Moderation in the wiki and the forum, and how to improve it

Alt titles: "Noimporta is hyperactive and can't stop clicking the create a new conversation button"

As You Know, internet communities need moderation, TV Tropes being no exception. Even if we're not facing a troll invasion right now, no, especially because we're stable right now, I think we could try to work a bit on it. That being said, I'd like to comment on what we have right now and what can we do to it:

We have a reduced team of people keeping the place in order. This is perfectly OK for the forum (which, hyperthreads notwithstanding, is small too), and for the wiki (since the general population of editors regulates itself mostly successfully). However, I've noticed that many people don't know who they are, or just know one of them. This is counterproductive, for it makes people overburden some member of the staff only because they don't know who else they can solicit help from. Furthermore, what a Moderator/Cutmaster/Admin can and cannot do is not explicitly stated anywhere, leading to more confusion regarding their roles and when should each one be contacted.

I believe this information should be more accessible to the general public. In a now-archived thread, someone suggested the creation of a Staff page for Administrivia. In addition to that, we could also create a thread in the Pinned section of the Forum with similar information.

If I recall correctly, the "hierarchy" goes something like this:

Admin: (Total control over the wiki and the fora, can apply edit-bans, or full bans from the site)

• Janitor
• Fast Eddie

Cutmaster: (Moderator powers + control of the Cutlist)

• Meta Four
• Looney Toons

Madrugada Rank: (Moderator powers + decision regarding forum access)

• Madrugada

Moderator: (Can move threads, edit other user's posts and delete reviews)

• Morven
• Tangent 128
• Bobby G

Vent Admin: (Can kick people, start a private conversation and create/delete rooms)

• Ironeye

Should I create such page? If so, what other information should it contain?

---

Unrelated to the above, this thread can be used to discuss anything moderation, such as new additions, tools, requests, announcements, etc.

edited 14th Dec '09 3:15:47 PM by Noimporta

Copying over what I said about the forum banhammer in that thread linked above:

OK. [deep breath]. I'm going to ask for your assistance. Since there are large chunks of the forums that I don't regularly read (most of IJBM, most of the Forum Games, all of the R Ps, and the Troper Updates), please, if someone is acting up in the forums, ''especially if it's in one of those areas, please PM me, and include the name of the threads where I can see what they're doing, and ideally, links to at least the pages that the misbehavior is on or even better, the posts that are problematic.

I can't deal with things I don't know about, and I won't act without reading the posts in question myself. But I'm not going to go digging through 20 pages of Troper Updates or 25 threads in IJBM looking for it..

Deal?

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Bobby was recently promoted to Moderator.

Duly Noted.

Hmm, I must have missed that. Makes sense, though.

I'll keep in mind the PM thing. I figured as much, as I've been in your position before, Madru, though on a different site entirely.

Sakamoto demands an explanation for this shit.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Post Thumping

Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck.

I'm in there (way at that bottom) as the Ventrilo admin. I know Eddie at least also has those powers, but he avoids Vent, so...

@Broken Chaos: Janitor's currently working on a PM system that would be wiki-wide and independent of the forum.

edited 14th Dec '09 3:09:45 PM by Ironeye

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

I would love to have thread-lock abilities. Lots of times, a heated thread simply needs to be locked down for a while to allow the combatants to cool down.

The banhammer Janitor passed to me is applicable to forum posting only, and I also have an un-banner as well, so I can restore forum access.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

For reference.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Post Thumping

Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck.

Wait, so who can impose editblocks and full IP bans? Only Janitor and Fast Eddie?

edited 14th Dec '09 5:01:55 PM by CentralAvenue

Heapers’ Hangout

Only Janitor and Fast Eddie. If a mod asks for one on somebody, they'll probably do it, but only they can actually do so.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Know The Staff has been created, it still needs work. And an index, how did these new indices work?

I also have deletion power over reviews and review comments. Not sure if that comes part and parcel with the forum mod stuff or if it's a separate flag.

A brighter future for a darker age.

I added it to the Administrivia index. To add a new page to an index[es], simply add the name of the page on the appropriate index pages, then go to the new page and reload it.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

According to the Review rules, that is a stock power for moderators, so I lumped it there, could be wrong.

I think it's stock mod powers. I know that I can as well. Basically, Morven offered to mind the reviews section after a rash of flaming and Take That! type reviews, so Janitor gave him mod powers so he could do more than simply tell someone else when there was a problem.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

I Approve Of This Thread. The fact that we do not otherwise have a staff list has 'd me some time.

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

Since Mods can now lock threads as well as move them, I've added that to the Know The Staff page.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Although as Pacific just demonstrated in IJBM, this function is seemingly not entirely foolproof.

I think this page is a very good idea.

Welcome To TV Tropes | How To Write An Example | Text-Formatting Rules | List Of Shows That Need Summary | TV Tropes Forum | Know The Staff

I love you, Morven.

Might it be a good idea to create a "Topic Unlock Request Thread" eventually?

Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?

I expect people will just create those as needed, or PM moderators or admins.

Welcome To TV Tropes | How To Write An Example | Text-Formatting Rules | List Of Shows That Need Summary | TV Tropes Forum | Know The Staff

That's what P Ms are for.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

You know, I predicted that we'd need more moderators back in 2008, a few months after I started being more active on TV Tropes. I predicted we'd need more rules, a general code of conduct, pages showing that we only tolerate civilized behavior.

And at the time, I was shouted down by people, telling me that the "casual atmosphere" could continue indefinitely. That we would never need more active moderators, or a stricter code of conduct. That somehow everyone would police themselves even if the community grew larger and larger. You all said I was crazy, that I was trying to turn it into Wikipedia.

Ha!

edited 15th Dec '09 4:57:58 PM by [AOD]

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