Time for Moderators???

[Mac Write]

In light of the Ferry video where someone unnamed bad mouths us ferry lovers and stuff, it seems it is time for moderators as many have suggested. I check in here 10+ times a day and have the time to help moderate this forum (even though my post count is low due to the accidental system deleting).

Who do you think should be moderators?

[Balfour]

Karl, Myself, Chris, PR Queen Kid, and Mac Write.
Here is my reasoning:

Karl: He's been a long-time member, and always contributes to discussion extremely well. He is a leader on this board.

Myself: I'm the Admin of another proboards forum, and I visit Proboards support frequently when there are problems. I can tell what spam apart from other posts, and I know when action needs to be taken by staff and admin.

Chris: Long-time member, and contributes positively to discussion all the time.

PR Queen Kid: He's young, but I think he would make a great moderator. He contributes positively to discussion, and He's handled both the TOOBAGOOBA issue, and the Movie issue quite well.

Mac Write: He has experience as a forum admin.

We do need more monitoring on this forum, but not too much more. I don't want this forum to become too "policed". We only need 1-2 global moderators at this point in time.

[Doug]

:)We should have a vote of those members.

[Balfour]

We should, but lets get more moral support from the others. I think my nominations are pretty good, but I'd like to here from everyone else before I put this to a poll.

[Balfour]

On Proboards Support (I'm a member there), they have tips on Staffing a forum. These were written by a Global Mod there, ConqueringWolf:

1. Do not give away staff positions to new members who ask for the position. Staff members should always come from a regular active member of your forum that has been with you for quite a while and whose behavior on your forum has been trustworthy and respectful towards others. You don't want to give a staff member position to someone who is rude to other members and in general is a bully. You also need to know they will represent your forum in a positive light.

2. Do not go overboard assigning powers to your staff members. On my own forum my mods can only lock threads and move topics. I do not give the power to delete or modify threads to any of them because I want to be able to see what the original post was before it was deleted or changed. Otherwise an unscrupulous Mod could lie about the original content to get another member in trouble and you would have no proof of it. Giving them the power to move an inappropiate topic to a secure admin board is plenty enough power to keep your forum clean of spam and obscenities. In general I don't suggest giving anyone else the power to delete boards or anything major like that either. Gmods should have no use to have to do that and it also helps that if you have a security problem with anyone elses account for any reason that you don't have to worry about your boards and categories being deleted and losing all your board content. At least it would be secure except for cracking of your own main admin account.

3. Give mod positions to active members who will be on your forum daily to perform their duties and also those who wish to help keep your board acive with new content. If you have a movie review board and you assign someone to be mod of it then they should be responsible for posting reviews of movies that they have seen and keep the content of the board fresh. You wouldn;t want to assign someone to be a mod of a board in which they have no interest in the content.

These are just some general rules that John may want to follow when, or if he makes a decision on Moderators.

[Political Incorrectness]

John has full authority so it is his decision but I think this forum should be no guests allowed period

[Mac Write]

100% agree on guests. Guests should not be allowed to do anything period.

I have been around for a long time now (1+?) but my account screwed up. I also agree 100% that John must only choose mods he trusts 100%. Allot of people ask to become mods just to have power, then either abuse it or do nothing to moderate the forum. For now I think 2 mods will be plenty, since John is rarely around (or so it seems). I report allot of spam on the vbulletin forum (luck of the draw being the first person to notice). Ultimately it must be up to John since he is the admin and has to be completely comfortable with the moderators he chooses.

[Political Incorrectness]

very well agreed he would have to choose people who are responssible like Strong Skier I think would be good at moderation of the board the only thing is forget posting ranks

[Koastal Karl]

Yeah on other yahoo boards I am on you have to be a member to even look at the messages not just to post! Personally I think we should get rid of the guest thing on here so if you want to post you have to sign up so we know who you are!

[Balfour]

That would be good, considering the size of this board now. It's not the small board that it was 9 months ago.

[Doug]

Well...considering only a couple guests have abused the board, why get rid of all guests? Most of the guests who post here post useful and intresting information. Barf is IP banned anyways.

[Balfour]

GEtting rid of the Guest thingy will upset Fenklebaum. I like him around here anyways and I wish he'd sign up.

[Koastal Karl]

Yeah why dosent he sign up! Why dont all the people who sign in as guests sign up on here??

[Ian]

some people do not like giving out info.

[Balfour]

I guess but there's the option of hiding it too.

[NMcKay]

What about Me?

[Balfour]

Ok , before he leaves!

John, We've been discussing moderators since the forum is getting larger and is need of more monitoring. Do you think it's time to assign moderator powers?

[Scott]

I'll think about it. I've been able to be here quite a bit lately... I just don't log on most of the time.

[Ian]

John do you have any new ferry photos for your site.

[Mac Write]

John did you get my e-mail I sent you yesterday? it's from bigt [at]mac [.] com

[tyler]

John, I cannot seem to log in to the account I recently created which actually goes by name of 'tyty' (w/o the quotes, of course)

I understand you are the 'staff member' that would be able to deal with this. Even though I entered my activation code I'm told a staff member still needs to activate my account.

[Shane]

i think BrianWilliams and cascade can also be moderators too.

[cascade]

So do I gather you want some old Grey matter helping out?

[NMcKay]

lol....old maybe...but smart too

[cascade]

So the grey matter is washed out and coloured - and the few cells are lined up ready for action --- is that OK??

I think on a personal level - that the moderator needs to be VERY neutral and can't take sides - but yes there needs to be a bit of policing on the forum - to stop the wild posting - or to edit it quickly, as the forum should grow and bring in "new" blood.

I'd say let John run it - as he is a new father - so will take him time to get back into a normal routine again.