Call for Moderators for RAF Commands Forums

[Jagan]

Dear Members,

This is a call for volunteer Moderators for the RAFCommands forum. Since Ross has retired from the forum administration, the gigantic task of moderating this 24x7 has to be replaced by others.

We would like to have a team of 5 to 6 moderators from different timezones who will be visiting the forum once in a while to make sure all is okay. It does not require crazy technical skills. Anyone who can post on this forum should be able to handle this with a little bit of additional training.

The responsibilities are :

1. Keep a close watch on new members perhaps take a role in the approval process (if we decide not to automate it). Keep potential spammers out.
2. Nudge the members in the right direction once in a while when they stray on issues like copyright, etiquette etc
3. Delete spam/commercial posts as and when they occur.

Our forum members do a good job of moderating themselves and thus I would hope that it will not put too strenous a load on those who volunteer. The technical skills required will also be medium. I can help guide folks if required till they get the ropes

I believe a small team of five to six moderators would provide adequate coverage across all time zones. To keep things afresh, moderators can change their roles, hand over to others and get new members to volunteer after every year or two.

I have currently identified two members as Volunteers. So still looking for another three to four.

If you would like to personally volunteer, or would like to nominate some of the other senior members who would be an asset in such a role, please do post your name in this thread or by email via http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/sendmessage.php

[Resmoroh]

Jagan,

Confused that yr location at head this Thread/Post states "Delaware, USA". What gives?

Cannot volunteer to be a Mod by virtue of domestic responsibilities. Can be Deputy (if needed) to a Mod.

HTH

Peter Davies

[Jagan]

Pete, been living in the USA, past few years . I put that in to make sure everyone knows which Timezone I am working out of !..

Its not necessary one has to be a mod to help out. you can do a 'deputy's job as you put it - merely by reporting posts , users by using the "Report Post" feature on the bottom left of every post. So Thank you . we will need all the help we can get

[robstitt]

Hi Jagan,

Thank you for taking on this role and apologies for not replying before re our earlier correspondence. Life....!

I would be willing to help moderate from the PST time zone. I look at the site every day when at home - which is most of the time.

Might be useful to develop a moderator guide document with a list of does and dont's that expands on the three responsibilities you list. Am sure Ross and previous moderators could contribute to this to get us started.

Regards:

Robert

[Jagan]

Thanks Robert for volunteering. Yes I will be making a list of guidelines I will provide and also a sort of a technical helpline (either email or another forum) where we can discuss ideas .

Additionally I would like to state that there seems to be a misconception (two members on the board had this) that the moderator has to read all the posts and validate them - thats unrealistic and that is not what we expect.

The Moderators dont have to read all the posts. the forum members will take the responsibility of reporting posts when someone crosses the line. (Which is rare)

When a post is reported it icomes up on our moderator dashboard and the Mods can act on it.

The moderators occasionally will need to scan the behaviour of new members and root out spambots if they flare up. So in short being a moderator does not mean that all posts have to be read and one has to be on 24x7

This will at best add two activities each lasting a minute for every visit. , Approving New Users (about 3 to four per day), and responding to Moderator reports (zero or few currently(

[robstitt]

Jagan:

Sounds good! Like the idea of a moderator forum too.

Robert

[alieneyes]

Jagan,

Count me in. I live in the CET timezone and work nights so can keep an eye out for these issues as well as the midnight editors.

Regards,

Dave

[CZ_RAF]

Jagan, you can count me in too - more via email.

Pavel

[Jagan]

Thank you Dave and Pavel. Please do watch out for a mail from me.

regards

Jagan