Moderating Tips

[Yoon]

With more and more people visiting and posting on Yoon's Corner, it will become more necessary to step up on moderating the forums, as there may be people who decide to "break the rules." Here are some tips for new and current moderators when moderating:

1.) Moving Threads
- As a moderator, it is your job to keep threads in the right places. In other words, if you see a thread that should belong in a different forum, feel free to move it to that forum.

GENERAL DISCUSSION - Any other thread that doesn't seem to belong to any other section will likely fall under General Discussion.
COMMUNITY CAFE - Introductions, community/forum events, member news, birthdays, and other member-related events/news belong in the Cafe.
CREATIVE EXHIBITION - Member-created artistic works, fanfics, and other member-created creative endeavors belong in the Exhibition.
CURRENT EVENTS - Current, domestic and international news fall under this section.
THE QUIET CORNER - Personal feelings, friendships, relationships, and rants belong in the Quiet Corner.
RANDOM NONSENSE - SPAM-related posts and weird posts that don't make any sense fall in this section.

COMEDY CENTRAL - Any humorous jokes, videos, stories, etc. belong in Comedy Central.
MEDIA LIBRARY - Topics related to anime, movies, and music belong in the Media Library.
SPORTS CENTER - Sports-related threads like baseball, football, basketball, soccer, etc. belong in Sports Center.

GAMING DISCUSSION - Any gaming-related thread that does not seem to fall under any other section belong here. Console and computer gaming-related threads belong in this section, unless the thread discusses online play.
ONLINE ARENA - Online gaming (console & PC) discussion threads belong in this thread. MMORPG-related threads also fall under this section.
RPG WORLDS - Threads discussing (offline) RPGs (console & PC) fall under this section.
THE GAME ROOM - Any forum, Java, website game-related threads belong in the Game Room.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS - D&D related threads go in this section.

RAGNAROK ONLINE DISCUSSION - Any other Ragnarok Online-related thread that does not seem to fit in any (or particular) of the other RO sections fall in this section.
DOMINATING TWINS GUILD DISCUSSION - This board is now defunct and is here for archive reasons. As a result, there should not be any threads that will be moved into this section.
THE FORGOTTEN GUILD DISCUSSION - Threads related to the Forgotten guild, such as member updates, guild news, etc. belong in this section.
NEWS & UPDATES - Ragnarok Online updates, news, as well as specific server (qRO, LegacyRO, etc.) news/updates belong in this section.
EVENTS - All Ragnarok Online server events, guild events, and member events belong here.
GUIDES - Guides related to Ragnarok Online belong here.
GUILD RECRUITMENT - All Ragnarok Online guild recruiting threads belong in this section.
JOBS OF RUNE-MIDGARD - Threads discussing Ragnarok Online jobs, classes, character builds, and personal characters belong in this section.
PRONTERA MARKETPLACE - Ragnarok Online item requests, trades, shops, etc. belong in the Marketplace.
SCREENSHOT EXHIBIT - Ragnarok Online screen shot threads belong in the Screenshot Exhibit.
WAR OF EMPERIUM STRATEGY COUNCIL - All WoE-related threads, such as strategy, attendance, castle drops, previous WoE discussions belong in the Strategy Council.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT DISCUSSION - All WoW-related threads belong in the WoW section.

GADGET GOSSIP - New technology, gadgets, etc. belong in Gadget Gossip.
HARDWARE ZONE - Thread discussing computer hardware (computer builds, processors, graphic cards, sound cards, etc.) belong in the Zone.
SOFTWARE MATRIX - Discussion involving operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac, etc.) and software fall in this section.
DRIVER REPOSITORY - Updated drivers for computer hardware (graphic cards, sound cards, etc.) belong in this section.
TECH SUPPORT DESK - Computer technical support-related threads fall in this section.

FORUM SUPPORT CENTER - New forum features, issues, and updates, as well as member bans, admin/moderator announcements belong in this section.
STAFF DISCUSSION - Private discussion involving the forum between staff members fall in this section.

2.) Locking Threads
- A thread should be locked if:
A). A user posts a thread about a subject that is already being discussed, i.e. user fails to use the Search function.
B). A user makes "duplicate" threads on multiple forums
C). It becomes a flame war that gets out of hand.
D). It goes totally off topic. For example, a thread is initially created to discuss "WoE Strategy" but turns into a "Jessica Alba is hot" topic, completely unrelated topics.

3.) Merging/Splitting Threads
- A thread should be merged with another thread if:
A.) There is another thread with the exact same subject.

- A thread should be split if:
A.) The topic of the thread completely diverges from the original purpose of the thread.

4.) Stickying/Unstickying Threads
- If you see a thread that is extremely useful to everyone, feel free to make it a sticky thread. If there is a sticky thread that you see that is no longer useful anymore, unsticky it.

5.) Deleting Threads
- Threads are generally not deleted on Yoon's Corner, simply for archiving reasons. The only time a post or thread should be deleted is if duplicate threads/posts are created or if it violates the top 3 rules designated in the General Rules, as breaking these rules also violates Proboards' Terms of Services, which could place Yoon's Corner into a lot of trouble if ignored.

6.) Warning/Banning Members
- Hopefully, it will not come to this on Yoon's Corner, but as the number of posters increase, we may get a few "trolls." If there are any users that consistently break some of the minor rules, send them a friendly warning via PM. For those that break the top 3 rules, they should be dealt with harshly, and depending on the situation, they may be either temporarily or permanently banned from Yoon's Corner. Permanent bans will be given in the most extreme cases, especially for those that break the top 3 rules, which are primary violations on Proboards' Terms of Services.

For new moderators, all moderator functions are listed at the bottom, under the last thread displayed on the message board for which you have been designated as a moderator for.

Please do not abuse your power, as you were given these extra powers because you are considered to be trusted and responsible. Abusing your powers is the same as abusing our trust in you.

A big thank you goes out to all moderators who have taken the time to moderate Yoon's Corner. ;D

[Yoon]

Updated the tips, since the phpBB3 board adds a few new moderating features.

If you have any questions about how to use the moderator control panel, feel free to post here, since the moderating options are a bit different than how it was setup on the ProBoards Y-Corner.

[Jaegar]

The merge/split ability is new right? Anything else?

[Yoon]

Yep, the merge/split options are new. There's also a Resync option, which is only used if a thread reports a wrong number of posts.

Other than those options and the moderator control panel, everything else is pretty much the same.