Splitting 2-part episodes and political hijacks

[tbaker2500]

It's not all that. It's simply telling people to chill every once and a while. Varda, you've seen how often I've had to do that. What, once every 6 months? The big thing is having enough people to see the threads. I agree ASID that we could use more on staff. Do you have anybody in mind?

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Hadn't thought about it. Frankly I'm still a little surprised that I ended up as a moderator here.

I agree that Varda's probably the best choice for new, full-fledged moderator.

I don't see a lot of other candidates in terms of involvement and temperament. ROU maybe.

Then again, we haven't needed a lot of moderation except for approving first posts and blasting spammers. Maybe just give a Varda, ROU, Munsi, and whomever seems likely from the drabble forum (which I don't visit as much as I like) just the power to approve first posts.

[Varda]

Well, if it's a matter of being short-handed... count me in. It's very possible I'm in over my head, though. Hope guys will walk me through the fine points, and put up with all the impending dumb questions.

Now where do I sign in blood? And do I get to keep my title?

[tbaker2500]

Ok, you should now see some more options. You can edit other people's posts (Don't do that unless you have a very good reason and clearly state it in your edit), you can split topics, you can merge topics. But the most important thing, is you can approve new members. Here'z how it works:
When a new person registers and posts for the first time, we hold it in limbo. If it's spam, we can disapprove it, and then ban the user. If it's a real person, we can approve the post, and they are elevated to being a standard member. The easiest place to do this is from the Moderator Control Panel, close to the top of the screen.

In fact, the Moderator Control Panel will tell you if there are any posts waiting for approval. So whenever you come here, pop in there and check.

If you disapprove of a spammer, go into the Moderator Control Panel, go to Banning, and type in the username of the awful person. Select a Permanent ban, type in a reason (spam, etc), and click submit. I periodically delete those users when I get bored.

ASID is better at splitting and merging topics, he can guide you through that.

Thanks for the help and welcome aboard! You can now step in when you feel a situation has gotten tacky, and tell them with authority to smile and have some jelly. If you have any questions about actions, shoot me an email and I'll give you the moral support you desire!

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Congrats, Varda!

Now maybe we can gang up on Tom and get the key to the executive washroom off him.

Adding to what Tom said: If we delete a post that belongs to another user, the only valid reason is that it was a duplicate post or blatant spam (we can powwow if some other reason crops up).
Every once in a while, someone (usually a newbie) will double-click, or something, and the exact same post will be made twice. Then it's okay to delete the duplicate.

[Varda]

Thanks, you guys! I'll try to do the office justice, and only let the power go to my head a leeeetle bit.

I feel like my Weirdo Class just leveled up.

[Varda]

Got it. How permanent are deletions, btw? Are they undo-able, or gone forever once deleted?

I looked through the Mod controls, and it does look fairly straightforward. I will resist the temptation to create a sock puppet just for the purpose of learning how to ban it.

[tbaker2500]

When you delete them, they pass through the emancipation grid. (Been playing Portal 2 again.) Gone.