TheRedStranger Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Guidelines for Admins and Mods Welcome to the Brotherhood of Administration, Keepers of the Peace, and Garbage Men/Janitors/Maintenance on SoM! You have been granted the title of Moderator or Admin and all of the responsibilities, strictures, and perks that come along with it. We appreciate your willingness to look after SoM and to see to the safe and creative environment that we so enjoy. Please take the time to read over these rules and policies; this is very important that you read and understand them to the letter and spirit, so no scanning over it. We also have these rules posted in the Moderator and Admin forum that is hidden to regular members, so by all means, take your time to fully understand the letter and the spirit of the following rules: You are not above the laws and the rules of SoM -- On the contrary, you are held to a higher standard than normal members. You know the spirit of the rules of Conduct and Behavior to the letter both inside and out and represent the integrity of the site. Members will look up to you for guidance and protection; do not ever forget this. We do not micromanage the moderators or admins on SoM -- By gaining the rank of mod/admin you have already proven your quality, judgement, and most of all the trust of the administration and the members of the entire site. Don’t be afraid to exercise your judgement if something happens on the site; you have already proven that you are able to follow the Conduct and Behaviour Bylaws and we expect you to responsibly take care of the members on the site and to keep this a safe and creative environment for all. Most of all, remember that every person who is a moderator or admin is a member of a team, who will give advice and help one another . Never be afraid to ask for help from another team member, in fact we encourage it; you are never alone and you are still a valuable member of this community, not above it, below it, or separated from it. You will continue to contribute to the site and engage in creation of new works, be involved in conversations and debates, and most of all continue to grow SoM. There is no “Blue Wall” here. -- While it is expected for mods and admins to look out for one another and help each other out it is not okay for one mod or admin to “cover” for another’s wrongdoing or cover up an incident. Those with this position will give guidance to one another, keep each other honest, and always strive to better the community. Debating with members -- As stated above you are fully allowed to enter in debates with members and other mods/admins, but you are strictly prohibited from using your position or authority to “quiet” someone you are debating with. Just because you are a moderator or admin does not mean that you are perfect and your opinion is gold; you absolutely will respect other members, their opinions, and ideas. This does not mean you have to accept them, and you are fully able to utilize your well-honed and practiced master debating skills to disprove them, but again, you will not use your position as a mod/admin against another member. Inter-member conflicts with mods and admins -- If a conflict arises between a member (mod/admin or otherwise) and a mod/admin it is best to have another mod/admin present or if one is not online at the time you will need to take down proof (screen captures and such) to make sure your integrity is not questioned. All admins and moderator all must have the ability to store evidence collected externally off of your computer or device’s onboard storage. This can be anything from cloud storage, external hard drives, to flash thumb drives. This is to ensure that evidence does not get lost in case of a hardware failure. You just keep these files well organized to be both distributed and read quickly. Main responsibilities -- Being a mod or admin is not a glorious job. Most of the time you will be making order out of disorder; removing spam, correcting members as to the appropriate place to post certain things and such. While we place the utmost trust in our mods/admins’ judgement and morals, here are some general guidelines to go by: A. Inappropriate material -- If someone has posted inappropriate or copyrighted material, first privately inform him/her of the infraction and order him/her to edit the offending material out of the post in question. i. If he/she complies, you log the warning and report it. ii. If he/she is not online then you will send the user a message of the infraction along with a warning, then you will edit the material from the post. If the individual acknowledges and apologizes for the infraction, then log the warning like normal. iii. In the event that the user is online and he/she ignores and/or refuses to comply you should compile evidence of the infraction, delete the offending material from the post and issue a warning or suspension depending on your judgement and how the user treats you. If it is apparent that the user is blatantly showing showing disregard it is advisable to use harsher punitive action. B. Improperly placed post/material -- If something is posted improperly and material needs to be moved to a proper thread/forum then inform the user of the mistake and move it. This is not a warnable offence unless the user becomes belligerent or has a history of posting improperly, then it is up to the admin/mod’s judgement as to what kind of punishment is proper beit a warning, suspension or something else. Remember, always first attempt the “velvet glove” approach by talking with the user; don’t go to the warning or suspension as a first option. C. Threads -- As with in subparagraph “B” above, all misplaced threads should be treated exactly the same as an improperly placed post/material as long as the thread is appropriate and contains no inappropriate or copyrighted material within. i. If you feel the thread is inappropriate you should lock the thread, leave a message on the thread explaining why you have locked it and then contact another mod/admin about it and come to a decision as to what action to take. Then, depending on your consensus and judgement, take action by altering, deleting portions, or the entire thread and hand out punishments accordingly. If you both are unsure of what action to take, always talk to more mods/admins for advice. D. Punishment to rule breakers -- As already stated, the general rule will be “the velvet glove over the steel fist.” Banning and suspending should only be used as a final option in most cases. Warnings and discussing the problem with the member in private should always be the first option unless the infraction is egregious and/or the member is showing no respect for the rules and ignoring your warnings. People who commit egregious acts or are showing signs of incorrigibility should be dealt with a suspension immediately and all evidence brought before the admins/mods. In cases of threats against people and/or threats of illegal activities, they should be dealt with in a swift manner, the member being instantly suspended, their IP address logged and all evidence brought before the admins/mods for further action. E. Unruly, belligerent, and incorrigible users -- Users that have a history of or show no care for other users and the site, ignore you, respond to your advice and warnings with a bad attitude and foul language, and/or do not respect your authority should not be given the slightest quarter; do not not be shy about suspending the account of such a member. Please log all information and evidence to administration. 8. Banning/suspensions -- Besides being able to delete and move material, posts, and threads all moderators and admins have the ability to unilaterally suspend any member breaking the rules from SoM for 1 (one) week on the spot. The moderator/admin who first responds to a report or notices the infraction first-hand will then take all evidence of the misdeeds of the member and present it to all of the admins and mods for review. After the review a solution will be handed down to the offending member; be it a loss of privilege, an extended suspension, or all the way to a permanent ban from SoM. A. This should not be viewed as distrust to any admin or mod by the site, but rather it is a means of protecting the members of the mod/admin team from accusations of heavy-handedness and/or showing favoritism as well as SoM’s integrity. The moderating team at SoM stands as one unit and as one unit do we take care of and provide safety to our community. 9. Abuse of power -- As stated above in #1, you as a moderator/admin are charged with upholding your position to the highest standards possible. So, you may not use your power to suspend a member, lock or delete a post, thread, and/or any material therein at your own whim or reasons. Just because you do not like somebody or something that is posted does not mean that you have the right to go on a witchhunt/harass somebody and suspend a person without a valid reason. The report of wrongdoing of every incident and the evidence from it will be examined and if it is discovered that a mod/admin is merely harassing some member who is within the rules; that mod/admin can be banned, suspended, put on probation, and/or be stripped of title. In the event that the abuse of power is egregious that moderator or admin will be permanently banned from the site, and if the harassment includes any threats then he/she will be reported to the proper authorities. A. Furthermore, you are not allowed to share your account or lend it to anyone at anytime for any reason. Likewise, you are forbidden from letting someone use your moderator/admin tools including suspensions, deleting or the locking of posts/threads/material on the site. The same goes for doing favors for someone that includes you using your powers. We take the job of mod/admin very seriously and you should too. 10. Bribery/influence peddling -- Using your admin or moderation powers for favors and or personal gain is strictly forbidden and will result in the immediate dismissal from SoM. 11. Probation/suspension for mods/admins -- All new mods and admins must first go through a probationary period of XX days. During this time he/she will be monitored closely and given pointers by other mods/admins; once the period is completed and it is agreed upon that he/she is able to do the job good and fair then he/she will become a full-on mod/admin. A. In the case of the abuse of power if the offense is more than a minor one the mod/admin will be treated as a raw recruit and will have to complete the probationary period again. In the case that the infraction is extreme enough, causing the mod or admin to be suspended he/she will be stripped of all moderating or admining duties and will become a normal member of SoM; to regain mod/admin status he/she will have to be reviewed and then allowed back into the fold by a unanimous vote by the mods/admins; he/she then will enter the probationary period again. B. There are no third chances at SoM; if a mod/admin is suspended twice he/she will be barred from reentering as a mod/admin. However, he/she will be welcome to still be a member of the site as long as he/she obeys the rules. i. Again, if the infraction is egregious enough to warrant a full ban, then, like any member, he/she will be excused from SoM entirely and not be allowed to be part of the community. 12. Protecting Underaged Persons - If you discover by way of admission or evidence that any person is under the age of 13 on this site you are to report this to the rest of your fellow mods and admins. We will ban the account according to Laws of Admission-Rule Number Four. A. To keep to a high moral standing and to avoid any potential false accusations to your own character, we advise you to avoid sustained private messages with underaged persons. If it is necessary to privately contact an underaged person when it comes to an incident, there must be more than one admin or mod within the group PM as a third party witness. B. When warning or taking any kind of punitive action against an underage user a mod or admin must have another mod or admin present and viewing the conversation and all contact and both must keep perfect records independently and both will need to present evidence independently as well. This is to not only protect the underage user, but all members of the administrative team and the site from any accusations of wrongdoing. 13. When discussing an issue in private pertaining to an incident it is advisable but not necessary that you involve a second moderator or admin in the conversation for a witness. However, you must always keep screenshots and other evidence to cover yourself from any accusations; without evidence to corroborate your story it will be much harder to clear you or wrongdoing and to resolve the issue at hand. 14. When in doubt or conflicted always ask for help from another mod or admin; you are not alone, we are and always will be there for one another; we work as a team to keep SoM safe and clean. 15. Any instances of nonconformity to the above admin/mod bylaws, especially to those pertaining to the abuse of power, collecting/storing/presenting evidence, and dealing with underage users, will not be tolerated in the slightest. All questions, comments, and suggestions concerning the rules should be posted here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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