A Guide to Moderation

This post was originally a part of this one. I cut it out from there as it covers a different topic. You can still consider this a part two to that post, however.

An (opinionated) guide on moderation. Before I begin, here are some other resources covering moderation:

• Discord: Safety and Moderation
• mod.tips
• That's all I can think of for now. If you know any other similar resources, please contact me.

Remember that it's never too late to extensively learn the tools at your disposal. If you're on Discord, for example, learn how the moderation bot¹ your community uses works. This'll make your life easier and speed up response time when you need to take action.

Equality

Enforce the rules on a respected member of the community, a staff member (only the ones you are responsible for), a new member, or a known "community clown" equally. It is important to try your best to not show bias or display prejudice when moderating.

If you feel that a case will be too difficult for you to not be biased, delegate the sitation to another moderator.

If your community members are able to safely feel that they know they will be dealt with equally and according to the rules, your environment will feel less strained, tense, and toxic.

You're A Role Model & Nobody's Perfect

A moderator is a role model of his or her community. Often, members will look at the moderators' behavior to judge what is acceptable and what isn't. Be an example of a polite, kind member who follows the rules.

You aren't expected to be perfect. You are expected to try your best. If you think your best isn't good enough, consider stepping down for the sake of the community.

As a moderator, you're expected to take action, not become a part of the problem. If there's a fight going on, don't join in! Stop it.

Likewise, members cannot all be perfect either. If an infraction is an obvious slipup or mistake, be forgiving.

Enforcing Rules

Some terminology that I will be using in this section:

• Banning: To restrict a member from participation in the commmunity.
• Muting: To restrict a member from actively paticipating in the community, but allowing them view access.
• Verbally: To, written or otherwise, communicate something via unofficial means.
• Officially: To communicate via official means (e.g. a moderation team email address such as [email protected] or a Discord bot command).
• Warning: To warn a member regarding their actions (usually an infraction on the community rules) either verbally or officially.
• Infracting: To violate the community rules/guidelines in any way.

There are multiple systems of moderation, the four most common being:

• Case by case basis. An appropriate punishment is determined by the moderator for each case separately from the member's other cases.
• Infractions based. At each increment of the infractions count, a new punishment is decided: e.g., a mute at two infractions, and an indefinite ban at three infractions.
• A mix of the first two systems — this is the most common in my experience.
• A points-based infractions system. I will edit this article and add a section covering this in detail later on.

Regardless of which system your community uses, here are some guidelines:

• Provide a valid explanation and/or evidence for the action you took against the member. This is usually done in log channels.
• If it is a minor offense, warn the user to cease before deciding to take action.
• Be polite to all parties involved.

Conclusion

Any feedback on this page, corrections to make, something you think I missed, or something I should add? Contact me please (or just leave a comment in the comment section below)! 💖