Moderating question.

[DedicatedLittleFaith]

I recently got rep'd by a fellow Catholic moderator and good friend, who works on another Staff Team, and the message I received was very nice; but did get me thinking.

Here is the situation in a nutshell: I was moderating a thread in which we had a situation of a private PM having been publically posted. Though I did not get into a debate as to that should be permitted or not (1- it still is not permitted, and 2 - I know better than that :) ) I did give my two cents in the thread. However, I was also the only member of the OBOB team online at the moment,,, and thus acted on the reported post.

In the message my friend sent with the reps, he mentions he is not certain it was prudent of me to take action in a thread I was participating in,,, although he did state I was in the right as far as my posted opinion went.

And so here is my question: we are encouraged to participate in the forums we moderate,,, but are we not to take action if a report comes from a thread we are already participating in? Is this like, a conflict of interest or something?

I mean yes, we are four mods for the OBOB forum, but we are not always online at the same time and certain posts have to be dealt with asap.

Would someone be kind enough to clear this up for me? Because if it was a mistake to take action, then I will not do so in the future.

[Jim47]

Current protocal for moderating>>On Moderator Action
Moderators are encouraged to actively participate in the threads in their forum. A well-timed post can steer conversation away from inflammatory statements and calm the mood in the thread.
Moderators should not mod outside their forum with the exception of gross profanity/vulgarity or CB Trolls. Admins should not moderate at all. No staff member should work a report on themselves, one that they reported, or one on a post which is directed at them.
Judicious use of Mod Hats can also remind people when they are skating close to rules violations or threatening to disrupt the harmony of the forum. Sometimes people get caught up in emotion and need a friendly reminder of the rules.



This is indeeda poorly written rule and there are others like it. What is says is that we can not take part in working reports in the threads we have participated. Just about impossible since we are encouraged to be active in our forums.

What I do recommend tough us that you do not post in a report made on you, this has been standard protocal for a long time. The rule also says you shouldn't take part of you are mentiioned in the report, I say that is again pretty hard to observe simply because we don't have sufficient staff and the rules also require multiple staff members to be in agreement before taking action.

So how are we supposed to follow those rules and still take care of reports? Pretty impossible don't you think? ;)

[DedicatedLittleFaith]

Oh I would never work on a report about myself, or one in which I would be mentioned. That WOULD be a distinct conflict of interest, I know better than that. ;)

As for your pretty impossible comment,,,, well with the ever changing rules we have had to deal with,,, I think I am getting used to trying to work the impossible. Emphasis on trying of course! :P ^_^


Thank you very much for your response jim! :wave:

[RobNJ]

In this case, since it is a black & white issue- not a judgment call- I wouldn't have hesitated to at least soft delete the post quoting the PM, and I would back any of my Mod doing the same.

In other words, Ya done good! :thumbsup:

[DedicatedLittleFaith]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Rob :thumbsup:

Glad to see you are back! I am assuming this means you are doing better? :hug: