That is true Etain, you were the only moderator I didn't see close several threads questioning the acts of their guild/allies/themselves like Harker and Anatole would. But overall moderation on the Imp forums was a big joke.

I made it a point never to close any threads that had anything to do with my character, whether it be her guild order or city.

and I heart you still Jello, even though you complain more than an old lady.

Yeah, I'm thinking we may need moderators on the Lusternia Forums. When we first started, the gods could police it well enough and I'm pretty much an advocate of the hands-off, let them vent approach.

But the posting has gotten so fast and furious, not to mention the attacks on the admin has gotten so personal and insulting, that many of us prefer not to read these forums. (It amazes me how people think that threats, insults, posturing and obnoxiousness are good strategies to convince those in charge to change things--when in fact it provokes quite the opposite reaction.)

Anyway, back on point, since I'm not an expert on moderating forums, how are moderators usually picked? I'm thinking of approaching top posters who seem to have a good head on their shoulders.

Avasyu just sent me a PM one day, asking me to moderate. The other moderater was chosen because he was the manager of the MSN site that Imperian had. The third player moderator that was added, was voted on by the administration and moderators that were already in place. They wanted people that were fair, and that were fairly active on the forums so they could catch things.

Well, I actually have some forums that I've run for my website and things.

I usually picked moderators, not necessarily from top posts, but from people who can be mature about things. It's good to pick people who are able to be objective. That and pick people who are around the most often (which very well could be top posters).

exactly!

Is everybody given the new "warn" feature on people's avatars?

*looks at daganev's avatar*
*sees Group: Moderator*

I'd say only moderators.

Aha!

This is what happens when you read posts out of order.

Moderators have wonderfull powers.

Do people have any suggestions, such as cleaning up threads, and merging threads that are related into subthreads? Or should the Anarchy continue in full revelry?

I went by the guidelines of...if a post is terribly off the thread subject, delete it. If it is a deliberate post bump, delete it. If it is personally insulting, racist, or overly derogatory, delete it. If there are five threads on the same subject, merge them. If a post has no substance, such as a one word reply, we were asked to delete those as well. It is also not good to moderate in threads that you have actively participated in, for the sake of not appearing bias.

Delete anything posted in the "shiri posts too much" thread. That should cut down the total posts by about 12000.

Warn people when they post 1 line replies, or that bitch about the same thing incesently.

*chin*

Merge every thread about bitching 'bout skills into a "Bitch about skills here" thread, then delete every post outside of that which bitches about skills.

Ooh, congrats Daganev/anyone else.

Roark is all about independence and Freedom. I like roark. No Forum Nazis here.

I'm wondering about making things easier for people to find and read, not take away the fun that is the forums!

If weeding out the idiotic and insulting posts that do no one any good is considered being a nazi, then go nazi go!

Well, top posters aren't the only people who make good moderators. Personally, I read more or less every single post, but I usually just don't comment, as per the 'Don't comment unless you have something to actually add to the conversation' thing.

Just because they don't post, doesn't mean they don't care

Congratulations, Daganev... this should be interesting.

And if you're looking for advice, I would disagree with most of the comments here. Deleting a post should be an absolute last resort - ie, it is clearly offensive towards a person or group. If you want to keep a thread on track, initially post to remind people that they must do so, only then will you step in more forcefully. I also suggest you resort to locking first rather than deleting/merging. Just my thoughts though.

I think you are correct.

The ability for one to find a thread and read all the ideas around that topic, rather than searching multiple threads to get all the opinions is a nice theory but it would stund creativity and free expression to much.

Guess you can't have your trains run ontime and have door to door service.

It is a good idea to use PM's to warn people of total deletion before you do actually delete a post, if that is what you decide to do.

One thing that the player moderators had problems with in Imperian was that the people posting did not like the moderators editing their posts, or adding comments to them. Just for future knowledge.

Ok new question:

Should I delete posts when the post says:

"Oops Doublepost"

or

"oops, delete this"
???

I don't think it's a moderator's purpose to keep threads neatly trimmed and pruned, but if someone asks for it and you feel like helping, do it.
I don't see anything controversial about it.