Have you ever wondered: “What is a moderator?” But in fact, the answer to it is much more difficult than it might seem at first glance.

Profession? No, because there is neither such a faculty, nor specialization in universities not only in our country, but throughout the world. Hobby? It is also unlikely, because the direction is in demand and is considered a necessary position on websites and forums.

One has only to open an Internet resource dedicated to finding a job, as an announcement that a site moderator is required will almost immediately fall into

And what is it? Let's try to figure it out together.

Section 1. What is a moderator? The relevance of this direction

First of all, it should be noted that the name itself comes from the Latin word moderor, which in translation into Russian means “restrain” or “moderate”. That is, we can say that this is a special computer user who has broader powers compared to all other participants in public network resources, which include forums, chats and echo conferences.

The moderator has the right to delete or edit other people's messages, as well as, if necessary, cancel pages and restrict the rights of some participants to view or edit the resource.

It should be noted that here I have listed only the most basic tasks, and, in principle, each site has its own, more specific list of duties and powers.

Section 2. What is a moderator and types of moderation

In general, moderation can be done in several ways.

1. Pre-moderation allows you to control the content of messages before they are published on the site. The moderator checks and, if necessary, corrects the spelling or properly supplements the message, formats it, and only after that makes a decision on publication. Sometimes the content is simply removed. This type, as a rule, is used on the official resources of companies or in online communities dedicated to a specific topic. The advantage is that the forums don't look like a garbage dump. However, among the shortcomings, it is necessary to note the possible subjectivity on the part of the moderator and low efficiency.
2. Post-moderation allows you to control content after it has been published. Such messages appear much faster, but the likelihood of spam or flooding also increases. The moderator on such sites is forced to be constantly present.
3. Automatic moderation. In this case, the participants themselves vote "for" or "against" the message, and automatic filters and rules are pre-created. There is no moderator subjectivity, and articles on the site are posted quite quickly. However, special software is required to perform voting and filtering.

Section 3. What is a moderator? Types of modern moderators

So, having read the material in this article, have you made sure that your site needs a moderator? Well, a very right decision, but let me know: which one, because today there are already several types of them?

I will list the main ones:

1. Forum moderator. As a rule, several people will be needed for these purposes, since in a short time it will be necessary to delete certain messages or topics in general, edit what has been written, close discussions, or, conversely, recognize them as important and move them to the top of the list.
2. The echo conference moderator announces warnings to some especially emotional users or forbids them to express their opinions, transferring them to read-only mode.
3. The newsgroup moderator is an important person on any news site. The entire information feed passes through him, and it is he who decides on further publication.
4. Chat moderator. As a rule, this person monitors the progress of the discussion and removes users who violate the rules of communication. On some Internet resources of this type, the message is accepted by the moderator, and only after that it appears in the chat feed.

Often in the description of the content of training programs, we see that moderation will be used during the training. Is it so? What techniques are used for this, or does "moderation" mean only recording the group's statements on a flip chart? What is moderation and how it differs from facilitation, we will consider in our master class.

To start…

Put a dot where you think you are:

The term "moderation"

Site moderation, moderation of statements, and even moderation of love ... you will find such options on the Internet when you request this concept. The term "moderation" comes from the Italian moderare, which means "mitigation", "containment", "moderation". The moderator is called not only the leader of the rally, but also the editor of the rubric on television and radio, as well as the host of the forums on the site. In the Vatican, the moderator was the person who pointed out the most significant points in the speeches of the pope. It is also known that the term "devil's advocate" also has some relation to the moderation process. When a priest was ordained to a new rank, he was supposed not only to have a defender who spoke about his good deeds before God, but also a "devil's advocate", who was also a priest, but who told why this novice was not worthy of a new title. Well, the moderator recorded the process of the church rally and gave equal speaking time to both sides.

Moderation, which is used during regulatory, project meetings and seminars, has some similarities with site moderation. Site moderation is monitoring compliance with the rules for discussing topics on the forum, set by the site owner. This is the similarity. The difference is that a forum moderator can block a discussion participant if he does not follow the established rules. In business moderation, the leader is responsible for the process and organizational result of the rally, and the group is responsible for the content. So, if, when recording answers to a question, some participants can give answers in a comic form, the moderator, however, records any statements. The rally went in the wrong direction, you say? On the contrary, the group, seeing that everything is being recorded, very quickly, even without standard calls, returns to the necessary track.

Techniques and methods of moderation were brought to Ukraine by Team Training International (headquartered in Vienna since 1972) represented by a subsidiary of Team Training Ukraine in 1992. Since then, in one format or another, some techniques have been found on the Ukrainian market.

Business Definition

So, moderation is:

a) a set of techniques and methods for organizing interaction in a group in order to make decisions;

b) a method of systematic, structured conducting of a meeting (seminar) with transparent methods in order to effectively prepare, conduct and summarize the results of the meeting.

Purpose of moderation– the most complete involvement of all participants in the work process and the development of an action plan for the problem under discussion.

Often participants ask the question, how is moderation different from facilitation?

Facilitation- (from English. to facilitate- facilitate, facilitate, help) the process in which the leader contributes to the establishment of constructive interaction and communication in the group.

The difference between facilitation and moderation is that, as a rule, it does not plan the structure of the process of interaction between participants, but reacts more to the process of discussion. For example, by asking questions, responding to each statement, controlling the time of the speech. If focused on their own skills of interacting with the group, then the moderator, in addition, plans a scenario for the moderation process, during which he uses techniques and methods that allow the group to come to a decision and a clear plan of action.

The "pure" moderation process is used only in project meetings, which is prescribed in the moderation working structure.

General working structure of the moderation process

Like a performance, the moderator composes a script that covers sections from posing a problem to a specific list of activities:

1. Introduction

• formation and distribution of the agenda of the rally to the participating experts
• setting and familiarization with the rules of work

2. Working stage

• posing key questions
• structure (sequence of actions)
• selection of moderation techniques
• visualization format

3. Final stage

• recording and presenting results.

The structure of the workflow depends on the type of meeting: project or regulatory, work tasks and the desired result.

Project rally- a meeting of experts and competent specialists (average number of 7 people), with the aim of collecting ideas, developing projects, processing proposals, preparing alternatives / solutions, plans, reviewing and developing approaches to solving problems.

Distinctive features of the process of work of the project team is the equality of participants and the complete absence of hierarchy.

A typical scenario of a project rally:

• focus, involvement, motivation
• common databank
• idea generation
• interpretation of ideas, approaches and data
• analysis
• solution
• presentation of results

Quite a common mistake of leaders is the desire to get the ideas of employees at a general regulatory (regular) rally.

Regulatory rally- a meeting of all (without exception) employees of the company, within the required level of company management, in order to report on the results of the organization, its tasks and decisions made.

Distinctive features: status, hierarchy, distribution of roles (power) in accordance with the structure of the company.

A typical scenario for a regulatory rally:

• formal greeting
• clear agenda
• report (message, assessment)
• communication of directions, meaning, goals, tasks
• messages about powers, decisions, actions
• motivating closure

Fundamental difference between using moderation in training and project team

So what is the difference between using moderation techniques and methods in a project group and a training seminar? I beg:

Some Moderation Methods and Techniques

So you've probably determined that moderation techniques are just one element of the moderation process, but what are they and what makes them special? Let's get started!

Basic rules of behavior for a moderator

As it was already mentioned in the differences between holding a rally and a training-seminar, the style of the facilitator in working with the participants differs significantly, I will only note some important points. So, moderator:

• refrains from expressing his own opinion, does not evaluate either the statements or the behavior of the participants in the meeting;
• with the help of questions, it activates the group, and the questions from the audience are perceived and forwarded to the participants themselves, and do not answer them on their own;
• is aware of his own attitude towards people and the topic and takes responsibility for organizing the process of interaction in the group, and transfers responsibility for the content of the meeting to the group itself;
• perceives all statements of the group as signals, which gives him the opportunity to understand the process and try to help the participants become aware of their attitude so that violations and conflicts can be discussed without “moral appeals”;
• does not make excuses for his actions and statements, but finds out the difficulties that lie in attacks and provocations;
• if the moderation of the project meeting is carried out by the head for his department, and takes responsibility for moderating the process of developing a certain decision by the employees of his department, but at the same time understands that it is necessary to bring his own opinion, he is obliged to make it clear to the participants when he is functionally as a moderator, but when he, as a member of the group, expresses his opinion.

What does not solve problems is not worthy of attention and time, then what problems and difficulties can be solved by a properly set moderation process?

Problems that moderation solves

1. fuzzy decisions and lack of responsibility (which is so often lacking in strategic sessions, the development of new concepts and ideas for business development);
2. lack of corporate culture (the success of a properly moderated work meeting affects further joint work in groups, increases the desire of participants to consider all ideas and polar points of view, accept them and use them in work);
3. lack of staff motivation:
   
   • everyone is not just informed, but takes part in decision-making based on joint developments;
   • moderation is aimed at eliminating factors that reduce motivation, namely: monologues of managers and other employees, deviations and digressions from the topic, as well as personal attacks and other manifestations of the struggle for power of top managers that interfere with constructive decisions;
   • the process and result of moderation is very similar to coaching, the purpose of which is the development of understanding (awareness) and responsibility, as a choice of authorship of ideas and actions.

The similarity with coaching is that it is desirable for the moderator not to understand the topic under discussion, which allows him to be more objective. So, when Team Training International, which unites well-known coaches from almost all major countries of the world, needed to develop a development strategy, an independent moderator was invited to help coaches and managers come to a common decision (let alone rallies or meetings inside companies that are not engaged in consulting?). When preparing for the moderation process, it is important for the facilitator to collect the necessary information and, together with the customer, determine the key issues on the basis of which the process itself will be built, and, as a result, the result of the rally.

And to finish... open the first page of this article and put an end to where you are already at the moment! The level of knowledge should increase significantly, now it’s up to the small thing - to try in practice and put an end not only higher, but also to the right ...

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Here, in the text, the term “rally” is deliberately used, and not the term “meeting”, which causes a very predictable reaction from most employees.

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How often are products moderated?

Goods are moderated every day without days off and breaks from 6 to 24 hours. And if it seems to you that they are being moderated for a long time, then you need to wait a bit :) To speed up the moderation process, read the requirements for ads. After all, the rejection of a product takes more time than its placement in the catalog.

Why are my products not displayed in the catalog on the site, but they are in my profile?

This means that the goods are awaiting moderator confirmation. In the product card on the left under the photos there is the status of the product: under moderation/in stock/reserved/sold

Why did my items disappear/rejected by the moderator?

Please note that if your item is rejected by the moderator due to "Fake of well-known brands. Including "licenses", the administrator may ask you to provide confirmation of the originality of the item. Confirmation is to provide a copy of the receipt, electronic receipt or photo of the item with a price tag.

My item was unfairly rejected

If you believe your item was unfairly rejected, please respond to the notification email. Do not delete the text of the letter that contains the number of the deleted ad.
For example, your product was rejected due to the lack of photos taken by you. If this photo is yours and you can prove it - feel free to write, we will check and restore the ad.
If you write about this, it means that you have carefully read the rules and your product definitely does not violate them. Arguments "why he can, but I can not" are not considered.

On the Internet, as in life, there are completely different interlocutors. Sometimes communication with them is a lot of fun, sometimes not so much. This is normal :) The main thing is that you have the choice and the opportunity to independently form your own social circle, in which you will be interested and comfortable.

Blogger is an open publishing system that brings together authors with different views and personalities. The opinion of one person may seem insufficiently interesting or even incorrect to another, but there is no tragedy in this. The platform provides several moderation tools to help create and maintain a positive atmosphere on your blog.

What is moderation

In a broad sense, moderation is the management of any discussions, discussions and disputes. It helps to keep communication within the given framework: ethical and thematic. The principles of moderation apply not only to the Internet. For example, in a televised debate, the role of the moderator is played by the host, at the meeting - by the leader, at the conference - by the organizer, at the seminar - by the lecturer, and so on.

Why there are no “appointed” moderators on Blogger

On many sites and forums, moderators are appointed by resource owners or collectively selected by users. They get the right to edit other people's messages and even completely prohibit individual members from accessing the site. But practice shows that such an approach gives rise to a lot of conflict situations and, most importantly, makes all communication dependent on the will, character and views of one person - as a result, the overall picture of discussions often turns out to be one-sided and not objective.

A strict moderation policy justifies itself only on thematic forums, where discussion topics are strictly regulated. "Blogger" is an open publishing service, where each participant can write in his diary about what is interesting to him personally.

Who moderates blogs and how

Blogs are author's diaries. Their goals can be completely different, and therefore the requirements for comments differ significantly. Someone welcomes free communication on any topic, someone likes to communicate in a narrow circle of friends and acquaintances, someone is only interested in statements on a specific topic. Therefore, in our opinion, the blog author has the right to decide what is appropriate in his own diary and what is not.

On the other hand, there are pages and elements on the site that are not part of the author's blogs. For example: the main page of the "Blogger", rating, feeds of the latest posts and comments. The overall picture of the site is formed from heterogeneous information, and the administration has the right to influence its content so that the service remains attractive to readers and authors, can develop and improve.

Thus, moderation on Blogger is based on two key principles.

1. Each blogger has the rights of a moderator within his own blog. You decide for yourself what to write about and for whom, who is allowed to participate in the discussion, and who is not. To do this, the platform provides you with a set of special tools: the ability to delete other people's comments, hide posts from some readers, allow and prohibit commenting for certain user groups.
2. The content of pages that are not included in author's blogs and interface elements is determined by the administration. This applies, among other things, to feeds of posts and comments, ratings, thematic collections, search pages and similar materials.

Please note: the administration does not conduct "manual" moderation of your blog - this is your exclusive privilege.

The policy of the administration affects only the general rules and technical capabilities of the service. For example, we may restrict comments from users with negative ratings or change the selection algorithm for popular posts on the home page.

The only reason why the administration has the right to purposefully delete someone's post or comment is a clear and pronounced violation of the law by the author (for example, the publication of child pornography) or a court requirement.

Introduction.

In connection with the conflict situations that constantly arise on the forums, I offer analytical material about moderation. Eleven sites were analyzed, in which issues of forum moderation were raised and discussed to varying degrees, both at the theoretical and technological levels. First I will indicate the site, and then - what topics and problems were discussed, in connection with the actions of the moderator.

Some texts are preserved in their entirety, some are abstract. ( In bold significant issues and theses are highlighted. L.Ts.).

The materials are conditionally divided into three parts. The first part presents the theoretical work. In the second part - existing problems. The third part presents specific recommendations for forum moderators and samples of the RULES and norms of moderation.

First part.

1. 1. http://www.zsu.zp.ua/herald/articles/2772.pdf

A theoretical article is proposed Kishko S.N."Moderation as a kind of assessment in modern English". The author believes that the whole system of norms of the "human context" is updated in the moderation strategy.

moderation. one of the anthropocentric categories of the language, which has the status of an independent functional-semantic category in modern English. It is related to the concepts as evaluative modality, language picture of the world, pragmatics and has the status of meta-evaluation.

Keywords: moderation, point of view, approximation, underestimation, shock absorber.

Moderation in modern English is a functional-semantic category, the forms of which are marked as anthropogenic elements of the language in its structure and semantics, in the processes of formation of nomination and predication, in the postulates of speech communication.

The semantic core of moderation, as we have pointed out earlier, is the deliberate refusal to make categorical judgments within the broader category of evaluation.

AT traditional logic, moderation is opposed to categorical judgments, in which the predicate is affirmed or denied with the exclusion of any alternatives.

And in the logical concept of L. Zade, which J. Lakoff refers to in one of his works, moderation is correlated with a linguistic variable(fuzzy set) in the sense that both moderation and the linguistic variable do not fit into a two-place logic, since they cover not only false and true, but also various gradations such as "rather false than true", "true to some extent".

As a linguistic category moderation is characterized, firstly, by the universality of meaning, common to many languages, for example, approximate nomination, hesitation rhetoric, stylistics and sociolinguistics of speech behavior, and, secondly, idioethnicity of the interpretive component. Each language has in its arsenal linguistic means of manifestation of moderation, but not in every language the universality of meaning is confirmed by a categorical status.

Connection between assessment and moderation is carried out through the participation of the latter in the qualification structure of the statement. Such a connection, in our opinion, contributes to the performance of the pointing-deictic and subjective-evaluative functions.

Moderation is characterized signs as an absolute assessment(good, bad) and comparative(better, worse, equivalent, preferred). But if the main sphere of values ​​of the supercategory of evaluation is associated with the signs of "good-bad", then the sphere of meanings of moderation is determined by a number of specific factors of the content and conditions of communication, that is, it arises from the pragmatic component of the environment, being fixed in the language system.

Given the fact that the assessment is a special kind of attitude of the speaker to the nomination, we consider moderation as a kind of point of view on reality.

In this way, moderation correlates with evaluative modality, since it is essentially a manifestation of subjectivism. Moderation correlates with the corresponding supercategory of evaluation as a whole, being a meta-evaluation, while forming hierarchical subsystems of an opposite nature, such as moderation. non-moderation, which is represented by the category of intensity, and non-positive nature, such as moderation. gradation of manifestation of a sign. From a conceptual point of view, moderation opposes the Russian-language category of "alienness", which is based on the rigid opposition of the two worlds "friend or foe", while moderation is a estrangement from "friend" and "alien".

Moderation is a deep category. And like all "hidden" categories, it is anthropocentric, let's say "point-of-view". Abnormal sample and system analysis. these are the main strategies for "unpacking" it. It is through such strategies that the entire system of norms of the "human context" is updated.

1. 2. http://www.bankir.ru/analytics/personal/10/573

Of particular interest to the GURU is an article by A. Abrosimova from Russkiy Zhurnal about the life of forums and the role of moderators.

Forums: moderation and content

The moderator is by no means only a person exercising supervision. Literally, this word can be translated as "chairman", "arbitrator", "intermediary", "leader". There is also a Russian definition, as usual, narrower than the meaning of the consonant English word - "a wooden plank to muffle the sound of the piano" ("Big Encyclopedic Dictionary"). Singling out the function muting, softening, directional not to the sound of a certain musical instrument, but to some informational noises, and by attributing it not to a wooden plank, but to a person, we can apply this definition to the moderator of a communicative resource.

In fact, the functions of the moderator are quite diverse. R. Mason wrote back in 1991 that there are two levels of moderation of online conferences.

On the technical level the moderator has the ability to delete and change any messages.

On the educational- leads the discussion, encourages participation and can act as an intellectual leader. Often, ideas about the role of a moderator are reduced only to a technical level, that is, the removal of inappropriate and offensive remarks, while the most significant tasks of a moderator are not even associated with his figure. This is not surprising, because the "educational level of moderation" actually implies responsibility for the content of the communication resource and the comfort of its visitors. For the full and centralized implementation of these functions, strong incentives are needed, and in addition, the aforementioned intellectual leadership, or at least equality with the participants in communication, the number of which, in turn, is strictly fixed. The participants themselves must be selected in accordance with certain requirements for their intellectual development. Let's add strict restrictions on the duration of communication - and we will get a description of a communicative resource that is close to a scientific conference.

Goals and objectives of moderation can rarely be formulated with the utmost clarity, the number of participants and the duration of interaction is practically unlimited, and none of the creators has a strong enough motivation and ability to perform all the functions of a moderator. At the same time, the content of the forum and the comfort of users are the main criteria for assessing the subjective value of a communicative resource. That is, the fact that the forum is informative and easy to use, is primarily interested in its participants. And some of these participants often take on some of the roles traditionally attributed to the moderator in forums with a more rigid and centralized organization: providing information, stimulating interaction, guiding the flow of the conversation, helping to overcome the barriers of virtual communication. Partial moderation, carried out by users on a voluntary basis, can be conditionally called user moderation.

User moderation sometimes is carried out even at the technical level, namely, in the case when the creators of the forum provide for such an opportunity. In particular, each topic of the forum can be a kind of mini-ownership, the absolute ruler of which is the founder of the topic. It is he who controls the entire course of the conversation, using the technical capabilities of deleting messages and restricting access to unwanted visitors. With such a structure, the entire forum is like a fragmented state, the parts of which are united only by a common name. Another organization of the forum is also known, in which its creators provide access to the administrator console to several regulars, as a rule, with a more or less calm temperament, so that they carry out the technical level of moderation, that is, they filter flood (excessive information) on a voluntary basis and Flame (discussions that turn into personal abuse) throughout the forum. These technical moderators may have an explicit status, but sometimes they perform the role entrusted to them anonymously, even covertly, becoming invisible for a while.

Technical level of moderation is naturally associated with power, and therefore is the subject of heated debate. It can ensure the preservation of a certain atmosphere that has developed on the forum and in one way or another contributes to effective communication, but for the semantic content of the forum, the most important level of moderation, called educational by R. Mason. Recall that this level includes providing the forum with information that provokes discussion among users; managing the conversation so as not to let it leak from the original topic; support for communication participants.

Providing a forum with information sometimes becomes almost the main occupation for some participants within this resource. Their activities, which include sifting information from various news sources (not always Russian, not always online, not always public) in order to put the most significant information for everyone to see and discuss, corresponds to the concept of "gatekeeping". This term is attributed to the sociologist K. Lewin. The gatekeeping function is traditionally associated with journalism, but in the online environment it is often performed by ordinary forum visitors. They sometimes do it more than successfully, as a result, sometimes making the communicative resource even more efficient and complete source of information than the actual news resources. This feature of some forums is especially significant during some epochal social events, when access to news sites is difficult due to high traffic. An example of such a communication resource can be the Liberal Forum

Conversation management, its revival, the introduction of a fresh stream into the discussion can be undertaken by those who are interested in the subject of discussion. In order for management actions to be effective, the one who implements them must have considerable skill, the intelligence to generate statements that provoke participation, and the tact that this intelligence should not be flaunted. Otherwise, the discussion might liven up, just not quite in the way her stimulator wanted.

Encouragement to participate and user support may include assistance in overcoming communication barriers: language barrier - in the event that people of different nationalities participate in the forum; technical, implying difficulties for inexperienced users to understand the interface of a particular communicative resource; environmental barrier. In accordance with the theory of social presence and richness of the environment, the online environment, with its lack of visual and other non-verbal information, is considered scarce, that is, very insignificant in terms of social presence compared to face-to-face communication (J. Walter). It must be said that this scarcity of the online environment can be a barrier for some people, while for others, on the contrary, it is a stimulating factor in overcoming their own shyness. The lack of non-verbal information can be partly compensated by the use of "emoticons" ;-) In any case, newcomers to the online environment are sometimes supported by more experienced users, helping them deal with misunderstandings and difficulties. In doing so, they act as a moderator.

What encourages participants to take on the role of moderator? Above, one of the central reasons was named - taking care of the content of the forum and about the comfort of its participants. The higher both, the greater the value can be communication resource for its visitors, the more opportunities it has for self-development, for, to engage critical and analytical thinking.

And than the more intellectually developed the forum participants, the more tempting for some visitors is the role of leader, which is closely related to the functions of the moderator. Providing the forum with information, managing the course of the conversation, supporting and stimulating users, a participant in communication can get satisfaction from his very activity and at the same time he forms his own image, which has a certain authority, makes himself a "virtual name", which he can cherish very much.

When such a participant loses incentives to perform the functions of a moderator and ceases to perform them, the communicative resource can lose a lot. After all, not only bright characters come, attracted by an interesting forum, but vice versa - the forum becomes interesting because bright personalities participate in it. And just the fact that individuals who are outstanding in the communicative process are losing incentives for active participation, and hence for performing the functions of a moderator, is perhaps the main reason for the stagnation of forums.

The second part.

2.1. http://www.anastasiaclub.ru/read.php?f=3&i=23801&t=23801

The most important question of the moderators and forum participants was how, on the one hand, to create conditions for freedom of speech, and on the other hand, to limit the freedom of speech of the participant and the actions of the moderator. This phrase says a lot: - " ... you can’t shut anyone’s mouth, if you can, put scarves on your mouths". The norm worked on the forum - " …messages will be deleted without explanation".

The disconnection of one of the active forum participants was perceived by the participants as the inability of the moderator to come up with something and offer new ideas for further normalization of communication.

It was proposed introduce several levels of participation with different rights and opportunities to participate in the forum. It was assumed that under such administration the principle of necessity and sufficiency, as well as the principle do no harm.

2.2. http://xpoint.ru/modcolomn/2003/08/13/

In V. Palant's article " Why moderation is needed"Problems typical for all forums are described. Goals and objectives are set, specific recommendations are given to moderators. ( Provided with abbreviation.)

There are many forums on the Internet without moderation or with weak moderation. Either the forum owner has not thought about the need for moderation at all and relies on self-regulation of the forum, or considers moderation incompatible with the free expression of participants, or there is simply no one to moderate (laziness, uninteresting, no time). Everyone knows the characteristic features of such forums: the inability to find the necessary information under tons of rubbish, regular, and even incessant, disassembly between the participants, the contemptuous attitude of "old-timers" towards newcomers.

Moderation is needed for maintaining order in the broadest sense. This means both organizing the information contained in the forum, and controlling the discussions and maintaining an adequate communication style. No matter how respected and intelligent people communicate on the forum, situations that require the intervention of a moderator arise almost inevitably, especially with open access to the forum.

Purpose of the first task: leave only important information on the forum, categorize it meaningfully and remove everything that no one else will need. Unfortunately, this task is very rarely given due attention and practical solutions are even rarer. In most forums, all topics are stored forever, and transfers of topics due to inconsistencies with the topics of the section are rare and without a visible system. Meanwhile, the moderator of the section, if he knows a little about the topic, can usually easily determine whether the topic or any statements in it are of interest to other users who will have similar problems in the future. After the end of the discussion, he can close it and, at his own discretion, delete the topic or edit its content to make it easier to understand the arguments and conclusions presented. This is an additional burden on the moderator, but such work is necessary to create a well-organized thematic forum.

Topic moderation does not have to take place after the end of the discussion. In topics left to themselves, there are often several parallel discussions that are loosely related to the original question (offtopic). These discussions divert attention from the mainstream and make the discussion difficult to read. Often in a topic with an unresolved main issue, only offtopic is discussed. It is then possible to return the discussion to a constructive direction only by resolutely cutting out statements that are not related to the question. At the same time, if the offtopic itself is of value, it can be moved to a separate topic.

The best thing to do, however, is not to bring the situation to such a state and to nip the offtopic in the bud, which brings us to the second goal of moderation: controlling and directing discussions in a constructive direction. In the case of an offtopic, one short phrase from the moderator is usually enough after the first posting that deviates from the topic for the discussion to stop in this direction. You won't have to do this often - after a few of these warnings, even the most stubborn will realize that the moderator is watching his section, and will stop trying to discuss extraneous issues.

Equally important here is quality control of questions and answers. Too often there are topics where users spend a lot of time trying to figure out what this or that statement means. Questioners here must be clearly made clear that there will be no answer until a clear wording of the question appears. In especially severe cases, the topic can even be temporarily closed to prevent useless conversations. In this sense, it is important to maintain a certain level in the section, since the majority of users are guided by the surrounding topics (unfortunately, it is the minority that does not do this that attracts attention).

Improving the quality of responses is much more difficult. The only measure of influence that can be applied here is moderator warnings. At the same time, it is important not to get carried away, not to issue warnings too often and on trifles. Having become familiar, warnings lose their force.

It remains to discuss the last and most sensitive task of moderation: maintaining an appropriate communication style. Scrupulous, since this most often leads to disagreement with the actions of the moderator and conflicts. The most basic rule in this context: transitions to the individual in the thematic forum is not the place. Moderators cannot control how people behave outside the forum (and this is none of their business), but they must behave with dignity on the forum. To achieve the goal, the moderator can use the system of fines (the top of which is blocking access to the forum), and in severe cases, edit or even delete the message. Here it is especially important for the moderator to take a clear position and act consistently. It should be obvious to the guilty person that it is the type of behavior, and not his person, that is not welcome on the forum. Moreover, the moderator must have sufficient authority, which means, first of all, that he cannot be charged with the same offense.

Nevertheless, it happens that the fined considers himself unfairly offended and refuses to understand the opposite. Often in this context there are calls for the "public" to condemn an ​​unfair moderator. If the "public" does not ignore them, but joins in the dispute, not knowing all the facts, and begins to discuss (and such discussions are always violent), then the fined person has achieved his goal - the normal work of the forum has been disrupted, useful forum participants turn away from him in order to not to see disgusting scenes, harm done to the forum. Therefore, such disassembly should be strictly suppressed at the very beginning. The rule here is really useful: "Decisions of the moderator are not discussed." The moderator is not obliged to answer to the "public", and no calls for democracy change this - "democracy" on the forum inevitably degenerates into the rule of screamers, whoever screams louder is right. The moderator is solely responsible to the one who made him the moderator, that is, to the administration of the forum (in one form or another).

Sometimes, even after the discussion is closed, the case does not end. Particularly stubborn violators begin to create new topics with similar content faster than the moderators can delete them (flood). Human rights, in particular freedom of speech, are often cited to justify such behavior. But freedom of speech does not mean the freedom to publish your word anywhere, except, perhaps, the walls of public toilets. A forum in this sense is similar to a scientific journal - many want to express their opinion, but the editor selects only those whose opinion is of some interest.

The forum administration is not obliged to tolerate unconstructive criticism in its address.. Moreover, she is not obliged to tolerate attempts to advertise this criticism, despite the fact that the issue has already been declared closed. If reasonable arguments do not work on the brawler, then there is only one possible course of action: blocking access to the forum, first temporarily, and then permanently, if violations continue after opening access.

High-quality moderation is not an easy and time-consuming task. The moderator needs a clear and thoughtful policy, which he adheres to in the section entrusted to him. It should respond as quickly as possible to emerging problems so as not to give the impression that the section has been left unattended. And the most difficult thing: he must resist the feeling of complete permissiveness, which many people mistakenly associate with the Internet.

2.3. http://bdsm-howto.ru/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=123

This site formulated a paradoxical thesis: - " Moderation is a sign of brain impotence". Comments are superfluous.

The third part

3.1. http://moon.eurogsm.ru/new/?s=library&doc_id=20

This site describes Instructions for an employee of the Moderation Department.

This instruction states:

• moderator position,
• moderation time,
• reflection of his presence in the topic,
• rules for dealing with participants,
• how to answer questions
• that is not the subject of discussion of the action of the moderator,
• actions of the moderator in a conflict situation, the procedure for performing the duties of a moderator,
• forms of punishment for participants,
• attitude towards nicknames,
• restrictions on moderator actions,

3.2. http://www.mbclub.ru/speak/rules.html

Moderation is most fully disclosed on this site, so the text is given in full.

1. General Provisions

1.1. Registration of users is necessary for their participation in the interactive sections of the site - Communication, Club, etc. Only registered users can post messages in such sections.

1.2. The Owners and Administration of the site keep confidential (private) information of registered users in secret and undertake not to provide it to a third party or use it independently outside the profile settings of users.

However, the Site Administration reserves the right to use such information to resolve questions about the behavior of a registered user and the appropriateness of his presence in the interactive sections of the site, as well as in resolving disputes related to the violation of these Rules.

The Site Owners and Administration reserves the right to transfer all available information about registered users upon legal request to law enforcement agencies and / or law enforcement agencies, as well as Internet service providers (providers and / or hosters).

The site administration also reserves the right to publicly report the results of such actions (without disclosing private information) if it considers it significant for the Club.

1.3. The alias name used in the interactive sections (hereinafter referred to as "nick", from the English nick) is assigned to the registered user without expiration date and is not deleted by the Administration from the "nickname" database under any circumstances. Also, the Administration does not remove all related information of a private nature from the User Settings. If you think that this "nick" you no longer need - just do not use it. If necessary, delete all private information for this "nick" yourself.

1.4. If within a month after registration you do not confirm it by logging in on the site (do not "log in"), your registration will be canceled and your "nickname" will be deleted.

If the interval between authorizations ("logins") on the site is 1 year, your "nickname" password will be replaced by a randomly generated set of characters. This is a measure to ensure the security of your data. You will be automatically notified about the possibility of losing your password one week before the expiration date at the e-mail address provided during registration. After losing your password, you will need to use the "Password Renewal" service in the "Registration" section to get a new one. All previously entered private information remains unchanged.

All passwords on the site are stored in encrypted form. At the same time, the Administration guarantees that it does not receive and is not able to obtain the real password of the user. Therefore, if for some reason you have lost or forgotten your password, the Administration will not be able to return it. But you can get a new one using the "Password Reset" service.

If you have forgotten not only your password, but also the email address with which you registered on the site, you will not be able to automatically receive a password. In this case, in order to receive a password, you will need to write a letter to the Site Administration with a detailed description of your problem.

1.5. When changing / supplementing these Rules, the date of the last edition must be indicated, and the effect of the new Rules applies to all registered users without exception and has no retroactive effect.

2. Moderation.

2.1. The Site Owners and Administration have the right and technical capabilities to appoint a Moderator (or several Moderators) to maintain order and monitor the implementation of these Rules.

Moderators have the right and opportunity, in case of violation of certain rules, to apply various measures to influence violators - from issuing warnings to completely blocking the user. More details about moderation can be found in each of the relevant sections of the Rules.

3. Rules for participation in the Conference

3.1. Some terms and definitions.

The conference has a tree structure.

The root messages of the Conference are referred to in these Rules as "topics".

All messages posted within the respective topic are referred to as "replies".

Responses can form "branches" of a topic - a sequential series of responses to responses. A topic can contain any number of answer branches.

Frequently or continuously repeated messages from one or more users with the same content (header and/or message itself) are referred to as "spam".

3.2. The conference was created to share experience, discuss and resolve issues, primarily related to Mercedes-Benz cars. Realizing that our life is not limited only to cars, the Conference can discuss other topics, one way or another raised by the participants.

There are no restrictions on viewing the Conference, as well as on participation in it. You can write messages to the Conference only after registering on the site.

3.3. The conference is post-moderated, i.e. messages are added immediately, without preliminary adjustment, blocking or deletion by moderators. However, the Site Administration reserves the right to enable automatic message processing mechanisms to remove swear words from them.

3.4. All materials posted to the Conference reflect solely the opinions of their authors, and the Site Administration does not give any guarantees, express or implied, that they are complete, useful and truthful. You may use them only at your own risk. The owners and Administration of the site do not bear any responsibility for direct or indirect damage caused to you as a result of the use (or non-use) of these materials, lost profits, loss of information, and so on. The owners and Administration of the site also do not bear any responsibility for the content of advertising materials posted on the pages of the Conference and the entire site, as well as materials located outside the site (www.mbclub.ru), including materials that may be linked from materials, located in the Conference.

3.5. The site administration guarantees that not a single message from the Conference will be deleted, but can only be blocked or hidden for public viewing when moderated in accordance with these Rules.

Blocking is a technical measure to prohibit the continuation of the discussion in a topic or in any branch of a topic.

Hiding is a technical measure to exclude a topic or response from public viewing while simultaneously blocking it. At the same time, all answer branches of this topic or answer, if any, are also hidden and blocked from viewing.

4. Violations and restrictions in the Conference

4.1. It is forbidden to post messages in the Conference containing:

4.1.1. direct insult to other participants in any form;

4.1.2. slander and knowingly false information;

4.1.3. direct use of the mat;

4.1.5. pornographic materials, as well as links to such materials;

4.1.6. calls for violence;

4.1.7. inciting ethnic, racial and religious hatred;

4.1.8. calls to violate the current legislation;

4.1.9. statements falling under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;

4.1.10. direct offers for the sale, purchase and exchange of cars, car parts and accessories at the "root" of the Conference;

4.1.11. provoking Conference participants to violate these Rules;

4.1.12. discussing the actions of the Administration and moderators, as well as provoking other participants in the Conference to such discussions;

4.1.13. offers for the sale of new and used spare parts, components and assemblies and other goods of criminal origin.

4.2.1. write more than 50% of the length of the message header in capital letters;

4.2.2. engage in skirmishes and clarification of personal relationships;

4.2.3. use it as a chat (for discussion by individual participants of their momentary interests, uninteresting to others);

4.2.4. use an excessive amount of grammatical errors and jargon, especially intentionally;

4.2.5. create yourself, as well as provoke others to spam and flood;

4.2.6. ask questions that have been discussed many times before, especially those already listed in the FAQ;

4.2.7. use foul language and veiled obscene language in the headers of messages;

4.2.8. use overquoting (overquoting the interlocutor).

5. Conference moderation. Warnings and penalties

5.1.1. Conference moderators are called upon to monitor compliance with these Rules and maintain order in the Conference. To do this, they have the right and technical capabilities:

Reprimand violators of these Rules;

Warn violators of these Rules by e-mail and fix warnings, accruing penalty points;

Block topics and replies if they violate p.p. 4.1 and 4.2 of these Rules;

Hide threads and replies if they violate p.p. 4.1 and 4.2 of these Rules.

5.1.2. For violations of these Rules, warnings are announced (penalty points are awarded). In total, two penalty points can be awarded, with the third warning, the user's nickname is blocked for a period of thirty calendar days. After the repeated set of two penalty points at the third warning, the nickname is blocked for a period of one year.

Penalty points are awarded exclusively sequentially, one for each warning.

Penalty points are automatically deducted one at a time after seven calendar days if there are no warnings during this time. Thus, if there are no violations and if there is one point, it will be written off at the latest after seven days, if there are two points - at the latest after fourteen days, and if the nickname is blocked - after forty-four days.

5.1.3. Procedure for issuing warnings and penalties:

5.1.3.1. In case of violation of p.p. 4.1.4-4.1.10, 4.1.13 a warning is issued with a penalty point, and the message is hidden.

5.1.3.2. At the first violation of p.n. 4.1.1-4.1.3, 4.1.9, 4.1.11, 4.1.12 a censure is issued, and the message is hidden. In case of repeated violation of these points, a warning is issued with a penalty point, and the message is hidden.

5.1.3.3. In case of violation of any of the paragraphs. 4.2.1-4.2.9 the user is given a public censure. In case of numerous repetitions of violations of these points, the Moderator has the right to charge a penalty point to the violators.

5.1.3.4. In case of violation of clauses 4.2.2, 4.2.3. and 4.2.5 the message may be blocked.

5.1.3.5. If clause 4.2.7 is violated, the message may be hidden.

6. Rules for participation in the chat.

Only registered users can be in the chat after authorization.

Chat is a free zone for communication, so the rules of conduct and penalties for violation of these rules differ from the general Rules.

In the chat, the direct use of obscenities, calls for ethnic and religious hatred, calls for violation of the current legislation, insults of participants in any form are prohibited.

For violation of these prohibitions, guilty users will be awarded a total penalty point. For a repeated violation, in addition to accruing another penalty point, the Chat Moderator also has the right to block the entry into the chat for the offender.

7. Rules for participation in thematic conferences-headings.

Page "Flea market" section "Communication"

Any registered user can post messages in thematic conferences-headings.

In thematic conferences-headings, it is allowed to publish messages exclusively on the topic of the conference-heading. Any extraneous messages will be hidden, and offenders will be penalized with one point.

Any violations of p.p. 4.1.1-4.1.9, 4.1.13 will be penalized with two points in a row, and messages will be hidden.

8. The procedure for appealing against the actions of the Administration and Moderators.

In case of violation of these Rules, the Moderator sends the violator a letter indicating the message for which the warning was issued, links to the violated paragraphs of the Rules and penalties.

In case of receiving a letter from the Moderator indicating the violation and the penalty for it, the user has the right to appeal against the actions of the Moderator.

To do this, he can state his objections in a letter to the Site Administration.

The administration undertakes to consider this issue as soon as possible and give a written response. The administration reserves the right not to enter into further correspondence with the user regarding the same violation.

Please do not abuse your right to appeal against the decisions of the Moderators and the Administration.

3.3. http://bspu.ab.ru/Pedobr/metkop6.html

The most important task of MODERATION in the system of advanced training of teachers is this is the choice of methods in the activity of the moderator. Moderation in the professional development of teachers and the methodological competence necessary for this can not only be mastered, but also improved by each moderator. In accordance with the individual personal characteristics of the moderators themselves. Due to differences in aims, content and conditions of training, there can be no standardization regarding the role of the moderator and the choice of methods in the sense of "That's right, that's wrong".

The practice of professional development of teachers, considered as a process of interaction between adults among adults, is always characterized by a variety of styles of professional behavior of moderators and their individual inclination to use certain methods.

3.4. http://service.bb2.ru/forum/1/8/message.html

On that website pre-moderation mode is being considered, which lies in the fact that the appearance (publication) of messages on the forum does not occur immediately after sending it to the server, but after reading it by the moderator. And since moderation itself exists only to reduce the number of unwanted messages on the forum, it becomes obvious that many messages may not appear on the forum at all because this is contrary to the policy of the site administration.

The mode of preliminary moderation has not only undeniable advantages, but also a number of significant disadvantages. Among the shortcomings is not censorship itself, which is useful when the anonymity of forum participants very often provokes them to inappropriate behavior, namely: insults, obscenities, curses, constant provocations and a large amount of nonsense that can be found on forums without moderation.

An objective disadvantage of the pre-moderation mode is the delay in the appearance of a message after it has been sent to the server. In fact, the moderator cannot constantly, that is, around the clock and in real time, read all new messages. It is not surprising, therefore, that a pre-moderation mode usually exists on commercial site forums, which are more like Guestbooks.

Preliminary moderation on the forums of commercial sites is justified because what is important here is not so much the participation in the dialogue of the forum members among themselves, but the answers of the forum moderators to the questions of site visitors. In fact, this is the mode of those. site support, when answers to the questions of site visitors should be given by specialists in a particular type of business.

This, firstly, should increase sales, as well as confidence in the company representing this site. Secondly, the pre-moderation regime is an obstacle to unfair competition, when competing firms also doing business on the network attempt to discredit a competitor through a forum on his own website.

Hence, it is not surprising that pre-moderated forums are written by programmers to order, and they cannot be downloaded over the net for free.

On forums that are intended for free and heated discussions between forum members, there is no pre-moderation mode because this, as a rule, increases the credibility of the forum as a whole.

Indeed, why should a person write a message to the forum if he is not completely sure that his information will appear on the forum at all. On the other hand, the lack of preliminary moderation can negate the efforts of the moderator to restore order only because the number of new messages on the forum per day is quite large.

Such a forum may close not because there are almost no messages on it, but, on the contrary, because of the abundance of provocations and off-topic messages, which, as we know, the Internet is very rich in.

So, we see that in this case it is necessary to find a compromise between the efficiency in posting messages on the forum and the need for moderation in general. Forum Conference service offers its members a pre-moderation mode, which can be turned on or off at any time, depending on how the forum is currently developing, as well as the moderator's ability to quickly read messages.

Moreover, in the FAQ section of the forum, all participants can immediately see how the forum is currently configured. And the combination with the moderator's ability to promptly make announcements during the course of the forum, which appear not in the text of the messages themselves, but on top of each page of the forum, should create an atmosphere of predictability and trust in the forum administration as a whole. One might think that this, in the able hands of a moderator, can increase both forum attendance and the number of interesting and meaningful messages.

3.5. http://www.phys-campus.bspu.secna.ru/db/msg/1071204968/

On this site we will meet new concepts in the process of moderation.

|A.V. Wolf writes that every place of communication on the Internet has an owner. Therefore, participating in communication, you are at someone's "guest". The owner usually sets some rules and monitors their implementation, this process is called moderation.

The moderator ensures that the discussion complies with the given topic (if any) and established rules, and, if necessary, applies administrative measures to the participants - from warning "presumptuous" to deleting some messages or even denying access to some users.

Distinguish post-moderation and pre-moderation. The most common post-moderation, when messages from participants are published directly as they arrive, and the moderator only occasionally looks through the forum and removes "garbage".

pre-moderation it is used less often, since it requires constant work of the moderator - each message received must first be confirmed (allowed) by the moderator, and only after that it is published.

Usually the rules of forums, chats and mailing lists are quite democratic; the main thing that is considered unacceptable is direct rudeness and explicit advertising. The standard requirement is: "Do not flame or spam" (see Flame, Spam).

If it seems to you that a moderator unfairly offended you in the forum - for example, he deleted your message, you should not be loudly indignant at the violation of freedom of speech. The owner is free to determine what he likes and dislikes in his "house". You can always create your own forum, mailing list, etc., in which you can set your own rules of conduct.

Moderation is also called checking the implementation of the rules of web services written in the user agreement.

3.6 http://www.linux.org.ru/view-message.jsp?msgid=99550

Here in the topic "Moderation and responsibility" you can find an appeal to the moderators. We present it in full:

"Good day! Dear moderators, since you have already taken up this activity (cut out unworthy, in your personal opinion, messages), then do it well! Read carefully what you are deleting and understand the reasons why you want to delete this or that message.I insist that not all deleted messages were deleted for objective reasons.If you need examples, give me

know and you will get them. Remember that you are morally responsible for your censorship activities. Also, don't forget that overdoing it in this area will lead to the death of the site. Your site is about a free system, don't make it proprietary.

My best wishes Roman."

Conclusions:

1. The development of moderation in all forums went through conflicts between participants and moderators.
2. Some rules and norms should be mandatory for everyone, and some norms can be introduced under the task or under the content leader of the topic.
3. Topic authors sometimes try to carry out both technical and content moderation themselves, which makes them responsible for the quality of discussions.

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