Moderators and Advisors and other questions

[MicHughV]

I've been dying to ask these questions, and I suspect others would like to know as well.

Question # 1:
What is the difference between a Moderator and an Advisor?

Question # 2:
How does a Moderator or Advisor get selected...chosen...appointed....recommended...or otherwise latch on to this job ??

Questions # 3:
There are vast number of threads on this CF. How does a moderator get assigned to a thread ?

Question # 4:
It seems that a moderator is assigned several threads at a time, how on earth does a Moderator or Advisor keep up with such a wide diversity?
It seriously appears to look like a full time job to me.

Question # 5:
I note that some posters always seem to have some or other ad or commercial inserted into their posts. Who decides this ?

Question # 6:
The Moderators and Advisors appear to be located around the globe. How does the time difference play into performing this job?

And...no, I'm not looking for a job here, sounds like way too much work for my tastes. Just curious.

And finally, would like to add, from my point of view, the Mods and Advisors, do a stellar job, as the job description seems to entail the dexterous ability in trying to herd cats, requiring the patience of Job and the wisdom of Solomon.

[a64pilot]

1. A Moderator is sort of a thread cop if you will, try to make sure the rules are followed, an advisor is I believe a subject matter expert.

2. We are asked, I believe the most important consideration is the asker believes the asked is a type that wants to help.

3. No one gets assigned to anything, we read the forum just like anyone else, and if a Mod makes a comment etc, the others try to ensure we don’t interfere as a matter of politeness.

4. We aren’t assigned, and sometimes we do get confused and ask please that you guys understand that we are just cruisers like everyone else, and some of us like me, have very poor computer skills, but I try.

5. A professional can pay for advertising, sort of sponsor the site, but I honestly know nothing about that, we have a person that handles advertising.

6. We are scattered about, and I believe that’s best as this is an international forum and members are posting 24/7. We do have a way to communicate with each other. Sometimes when a member asks something to be done or a question, it takes a day or two to get back with them, and this is often due to the mods being scattered around the world and it takes time to get the word out for comment. Sometimes if we know the answer etc, you get an immediate answer, but please understand we are volunteers and cruisers just like you guys and we have personal lives too, so it may be awhile before we see a PM etc. we aren’t ignoring you. But if you need an immediate answer, it’s best to contact several Mods at once, that way it’s more likely to get an immediate response, but please only do that if it’s important.

The rules don’t allow us to discuss moderation, and commenting on moderation is also forbidden, but I believe your questions were genuine and may help others, so hopefully I won’t get into trouble by answering

On edit, there are a lot of rules, and some are complex, but the overriding most important thing is to be polite, so long as your polite you are following the most important rule.

[Knotical]

Whatever the mods do and however they do it I just appreciate everything that they do. This is one of the most (maybe even the most) civilized forum I have been part of, as long as we don’t talk about anchors or varnish, and recently NZ and Fiji 😉.

As a64pilot said above it may take them some time to respond to a query but they will get back to you. I recently requested a change of username and it took them 2 days to do it which is fine.

I also had 3 lines in my signature (which is not allowed) however it was noticed by one of the mods after months - I was asked to remove it which I did promptly.

Keep doing the great work - thank you.

[Shrew]

Moderators are simply users/members just like you. The only difference is there are some limited permissions to close threads, delete posts, move posts or threads, ban users etc. The best analogy would be a school hall monitor, or a prison trustee. We (They, I am a moderator on several forums, just not this particular one) are just like everyone else, but with some elevated privileges and responsibilities.

These are UNpaid gigs. It is done for the love of the forum, the subject matter, and the members/users.

The best way to trigger a reaction is to flag a post. Otherwise the moderator has to read diligently through a number of threads and proactively take action. There are way too many threads and too many posts to effectively do that. Sort of like the old "Where are the cops when you NEED one". Well, you have to call one.

Know that moderators work as a group. There are DAILY discussions behind the scenes on various posts and threads. No one moderator works independently, even if it looks like only one is taking action. Deletions, Locks and Bans are done after serious discussion. Even the moderators sometimes disagree on actions amongst themselves and must defer to a majority ruling.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Shrew

Moderators are simply users/members just like you. The only difference is there are some limited permissions to close threads, delete posts, move posts or threads, ban users etc. The best analogy would be a school hall monitor, or a prison trustee. We (They, I am a moderator on several forums, just not this particular one) are just like everyone else, but with some elevated privileges and responsibilities.

These are UNpaid gigs. It is done for the love of the forum, the subject matter, and the members/users.

The best way to trigger a reaction is to flag a post. Otherwise the moderator has to read diligently through a number of threads and proactively take action. There are way too many threads and too many posts to effectively do that. Sort of like the old "Where are the cops when you NEED one". Well, you have to call one.

Know that moderators work as a group. There are DAILY discussions behind the scenes on various posts and threads. No one moderator works independently, even if it looks like only one is taking action. Deletions, Locks and Bans are done after serious discussion. Even the moderators sometimes disagree on actions amongst themselves and must defer to a majority ruling.

yup, that pretty much sums it up!

[MicHughV]

Well, thanks guys, I think y'all do a sterling job !! ...and that you do it for just the hell of it is truly admirable !!!

[GreenWave]

Originally Posted by Knotical

Whatever the mods do and however they do it I just appreciate everything that they do. This is one of the most (maybe even the most) civilized forum I have been part of, as long as we don’t talk about anchors or varnish, and recently NZ and Fiji 😉.

.

I thought the forbidden topics were batteries and bilges... plus no bashing East Coast cruising?!?!?

[Wotname]

Very informative and helpful in understanding how the "back room guys" keep CF floating on it's lines .

On the same topic, what is the difference between a CF moderator and a CF administrator?

[Adelie]

Mods have a fair bit of control and police the threads and members.

Admins have more controls (such as doing name changes and profile edits) and police the Mods as well as members. There is one admin that is very active moderating, the rest moderate occasionally and step in when there are big policy issues the mods are sorting out. The admins tend to have been around a very long time and have a lot of institutional memory.

In the app view mods and admins have a crown next to their UserName, color differentiates which.

Regarding finding problems for us to address. About 1/4 we find ourselves. The rest are flagged by members. At the bottom left of every post and the top right of every PM there is a triangular icon to flag/report issues. Then you flag an issue every mod receives an email about it. Every flag opens a discussion thread in a restricted access sub-forum where we discuss what to do.
Generally we thank the flagging member but otherwise they won’t know what happens with an issue unless they notice that a post has been edited or deleted or a thread closed or deleted.

Generally we try very hard not to delete whole threads, doing so deletes posts by all the members that have contributed.

If an issue is cut and dry a single mod may address and close the issue immediately.
If it’s less obvious we may delete a post and discuss before making a final decision. Sometime posts are put back after we discuss. Usually letting a post stay deleted or putting it back is decided fairly quickly, say 24hr. Deciding whether to and how much to sanction a member can take significantly longer. We operate not just by majority but by consensus.

People will notice some things in the rules that might be considered weird. They are usually a reaction to something that happened in the past more than once. Signature length is one of them.

Knotical opined that this is a very civilized forum. My opinion is that the really civilized forums are some the owners group forums. They are very heavily moderated, and also tend to be a lot smaller. Partially because they have a limited focus (one boatbuilders boats or even one model of boat) and because they are so heavily moderated.

Without putting words in the mouths of other moderators my aim for CF is in part to be somewhere in between those forums and SailingAnarchy.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Mods have a fair bit of control and police the threads and members.

Admins have more controls (such as doing name changes and profile edits) and police the Mods as well as members. ......................


Without putting words in the mouths of other moderators my aim for CF is in part to be somewhere in between those forums and SailingAnarchy.

[Dougtiff]

Need help about how to ask a question, and how does the answer get to me ?, via email ?, thanks, Dougtiff.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Dougtiff

Need help about how to ask a question, and how does the answer get to me ?, via email ?, thanks, Dougtiff.

You can always use the private messaging, or "PM." If you go to the profile page of the person to contact, and look right under their name, you'll see a drop down menu called "send message." Click that on and send a PM and it will appear in your "Private Messages" box, top of the screen on right, under your name.

[Adelie]

c

Originally Posted by Dougtiff

Need help about how to ask a question, and how does the answer get to me ?, via email ?, thanks, Dougtiff.

If the question regards something that has been posted, flag the post and ask the question, flagging is not just for problems. Flagging notifies all the Mods when it occurs so answers tend to be faster, unless it's a complex issue we need to discuss.

If it's a question about the rules or something else that isn't in a post send a PM to a mod, or better yet several, the first 3 and last 2 on the mod list are pretty active as well as others sprinkled thru the middle. The Mod list is in the "Community" pull down menu.

You can even flag one of your own posts that is unrelated, in order to ask the question.

Response will probably be by PM and maybe also by Post depending on what seem appropriate and may be immediate or take several days depending.

As long at you have your notifications set to you should receive an email when you receive a PM. It's a little hit and miss whether you would get an email for an in-thread post response.

That work for you? Or am I misunderstanding your question?

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Well, thanks guys, I think y'all do a sterling job !! ...and that you do it for just the hell of it is truly admirable !!!

Agreed!