You just called me a dictator?
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Can you make people moderators or can only robin?
No, I cannot.
Just a thought here. A thread about how to help the overworked moderator and the forum in general is turning into lots of Sassyrocks questions to answer and reflect on. While I do appreciate everyone wanting things to be better here, having so many questions and such is keeping me here and busy as well…so…
I can’t do any more than what I have outlined here. Try to moderate more effectively and efficiently and take care of my real life as well.
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No need to @ me to everything either. I check the threads I am involved in.
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Interesting how someone who just joined is so knowledgeable about who runs the site, where they used to live, how things run here, etc.
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Since this thread started, no I haven’t discussed this with him.
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I was pretty impressed by that too 
.
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For someone with 2 weeks here, you seem overly invested in moderating and Robin. I suspect you are someone who has been banned.
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Well said. One question recurs where a straight poll might cut through the noise.
More moderator(s)? Private poll.
- Not now
- One more
- A few more
- Indifferent
0 voters
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Ooh now you’ve piqued my interest. 
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I just read through the thread. What a read, took me a while!
The flagging system
Before I get into it, I’d like to inform (or remind) members that the forum runs on Discourse, which is a forum platform. I can change settings, but I have very limited control over the software’s behaviour. I can’t change how the flagging system works. I can only change things like thresholds and requirements. I have reviewed all the flag-related settings that are available to me. I feel like they are good as is. I agree that a flagging committee won’t work. It’s an overly complex system.
The flagging currently works like this: Users that are at least on tier 1 (basic users) can flag other posts. This creates a review item for moderators. We can then decide what to do with the post. If we agree that a post was not appropriate, we review previous flags. If a user has too many inappropriate posts, we deal with that user by sending him a warning. We suspend user accounts after three official warnings. Suspensions are usually only temporary. The system itself is fine in my opinion, but I do agree that we need more people to help moderate. This is not the only way to get suspended. It’s just the standard way. If someone’s behaviour is completely out of line we might expedite this process. We also handle trolls and spammers harshly.
A very common theme that I see when people receive a flag is this: “Why did my post get flagged and [insert username]'s didn’t? That’s unfair!” This distracts from the fact that the flagged post is still inappropriate. If you feel another post is inappropriate, flag it. Mods are not expected to read every single post on every single thread. We rely very much on members to flag things. Please do flag posts that you feel are inappropriate. Flagged posts should be as impartial as possible. The post should (almost) be looked at as in a void. Is that post appropriate? Yes/No. Wether you like the user should not matter. Who the user is, how long he/she has been sober or active on the forum should not matter.
I reviewed the flags of the last 2 days. There were 14 flags from users. This is higher than normal, but I don’t think this is a crazy amount. Flags are generally pretty quick to deal with, unless there’s a more complex issue at hand. Most of the moderation around here is dealing with issues in private messages, or dealing with user requests. That’s how it is for me anyway, @SassyRocks feel free to chime in. That being said, I think there would still be huge value in adding more moderators. It helps a lot just to get a second opinion when you need it.
Forum Rules
I’m interested to hear opinions on the current forum rules. Found here: Forum Rules and Guidelines
Is there anything we can add or improve? These are the rules that help define what an inappropriate post is. It’s currently a rough guideline, but I’d like it to be more concrete. That way members and moderators have more transparency. Let’s discuss it here: Improved Forum Rules
My Activity
My presence on the forum has justifiably been questioned. For the most part I log in every day or two and respond to private messages. I get a lot from new members because I am the designated contact person listed in the automated welcome message. I also deal with things like user deletions and any issues the moderators might have. I do maintenance on the software too. The last few weeks I haven’t been on as regularly as I should have. It was the holiday season and I had limited internet access. Generally I don’t partake in posts on the forum unless someone asks something of me. This is a bit more of a personal reason: I’m not an addict myself. I don’t want to insult anyone by dealing out advice that I haven’t experienced. Also, if you @ me and I don’t respond, I apologise. I sometimes log in with about 50 notifications and I think I might miss some occasionally. I do generally try to be responsive and help where I’m needed.
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@Robin I think that the forum rules and guidelines are just fine as they are but it is clear that the majority of people don’t actually put in the effort to read them, is there not a way that can be employed that ensures that a new user has to read them? Something like having to read them in the process of setting up your profile, the system will not let you progress on to the next stage until you have read the rules.
My view on moderators is that sassy does an incredible job and does it fairly but it does appear that she could do with some help, the other mods are good but obviously life can get in the way of them being present. Thanks for providing this place. 
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I think they could be a bit more defined, but that’s what the discussion is for. Let’s see what everyone thinks.
I can’t make the system force someone to agree to the rules. But currently the rules are displayed as a banner for new users on top of the forum until they dismiss it. It’s there for them to read, they just need to read it.
I agree that she does an incredible job. I also agree that she could use help.
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It would possibly be helpful to include a sentence asking people to be aware of other people’s addictions such as not posting pictures that verge on the erotic as these can have a detrimental effect on those with an auction such as viewing porn.
I genuinely cannot remember if this is covered as I need to re read them myself as it’s been a while, I have flagged such pictures before now and discussed with the poster and it has always been a simple case of them not realising that it could be harmful. On the whole most members seem quite decent, me excluded
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It would be nice if it was spread out, if only for the fact that it’s harder to blame a group than a single present individual. I was not a fan of the Sassy bashing. If you were a paid person and acting in a holier-than-thou manner, I might not have been so ruffled over it. It was just unnecessary and I think a lot of that would be impossible with 4-5 active mods.
Maybe…
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Thank you, I appreciate that. The bashing certainly has been a learning experience for me. Adding 5 mods would help all around.
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What have i missed lol
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