A PaganPath Forum Moderator (or "Mod") is a trusted Member who frequently visits the site and has shown grace and wisdom in their actions. Individuals are invited to become Moderators periodically when a red envelope appears under their names in posts on the Forum. Moderator invitations are usually rewarded to trustworthy Members who are particularly helpful to others.
Once a red envelope appears, it will remain under the individual's name until the invitation is either accepted or declined through Private Message or text message to Volute.
What is a Moderator?
Primarily, Moderators keep the Forum clean from spam (advertising), porn and hate or bashing. A Moderator has access to all messages in their assigned Forum Area(s). Mods can edit, delete, move, lock, rename, sticky, split and merge topics. Some Mods can warn, ban, and unban Members from posting on the Forum. All Mods have access to a special "Moderators" Forum Area.
What is Expected?
- Try to visit the Forum at least once a day if possible. You don't need to monitor everything 24/7 but a daily look five times a week or more is appreciated.
- Simply keep a look out for Moderator Jobs during your daily browsing. You are not expected to be a technological guru. But if you like, you can learn a little about basic internet forums and bulletin boards here.
- Answer general questions about the site or Forum as you are able.
- Take action when a Moderator Job appears.
- Log all actions in the Moderators Forum Area.
Moderator Jobs- Move a thread that is out of place with a shadow link left in the originating forum area. For example "Hi, I'm new, just wanted to say hello." should go in the Merry Meet forum area, not the Courtyard. Move it into the correct forum (Merry Meet) and select the option to leave a link from the Courtyard where it was originally posted.
- Log all actions in the Moderators Forum Area. This includes all warnings sent to Members, any posts deleted, any Private Messages sent to a Member in regards to an action taken, etc.
- Don't play favorites and never threaten or harass any Member with your mod powers.
- Be objective and fair. Your actions reflect on PaganPath. Others will see you as a role model. Consider your role as similar to a High Priest or High Priestess. You don't have to be perfect of course, but your intentions should be pure and honest.
- Help facilitate the flow of discussions, bringing threads back on topic or splitting threads into two topics when necessary.
- Move unacceptable threads to the Moderators forum without a shadow link from the original forum.
- Again, do not delete unacceptable posts, simply move them to the Moderator forum for Administrator review. This removes them from the view of everyone except Mods and Admins.
What is Unacceptable?
It is important to use discretion. PaganPath carries an ICRA rating and other internet ratings to allow access at schools, libraries and workplaces. It is a delicate balance between maintaining this rating and keeping things as uncensored as possible. Unacceptable messages include:
- Direct, extreme attacks or flaming of other Members.
- Pornography or anything you would consider over an "R" movie rating. (The Circle forum is only visible to Registered Members and you can give a lot more leeway here for nudity and language.)
- Excessive profanity and vulgarity. Use discretion! Personal expression is of primary importance at PaganPath, and is held in priority slightly above the fear of offending the delicate. Some profanity is okay, but when there are more expletives than other words, think about editing some of them out or contacting the author to ask them to tone it down a bit. You can replace a few words with *#$&^%! if it is absolutely necessary.
- Any hate, bashing, sexism, racism, ageism, or other yucky isms.
- Links to Warez, Porn or Spam sites.
What to Avoid
- Don't lock (close a thread so no one can reply) or delete (move to the Mod forum) a messge you don't agree with. Instead of censoring, reply to the message with constructive counterpoints.
- Don't go to the Admins with every problem. Move unacceptable threads to the Mod forum and ask others for assistance there if you are unsure about what to do. You are given free reign in your forum area and are trusted to make decisions. Log all your actions in the Mod forum and the Admins will review this area daily.
