All members of the staff should consider themselves as "Moderators at Large". So here is a portion of a Policy Statement on Moderation. The pertinent parts are in Bold
The primary function of the moderator is to facilitate, not to censor.
Moderators should be seen as on the side of the members. If drastic action is needed, let me do it. I am the official SOB.
Never allow a question to go unanswered for more than 24 hours.
Never criticize the content of a post in public. Use PM
Never tell a person to "search" the forums for an answer. Give the person a pointer to the proper thread or post.
On number 3, there is one reason why this must be done in this way beyond what is the obvious. As a staff member when you find it necessary to take any kind of corrective action, you must be seen as doing it as an extension of your duties. You are simply doing it to enforce policy. Once you respond publically to an issue, your creditability and perhaps the staff's is put in question. Then if you have to take some more formal action, it may well be seen as a personal vendetta based on personality clash rather than the carrying out of site policy. We must avoid that all costs. The result would be a fractured membership as people will then tend to choose sides.:crybaby2::crybaby2:
I believe you have captured the roles well, Steve. I would like to add that it is my opinion that the moderator's role as a facilitator rather than a censor is also noteworthy. This has been the topic of many public debates on other boards and quickly separates the general members from the moderators. It gets ugly very quickly. Typically, for me, I will try to leave an actual deletion to Steve, unless it is blatently offensive. We also have the moderation queue that we can use for discussion if we do not want to make the decision on our own, but also don't want to leave something out for everyone to read until Steve sees it. Of course, you all already know that
Another thing I want to add, is trustyour best judgement. There have been many time that something should have been done, but someone was unsure if it was the right thing to do. If something doesn't sit right with you, it won't sit right with somebody else.
Dave
