Thanks
@Amysaurus for providing that divider. That previous reply was getting long. I am currently working on your first set.
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@Amysaurus Batch One Questions:
AMY: A member is obviously angry with you, but is very passive-aggressive about it over the forums. None of their posts look mean/angry to other users or staff members, however. What do you do to resolve this?
I would send the member a courtesy PM.
Hi FourmMember,
What have I done something to offend you? Through my actions or responses, please let me know, what caused it. Did I respond sarcastically towards you, or in a many of disrespect? Let me know what I done. I apologize for upsetting you, and would like to know what I have done. If I have not done anything to upset you towards, just treat this message as one that I wanted to make sure everything was OK. Have an awesome day.
Sincerely,
MinisterJay
AMY: Rank these in order of importance (as they apply to this forum), and explain your reasoning: greeting members, following rules, keeping active, participating in events. I won’t accept an answer of “all are equally important”, however, you can explain to me why you think they should or should not be.
> 1. [RULE 5 Violation] A member starts hijacking a thread with their own questions and ideas - what do you do, and how? Within the thread, I put a reminder that everybody needs to stay on topic. I also state that if any has questions and ideas not relating to this topic to please start a new thread. If after this, the member continues to hijack the thread, I send a PM. In the PM, I follow the positive/negative/positive format. Within the negative portion, I remind them that Rule #5 is to stay on topic. Bringing up questions and ideas not within original thread post is getting off topic.
> 2. [RULE 5 Violation] A member goes off into an off-topic tangent, but makes one relevant comment at the bottom of their post. How do you respond to this? Within this thread, I put a reminder that everybody needs to stay completely on topic, and that having just one small part addressing the topic does not qualify. If after this, the member continues to just put a small part near the end of the replies regarding the topic, I send a PM. In the PM, I follow the positive/negative/positive format. Within the negative portion, I remind them that Rule #5 is to stay on topic. Bringing up questions and ideas not within original thread post is getting off topic. Adding a short qualifying statement at the end of the reply does not make the entire reply legitimate.
> 3. [Courtesy PM, Help] What do you do to help a member who speaks very little English? If they were having a lot of difficulty speaking English, I would send them a PM. I would write in English first, and use an online translator to assist if I did not find one of my Filipino, Spanish, French, Portuguese, or German friends to translate it for me. Some have been trained in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes. With our Internet resources and contacts, we can assist this member navigate and express their thoughts better.
> 4. [Courtesy PM, Difficult to Read] A member keeps typing in ALL CAPS or 1337 5p34k, and members are starting to complain. What do you do, and how? I send the person a courtesy PM. Here are sample of two PM:
Hello ForumMember,
I want to thank you for being active in our discussions.
Did you know that for some members it is hard to read words that are in ALL CAPS? Other view ALL CAPS as a way to express screaming. For the comfort of our members, could you please not use ALL CAPS, and modify your current post? If your keyboard is stuck in this mode, please let me know, and we will see how we can assist you.
I look forward to seeing more of you post.
Have a nice day,
MinisterJay
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Hello ForumMember,
I can see that you have had the privilege and skill to learn 1337 5p34k.
You and I may know that it stands for Elite Speak. We do have members that do not understand it. We have a growing number of members that do not have English as their primary speaking language. They may understand how to read on language, but numbers for letters may be very confusing for them. It is understandable to use it every now and then, but not nearly all the time. I am erquesting you to limit the amount of Elite Speak that you use, for the benefit of all our members.
Maybe you can create a thread in the Forum Games, so we can all join in with you in 1337 5p34k.
Looking forward to that game,
MinisterJay
> 5. [Courtesy PM, Reaching Post Requirements] A member is obviously responding to several posts just to up their post count, but their posts aren’t technically spam. How do you respond to this? I send the member a PM simarly to this one.
Hey ForumMember,
You have become really active lately and that is a good sign.
I have read some of your replies and discussions, and you have not violated any rules. This may be blunt, but are you posting a lot lately to get that next posting badge that you are so close to getting, or possibly reaching the requirements for our latest contest? These may look like short-term goals, but will you maintain the level of activity that you are showing us right now? Both of these goals could have been achieved, if you consistently read and replied to just the areas you are interested in. Another thing to look at is endurance. This does not apply for the posting badge, there is limitations on how high you can obtain by that alone. One of the requirements for winning the latest contest deals with a lot of writing. Will you be able to endure that?
It would be awesome if you remain this active, in regards to posting. You have a lot of valuable things to bring to us.
Take care,
MinisterJay
> 6. [Courtesy PM, Concerned] You notice that an RT member isn’t being very friendly, but is still submitting their work on time. At what point do you contact their team leader with your concerns? Some people are just not friendly. It may be their personality; it may be caused by something unknown. Being part of the RT does not have a prerequisite to be friendly with anyone. It is a bonus if they are friendly. Friendly can be subjective too. What emotions are behind written words can be biased on readers experiences. Now if the person was normally friendly, and all of a sudden became unfriendly, that is different. I would send something similar to this courtesy PM. Only if there was severe issues, and they wanted me to be a mediator, would I bring it up to their RT Leader.
Hi RTMember,
I was just checking to see if everything was OK. If it is, wonderful. If not, I am here to talk about it. As a matter of fact, if it is none of my business and you tell me so, I will respect that too.
Have a good one,
MinisterJay
> 7. [Ignore, Subjective and Possible Rumor] You find out that some members are saying nasty things about you over IM. What do you do about this? People saying nasty things about people happens, even among people who one may think is their best friend. It is over IM, Skype, PM, etc. and I am not invited to participate, it is none of my business. It starts overflowing into undermining within the forums, then it becomes my business.
AMY BONUS: What is my favorite dinosaur? Note: I honestly don’t remember if you can find this information on the forum.
On October 16th you said Brontosaurus.
http://www.rpgmakermv.co/threads/ama-ask-me-anything-thread.249/
PART TWO for
@Amysaurus
> Under what circumstances would you ban a member instantly?
If a unfamiliar new member post kiddie porn, I would ban the member instantly. I have seen this as a group admin, in Social media. It has to be taken care of immediately. We have minors on this site, and many of those sites are heavily saturated with hostage viri.
> You’re unsure of how many warning points to assign a member. What do you do?
Almost every forum has a warning guideline set up for moderators and administrators. I would look at these guideline, and find which category, the member fell into. If after this, I am still unsure, I would discuss it with seasoned moderators.
> Do you think you will have any problems giving out a warn or ban? It’s easy to say you’ll do it, but will you have any hesitation? I have warned and banned in the past, which is a good indicator that I will do it again, if it is for the best interest of the forum.
> You realize you’ve given out an undeserved punishment. What steps would you take to resolve this? I have a history of turning myself in when I have realized that I was within compliance. I would apologize for doing or being inappropriate. I would notify the appropriate level of moderation/administration and accept the consequences.
> You notice an issue on the forum, but neither of the admins are available to fix it. What do you do? There is most likely a chain of command of how to resolve issues when neither admins are available. If it is within my delegated power and skill level to resolve, I will attempt to resolve it. If it is not, I will get with the other two moderators, and as a united front, attempt to resolve the issue.
> You and another staff member disagree on how to interpret a rule. How and where do you discuss this? There different options options for this. We can discuss it thoroughly through PM, and then if there is still a difference of interpretation, it can be brought to other staff members, through whatever means available for just them to discuss it.
> How will you prioritize looking through the forum? Will you look at everything, or try and focus on one section?
As a moderator, I would continue to follow my daily routines within the forum, with some modifications.
I. The first thing I check is Report notifications. One of our members has reported something, and I need to check out of what it is, and deem appropriate action, if any needed. If action is not needed, I would PM the person who sent the report, and explain why the post was not in violation.
II. The second thing I check is the PMs. Sometimes members have questions or concerns that they prefer to address privately.
III. The next thing I would do is do my walk around the forums.
A. I look for new notices made by administration. There may be new information regarding procedures or changes in the forum, that may be needed to know before checking rest of forum.
B. I quickly greet new members in Introductions.
C. I look at MV Support. I take note if there are Support issues that I can resolve. If the process would take too long, I put on my To Do list.
D. I look at Resources. Most things forgotten by members is small, so I add to the discussion stating something like:, “I am excited to see what your resource looks like. I think you would get more downloads and feedback, if we had a screenshot.” Not all moderations have to be official, they are many times, you taking care of members, and helping them out.
E. I take a look at what was new in each forum, including blogs and wikis. A little extra attention may be focused on new members, while they are learning the forum. They may have accidentally posted in the wrong area or made other mistakes, something almost all of us do and have done.
IV. I give administration a vary short update of what is going, without going into too much detail. If more detail is needed, they will asks. Likewise, if I start seeing patterns, I notify will notify the rest of the moderation team.
IV. While keeping the forums tab open, I look for sites where I can tell others about the so many features we have, while following the rules of that site. This is the recruiting and marketing part of the day.
V. Have fun reading and replying to the various threads.
> You ask 2 members to take a discussion into PM, but they refuse, and direct their anger at you. What happens next? I will send both of them individual PMs, with the same message, only MemberName being different.
ForumMember,
I know that you have strong beliefs in your position.
I kindly asked you and ForumMember2 to bring it into PM. Now you have made angry statements towards me. This is a violation of Rule #2, no flaming, no harassment of others. Please put your discussion into PM, and I am temporarily removing the thread until bth side show they can discuss in a civil manner. Continued violation of these conditions will result in being warned, with appropriate points being awarded.
I look forward to all of us resolving this, and bringing it to a civil resolution.
Thank you for your cooperation,
MinisterJay
> You find that a banned member comes back with an alternate account, but they’re following the rules now. What do you do?
I do not know if we have software capabilities to see if they are using the same IP address, and if we did, then we would have to make sure it was not a public computer, like at a library or school, with multiple members using them. (Saw this happen in a game forum before, a banned member and non-banned using same public computers.) Without proof unfortunately, we can do but do one thing wait. A person that was banned will eventually forget the new fake habits, and will slowly revert to old habits. Habit changing is not impossible, but very difficult. I would notify all staff to keep watch of this alternate account banned member.
> BONUS: Name 3 of my 5 favorite animals. :)
Rain frog, Canadian geese, and puffer fish.
MinisterJay said:
A seldom noticed forum member has gone beyond the call of duty. Please give us an example PM of what you might send them.
Here is an example PM that i might send them.
Hi AwesomeMember,
I noticed that you did a really awesome job throughout the forums. You have gone beyond the call of duty. What you did is an example of what a forum dedicated team player is all about. You demonstrated that you will do what it takes, and beyond, to get things completed, with easy to follow directions. I really look forward to seeing what more you have to say. This will not be forgotten.
Thanks for making our days better,
MinisterJay
