Greetings users,
It's time for a reminder about how this site is moderated. Here is a short overview.
The team
The moderation team consists of a number of volunteers from all over the world. This is done in order to try having some kind of moderator presence in most time zones. The moderators have a mix of real world and scuba diving skills and competencies. A few are real world experts in their field. Most of us are passionate divers who scuba dive as a hobby.
How we respond
Moderators do keep an eye out for "problems" but for much of our work we rely on people using the REPORT button in the menu at the bottom of every post in order to get our attention. The team is too small to read every post made on the board and a lot will slip through our fingers if users don't REPORT. REPORTING is discreet. The moderators will know who made the report (so we can respond) but we don't expose that information to the person who got reported. Even if all you want is a second opinion about something then use the REPORT button. We don't mind.
Deciding how to respond
After a report is made moderators will decide how to respond. This may take some time. We try to decide based upon a broad consensus but that can sometimes mean having to wait through time zones for people to wake up and give their opinion. This accounts for most of the delays in responding. Some reports will not result in action. All reports, however, are reviewed and a decision about how to respond is made.
Principles
a) The TOS (terms of service): Reports are held up to the light of the TOS. The TOS, however is not a cook book so we are usually in the position of having to interpret a report in the context of the TOS.
b) Moderators do not fact check: It is our firm belief that the community is in a far better position to respond to factual inaccuracies than we are. We do this for two reasons. First of all because this leads to interesting and educational discussions. Secondly, because moderators are not experts at everything and therefore literally not in a position to fact check everything. For this we rely on the community to self-correct. Most of the content results from people sharing their opinions and debating the nuances. We cannot and should not get in the way of that. It should never the be the role of a moderator to force users to agree.
c) Moderators do not mediate: Occasionally users get into personal conflicts and look to moderators to mediate and/or decide who is right and who is wrong. Mods do not do this. We *will* however intervene in situations where threats are being made or there is a question of stalking or other unacceptable behaviour. Users should fight personal conflicts in PM's not on the open forums.
d) Moderators referee the tone: The main role of moderators is to regulate the tone of discussions. We don't mind if people disagree. We don't even mind if people *passionately* disagree. We do, however, mind a LOT when it escalates to the point that people are not respecting each other. These are the things we would most like to see users REPORT so we can keep the tone of the board respectful and preferably friendly.
e) Not all users are treated equally: All users are treated *fairly* but some users are, simply, more disruptive than others. Some users need a little more ... correcting ... than others and we deliberately put more emphasis on controlling disruptive users than we do on the user who usually never gets on the radar and has a bad day. We know that not everyone gets equal treatment but the goal of moderation is not to be a dispassionate judge and jury of every user. The role of moderation is to make the board a comfortable place to be. For some users this may create friction but we would rather have that friction directed towards moderators than directed toward other users.
f) Finally, moderators are users too. Moderators are not immune from saying stupid things and/or getting reported. Sometimes it's hard to combine being "just another user" with being the referee. It's like playing defense on a hockey team while deciding who is or isn't offside. This can lead to confusion but it should be made clear that moderators are NOT immune from being reported or moderated. If you believe you are being handled harshly by a moderator then you should REPORT it. It WILL be taken seriously.
I hope this post helps people understand a little more about moderation on Scubaboard. As a final message I would like to say that it is the firm commitment of every moderator to help make your experience on this board as positive as we can.
R..
It's time for a reminder about how this site is moderated. Here is a short overview.
The team
The moderation team consists of a number of volunteers from all over the world. This is done in order to try having some kind of moderator presence in most time zones. The moderators have a mix of real world and scuba diving skills and competencies. A few are real world experts in their field. Most of us are passionate divers who scuba dive as a hobby.
How we respond
Moderators do keep an eye out for "problems" but for much of our work we rely on people using the REPORT button in the menu at the bottom of every post in order to get our attention. The team is too small to read every post made on the board and a lot will slip through our fingers if users don't REPORT. REPORTING is discreet. The moderators will know who made the report (so we can respond) but we don't expose that information to the person who got reported. Even if all you want is a second opinion about something then use the REPORT button. We don't mind.
Deciding how to respond
After a report is made moderators will decide how to respond. This may take some time. We try to decide based upon a broad consensus but that can sometimes mean having to wait through time zones for people to wake up and give their opinion. This accounts for most of the delays in responding. Some reports will not result in action. All reports, however, are reviewed and a decision about how to respond is made.
Principles
a) The TOS (terms of service): Reports are held up to the light of the TOS. The TOS, however is not a cook book so we are usually in the position of having to interpret a report in the context of the TOS.
b) Moderators do not fact check: It is our firm belief that the community is in a far better position to respond to factual inaccuracies than we are. We do this for two reasons. First of all because this leads to interesting and educational discussions. Secondly, because moderators are not experts at everything and therefore literally not in a position to fact check everything. For this we rely on the community to self-correct. Most of the content results from people sharing their opinions and debating the nuances. We cannot and should not get in the way of that. It should never the be the role of a moderator to force users to agree.
c) Moderators do not mediate: Occasionally users get into personal conflicts and look to moderators to mediate and/or decide who is right and who is wrong. Mods do not do this. We *will* however intervene in situations where threats are being made or there is a question of stalking or other unacceptable behaviour. Users should fight personal conflicts in PM's not on the open forums.
d) Moderators referee the tone: The main role of moderators is to regulate the tone of discussions. We don't mind if people disagree. We don't even mind if people *passionately* disagree. We do, however, mind a LOT when it escalates to the point that people are not respecting each other. These are the things we would most like to see users REPORT so we can keep the tone of the board respectful and preferably friendly.
e) Not all users are treated equally: All users are treated *fairly* but some users are, simply, more disruptive than others. Some users need a little more ... correcting ... than others and we deliberately put more emphasis on controlling disruptive users than we do on the user who usually never gets on the radar and has a bad day. We know that not everyone gets equal treatment but the goal of moderation is not to be a dispassionate judge and jury of every user. The role of moderation is to make the board a comfortable place to be. For some users this may create friction but we would rather have that friction directed towards moderators than directed toward other users.
f) Finally, moderators are users too. Moderators are not immune from saying stupid things and/or getting reported. Sometimes it's hard to combine being "just another user" with being the referee. It's like playing defense on a hockey team while deciding who is or isn't offside. This can lead to confusion but it should be made clear that moderators are NOT immune from being reported or moderated. If you believe you are being handled harshly by a moderator then you should REPORT it. It WILL be taken seriously.
I hope this post helps people understand a little more about moderation on Scubaboard. As a final message I would like to say that it is the firm commitment of every moderator to help make your experience on this board as positive as we can.
R..
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