Gods, I hate to be all up in here again.SeeAMoose wrote:That's actually something we need to work on because users will run to me claiming abuse and then I get to figure out what to do with it. I am micromanaging, partially because I still view myself at least partly as a moderator and partly because I'm trying too hard to live up to a standard of leniency and it's definitely making life harder on the other mods. The question is how to let people contact the admins with concerns without undercutting the authority of the moderators. If anyone has any ideas about this I'm all ears.Chelsa121 wrote:. It really makes you guys look like micromanagers, and I know you're not like that.
But.
1. Give your mods some basic guidelines for their behavior. Basically, the rules, how to enforce them. "If x happens, you do y. If they argue about y, you do z, if they argue again, you state the matter is not up for further debate, if that is breached, temp warning bans start to come into effect." (Pretty bloody lenient by most accounts, there are places on the internet you get banned for the first offense, no warning, etc.) Also, give a list of anything that might earn an instant ban, if there are those things. (Obvious troll is obvious.)
2. Then, trust your mods to carry these out accordingly. Or, you know, watch what they're posting and fret all you want but do not step in, instead, guide the mods, not the users if you see something that's going down. Put words in the other mods mouth's (to copy and paste as their own) if you have to until they get the hang of it. (I mean, obviously, if you're the only one around and stuff is happening, by all means deal with it, but use the same "due process" that the mods go by, and if there are any of those mods in reach to deal, nudge them in that direction first. "There is a situation unfolding in the a thread in b forum, can you go deal with that?"
3. Back your mods. Make it publicly known that you back your mods. You need an appeal process so the users don't feel abused? Fine. But set out a very clear guideline of what that is. I'd suggest something along the lines of "Do not contact the admin to intervene on your behalf except in the case of very serious abuses of mod power. Know that all admin contact will result in a week's delay before your message is read. Further, expect it to take up to a week to address your concerns. If you need help right this second, contact the global admin, knowing that their decision on all matters will be considered final."
(Half of the BS of bureaucracy is weeding out those who don't really care all that much, I swear.)
You know these mods, you guys picked them for a reason. I completely understand being worried that they won't get the nuances you do with your level of experience, but the only way to give them that experience is to take the training wheels off and let them make some mistakes and learn from them. Remember: Mods should mod the users, or at the very least, appear to. Admin should mod the mods, but appear to the users to be functionally useless.