Managing a Team of Moderators - mods only section

I run two forums and on both have created a separate section for moderators only, where they can swap notes, get advice and where I can look over their shoulder. I've found this really helpful from a management point of view.

Some things I've included in the moderator's section have been:
Deleted posts - place a copy here
How to use mod controls
How to spot spam posts
Issues facing the community
Moderation Guidelines
Policy Updates
General banter amongst mods

I also use it as a place to move threads instead of deleting them when I want to keep a copy - e.g. significant disputes when a member has been banned and posts deleted (instead I just move the copy into this section).

In my day job I've managed 300+ volunteers working on the streets with homeless people and in prisons... and learnt a lot over the years about command and control problems. Forums are potentially a nightmare in this sense. The mod's forums have helped as it breeds consistency and everyone doing things the way I want things done, also if mods want to throw a tanty at me or each other it gives an appropriate space for that. Also fosters a team spirit and enables free flowing communication. It's also really helpful when taking on new mods, they can follow how things have been done in terms of culture and implementing policies.

Notes:
Don't let spiders index it
Don't let forum members know it exists (or at the very least don't let them read posts in that section)

Does anyone else have a separate section for mods only?

deffinately, I do on my personal forums, and most of the sites I have worked on have them...I find this stuff very helpfull also...I make my staff read the how tos and tuttorials I have in there before they get at it.

On one forum - I actually have several such forums.

One is for mods and admins. This is where we talk about warning so n so, or general notices to staff.

One is a TRASH forum - for deleted posts. We dont actually delete threads - we move them to the Trash Forum so they can be restored if need be and so other mods can see the problem.

One is for admins only.

We dont 'hide' the fact we have such forums, but we dont advertise it either.


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I have them on all my forums. Usually one for admins and one for mods at minimum.

This is a fairly common tool admins use to make sure their admins remain on task and can get assistance if need be.
The Trash/Archives should be a seperate forum, otherwise the moderators forum becomes cluttered and off-topic.

I strongly disagree with the initial assertion that you shouldn't let your members know it exists. Obviously they shouldn't be able to read it, as that would be self-defeating. But it is bad policy to decieve your members. After all, just knowing it exists won't jeapordize your security.

Our members can't see our admin area, but we don't keep it a secret.

We have an informal process of promoting a member to mod status, and part of the fun is taking a last chance to talk about a guy behind his back on the admin area before he can read the thread. We have had more than one mod say they realized the inmates are running the asylum once they joined the mods.

Ha ha ha ha ha - thats cool

i also have a hidden mod section... i think that was the best thing i setup so far... it makes things so much easier.

"Don't let spiders index it"

how do u control that aspect?? will it crawl the section if its hidden?

3 forums
One for discussion between admins - we have no mods, just 7 admins (all partners)
One is trash can called sin bin.
Third one was the most recent one it is pretty much the same as admins forum but it is specefically there to keep record of all the bannings and warnings. Also since we have admin validation switched on that forum also keep track records of members who have been accepted and the ones rejected.

Everyone knows that mod forum exist and we have never really made an effort to hide that fact.

i like that... the Sin Bin

hehe

Don't let forum members know it exists (or at the very least don't let them read posts in that section)

That's good advice, because on some forums (like political ones) a mod forum can become a kickball for opposing sides believing it's a base for either party.

Whatever folks do don't make a public showing/but private forum, as it generates some really bad envy. Keep private forums private or the "have nots" aren't going to be pleased.

Chris

As I said. I dont advertise the fact that there are private mod forums - but I dont deny it ether.

Private Mod Sections in forums are really very important. In a forum which I moderated, it was this lack of knowledge and ideas on how to become a very good moderator that made me feel discouraged as we were sent the guidelines only after we were able to make some mistakes in the handling of the questionable threads. New forum mods must be guided before their actual work begins.

I would love to see some of these guidelines / tutorial you have for mods and admins. This would be very helpful to me.

I wonder if we can find one by googling it out? I have read such kind of guidelines when I was moderating a forum but now that I have resigned, I have no more access to the admin section so I can't see it anymore.

hmm good ideas..

keep them going dues..:)

I needed to raise the funds to actually start up a new forum, so I went about contacting potential investors. I called the group "founders" most of which were mods from the various other forums I was a member at. One of the perks I offered this groups was a 'special forum' and as there was only 10, most of which would be mods on my forum, I simply made it a place for social aspects of moderation, general forum discussions, and for a more intimate social topics. Mods and founders are welcome in that forum.

I then created a new forum specifically for moderation. It is the place where reported posts get sent too, and is for those and discussions about specific members and other more private matters concerning only mods.

I then created yet another forum for junk posts to be moved too. I felt this was needed because I do not let mods DELETE posts, so rather then blanking them, they can simply send them to this place. it's a virtual grave yard of trolls, flames, and duplicate threads... I am unsure if ANYONE has ever read anything from there ;)

I also have a seperate forum for super moderators and admin (so we can rant about mods, and do performance reviews etc, as well as discuss what to do next with the site.)
Q

Private staff forums are very important to have, and I'm sure that just about every forum has them.

Deleted posts - place a copy here



I have a separate publicly available site feedback section for this.

Well, members get a PM if their post is touched by a mod.

If there is in infraction (few and far between) it goes to the site feedback forum.

My way of keeping them in line, let the community judge the actions they take if any.

-Raymond

Private staff forums are very important to have, and I'm sure that just about every forum has them.All the sites I'm an admin or moderator on do - except one - but that's because it's very old custom software that has no facility for private forums.