How Moderation Works
A summary of our staff's positions and duties, and our overall approach to moderation.
The Team
Our staff consists of dedicated individuals, with different backgrounds and interests, spread across continents. Our staff team is currently small but our aim is to expand it with a politically diverse group to represent our team. The team is entirely made up of volunteers elected by the community they are looking to represent. A detailed
Active Staff Roster is open to the public and is regularly updated.
The team receive reports every day, and the moderators manage each of those reports. We also receive several emails and private messages, and authorise new posts and threads every day manually. The work is relentless, exhausting, and sometimes ungrateful. Staff members set out to maintain the forum for many hours each week; this is a responsibility they undertake because they care deeply about the community and want it to be the best it can be.
It is important to remember that we are adopting a consensus strategy to moderation and that no single moderator will ever be solely responsible for a decision. All moderator actions are recorded immediately and accessible by the rest of the team; thus, it is unlikely for an specific staff member to abuse their power. Each action is discussed as a team and agreed by multiple staff members before it is executed. Our team's diversity is a strength — we are always seeking insight from other staff members who know the most about any given issue.
Individual staff, like all members, have strong opinions on any number of topics and are free to express those views as posters. Those opinions and posts are their own and are not official policies. Actions by moderators are always driven by consensus from multiple staff and by our written guidelines and policies. Official staff communications will be marked as such.
Moderators
They are the people who have volunteered to enforce our mission statement and our policies. If it comes to keeping the peace on the forums they are on the front lines. Moderators review all reports, provide feedback by written warning and continue to make contributions as posters. Without their efforts, the site would not have a community.
Administrators
The administration is responsible for maintaining all aspects of the site and ensuring it's in an operable condition. They manage the site and implement new features, verify members of the industry, screening content for spam and respond to emails. Administrators also lead internal policy discussions and are often called upon to give the moderation team guidance. Administrators also process appeals, and are available to answer any questions about moderation that you may have.
Moderation Approach
All official staff communications, such as this one, we seek to express our policies and objectives as clearly as possible. When a user is warned or banned for a post, a public banner attached to that post offers the explanation for this. These banners, in addition to ensuring transparency and accountability, help other members understand where the lines are and what our logic is. All members of staff are expected to follow the same rules as the rest of the members.
As JoyFreak continues to grow, the moderation team will be required to grow too, to ensure timely coverage around the clock. To ensure consistency in our moderation duties we have an internal set of moderation guidelines, based on publicly available policies.
Our team is moderating on the spirit of the rules and our statement of mission. Before reaching a decision multiple factors are taken into consideration. When determining penalties, we weigh past offences, post history, and the severity of the post(s). We are also considering whether a member doubled his behaviour.
Staff members are required to avoid any involvement in moderating disputes that they have personally participated in. That means a moderator will never moderate an argument between the two users. Instead, other moderators within the team handle all relevant reports independently. We are doing our utmost to make sure moderation is unbiased, objective and not emotionally motivated. On the other hand, we also try to contact team members who are familiar with the community in order to prevent possible misunderstandings when it comes to community threads that may each have a unique culture.
Please bear in mind that it is impossible for our staff to be everywhere on the forum so even if you notice the presence of staff within a thread, there's no guarantee they've read each single post before or after their own. Do not believe moderators are ignoring violations of the rules. If you see a problem, report it.
The Report System
The report system is an integrated system that allows for the community to flag posts for moderator attention. You can report posts, profiles, and private messages. Every user has the ability to access it by clicking the little bell at the bottom left of each post or message. There will be a little window to provide some more information about the report - this is optional, but highly recommended.
All reports are instantly delivered to the forum staff and put into a single queue visible to the entire moderation team. The report system allows for the staff to deliberate on a solution to the report, close it, reopen it, or archive it. If you report a private conversation, moderators will be able to join that conversation in order to get the full context.
The most common use of the report system is to report posts that are believed to be breaking the rules. However, you can also report your own post if you need a thread locked, a thread title changed, a double post deleted, etc.
Though the moderators and administrators try to work towards a helpful and collaborative community, there are only three staff members, and thousands of messages. The reports created by users are immensely helpful in keeping the peace of the community.
There are some steps that you can take to make things easier for the staff.
How to Make a Good Report
The key to making a good report and to ensure it gets processed quickly is to describe exactly what is wrong with the post and why it needs moderator attention. Be clear on what rule was violated, if any. Do not assume that the staff understands your argument unless it is spelled out. The moderators available at any given time will not always be familiar with a particular subject, the history of the posters involved or the dynamics within a particular community. Make sure that you provide any important background in your report.
Please do not misuse the report system by filing trivial or rude reports. Your comments should be respectful and positive in every way. You may send follow-up reports about the same post, but do not keep reporting a post just to protest a decision. Misuse of the report system can result in a warning or a ban. Do not make public posts about reporting other members — either report them, or don't.
Staff Posts
Staff Posts are used when a moderator wants to directly provide guidance in a thread. These posts are highly visible and marked as "OFFICIAL STAFF COMMUNICATION". See example below.
Official Staff Communication
This is an example of a staff post.
Impersonating a moderator by using the Staff Post BBCode is grounds for a permanent ban.
Staff posts are usually threadmarked if they provide important guidance to the entire thread. The title may also be changed in these situations to suggest that a staff post has been created. Ignoring that guidance may result in a warning or a ban. We recommend that you always check for the 'Staff Posts' button at the top of any thread that you enter; this button will only appear if there is a threadmark on a staff post.
Using the staff post BBCode is technically possible for ordinary members — this was necessary in order to allow for quotable staff posts. You shouldn't take advantage of this though. Changing a post to a staff or creating a fake one, even as a joke, will result in a ban.
Infractions and Penalties
Most of our members are never going to violate a rule or face moderation. However, there are a range of punitive measures that could be used when such action is required.
Warnings are given when a member needs guidance and/or a slight infraction has been committed — these are cases where a ban is considered unnecessary. All infractions, including warnings, are logged for future reference by the staff members. For transparency, a public banner that explains the warning will be added to the offending post explaining the warning. Some warnings will contain a more detailed message to the offending member to ensure they understand why they are being warned and how they will be able to avoid future problems. Before you can post again you need to manually acknowledge a warning.
Bans are used for more serious cases, when a warning is ignored, or a recurring pattern of misconduct. As with warnings, bans are logged and public banners are applied to the offending post. The length of the ban depends on the severity of the offence and the record of the member. The more offences a member has, the more likely longer their next ban will be. A permanent ban will be issued in cases where we determine that a member is either unable or unwilling to correct his behaviour. When a long ban is requested, or when the team is initially uncertain as to how long a ban will be, it is marked on the public banner as 'Length Pending.' The administrators review these bans which determine the final length.
Thread creation privileges can be revoked or suspended if a member creates threads that are of low quality. Low quality threads include poorly sourced threads, have obvious clickbait titles, are created to troll members or staff, or otherwise fail to provide content that encourages good discussion.
Appealing a Ban or Warning
The moderation team allows for users to appeal a ban or warning if they wish to have it removed from their records. The
Moderation Appeal forum is the place for users to go in order to appeal an infraction or account penalty. All relevant information and context should be included in the appeal, and you must be polite and constructive while making a case. You will not be rewarded for taking an aggressive tone or send insults to staff, and in fact it may lead to more severe penalties up to and including a permanent ban. Please be aware that the Moderation Appeal forum is public and any user is allowed to participate in the appeal to have their say.
On moderation decisions, there is no “one-size-fits all” basis. The moderation team decides everything on a case-by-case basis to ensure fairness among the team. All appeals are deliberated by the staff members but it is the administrators who make the final decision to accept or deny the appeal. Visit
How to Appeal a Ban or Warning thread for more information.
Backseat Moderation
Backseat moderation is when members take it upon themselves to act as if they are in charge of moderation such as trying to enforce rules themselves, or publicly insisting on what sort of moderation needs to happen. Do not do so please. This behaviour often leads to thread derailment and user arguments; staff also find it discourteous.
The reporting system is always available if you wish to draw the team's attention to your concerns. If you have any questions about moderation, please feel free to use the contact form or directly reach the administrators on here. What you should never do is tag individual members of staff in a thread when asking them to conduct some sort of moderation, particularly punitive action against other members. This is unacceptable and needless, which will lead to penalties for you.
Moderation Disputes
There may be times when you disagree with a moderator action (or lack thereof). Your feedback and criticism is always welcome and encouraged as long as it is constructive, politely presented and offered through suitable channels such as the contact form or private messages. If you post moderation complaints in a public thread you will be responsible for any subsequent derailment. Private dissent between the user and moderator is OK as long as it is constructive - however, it is not OK to publicly express disapproval in a thread where it is visible, especially if your words cross the line into outright attacks on staff which may result in a ban.
Please be aware that our volunteer staff are never required to receive abuse. This applies to forms of communication, both public and private, including private messages and reports.
