You may also post messages to inspire discussion on issues central to the topic defined in the FAQ, or to push the discussion back on the track if it is developing in a direction far from the topic.
Be prepared that your decisions may be contested. Debates over moderation policy and censorship tend to be long and venomous. Try to avoid such discussions. Your moderation policy should be consistent and easy to understand. Refer to the FAQ for justifying your decisions.
What the moderator should not do
You are not allowed to abuse your privileges as
moderator to promote your own opinion. The only way you can express your personal opinion
is the same way as anybody else: by posting a message. Do not delete messages just because
you disagree with them. And do not insert your opinion or replies as comments in somebody
else's message. This is important for psychological reasons: many people tend to take it
as a violation of their personal integrity if somebody edits their messages, even
when it is only for the purpose of correcting spelling errors. This will make them angry
and post angry messages.
What are inappropriate messages?
Messages that do not relate to the topic defined in the FAQ, overly offensive
messages, personal attacks, commercial advertisements, redundant repetitions of what has
already been said, and copyright violations.
What to do with inappropriate messages
The normal thing to do with an inappropriate message is to move it to the 'deleted'
folder. It will then show in the index of deleted messages, including the reason for
deleting, so that the author can see what has happened to his/her message and why. After a
month or two you can then purge it from 'deleted' so that it doesn't take up disk space
any more. If there are several identical messages, then you need only leave one under
'deleted' and purge the rest.
If only part of a message is offending, or if it is posted in good faith, then you may edit the message instead. You have to insert a comment telling what you have edited, and why. For example: [Moderator's note: please stick to the topic] or [offending remark removed by moderator].
How to use the moderation tool
Write your login name in the moderator field and your password in the password field.
Select which topic you are moderating in the board field. Your password gives you access
to the topic(s) you are assigned to and the test board. You can use the test
board for experimenting and practicing how to use the moderation tool. You are allowed
to delete or edit messages in the test board for this purpose.
Select the message or messages you want to move or edit. Each message has a thread number and a message number. The thread number appears before the hyphen and the message number after the hyphen in the filename. For example, a message with filename 244-3.htm is message number 3 in thread number 244. Write the thread number in the thread field and the message number in the message field.
You may move several messages in one operation. To move several messages in the same thread write the thread number in the thread field and the message numbers separated by commas in the message field. You may also specify a range. For example 6..15 will specify messages number 6 through 15 inclusive. 6..10,12..15 will specify messages 6 through 15 except 11. To specify an entire thread leave the message field blank. To specify several threads write a list or range in the thread field and leave the message field blank. You cannot specify several messages in different threads without taking the whole threads.
Select the operation you want to perform in the operation field, and press OK. You will be shown a list of the selected messages or threads. Then press GO to perform the operation.
The first message in a thread contains the thread index. You cannot move this message without moving the entire thread.
How to move inappropriate messages to 'deleted'
Indicate the thread number and message number as explained above. Select 'move to
deleted' in the action field. Write the reason for deleting in the reason field. This
reason will appear in the index of deleted messages. Press OK.
How to move old messages to 'old'
You have to remove old messages whenever the main index becomes too big.
Indicate the messages or threads as explained above. Select 'move to old' in the action field. Then press OK.
You may keep important messages or threads that are still alive for as long as needed while expiring all other messages. You can see if a thread is still alive by looking at the date of the last message in the thread as shown in the main index.
How to undo move to 'deleted' or 'old'
Indicate the messages or threads as explained above. Select 'restore from deleted'
or 'restore from old' in the action field. Then press OK.
How to purge messages from 'deleted' or 'old'
Don't let messages stay in the 'deleted' or 'old' folders indefinitely. You have to
purge them from time to time in order to save disk space. Purged messages cannot be
restored.
Indicate the messages or threads as explained above. Select 'purge from deleted' or 'purge from old' in the action field. Then press OK.
Checking available disk space
Select 'disk use this board' or 'disk use
all boards', then press OK. This will show you the amount of disk space used by
'messages', 'old', and 'deleted'.
Each message takes minimum 2 kb and maximum 31 kb. Messages still take up disk space when they have been moved to 'old' or 'deleted'. You have to purge messages regularly to keep the disk usage low.
How to edit a message
Make sure your browser is Explorer version 4 or later or 'Netscape'. Indicate the message as explained above.
You cannot indicate more than one message at a time. Select 'edit message' in the
action field. Press OK.
You will get three edit fields containing the head, body, and tail of the message. Normally you will only have to edit the body. Your remarks must be enclosed in square brackets and written in a special color. Use the code <m> to start the moderation color, and </m> to end it. (This is not a standard html code but an abbreviation that has been implemented here for your convenience. It is translated automatically to the appropriate html code). If you remove an offensive sentence then replace it with a remark like: <m>[offensive remark removed by moderator]</m>. If you want to reprimand the author that he is off-topic, but do not want to remove what he has written, then insert a remark like: <m>[moderator's note: this is off-topic, please stick to the topic]</m>.
The edit fields contain html code. The most common codes you will se are listed below:
Press GO when you are finished editing. Then go to the edited message to check the changes. You have to press the reload button on your browser to see the edited version of the message, because your browser has stored the old version in its cache. Thread indexes (with extension .shtml) are usually reloaded automatically.
The first message in a thread contains the thread index (name xxx-1.shtml). If somebody posts a message to the same thread while you are editing the thread index, then that new message will be missing in the thread index. If there is a serious risk of this happening, then you may move the entire thread to 'old' before you do the editing, and then move the entire thread back afterwards.
Be careful if you edit the head and tail fields. These fields contain certain text patterns that the software is looking for when it needs to update a link. Messing with this text may interfere with the maintenance of the links.
How to respond to requests for editing a message
There may be special reasons why somebody requests that a message be edited. If the
author of a message wants to correct an error then you should normally comply with this
request. If there is doubt whether the request comes from the real author then you should
write to the E-mail address listed in the original message for confirmation. If there is
no E-mail address then write a notice.
The system sets a limit to the length of messages that can be posted, for technical and security reasons. If somebody wants to post a message longer than this limit then he may E-mail the message to you and you can then insert the missing part of the message.
How to move a message to a
different thread or a different board
There is no special tool for this. You have to repost the message where you want it
and edit the original message to a link to the moved message and a remark about why it has
been moved. Use copy and paste from the edit window when reposting a message.
Your password
You have received a password that gives you access
to moderate one or more topics on this forum. It also gives you access to the test board where you can practice the use of the moderation tools.
All moderation operations are stored in a log so that the webmaster can see which moderator has done what and hacking attempts can be traced.
Your E-mail
A moderator must have an E-mail address where requests and complaints can be addressed
to. Make sure the correct E-mail address is listed in the FAQ.