The primary goal of the moderator is to keep discussion interesting,
fun and informative. Some simple rules:
Be objective. This isn't possible, but it's a good guideline
nonetheless.
Be very careful when moderating in any thread where you are also a
participant. Using your moderator powers to give you an advantage
in discussion is a difficult temptation to resist, but resist it
you must.
The Forum Rules or Guidelines are the moderator's guide for
deciding when moderator action is called for.
Moderator actions will usually consist of posts to the relevant
thread. Moderators may sometimes encounter situations where it is
more appropriate to instead send email (if the member's email
address is public), but this approach should be avoided when
possible.
In any moderator action, always use a light touch. Suggest rather
than command. Keep it positive.
Point of view should never be a factor. Members should be
permitted to advocate any position they like using whatever means
they choose as long as they follow the Forum Guidelines.
If moderator action does not resolve the issue, the next level of
enforcement is suspension of posting privileges. At present only
Admin and Adminnemooseus have suspension power, but this power will
be extended to other moderators who prove themselves over time.
Suspension is removed upon an email request to the board
administrator (Admin). Variations upon this are certainly
reasonable, such as suspending for a time period like 24 hours or
1 week, etc.
One thing that has been discovered over time is that suspension
tends to cause anger. For this reason it has been used
increasingly sparingly. Fortunately, the increase in the number of
moderators has made this less of a problem.
Occasionally permanent banning may be necessary. This has happened
several times at EvC Forum, so far only with teenagers posting random
vulgarities, with spammers, and with those who have attempted to
get around suspension by joining under another ID.
Comments for moderators on each of the Forum Guidelines:
Please stay on topic for a thread. Open a new thread for new
topics.
This is where moderators can be most helpful as there's a strong
tendency for threads to drift. Natural topic drift is fine, but
some members have a tendency to take sharp turns, and these should
be resisted.
Debate in good faith by addressing rebuttals through the
introduction of new information or by providing additional
argument. Do not merely keep repeating the same points without
elaboration.
It's important that discussion keep moving forward. The simplest
example of this type of behavior is when someone just keeps
repeating that they don't believe something. Example:
"I can't believe the ark could carry all those animals."
"Why not?"
"It just seems impossible."
"What seems impossible about it?"
"All those animals in a boat?"
"Perhaps if you could identify some of the issues about the ark
that you have trouble accepting we could help explain them."
"It's just the unlikelihood of it all."
And so forth. Naturally there are much more complex
manifestations of the same behavior, and when they can be
identified by administrators it can be very helpful to moving
discussion forward.
Respect for others is the rule here. Argue the position, not the
person. The Britannica says, "Usually, in a well-conducted debate,
speakers are either emotionally uncommitted or can preserve
sufficient detachment to maintain a coolly academic approach."
We want a lively discussion, so where the boundary lies is hard to
say, but though it's difficult describing what is out-of-bounds,
it is often easy to recognize it when you see it. Needless to say,
once a discussion becomes personal the coherence declines.
Bare assertions on controversial points should be avoided by
providing supporting evidence or argument. Once challenged,
support for any assertion should be provided.
When members are encouraged to follow this guideline it can often
be very helpful in guiding discussion onto productive paths.
Bare links with no supporting discussion should be avoided.
"Argument by link" should be discouraged . Members should
introduce and describe the point they're making and only use links
as supporting references. Especially bad is the ever-popular,
"Hey, Creationists, you don't have an answer for this one:
http://www.irrefutablepoint.com." Also, links should be to a
specific webpage, not to an entire site, so to be avoided is this
approach: "Your scenario is disproven at
http://www.talkorigins.com."
Never include material not your own without attribution to the
original source.
One of the great entertainment values provided by Internet
discussion forums occurs when you see a meticulous, well-argued
post from someone who heretofore has barely been able to put two
words together. Usually you can put just one sentence of the post
between quotes in Google's search box to find where it came from.
Often just pointing out the original source causes sufficient
embarrassment to prevent further occurrences.
Avoid any form of misrepresentation.
The dividing line between opinion and misrepresentation is usually
not clear. Any moderator actions on this rule probably should be
extremely well supported by the available evidence, approaching
unequivocal. Otherwise you may be better served to simply
continue observing.
Participating as more than one ID is extremely strongly
discouraged.
This has happened a few times, but almost always because of
difficulties with their existing account. Sometimes it's pilot
error, but that's okay. This hasn't really been a problem. I
usually just send email asking which account they'd like to keep,
then delete the other one.
When introducing a new topic, please keep the post narrowly
focused. Do not include more than a few points.
When this occurs it is usually a list of points culled from other
websites. Often the auther doesn't even understand the points
himself.
Do not cut-n-paste long excerpts into message boxes. Please
instead introduce the point in your own words and provide a link
to your source as a reference. If your source is not on-line you
may contact the Site
Administrator to have it made available on-line.
Most of a message should be the author's own words and not
cut-n-pastes from elsewhere. EvC Forum does not have infinite
disk space.