Quoting Forget_the_Rest:

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I personally am on the side of having moderators anonymous. With few exceptions, most of us here have people who we don't get on with as much as with others. If user X got given mod status and had to moderate a post by user Y who don't get along with each other, you can almost guarantee that sooner or later the mod will be accused of victimising the other. Yes it could be checked but you'll have the arguments there.

Those who are against mods being anonymous because of potential abuse needn't worry in my opinion. I'm sure that they will be on a short leash & their actions will be watched over to make sure that they are following all the necessary rules.

Regardless of anonymity, the fact that some kind of moderation is being considered is a step in the right direction IMHO.

You are dead right.  I think even the most timid of the regular members here has had a run-in with someone, so there is the definite possibility of there being baggage.

Whether the moderator is anonymous or not, someone who has a post removed or gets some other sort of moderator action taken against them could feel they were being victimized.  Plus, if the moderator communicates with them, it is feasible that even if done anonymously, they may figure out who it is due to their communication style.  So, if a moderator is one of the frequent contributors here, I doubt the anonymity will last long.

And I do agree, even if the moderators are anonymous, Invelos won't tolerate abuse or power trips.  Whether they are paid employees of the company or not, they will be viewed as an extension of Invelos and their actions will affect how Invelos itself is perceived.


I don't know how far Invelos wants to take the moderation here.  I want to see discussions and debates continue...  just a little less hostility.  So far, this thread is a good example.  We've heard differing opinions, and nobody has gotten abusive or personal.  I think I need to go out and give out some green arrows to support those who are keeping this interesting! 

Quoting (from the vote for a mod thread) hal9g:

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Quoting FunkyLA:

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I would only vote for Moderator 1, 2, 3 etc

With one mod specialising in each area - rules / submissions / images / general / etc. etc. etc.

We'd need a bunch of them to provide 24X7 coverage if they are required to be "specialists".

Well, maybe, but there certainly needs to be some specialisation in the major areas... and no system is perfect

Quoting Telecine:

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I am all for the appointment of a team of moderators. I have been a member of a number of forums where moderation has proved effective in making the forum a pleasant place to participate, despite controversial topics being discussed by passionate people.

By definition, moderators need to be moderate, steady people. Their role is to moderate the extremes of behaviour and apply appropriate corrective action. Such action should include:

The ability to edit or delete posts;
Post and warn users;
Remove privileges such as contributing profiles, voting on profiles, the ability to use the reputation system etc;
Suspend a user account for an appropriate period for serious indiscretions (commonly 24 hours for the first offence ranging to months for repeated offences; and
Ban a user for very offensive behaviour or repeated breaches.

In my opinion they should be senior users. Anonymity is not required but given the current small number of users of the forum, might be necessary.

Although I understand what you're saying being a mod on another unrelated forum, I don't want to see mods here having that much power. I would rather see any actions they take against another account being logged in some way so that Ken/Gerri can ban/remove privileges/etc... I think due to the rather large number of personalities here, giving the average user that much control over the forum would be asking for trouble.

Have a look here.

And their moderation FAQ.

These a very big forums. The moderation is open and it's results visible to all. This model works very well.

Basically, moderators must be visible. Anonymity is unaccepable. All actions taken in moderating must be visible. People must be given a chance to fix the problem and the post. There must be a way to trigger a review of a moderator and his actions.