Just something I thought I'd share...

[mdx381]

Over at GameWinners.com Forums, I'm a super moderator. We have a rule over there for our 160+ mods that the contents in the private mod forums are to remain confidential, because the moderators deserve privacy when they discuss problem members and other situations that could cause problems for the moderators if they were made public.

There's a big ordeal going on now with mod forum leaking, and it's a big deal when a moderator leaks.

So... I decided to treat the members that ask me for mod forum information with access to all of the private forums.

...Or so they think.

As of late, I've been giving them a link "to a picture of the mod forum". Of course, they're estatic, because they think they're getting some good stuff that the other 60,000+ active members aren't.

And when they click the link, hangover-vision.

http://mark.gaming-hell.com/images/massl33kage.jpg

Remember, when in a position of power, it is important to remain neutral and to stay away from behavior that good deem you immature and unable to handle your job as a moderator.

So... I guess the point of this thread is, do you have a private moderator forum for your moderators? If so, do you allow information to be leaked out of it? And if information is leaked, how do you go about handling it?

[bahawolf]

Over at GameWinners.com Forums, I'm a super moderator. We have a rule over there for our 160+ mods that the contents in the private mod forums are to remain confidential, because the moderators deserve privacy when they discuss problem members and other situations that could cause problems for the moderators if they were made public.

There's a big ordeal going on now with mod forum leaking, and it's a big deal when a moderator leaks.

So... I decided to treat the members that ask me for mod forum information with access to all of the private forums.

...Or so they think.

As of late, I've been giving them a link "to a picture of the mod forum". Of course, they're estatic, because they think they're getting some good stuff that the other 60,000+ active members aren't.

And when they click the link, hangover-vision.

http://mark.gaming-hell.com/images/massl33kage.jpg

Remember, when in a position of power, it is important to remain neutral and to stay away from behavior that good deem you immature and unable to handle your job as a moderator.

So... I guess the point of this thread is, do you have a private moderator forum for your moderators? If so, do you allow information to be leaked out of it? And if information is leaked, how do you go about handling it?
Well, I have a private forum for "Staff" in general. If something is leaked out, depending on the intensity... I'll warn them. Now, I had an experience where a "moderator" went balistic for not being promoted... and gave everyone the support email password. Eventually, one nut got it, spammed everyone who asked for support, and hacked the account. That moderator was fired, and banned.

[Beorn]

Well, if you spend more than 3 minutes considering who you would like to be a moderator for your site, then yeah you should have a private forum. On http://www.thetolkienforum.com, it takes months of consideration before anyone will become a moderator...And all their actions are scrutinized prior to that. So, we know we're putting good people into the correct position.

When you have information being leaked, you know that there are untrustworthy people. What you can do is create several tiers of moderator-ship and private forums. Create an admin-only forum. Create an admin and SM forum. Create an admin, SM, and global moderator forum. Create a private forum for each section that you have a group of moderators assigned to. That way, you can tell where information is being leaked from, and much more easily pinpoint the source.

Mike

[N9ne]

I have a staff forum and leakages are graded on their intensity so the punishment's intensity relies on the intensity of the leakage ;).

[Andrew111888]

A mod was temporarily fired at my forum and I told him he can come back if he has good behavior, and then I had a hunch so I checked his PM's in the database... and found he quoted something from the mod forum and sent it to someone. I told him he will never be a mod again, and he got quite mad but he's fine now.

Moral: Nothing from the mod forum goes to any member. Ever.

[thefluke]

A mod was temporarily fired at my forum and I told him he can come back if he has good behavior, and then I had a hunch so I checked his PM's in the database... and found he quoted something from the mod forum and sent it to someone. I told him he will never be a mod again, and he got quite mad but he's fine now.

Moral: Nothing from the mod forum goes to any member. Ever.

I agree with the final sentiments here, though zero tollernece of course means zero thought. There should always be at least a warning, even if it is just vauge in nature (reminder to all mods: do not leak any information from the staff section. Doing so is grounds for dismissil.)

Though soometimes it's not entirely the moderators fault... we had a very annoying user who would keep bugging you and bugging you and bugging you and ....... and the only way to get him to shut up was to tell him what he wanted. It was always minor stuff (mostly about why he wasn't ever going to be a mod... go figure....)

IT was a sort of water tourture that was very hard to make stop. Eventually someone just stepped in and hit him with the hammer of reality and he stopped.

[Beorn]

IMO, anyone who even asks, ever, for a position should not, ever, receive it. That shows that they are looking for power. Someone who is looking for power is not suitable to be any sort of authority. If you feel that they would do a good job, ask them.

[qxh]

IMO, anyone who even asks, ever, for a position should not, ever, receive it. That shows that they are looking for power. Someone who is looking for power is not suitable to be any sort of authority. If you feel that they would do a good job, ask them.
I got a forum because I was looking for power of my own forum, does that mean I shouldn't be an Admin?

I don't really care, we don't really have many mods or admins, and don't really discuss anything in the staff forums.....Though when/if we get more populated................???

[Mark Hewitt]

I got a forum because I was looking for power of my own forum, does that mean I shouldn't be an Admin?


I suspect thats the read the majority of forums get set up in the first place. Otherwise we'd just all use existing forums, right?!

[N9ne]

I suspect thats the read the majority of forums get set up in the first place. Otherwise we'd just all use existing forums, right?!
There wouldn't be ANY forums :p

[phill2003]

though zero tollernece of course means zero thought

not really it clears a lot of things up if you ask me...

think about it if you have a zero tollerance policy then your actions are already decided, and the person or persons know just what they are going to lose should they transgress...

it takes guts to have this policy and even more bottle to follow it through, when you get the usual excuses and appologys. At least with this you dont have to go through explaining why you are demoting them as its in the rules...

[filburt1]

I have a moderator forum at my site. So does vBT and vB.org, both places that I moderate.

At vBT, it's explicitly stated that you'll lose your moderatorship status if you say what's in the forum (although that rule itself is in the forum...:eek: :D). I modelled my site's forum after vBT's and haven't had any leaks. It's the same at vB.org although not as strict. Once I did post a screenshot of the vB.org mod area, but I strategically covered up just a few bits of text ;)

edit: BTW, the mod grouping of forums plus the main forum itself at vB.org was very...creatively...named by Chen :p

[Ogden2k]

I have a mod area. Nothing special. What does everyone have in their mod sections?

[KeithMcL]

I too have mod forums and have had no leaks (that I know of) as yet. Although I don't have any explicit rules for the mods not to divulge info from these forums, I think they know not to anyway. They're a good bunch of guys :)

Most of the stuff discussed isn't really important enough to cause any real issues even if it was leaked. I'm the sole Admin and everything I want kept behind closed doors is kept to myself.

[Andrew111888]

I have a mod area. Nothing special. What does everyone have in their mod sections?

The Mod/Smod/Admin lounge is the initial forum on the main index and sub-forums are Smod/Admin lounge and objectionable content.

[thefluke]

not really it clears a lot of things up if you ask me...

think about it if you have a zero tollerance policy then your actions are already decided, and the person or persons know just what they are going to lose should they transgress...

it takes guts to have this policy and even more bottle to follow it through, when you get the usual excuses and appologys. At least with this you dont have to go through explaining why you are demoting them as its in the rules...
The problem is that there are different levels of leaks. THink about this. YOur planning a contest. One of you mods accidently lets slip that soemthing big is coming. NO real details. Does that count as a leak? And is it worth losing a good mod over such a non descript leak. There is a huge difference in severity between leaking out staff IM contact information and saying that you might be considering a few new mods in the near future. You need to take into account a mods level of experience, (did they start yesterday?), what was leaked (contact info or the name of an incosiquential thread about nothing?), and how good a mod that person has been. It makes no sense to fire your best mod because of something minor being leaked out.

->ogden: As for what is in our mod forum section:

There is an admin only, a mods/admins, a board for report this post notifications, a board to keep track of trouble makers, and a recycle bin type forum.

[Beorn]

I got a forum because I was looking for power of my own forum, does that mean I shouldn't be an Admin?

I don't really care, we don't really have many mods or admins, and don't really discuss anything in the staff forums.....Though when/if we get more populated................???

But, you know that if you abuse your power, you'll only hurt yourself and your forums, whereas if a mod abuses his/her power, they'll hurt you, your forums, and possibly themselves. If you are in a position of supreme power (absolute power corrupts absolutely...), you should know that you need to keep yourself in check. If you don't think that you will be able to handle yourself, don't start a forum.