Moderators - The Title Everyone Wants And Job Nobody Wants To Do

What are moderators?

Communities on the internet are kept going by large numbers of unpaid individuals who do all the behind the scenes administration work. These are the people who fight spam, check memberships, stop arguments, resolve disputes, TRY to keep things legal and do their very best to keep things ticking over. On the internet these people are commonly refereed to as Moderators.

As the heading suggests everyone wants to be a moderator. It is often the case that people do want to attain a level of power and status within their online community, one such way is to become a moderator. Unfortunately there are very few individuals who actually take the job onboard and do the work that is required by this position. Moderating requires administration skills and a commitment to put time in every day to check messages and member applications, it is anything but sexy.

During the 1990's the internet was the wild west where the good guys and bad guys fought it out on a daily basis but as the internet matured governments and legal authorities woke up to what was going on. As things now stand any post to a internet community is deemed as Publishing, therefore all the laws that apply to printed publishing apply upon the internet as well. In general this need not concern most people but the law that does occasionally catch people out is Libel. If you post a defamatory remark about an individual it is getting more common for solicitors letters to be sent out demanding the remark to be withdrawn or further action taken. What is more the owners / leaders of the community can be deemed as complicit in the Libel. if they do not act on any case that comes to their attention.

In the UK we largely see 'reactionary' moderating, unlike some countries it is legal for members of communities to post messages without them being checked by a moderator first for unacceptable content. Although some forums do insist of all messages to be moderated this is not common in UK communities. From time to time in communities with unmoderated posting of messages unacceptable content will be published to the community. UK law says the writer of the message is legally responsible for the messages content but it is the moderators / community leaders who are the publisher of the message. UK law gives the community leaders / moderators an acceptable period if time to deal with any unacceptable posts once they have been brought to their attention before they can also be held liable for the posting of the unacceptable message.

What moderators are not

Moderators are not the police, private investigators, guardian angles, technical support or under any obligation to help members at all. Their loyalty is with the group and the groups well being. Everything they do on top of that to help members is because the moderators are generally nice people and will often do what they can to help as long as the requests are polite and reasonable.

Rules For Moderators

Below are guidelines for all our moderators to follow, it is also a good thing for every member to read so you know how to avoid getting on the wrong side of a moderator.

Should you need to complain about anything within the Community or wish to appeal againt a moderation decision you must follow the complaints procedures as outlined on the complaints page.

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RULES

What is not allowed (at all).

* Forums often cross legal boundaries, unless it is made clear to all members in the terms and conditions of the site which legal courts are to be used in the case of dispute you could be asked to defend yourself in a foreign country. What is more even if this has been done some laws on obscenity / terrorism are enforced internationally without any regard to the hosting country. For this reason when taking into account legal issues UK and US law is applied even though we state in our terms and conditions only UK law and UK courts are to be used be anyone using the site.

What is only allowed in designated areas

Advertising of Goods / Services / Websites.

Usual Excuses.

• I did not know the rules.
• It was only meant in jest.
• But others have got away with it.
• Nobody has stopped me before.
• Other communities do not have this rule.
• Everyone from x knows its true.
• It is not illegal to say that where I live.
• But I never NAMED the individual.
• That is not a real insult.

NONE of the excuses above can be accepted and the moderation process once started must be concluded.

One of the points about not explicitly naming the individual is important. By saying your ex / close friend etc. you are giving enough information for an informed judgment to be made over the individual, you do not need to name them for a comment against them to be deemed as unacceptable for the group.

This largely comes down to which rule has been broken and if this individual has made such posts before. The most important rules as things stand in the eyes of the law are the posting of 'Personal Insults' , 'The promotion of illegal acts' and 'Encouraging others to willfully break the law'.

In each of these cases the moderator as well as the poster are seen to act as the publisher of the material. In the UK moderators can avoid legal action by removing the contentions material as soon as it is highlighted to them and to be seen as acting to stop repeat posting.

In these situations there is no other action that can be taken but to suspend the member who posted the material until they have been spoken to by a moderator. The moderator must inform them why they have been suspended and why the post is unacceptable. For misunderstandings / bad jokes etc. it may be appropriate to unsuspended the member after this discussion. For more extreme posts or repeated unacceptable posts the member may need to be banned from the group / suspended for a period of time or put on moderated posting.

The law does not distinguish between in-jokes / remarks made in jest / just having a bit of fun / well I did not really mean it everyone knows that / others have posted worse / I did not get told off last time I called someone that etc. In each case if the post is illegal or defamatory both the poster and the moderators can be held accountable.

This level of rule breaking requires instant moderation and requires moderators to have the courage to step in and deal with the situation.

Breaking of the other rules does not necessarily require instant moderation and can be done through group moderation. It would be usual to give warnings for first time posters and only take action on repeat offences again increasing the punishment based upon the scale of the offence. Warning > Moderated Posts or suspension > Banning.

Gentle Moderation - Keeping Things Ticking Over.

What else must a moderator take into account?

Moderator Check List