[ADMIN] rec.arts.drwho.moderated Styleguide
Siobahn Morgan
MODERATION STYLE GUIDE
Updated: December 1, 2006
This Style Guide will be regularly posted to rec.arts.drwho.moderated,
and can be found on the Web at:
http://www.robomod.net/~robomod/rec.arts.drwho.moderated/
CONTENTS
1. What kinds of posts will be rejected by the moderators?
2. How does moderation work?
3. Who are the current moderators?
4. How can I appeal the moderators' decisions?
5. How are moderators added or removed from the panel?
6. How can changes be made to this style guide?
7. Technical information
------------------------------
1. What kinds of posts will be rejected by the moderators?
The main kinds of posts which will be rejected by first time posters
are:
1) Flames (postings which, in the judgment of the moderators, are meant
to personally insult or attack a member of the newsgroup, or to make
unsupported allegations about them)
2) Trolls (postings which, in the judgment of the moderators, are
intended to provoke angry responses from other members of the
newsgroup)
3) Spam (including all off-topic advertising material, and on-topic
advertising material posted more than once a fortnight)
4) Off-topic posts (postings which, in the judgment of the moderators,
are not sufficiently about Doctor Who)
5) Overquoted posts (postings which have a ratio of quoted text to
original content of more than 70%)
6) Cross-posts (postings which are posted to more than one newsgroup
simultaneously)
7) Posts not in plain text (binaries, HTML, RTF, etc, excluding small
binaries such as PGP signatures)
8) Spoilers (posts which contain information about forthcoming or
less-than-year-old productions which do not contain the warning
SPOILERS in the header, or give the information away in the header
itself)
[Note: a newsgroup member is defined to be a person who has used an
email address which appears on the newsgroup posters list made available
to the moderators. Email addresses on this list expire after 6 months if
they are not used to post in this time.]
Threads which, in the judgment of the moderators, are off-topic and/or
will probably lead to flames or trolls will be placed in a queue to be
approved or rejected by the moderators according to 1-5 above (this is
called hand moderation).
In the event that the moderators are unsure of the intent of a post that
has either been complained about or might, in the opinion of the
moderators, be considered a troll or flame, evidence of prior behaviour
in other discussion fora can be used to help the moderators in deciding
the intent of the poster. Any evidence that is used by the moderators in
said way must be posted publicly to modish within 24 hours of a
decision.
Overquoted posts, cross-posts and posts not in plain text may also be
automatically rejected by the server software (called the robomod).
Spoiler space is strongly encouraged, but not absolutely required,
due to a compatibility problem with the robomod and quoted spoiler
space (see radwm FAQ sections 13 and 14). Spoilers include, but are
not limited to: plot points, the revelation of characters to be
included in the series, the titles of new episodes, and the settings
of new episodes. The moderators will use their discretion to judge
what constitutes a spoiler and what doesn't.
If a post is rejected, the robomod will send a copy of the post to the
poster with a brief explanation from the rejecting moderator. Posters
may rewrite their posts and resubmit them if they wish.
Moderators are subject to the same rules as other posters. If it becomes
necessary, the other moderators will hand moderate their posts.
Moderators will not make any changes to the content of posts.
------------------------------
2. How does moderation work?
When someone posts to the newsgroup for the first time, the robomod will
send them a message that their post is waiting in a queue, and a pointer
to this style guide and the group FAQ. Their first post will be approved
or rejected by a moderator (this is called hand moderation). If the post
is compliant with the rules (as per section 1 above), it will be assumed
that the poster will continue to follow the rules, the post will be sent
on to the newsgroup and the poster will be auto-approved from that point
on, as long as they continue to follow the rules (and they are not
posting with a completely fake email address). If their first post does
not follow the rules, it will be returned to them with an explanation
for its rejection.
If an auto-approved poster breaks the rules, they may receive a formal
warning from the moderators, at their discretion (the moderators may try
other measures first). If they continue to break the rules after a
formal warning, they will be added at the moderators' discretion to a
list of people whose messages are hand moderated for a 6-month period.
A poster can be removed from this list at any time, at the moderators'
discretion, by sending a message to the moderation panel stating that
they will follow the rules. A poster may remain on the list for longer
than 6 months if they continue to break the rules or attempt to
circumvent the moderation mechanism. Their hand moderated status will be
reviewed every month in this case.
2a. Action may be taken against individual posters who repeatedly engage
in threatening or abusive behaviour towards a moderator or another
poster. Similarly, any poster who attempts to interfere with the
normal operation of the newsgroup or with any account involved in its
administration or propagation, other than reporting net-abuse, may be
prevented from posting for a limited period, and/or be subject to
further action.
The moderation panel must notify the newsgroup and call for a vote of
approval for any action taken or proposed in accordance with this
clause. The call for votes must name the poster and state the
reason(s) for the action taken. The purpose of this vote is for the
readership of the group to approve (or overturn) the moderators'
decision in this matter. This vote operate under the same rules as for
a moderator election (see section 5 pars 4-6, below).
If, in the opinion of the moderation panel, emergency action needs be
taken against a poster, then they may proceed without approval providing
that they follow the action by issuing a call for votes, which must
clearly state that the vote is to approve (or overturn) action already
taken. Any thus overturned action must be revoked within a reasonable
period of time.
Interference includes, but is not limited to:
- Persistent off-charter behaviour on modish;
- Continued pushing of issues with a moderator or the moderation panel
beyond the point of last recourse as outlined by the style guide
(for example, lodging a complaint in the moderator or panel, and
that complaint failing to achieve the "desired" result);
- Attempting to circumvent the hand-moderation process, either in the
newsgroup or on the mailing lists [be that by switching of email
addresses or nom de plumes, or forging headers, or any other means];
- Any other series of actions that is deemed by the moderators to be
interference and upheld by the group membership by way of a vote.
2b. Posters who have difficulty with the robomod (for instance, those
who post under fake email addresses) should contact the server host
directly at radwm-co...@robomod.net or the moderators at
radwm-m...@robomod.net for assistance in posting.
To post via email, send your message to:
rec-arts-drw...@moderators.isc.org
The moderators will use a private mailing list to discuss moderation
issues amongst themselves.
------------------------------
3. Who are the current moderators?
Jefferson Eng <jeffer...@gmail.com>
Siobahn Morgan <mor...@uni.edu>
Karen Jo Nyctolops <nyct...@vla.com>
------------------------------
4. How can I appeal the moderators' decisions?
If a poster feels that their message should not have been rejected,
they can appeal in email to the entire moderation panel at
radwm-m...@robomod.net. If even one of the moderators decides
their message should have been accepted, it may be re-submitted and
will be approved.
If a poster is unhappy with the panel's decision, they may discuss the
issue in a publicly accessible Yahoo! mailing list named modish;
this is subject to any bans the poster may be serving, as described
later in this section. The purpose of this mailing list is to discuss
moderation and meta issues, alert the moderators to posts which may
not be following the rules, or lodge No Confidence Motions in any or
all moderators (see section 5 below). The mailing list is moderated by
admins appointed by the moderation panel (who may also dismiss them
at their discretion), and all moderators are required to be members
of the list.
To subscribe to modish via the web:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/modish/
To subscribe to modish via email: modish-s...@yahoogroups.com
The admins of modish have their own set of rules governing the
list, agreed on by the moderation panel, which are posted to the list
at regular intervals and can be found at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/modish/files
Should a poster prove unable or unwilling to abide by the modish
rules, they may be temporarily restricted from posting to it, either
via handmod (determined by the listadmins) or a temporary ban (to be
voted on by the members of Modish).
------------------------------
5. How are moderators added to or removed from the panel?
Moderators are elected by a vote on the newsgroup. A moderator election
will take place if any one or more of the following conditions are met:
a) If the moderation panel votes to elect more moderators to handle the
workload
b) If the number of moderators falls below four
c) If the moderation panel votes to remove a moderator
d) If twelve or more newsgroup members lodge No Confidence Motions about
a moderator within a fourteen-day period, as determined by the modish
admins
[Note: there is no requirement for the automatic replacement of a
moderator who resigns or is otherwise unable to continue with their
duties (e.g. due to poor health, death, long-term loss of Internet
access) unless the number of moderators falls below four.]
It is a moderator's role to be fair and professional in moderating
discussions and members of the newsgroup. Members of the newsgroup can
lodge No Confidence Motions against an individual moderator, or the
entire moderation panel, by sending a message to modish with a Subject:
line of "No Confidence Motion: Moderator XXXX" (where XXXX is the name
of the moderator in question), or "No Confidence Motion: Moderation
Panel". The body of the message must be left blank. The message must be
sent from an e-mail address that appears on the newsgroup posters list
made available to the moderators (spam keywords removed). If these three
criteria are not met exactly, the modish admins may not consider
the Motion lodged. If a banned member wishes to lodge a No Confidence
Motion, they should send it to modish...@yahoogroups.com according
to the above criteria. The modish admins will forward the Motion to
the list and post their reasons for declaring it invalid if applicable.
Motions may be withdrawn at any time up until 12 Motions have been
lodged within a fourteen-day period against a particular moderator
(Motions against the whole panel count towards a moderator's personal
tally) by sending a message to modish with a Subject: line of
"Withdrawal of No Confidence Motion: Moderator XXXX" (where XXXX is the
name of the moderator in question), or "Withdrawal of No Confidence
Motion: Moderation Panel". The body of the message must be left
blank. The message must be sent from the same email address that the
original Motion came from - an e-mail address that appears on the
newsgroup posters list (spam keywords removed). If these three criteria
are not met exactly, the modish admins may not consider the Motion
withdrawn.
The modish admins are the final arbiters on whether Motions are
lodged or withdrawn successfully. If they reject a Motion (due to the
conditions above not being adequately met), they will post to modish
with their reasons for rejection.
If any of the conditions a)-d) above are met, a returning officer (who
is not one of the moderators, but may be one of the modish admins)
will immediately be appointed by the moderation panel to announce a
nomination period, assemble the ballot from nominated candidates and
tally the votes. The returning officer may not vote in the election,
neither may the server host.
The ballot will list the candidate(s) and voters will be able to vote
"Yes", "No", or "Abstain" on any of them. The moderation seat(s) will
go to the candidate with the highest final tally, where their final
tally is defined as the number of "Yes" votes minus the number of "No"
votes. If a candidate does not receive a positive final tally (ie: "Yes"
votes do not outweigh "No" votes), the nomination/election process will
begin again for that seat immediately.
Any member of the newsgroup may offer themselves as a candidate in the
election, including moderators removed via any of the conditions in
a)-d) above. The modish admins and server host may not stand in an
election, nor lodge a No Confidence Motion.
------------------------------
6. How can changes be made to this style guide?
The moderators can make minor, temporary changes to the way they
moderate the group at their discretion. Major or permanent changes must
be made part of this style guide, and must be voted for in a referendum
on the newsgroup. The moderators will notify the newsgroup of any
temporary changes that are in place via a section in the FAQ which is
posted to the group once every two weeks.
Temporary changes may be in place for a maximum of two months before
they must either be rescinded, or made permanent via referendum.
Changes to the style guide which in no way influence moderation
procedure (such as server addresses, names of current moderators) may be
made by the moderators as the need arises.
------------------------------
7. Technical Information
The moderation software is hosted at news.robomod.net, which is run by
Brian Edmonds, with a 10Mbit internet connection. It uses Postfix as
the MTA, with an additional custom MTA proxy frontend with advanced spam
filtering. Filtering issues can be raised with ab...@robomod.net which is
exempt from most filtering. Posts will be injected via news.robomod.net,
which has multiple outgoing peers.
EOF