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#93283 - 2002-08-26 04:19 PM Welcome to the new forum
Jack Lothian Offline
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Hi guys,

Welcome to the new forum.

I talked to Henri about creating this new forum. The idea of the forum flows from these two discussions.

The discussion

The poll

I will also be running a poll for nominating moderators for this forum. This will be a big one because Henri would like us to find moderators for the beta & suggestions forums as well. I also intend to get another moderator for the COM & UDF forums.

Before I start this though, I am thinking of running a poll concerning what policies we would like for staffing the moderator positions.

I am a bit tight for time right now so I am planning to start the poll on Wednesday this week.

I would welcome any ideas concerning these policies.

Some possible policies I thought of:

1) Give existing moderators priorty for switching to a vacant moderator post. (Thus in this case all our current moderators would be offered the new vacancies before we start the poll.)
2) A person can only moderate 1 forum.
3) Potential new moderators must be on MCA's top 50 list or have more than 100 posts and they must have been active on the board in the last 3 months.
4) Any moderator not active on the board for more than 3 months will be replaced.
5) We nominate new moderators through a poll.

These are just quick & rough thoughs, please let me know your ideas and comments. It will help me design the poll.

[ 26. August 2002, 17:05: Message edited by: Jack Lothian ]
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#93284 - 2002-08-26 10:37 PM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Les Offline
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I agree on most of your points but take exception to item 2. I could see where a moderator of one forum may co-moderate another one.
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#93285 - 2002-08-26 10:59 PM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Lonkero Administrator Offline
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and me, as not a moderator agree with that opinion [Wink]

 
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#93286 - 2002-08-27 03:36 AM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Jack Lothian Offline
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Les,

In my mind, I see points 1 & 2 as being related. It seems to me if we allow moderators to be in multiple forums we should really always call for votes for nominations for vacant positions in all forums. There would be no exceptions like point 1.

By using polls, we are implicitly leaving it to others to decide this for us. It's not the moderator who decides to co-moderator another board instead it is the board members who vote who will decide.

please note that I used point 2 in the last poll. NTDOC was was nominated first in both the Starters & Scripts forum but I offered him a choice.

We don't need to follow an absolutely rigid formula for this. One possiblity is a mixed strategy for different forums. One possiblity I thought of is we might consider the Suggestions/beta forums to be really one joint forum with common moderators. Also, we might consider the FAQ forum to be a "non-forum" & thus the moderators of these forums could host another active forum.

It is my opinion that for the more active forums, exclusive moderators are important. These moderators need to monitor their forum a minimum of several times each week. I notice that many of other discussion boards on the web seem to have different moderators for different forums.

[ 27. August 2002, 04:58: Message edited by: Jack Lothian ]
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#93287 - 2002-08-27 04:07 AM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Les Offline
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Jack,
quote:
We don't need to follow an absolutely rigid formula for this. One possiblity is a fixed strategy for different forums. One possiblity I thought of is we might consider the Suggestions/beta forums to be really one joint forum with common moderators. Also, we might consider the FAQ forum to be a "non-forum" & thus the moderators of these forums could host another active forum.

You took the words right out of my mouth.  I had much the same thoughts.  I however, would not limit it to the aforementioned (non) forums.  If for example, Jens would like to co-moderate the UDF Library then we shouldn't let item 2 get in the way.  I therefor propose you revise item 2 to allow a person to moderate two forums.

You can, as per item 1, still give existing moderators first dibs to either switch or take on a second forum whenever a position opens up.
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#93288 - 2002-08-27 04:24 AM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Sealeopard Offline
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There's another problem. You might run out of moderators at some point if you e.g. want to have two moderators for each board. That's sixteen moderators for eight boards.

Also, the workload of moderating a forum is not that big and the top posters are checking the BBS every couple of hours anyway.
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#93289 - 2002-08-27 04:57 AM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Jack Lothian Offline
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Jens,

This is a point I was concerned about because in my experience there are only about a dozen members who are consistently active. You are correct we may not have 16 moderators who are consistently active.

Les,

Good idea, I will work this option into the poll.
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#93290 - 2002-08-27 09:10 AM Re: Welcome to the new forum
masken Offline
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I have quite a wide experience from moderating boards, both on our intranet and on the internet.

When structuring modding, it is always done based on the content of the boardsection, and only in the purpose of having the section modded by a "Crew". Two mods are always better than one, if there's action in the particular section. That's no problem since Crew always has the same thoughts about things ( [Wink] ), and are there to help out. To be able to divide the work is just good, and leaves a better experience for the board and it's members. If it's not such an active section, a mod can moderate two less active sections. No problems, it all depends on how much time the moderator has.

Almost all boards have a Crew section, only visible to moderators and administrators (Crew).

To me, creating different sections on a board and editing the layout is always a trial and error process. My experience tells me to discuss this in a Crew section, then deploy it on trial and ask for feedback [Smile] Forums come and go and change on an almost weekly basis sometimes on the places where i'm part of the Crew. Ie; don't take it so seriously, it can always be readjusted [Wink]

just 2 cents I guess
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#93291 - 2002-08-27 06:31 PM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Jack Lothian Offline
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Masken,

Your suggestion about creating a crew forum & giving this group administrative control is both interesting & has strong merits but I must say personally that I have misgivings with this idea.

I have always though of this board as Henri's board & Henri is the administrator period. Henri keep this board motoring along during the 2 or 3 years it took to build a cliental & while he rarely participates in any forum he is rock solid as an overall administrator. I kind of feel uneasy about assuming Henri's role. Is this for us to decide?

Second, the growth of this board has been very organic & user driven. It has grown into a very remarkable community. To create an elite crew separated from the ordinary users seems somehow wrong.

Having given my personal somewhat negative opinion, I think your idea does have merits & I will try to work it into the poll.

Les,

After some thinking, I have come up with some random thoughts on your suggestion.

1) Do you think being a moderator in both the Scripts & starter forums would be appropriate?
2) With your proposal, it is possible for a non-functional moderator to become a moderator in 2 key forums without the support of the users at large. Is this a good idea? I think we might need something like Masken's crew idea to prevent this.

I believe the points you & jens are making are valid but maybe your suggestion needs some modifications. Do you have any other good ideas in this area?

[ 27. August 2002, 18:40: Message edited by: Jack Lothian ]
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#93292 - 2002-08-27 06:55 PM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Lonkero Administrator Offline
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I'd rather think that the forums are splittable by the amount of traffic.
also, if there is moderator on either one of those who's willing to participate on other forum as co-moderator, it can be seen through that splitting.

this way also, if some moderator becomes de-active for 6 months and one of the moderators is willing to take the place, no voting is needed.

only limitation should be that no too much can be given to person, so same person can't moderate more than one high volume forum.

so, to reality, I think that moderator of faq, udf or beta can also moderate one of the same forums.

on superactive-extra-lasting members - like shawn or MCA - can be given more "duty" as they already kinda do that.

anyway, clustering the moderator part to have in every forum two moderators gives security against sadden die-off's or sleep-away's...
 
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#93293 - 2002-08-27 07:58 PM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Les Offline
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Jack,
Perhaps we're putting a bit too much emphasis on the moderator role.  In the time I've been on this board, the former moderators were pretty light-handed.  Yes there is concern that we could end up with a heavy-handed moderator that may stifle both forums, but that's what makes for a good revolt.  I'm not so big on democracy.  Let's face it, most of us run little dictatorships.  Leave it to a revolution to unseat a heavy-handed dictator.  There's also peer pressure.

In the past we had one moderator per forum.  Now with two moderators per forum, one has more free time to co-moderate a second forum.  Instead of fretting over what could happen, let's just go easy on the rules and see what happens.  We can always give them the boot if they get out of hand.
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#93294 - 2002-08-27 08:02 PM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Sealeopard Offline
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I have to agree with Les. I think we can all count on one hand the number of occasions where a moderator had to do a real moderator-task (I don't count answering posts as that since I'd do that anyway).

So, yeah, a moderator can be a co-moderator of another forum.
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#93295 - 2002-08-27 10:00 PM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Jack Lothian Offline
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Actually, it is not being a moderator in 2 forums that bothers me near as much as the idea that any moderator can pick up a second forum whenever it becomes available without any external constraints.

I personally have no desire to be a moderator but I suspect others such as Radimus, lonkero, bryce, jpols or brian might have a different opinion. With this idea that all the current lucky moderators can choose a second forum how many will be left for other worthy contributors on this board?

Maybe we should scrap the idea of offering priorty to moderators before we launch a vote.

[ 27. August 2002, 22:07: Message edited by: Jack Lothian ]
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#93296 - 2002-08-27 10:11 PM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Lonkero Administrator Offline
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jack, what about then just adding the willing moderators to the voting list?

 

 
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#93297 - 2002-08-27 10:19 PM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Jack Lothian Offline
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Lonkero,
Sounds like a good compromise to me. With the number of vacant posts the logistics may be become difficult but I am sure we could work it out.

Is MCA on vacation? I am suprised that he has not participated.
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#93298 - 2002-08-27 10:27 PM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Lonkero Administrator Offline
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mmm...

yeah, adding votes for every forum for everyone...

anyway, if we take only the active users from top 50, we get not so many ppl...

mca is on vacation alright. (check http://www.kixtart.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=002637 )
if I remember correctly, he will come back on 15th of october.

[ 28. August 2002, 00:19: Message edited by: Lonkero ]
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#93299 - 2002-08-27 10:45 PM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Sealeopard Offline
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I would like to have a public vote on moderators, too, preceeded by an open nominating period. This way all BBS members can participate if they choose to do so. Also, the nominated moderator has to agree to be a candidate. My 2 cents (10 CAN cents ?).
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#93300 - 2002-08-28 01:02 AM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Jack Lothian Offline
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Jens, Couple of points,

Last time I ran the poll, communications with participants presented some challanges. Before I gave Henri the names of the new moderators I tried to communicate with all the leading candidates. I sent 5 members personal messages both at their e-mail address & using the board chat facilty. Some didn't respond to my messages for over a week, while others responded within minutes. In fact, one of my messages was answered over a month later.

I wonder if a nominations process would result in a list much different from the last poll when I choose the top 25 active posters? When I look at the names of the top 25 posters, I know that I would personally nominate any one of them who is missing from the nomination roll. I suspect many members feel the same.

A possible suggestion: To limit the time the process will take we might limit candidates to the top 25 active posters who don't ask specifically to be taken off the list.

[ 28. August 2002, 01:08: Message edited by: Jack Lothian ]
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#93301 - 2002-08-28 03:48 AM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Les Offline
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Jens,
That's 5 cents CDN [Big Grin]

Jack,
Somehow, I think the nominations approach puts the cart before the horse.  Some would-be moderators may have a preference to moderate a specific forum but may get nominated for one they're not interested in.  Also, the votes get watered down, squandered on a forum they have no interest in moderating.

I say we list vacancies and ask candidates to toss their hat in the ring.  Then let the voting begin.
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#93302 - 2002-08-28 11:48 AM Re: Welcome to the new forum
Lonkero Administrator Offline
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les, do you mean that if someone has no hat?..
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