made permanent if need be.

Announcements, similar to stickies but global, can also be created using the Mod Control panel. This is not something that is used on Bluelight much, though with our talented smod staff this may be more commonly used in the future.

As Sr Mods you can also moderate outside of your 'official' forum as covered by the Sr Mod forum allocations. This isn't to say they are the 'boss' over forums which they don't normally moderate (or even the ones they do moderate), but more to provide an additional set of eyes for handling problems, offering advice, or covering when regular forum staff may be offline for an extended period. The forum remains under the primary guidance of the forum mods, the smods are like admins in that they are there to offer support, not take over.

The new tools are a privilege and as such should not be abused. All actions performed are logged so be aware no funny business will be tolerated. The tools are given to trusted staff members we believe will use them as they were intended.


Some of the explicit expectations we admin have placed on the smod position over the past few months would be:
  • Covering a share of the site forums (see the Smod-Forum listing) and helping those forums with policy discussion, oversight for vacationers, developing moderating skills, diffusing member-staff or staff-staff disputes.

  • Participation in staff forum discussions for site practices and policies

  • Assisting with site projects

  • Your position offers visibility into hidden mod discussions across the board. You are encouraged to read where you can, as you can provide more oversight in terms of uniform site-wide practices and rule enforcement but also as an additional set of eyes for trouble (ie, mods going nuts or in need of removal, members being considered for openings who may or may not be worthy). Obviously, you know enough to realize when to post in a forum mod thread when you don't directly mod, or even directly smod, over the forum. Sometimes posting in the thread is the right approach, other times perhaps PM an effected forum mod or the appropriate smod or admin. You have this position because you are trusted to act appropriately and with the best interest of the site in mind.


++++

This was refined by the smods over the first quarter of this year, and run through our staff forum for the mods to get familiar with, raise issue with, and generally make sure we've clarified the position to everyone's level of satisfaction. The next step, is to naturally push this out to the public so any questions or concerns you guys have can be more clearly answered for everyone's education. So, feel free to comment, critisize, or commend us for this position's role on our site. As others have noted, they are essentially an extension of the admin group, allowing the small number of admins focus on bigger picture issues while also allowing us a wider group of minds for policy decisions.
 
In theory: How does ones become a smod? Is their like a 15k post minimum b4 consideration or what?

Idk why but the word SMOD kinda reminds me of Snood.
 
^ well clearly, you have to be 'known', don't you? not necessarily in real life, not in the slightest.

FrostyMcFailure said:
In theory: How does ones become a smod? Is their like a 15k post minimum b4 consideration or what?
TLB said:
Senior mods are generally selected by the admins and existing senior mods (smods), based on a history of good decision making, trust, and great nudie pics
post count has no real bearing on becoming a sr mod, but your active participation across multiple forums does.

can we stay on topic, please. :|


(also, saying things like 'can we stay on topic, please' helps.)
 
BUMP

...staff had been asking where the position is spelled out in terms of responsibilities and expectations. May be time to refresh this, and ensure it is visible somewhere.
 
Top