# Mods on-line



## maxiogee

Hiya,
Is there any way of knowing which mods are on-line at any given time? If one should wish to get in touch with a Mod how can one know who is 'out there' at the time?


----------



## timpeac

maxiogee said:


> Hiya,
> Is there any way of knowing which mods are on-line at any given time? If one should wish to get in touch with a Mod how can one know who is 'out there' at the time?


No - mods can appear off line even when they're not just like foreros.

This is one reason that "report a post" is the best way to advise problems. The list of report a post can be seen by all moderators and although we generally only moderate in our own forums we will moderate in others if no other moderators are on line (we can see if other moderators are on line or not).

In big emergencies you can PM any mod (say someone has posted disgusting filth or something) and they will act.

Another issue is the fact that people are shown on line up to 30 minutes after their last action. I have woken up the next day to find PMs requesting something from me and then berating me for not replying because they didn't know this.

It must be very rare that no moderator is on line at all, and we try to arrange things such that we have cover for each forum (thus having European and US moderators for example) but there is no work rota.


----------



## fenixpollo

In a big emergency -- advertising, copyright or abusiveness, for example -- I would not PM a mod, but I would use the report-a-post feature... precisely because I know that a PM may not be seen immediately by the mod I happen to send it to.

But for more mundane issues -- a repeated thread, for example -- I will PM two or three mods (ladies, you know who you are!  ) at a time and let them fight over who gets to resolve the problem. 





> If one should wish to get in touch with a Mod how can one know who is 'out there' at the time?


 The answer is, they are all "out there". _Way_ "out there".


----------



## timpeac

fenixpollo said:


> But for more mundane issues -- a repeated thread, for example -- I will PM two or three mods (ladies, you know who you are!  ) at a time and let them fight over who gets to resolve the problem. The answer is, they are all "out there". _Way_ "out there".


It's quite annoying when people do this to be honest because then both moderators have to spend time seeing if the problem has been resolved, perhaps acting at the same time and then PMing the other moderator to say they've dealt with it.

Please use the report a post for all reports apart from the most urgent - it really is both quickest and easiest (and we won't think anyone's over-reacting if you use it for the small issues).


----------



## GenJen54

I believe part of the reason many forer@s are hesitant to use the Report-A-Post feature is that the guidelines regarding its use are very specific:





> *Note*: This is ONLY to be used to report spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or otherwise rule-breaking) posts.


 
Duplicate posts and similar minor complaints are not covered by this, which is why many choose to use PM to report lesser infractions. I agree, however, that this may lead to duplicate work, which is why from most mods' POV, the Report-A-Post feature is the best way to deal with questionable posts of any kind.


----------



## cuchuflete

Mike has set up the software so that whenever any mod signs on, the very top of the main menu page displays this:



> Posts reported through the report-a-post symbol.


We tend to go to that even before checking PMs.  It's the quickest way to make sure that whichever mods are on at a given moment see that something needs attention.


----------



## Jana337

Anyway, here is a list of moderators (available via the forum homepage - click on "View Forum Leaders". You can check it to know how heavily you are supervised  but agree with my colleagues: Report-a-post is the most efficient way to get things done quickly. 

Jana


----------



## geve

timpeac said:


> Please use the report a post for all reports apart from the most urgent - it really is both quickest and easiest (and we won't think anyone's over-reacting if you use it for the small issues).


I thought that urgent matters were precisely what the report-a-post feature was designed for  

When someone sends a report, does it open a message for mods, no matter where they are on the forum (like a PM notice would)?


----------



## fenixpollo

GenJen54 said:


> I believe part of the reason many forer@s are hesitant to use the Report-A-Post feature is that the guidelines regarding its use are very specific:
> 
> Duplicate posts and similar minor complaints are not covered by this, which is why many choose to use PM to report lesser infractions. I agree, however, that this may lead to duplicate work, which is why from most mods' POV, the Report-A-Post feature is the best way to deal with questionable posts of any kind.


Thank you, Jen. This is precisely why I use the report-a-post sparingly.  For me, a repeated thread or a question buried in another thread are not urgent matters and do not fall under the guidelines of the R-a-P feature.

I seem to be hearing a different message from several moderators, however, which leads me to believe that I should begin using the R-a-P feature exclusively, instead of PM-ing a mod.


----------



## Rayines

Please, ¿where is the report-a-post feature, just in case?

_Edit_: Thanks, Elaine.


----------



## ElaineG

> I seem to be hearing a different message from several moderators, however, which leads me to believe that I should begin using the R-a-P feature exclusively, instead of PM-ing a mod.


 
And I seem to be hearing that we need to revise and clarify our report-a-post guidelines! 

Now that the forum is so big, so busy and so diverse, it's the best way to draw the mods' attention to any problem, big or small, and to ensure that a wide variety of mods will see a problem. 

(We will now retire to our super-secret _way out there_ mod chamber to mull the issue over.  )

_Edit_: Ray, it's the red and white triangle in the upper-right-hand border of every post.


----------



## geve

ElaineG said:


> (We will now retire to our super-secret _way out there_ mod chamber to mull the issue over.  )


Please leave one of you behind to check on the forums!  

If I may share one of those utopic ideas that we forer@s seem to never be short of, would it be possible to have two different buttons? One that would send a message to all mods for issues that potentially harm the whole community (advertising, abusive language...), and one that would send the report to the moderators of one forum, for issues linked to the smooth running of this particular forum (eg. duplicate posts)?
I'm sure there will be many pratical reasons against this idea... But I have seen this question raised a few times and I'm still not sure how to use the feature.

On a more realistic note, maybe when you get in your secret chamber you could browse the messages that were sent via this feature and give us a list of what you found was useful to report this way, and what you think could better be adressed some other way.


----------



## panjandrum

Speaking as a wandering mod passing this way and commenting without looking closely at the report-a-posts ...
It is my impression that most report-a-posts are useful. Mods manage the reported posts with surprising efficiency so that I can see very quickly if there are any unresolved reports.


----------



## cuchuflete

geve said:


> Please leave one of you behind to check on the forums!
> 
> If I may share one of those utopic ideas that we forer@s seem to never be short of, would it be possible to have two different buttons? One that would send a message to all mods for issues that potentially harm the whole community (advertising, abusive language...), and one that would send the report to the moderators of one forum, for issues linked to the smooth running of this particular forum (eg. duplicate posts)?



Geve,
Thanks for the good idea.  We see the thread names, followed by the forum name, so there is no need for a second button.  Here is an example.

_*Reported: Fruits of the Great Plains - Cultural Discussions*_


----------



## maxiogee

cuchuflete said:


> Mike has set up the software so that whenever any mod signs on, the very top of the main menu page displays this:
> 
> We tend to go to that even before checking PMs.  It's the quickest way to make sure that whichever mods are on at a given moment see that something needs attention.



Now that is a useful piece of information.
We mundane mutterers know little of how the forum works.
Maybe there is a case for some more explanations of 'processes' here.
For instance, when I post something to the Qwerty forum I often receive a PM from a Mod which addresses some point I raise and which has "CC Qwerty Mods" at the bottom. Is it possible to CC a forum's mods all at once and so 'beat' the five-addressees limit?


----------



## fenixpollo

One mod I talked to says that she doesn't mind my PMs -- I speculate that this is because I always include links to all threads in question, making her job easier. 

I'm seeing phrases like "mods do this" and "we do that"... after your secret back-room discussion, has any consensus emerged regarding this process?  Can we expect to see uniformity in the handling of the r-a-p feature across modville?


----------



## zebedee

maxiogee said:


> For instance, when I post something to the Qwerty forum I often receive a PM from a Mod which addresses some point I raise and which has "CC Qwerty Mods" at the bottom. Is it possible to CC a forum's mods all at once and so 'beat' the five-addressees limit?



Not that I know of. However that would seem to be a head-scratch issue just for the 2 larger forums: Español and Français, because the other forums have 5 or fewer mods. I would imagine that Copy & Paste comes in very handy for the mods of the larger forums.


----------



## zebedee

fenixpollo said:


> One mod I talked to says that she doesn't mind my PMs -- I speculate that this is because I always include links to all threads in question, making her job easier.
> 
> I'm seeing phrases like "mods do this" and "we do that"... after your secret back-room discussion, has any consensus emerged regarding this process?  Can we expect to see uniformity in the handling of the r-a-p feature across modville?



We're working on it!


----------



## zebedee

So the jury's back in and, after a 6-day sit-in with light refreshements and much scratching of respective chins, the decision is that the best way to go about letting the mods know of any thread/post you see needing attention is by using the Report-A-Post feature.

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions.


----------



## timpeac

And the wording beneath the report a post message when you click on it is more inclusive for any sort of problem.


----------



## panjandrum

It says:


> Please use this to report any post you feel needs moderator attention.


----------



## maxiogee

Eggs sell ent


----------

