What is a moderator?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

You may have noticed that we have recently increased our moderation staff - there are now four (Global) Moderators here at the coffee shop, which means that there will usually be one of them around within a few hours if you need help with something, or if there's a matter that needs attention - please don't hesitate to ask, via a Personal Message or some other route. In addition there is one administrator - that's myself, and it's my role to do the techie stuff.

The moderators are (in alphabetic order):
Graz, Lee, Nick Field and Timmer

In order for us to be consistent in what we do, I've written a few moderation notes and I'm quoting part of them here so that anyone who is new to forums knows the sort of thing that these people - all people who I very much trust - are doing.

The role of a moderator it to facilitate and to encourage - it's a positive role first and foremost.

* Welcome newcomers

* Answer queries and provide explanations

* On occassions, "sticky" threads to make them more prominent for a while, split threads that have multiple topics, or move threads to other boards

* If necessary, jump in to help clarify questions and understandings

* Explain to users who are taking risks that they're doing so - for example publishing home addresses on the forum.

Regretably, there are times that members will act in such a way that they discourage others, or they take actions which could lead to a loss of facilities; in such circumstances, the moderator may need to step in.  The areas I watch out for include.

[Snip] ....

In general, a minimum of action is all that's needed if an established user transgresses in one of these areas - a personal message to ask for the wording of a post to be changed, or a polite query as to the origin of a piece of text ("for copyright") is all that's needed. 

[snip]

The FirstGreatWestern Coffee Shop software allows the administrator to ban members, either temporarily or permanently.  We have no formal policy as to when this will happen, but informally it's not something that I would do to established members unless other avenues have been tried and are exhausted.