Thank God Chrono Compendium acts like this below.

[TriforceofEternity]

I bolded a few important parts on this article from this website about moderating which so far Chrono Compenium gives tone number 1 which is a good thing.   No?

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum103/336.htm

Moderating a forum is very important because the moderators and site staff basically set the tone of the community/forum.
Let me say this again, the moderators set the tone of the forum.

What is the tone? The tone is the feeling that your forum gives off. Some are warm and friendly, some feel professional, some feel like anarchy and others have no feeling at all.

The tone of your board is SO important because once the tone is set, the members and new members will be people of that flavor.

So how do you moderate without being a moderator? You moderate by setting an example.

I will give you 3 examples:

1) Webmaster World: This board feels professional, and very rich in trustworthy content. Why? The mods/owner are professionals. They contribute to the site useful information, and over time repeat visitors HAVE to have realized that what they say is credible and usually correct.

The members who post at Webmaster World generally present useful information or logical questions that can globally help the webmaster community. Same with responsive posts.

2) Board X: The board I am using here I will keep anonymous but I have watched it since its inception. The mods attack 'stupid' members...Even goto the length of drawing cartoons of them. The site admins remove people's posts without warning, ban people for saying something negative about their staff and finally edit posts. I am not talking about <snip here and <snip there>, I mean that user posts are actually changed to false information.

Now the resulting community that has come about after 4 years is exactly the same. They have been raised that way and will continue in those patterns. People who try to conduct biz on this board get flamed and its all together just a dramatic board.

Basically a community and forum are the product of the administrative team. Its almost like a baby that has to be raised a certain way so that it can mature on its own.

When moderating a forum one needs to think this way and understand that his or her actions are watched and will in some ways be repeated and used as an example for how to act.

Here are a few pointers that will REALLY help you put together an awesome group of people:

-Edit posts ONLY when 100% necessary. People do NOT like to have their things messed with.
-When you take an authoritative stance at someone, do NOT publicly ridicule them, but instead publicly express the act that is in violation. Then take the time to contact the member and explain the situation in a friendly tone. If the offense was critical then of course remove the person and posts.
-Give the members freedom. What does this mean? The environment of a forum should be open and allow members to express their points, no matter what it maybe.
-Listen to members and react to their feed back. It really shows that you care when you consider someone else’s idea and act on it.
-Use a filtering system to create NEW forums and expand the community reach. For example, look at how the forum Community Building area was developed. There were a lot of discussions popping up regarding forums, and BAM the area was created. When you do this it allows people to categorize their ideas and threads more accurately and shows that you are building the community and expanding.

If you have more, please add.



I have gone to Video Game Midi website   and they seem to be a mix/combination of  3 and 4 execpt the music composition section which the members their are decent and generaly get along with each other but the staff are another story and they seem to have a *yes* group with a staff buddie system

Can someone please set/ the Video Game Midi website *I am sure you know which one I am talking about* their priorities checked?

Their music wish request is a complete joke and chances are high you'll never get a reply which DIDN'T use to happen.     

[TriforceofEternity]

   * I'll spell it out for those who are too lazy and stupid to read properly*      35 views and no response must mean people are too mental to get it.

Why can't all forums run professional like this one where you have topics that actualy have  a point A to Point B and the mods treat things with respect.


Another one that was debated on Topix.com was a discussion about CityData.com/forums and how people are banned for telling the truth even in a polite because it's ran by fake Real Estate people even though it's the most active forum for relocation topics/things.

The mods at CityData all act emo over the slightest criticism and the topics that exist are usually one-sided.

[Lord J Esq]

Here are a few pointers that will REALLY help you put together an awesome group of people:

Let's do this!

-Edit posts ONLY when 100% necessary. People do NOT like to have their things messed with.

Entirely correct. I would expand it to include the deleting of posts and the locking of topics. There are very few instances when altering the record of a forum is appropriate. This isn't to say that making alterations should never be done; simply that there are very few instances in which it should be done.

Probably one of the most interesting questions of when to intervene is that of the will of the topic creator versus the "will" of the collective people posting in a topic. I've got a topic on this board--The Record of Right-Wing Crazy--which has been heavily edited at my request because its purpose is to be a resource topic rather than a debate topic. I think it's unique in the Compendium in that regard. Other topics are often pruned for violations of the board guidelines, but that's different than respecting the will of the topic creator. My thinking is that directing the flow of a topic is generally a topic creator's prerogative. This point of view is reinforced by the fact that topic creators have power to lock and unlock their topics. That being the ultimate say-so on how a topic can proceed, it makes sense in my mind to allow the intermediate degrees. Granted, selective pruning requires a professional staff. We are fortunate at the Compendium to have such talented people in charge!

-When you take an authoritative stance at someone, do NOT publicly ridicule them, but instead publicly express the act that is in violation. Then take the time to contact the member and explain the situation in a friendly tone. If the offense was critical then of course remove the person and posts.

Exactly right. Any discipline that is carried out at the administrative level should be done in private. Public announcements should amount simply to "This post was deleted for violation of..." Good leaders praise in public and punish in private. There are some exceptions to this, but they rarely apply to Internet forums.

And the tone in which an offending forumer is disciplined is also important, so you're good to note that. Administrators have the trump card: administrative power. They can afford not to be personal or crass in their discipline.

-Give the members freedom. What does this mean? The environment of a forum should be open and allow members to express their points, no matter what it maybe.

Hear hear! Ramsus has been an excellent champion of this, and ZeaLitY has too. A mature forum can handle a great deal of free speech. This ties in with the idea of not stifling discussion by deleting or editing posts, or locking topics. I gave up on an entire forum last week because a moderator locked an entire topic because of a rude post made by one person.

-Listen to members and react to their feed back. It really shows that you care when you consider someone else’s idea and act on it.

Consideration is definitely important. Being in touch with the masses is crucial. But acting on their suggestions is not necessarily a good idea. There was some agitation earlier this year for a softening in our moderation policy, and the suggestions were popular but they were also no good. People often think they know what they want, and think they know what's best. Nearly as often, however, they're wrong. Administration entails showing some spine as surely as it entails showing some consideration.

-Use a filtering system to create NEW forums and expand the community reach. For example, look at how the forum Community Building area was developed. There were a lot of discussions popping up regarding forums, and BAM the area was created. When you do this it allows people to categorize their ideas and threads more accurately and shows that you are building the community and expanding.

I would endorse this with the caveat that creating a new board is a major step that should not be undertaken idly. Board clutter is a serious problem on many forums--even on the Compendium. There are only a few people who keep up to date on the entire forum, and doing so is quite an investment of time! Navigation becomes much harder, and discussion becomes fragmented--thus, community degrades--when there are too many boards.

If you have more, please add.

Not off the top of my head, but I did want to at least stop by and give my feedback to your suggestions!

[TriforceofEternity]

Thanks for responding  I like your wording on things as it gives me more insights.

I want to know why most forums don't obey the *rules* of moderating?

vgmusic.com is such an example where the forums have a life-less feel to them and the mods don't really give a damn about how people are treated.

The FAQ's have a really snarky attitude which I feel should've been the first clue among many.