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'''THIS PAGE NEEDS UPDATING.  Suggest a page is set up for each of the functions in the left hand menu on ModTools, rather than cram it all into one page'''
==Starting with Modtools==
You can use ModTools from any browser, e.g. Chrome, Edge or Firefox.  If you don't have a preference, use Chrome. https://modtools.org/modtools
 
If you're using a phone/tablet, then you should get the ModTools app from the Play Store or iTunes. That will work best, and you'll get notifications when there's stuff to do.
 
Or do both.
 
==Getting Set Up==
 
First things first - set up ModTools for you and your community.  Select ''Settings'' from the left hand menu bar.
 
You will see 4 tabs/sections for this:
 
* '''Personal''' - these are ModTools settings just for you.
* '''Community''' - choose ModTools settings for each community you are moderating, either as an active moderator or a backup. The button to change you from actively moderating or back up is under Your Settings in this Community section. <br>For more information on shortlinks, have a look at [[Shortlinks]]. Also [[How to add a picture to a community home page]]
*'''Standard Messages''' - these are a range of template messages that you can use for moderating posts and members on your community.
Substitution strings are used on lots of messages; they are a special terminology you can put in standard messages, which ModTools expands more fully before it sends a message. For a full explanation of these, have a look at [[Substitution Strings]].
*'''Bulk Operations''' - this section will have some actions that you can use - watch this space!
 
You may like to get going with the basic features offered and once you are confident, come back and edit as you gain confidence or things change.  It is also a good idea to review these, say, annually to check that everything is still fit for purpose.
 
 
Now your Settings are sorted, you are ready to go.  ModTools should be self explanatory on each of the sections/pages, but for some more information and ideas, there are other sources/pages that might help - see below (in order of how they appear in the toolbars).
 
==Dashboard==
For more information on stats, have a look at [[Statistics]]
 
==Messages==
If you need extra message templates to deal with any member messages, see [[Sample Messages]] for ideas. See [[Postcodes]] for an explanation of how the website handles postcode and location information in posts.
 
====Pending====
This is where the messages that need moderating arrive, whether generated on the website, email or via [[Trash Nothing]]. The red number shows those for communities where you are lead moderator, the blue for those on which you are back-up moderator.
If messages are left for more than 48 hours they will automatically approve.  This means a community can survive a glitch of non-moderation, but it shouldn't be relied on - it is important for the messages to be looked at as members and scammers will notice problem posts.<br>
Marking a message as Spam: If a message is spam, you can just mark the message as spam, or also mark the member as a spammer. Under 'other actions', there is a button to report a member as a spammer, but only use this is you are sure the spam message isn't a one off anomaly as the member seems to be a sound freegler usually. A message that is marked as Spam is used, behind the scenes, to train our spam filters, the Delete button just removes the message.
 
====Approved====
The list of all messages on your community/communities.
====Review====
Messages that are not subject to moderation might have [[Worry Words|worry words]] involved, so these are flagged up here for you to review.
 
====Edits====
When members edit their approved posts, you can see the edits in this section.
 
==Members==
[[Member Notes]] gives more information about moderator and system notes on a member's account.
 
====Approved====
List of all members in your community/communities.  See [[Banning]] for explanation of banning and unbanning a member. See [[Trouble unsubscribing]] for more information about unsubscribing.  See [[Inactive Members]] for information about members not active for a long time.  The list view default is to show all members, but you can select members who are banned, bouncing, who have notes or who are on the moderating team.  You can reactivate [[Bouncing members]] if you wish.
 
====Member Review====
This section flags up members who have unusual freegling behaviour. Information about possible spammer behaviours and present measures can be found here - [[Spammers]]. 
 
There is no national rule about how many communities it is reasonable for one person to join, that is up to local discretion. But please don't ban a multijoiner unless you have clear evidence of 'wrongdoing'.
 
You have the option to ignore the member, they will pop up again if they do something that is concerning on your community or others.
 
====Chat Review====
Chats between members which include [[Worry Words|worry words]] or might be spam or scams are diverted for moderation.  This allows you to review the messages and catch anything that might be a concern. [[Spammers#Chat_Review]] gives more information about chat in the context of spam detection.  [[Member Chat]] gives more information about the chat facility.
 
====Related====
These are members who have used the '''same device for different member accounts'''. You can merge members who you know have ended up with more than one account within Members>Approved section, but this section automatically detects possibles and lets you send an auto message asking if they wish to merge.
 
We can't merge TN memberships with Freegle ones.
 
====Stories====
Members are encouraged to submit a story of their freegling experiences.  A selection is then sent out in a newsletter to members and as a post on Discourse for volunteers to read. 
 
Stories submitted in your community are subject to your review in Modtools, so inappropriate ones can be declined at this point. The approved stories should be good for publicity purposes and suitable for public view on chitchat, a community page etc.  They are then put in a pending list to be voted upon at https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/fornewsletter for selection for publication and then reviewed and compiled into a newsletter by the Stories Team.
 
If you want to search through published stories, you can do this at https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/summary
 
====Gift Aid====
A section only available and visible to the team that checks Gift Aid consent forms.


====Feedback====
See [[Feedback]] for more information about this.  [[Member Ratings]] also has some information.


==Why use Modtools?==
====Microvols====
ModTools is a Chrome and Firefox plug-in that has been specifically designed for moderating Freegle groups.
We invite members to do some basic moderating tasks to encourage participation and identify possible new volunteers.  See [[Microvolunteering]] for information about the continuing development of this facility.


There are many features that you can enable to suit the requirements of your group.
====Notes====
Notes that have been added by volunteers for members on your communities, oldest first.  Please keep the number and content of notes to an absolute minimum to comply with GDPR requirements. Please also review these regularly to ensure that only really relevant information is kept and redundant notes deleted.


It is very easy to get started and you can choose to use the basic initial set up for speeding up moderation tasks or add more advanced features at any time.
==Misc Moderation==
===Events===
Community event posts for your community can be reviewed here before publication.  Some events are added automatically by us from the [[Restart|Restart Project]] for Repair Cafes that are held across the UK.


Some of these features include the ability to
===Volunteering===
*Quickly change member posting settings and messages
Posts asking for Volunteers can be reviewed here before publication.  See [[Reach Volunteering]] for the link we have with them.
*Easily moderate more than one group
*Moderate from your mobile device
*Retrieve and send your group stats


*Receive spammer alerts and make reports
===Publicity===
We know that our members have lost money as a result of scam emails so this is a particularly valuable feature.
Facebook posts produced for the Freegle national page are provided here for easy sharing to individual community Facebook pages. If you want to see the full post on the national page, just click the post shown or go to https://www.facebook.com/Freegle


==Starting with Modtools==
The most popular post on a group is also offered here daily to share on Facebook.  You can choose whether to share it or not.  The idea is to get interest from those not currently freegling to go to the website and have a look.


If you're using a phone/tablet, then you should get the ModTools app from the Play Store or iTunes. That has a built-in plugin which means you can do everything from there.
===Admins===
See [[Admins]] for some templates you can use for Admin messages for your community. There are three options when composing Admins -
Pending, Create and Previous. Write the Admin in Create, send it, it goes to Pending, approve it, a copy goes to Previous for future use.
"Call to Action" fields are explained here - https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/call-to-action-button-in-admins/5240


If you're not on a phone/tablet, you can use Modtools from any browser (e.g. a laptop, a tablet, a phone) but to do some things it needs the browser plugin which only works on Chrome or Firefox so you'll need to use one of those regularly, even if you moderate from your phone too.  If you don't have one or the other just search for a free download.  If you don't have a preference, use Chrome.
===Spammers===
See [[Spammers]] for a full explanation of how this spam system works.


#Make sure you are logged in to Yahoo. You'll need to be logged in to '''both''' Yahoo and ModTools for ModTools to work.
==Misc Admin==
#Go to [https://modtools.org/modtools ModTools].
===Logs===
#You may be prompted to log in again with Yahoo. 
#Now install the browser plugin. 
##At the very bottom of the menu on the left side of ModTools you will see an icon for Chrome and another one for Firefox. Click on the one for the browser you are using.
##You may be asked for permissions, just accept them. The browser may need to be closed then restarted.


===Settings===
You can see the chronological logs of activity on your community - select your community and then messages or members to see a list.  Or you can search for individual messages or members.
Select ''Settings'' from the left hand menu bar.


====Personal Settings====
===Support===
These settings are just about you.
#Enter your ''display name'', this is your own name or the name you would like displayed publicly to other users.
#if the ''email address'' you use to moderate is not the one showing change it here.
#Choose whether or not to receive a sound (''beep'') alert for pending moderation tasks.
#Save changes.


====Group Settings====
This is an option that can be seen only by those who [[Support Tools]] access. It is a set of tools that allow some national teams/roles to have access to more detailed information to help them carry out their role.
These settings affect how this group behaves for you. If you change them, it'll only affect you.  
#Choose your group from the drop down menu
#Mod Configs allow you to add buttons to choose and send out standard admin messages. ''Mod Config to use for this group'' is set to 'default'.  You can change this later, if you prefer.
#''Push Notifications'' give the option of receiving alerts on a mobile device for pending moderator tasks.
#''Show messages in all groups'' and ''show members in all groups'' only apply if you mod more than one group.
#Save changes.
====Global Settings====
These settings affect how this group behaves for all mods and members. If you change them, it'll affect other people.
#Make your group choices from the drop down boxes.  If you are unsure at this stage, leave as default, you can always change them later.
#Save changes.  


This is all you need to do to get modding with modtools.
===Settings===
There are more features to allow extra personalisation.  You may like to get going with the basic features and once you are confident, come back to these later
See [[ModTools#Getting_Set_Up|Getting Set Up]] above for basic information. It is good practice to have a quick look through these on a regular basis to check they are all still fit for purpose.
== Possible SPAM Posts and people SPAMMING ==
=== Modtools Main Menu ===
==== Options when posts are displayed ====
===== Submitting Spammer reports =====
This is available for pending posts, approved posts and approved members.
You may get a post from a new member offering one of the known scammer items. Also you may identify something from Chat or by some other source that the circumstances are highly suspect. e.g. “I have now moved to some_distant_location but courier fess to send it to you would not be expensive”. In that case you would submit a Spammer report using the white button that is part of the Modtools page.
*
[[ File:spam1.jpg ]]
   
Your report should include as much helpful evidence as possible.
That report would then be reviewed and if it is considered that the person is a real scammer they would be added to the Confirmed Spammer List. Then they would be banned from all Freegle groups and warning messages sent to anyone who has had correspondence with the scammer.
If new facts come to light which show it to be a false alarm then the person can be removed from the Confirmed Spammer List, but they would then have to re-join a Freegle group.
===== Dealing with less suspicious posts =====
Circumstances to use these buttons:
*
[[ File:spam2.jpg ]] or  [[ File:spam3.jpg ]]
*
The coloured Spam button at the bottom of a post is NOT to be used to report a spammer. You may also see a Spam Message button.  Again repeated Spam clicks for a member may result in the member being reported as a spammer. They are purely an option to deal with a doubtful post. Make your own decision depending on the content of the post as it may be a perfectly valid post.
If a member has sent a SPAM post to your group, possibly because their account has been hacked, then you can separately advise them then delete the post using the standard SPAM button above which should be in every group’s Modtools modconfig.
==== Warnings contained in the main Modtools menu at the left ====
===== SpamAssassin Flagging a possible SPAM post =====
This would show in the main Modtools menu at the left:
*
[[ File:menu1.jpg ]]


Example of a post trapped by SpamAssassin:
We have guidelines for deciding on community geographical areas in [[Community Mapping]], [[Freegle Affiliated Community Area Guidelines]] and [[Spammers]]. Maps for all groups can be found at https://modtools.org/modtools/map
*
[[ File:warning.jpg ]]
*
[[ File:spam6a.jpg ]] [[ File:spam6b.jpg ]] [[ File:spam6c.jpg ]]
*
Click “Not a spammer” if it is a valid post and the post will be moved to Pending.<br/>
“Report as a spammer” should not be used for isolated incidents on your group. If the post or member is a serious threat nationally then use this button and on the following screen give full reasons for your report. This will then be sent to a team who will review it for validity.
If a trusted member has sent a SPAM post to your group, possibly because their account has been hacked or spoofed, then you can separately advise them then delete the post using the standard SPAM button which should be in every group’s Modtools modconfig.


===== System Flagging a possible SPAM post =====
===Teams===
Example of a post trapped due to worrying words:
There are various teams and groups of people working nationally to deal with a variety of tasks.  You can see who they are and a brief description of what they do this section. If you are interested in volunteering to help with any of these, find out more information about them via the links on [[Getting Involved]]. If you wish to volunteer to do any specific piece of work or want to know what you could do, please don't hesitate to email volunteers@ilovefreegle.org. It will be great to hear from you!
*
[[ File:spam13.jpg ]]
*
Click “Spam” if it clearly contains spam. The post will just be deleted.<br/>
Click “Not Spam” if some wording has been used innocently. The post will be moved to Pending or Approved depending on the settings for that member.


===== System Flagging a possible SPAMMING member =====
===Help===
This would show in the main Modtools menu at the left:
This brings you here!  If you can't find the help you want on this page or the links provided, ask on Discourse (click 'Us' on the top ModTools menu) to ask your question and/or to ask for more information to be included here.
*
[[ File:menu2.jpg ]]


You will have these three options:
===Log Out===
*
Self explanatory. Probably best to stay logged in, though, to save you having to sign in each time you wish to moderate.
[[ File:spam6a.jpg ]] [[ File:spam6b.jpg ]] [[ File:spam6c.jpg ]]
*
Make your own decision depending whether the person is known on your group as it may be a genuine member. The person may already have been reported for being a spammer, then this fact will be shown on the information that the system displays.<br/>
Clicking “Report as a spammer” should not be used for isolated incidents on your group. If the post or member is a serious threat nationally then use this button and on the following screen give full reasons for your report. This will then be sent to a team who will review it for validity.<br/>
Clicking “Not a spammer” moves them back into Pending or Approved as appropriate.<br/>
Click Whitelist if you are certain that the person is not a spammer. You will then be required to state the reason why this person should be whitelisted – i.e. they will no longer be highlighted as a possible spammer.
===== Possible SPAM Chat Reported by System =====
This will show in the Modtools menu at the left.
*
[[ File:menu5.jpg ]]
*
[[ File:spam9.jpg ]]
*
Actual SPAM messages will be easy to identify e.g. there may only be a link to a website. However there may be some content, such as a phone number or email address, in Chat between members which the system could highlight as suspicious. Look at the conversation then decide what action to take.
Clicking on the Spam button above will let the system learn what constitutes SPAM. It will not issue a report about the sender in the way that the standard SPAM button in every group’s Modtools modconfig does.<br/>
"Not spam" means you don't think they are a spammer.  If they join more groups you may see them again, so that if they actually are a spammer we'll get a chance to spot that, rather than lose the chance because early on someone thought they were OK.<br/>
"Release and whitelist" - the member is just whitelisted in the system so the post is OK to be sent out if they include the same information again.<br/>
The other buttons are self-explanatory.<br/>
If you suddenly get a lot of spam chat messages then they do not have to be flagged as Spam individually. They can all be deleted with the button at the bottom of them all.
*
[[ File:spam10.jpg ]]
==== Spammer details held by the system ====


Again in the Modtools menu at the left:
==Top Menu==
*
===Red/Orange/Green Dot===
[[ File:menu3.jpg ]]
You will notice that there are different colour 'dots' that appear over the blue home icon at the top left of each page. These dots denote the platform status - just click on them to see what is happening. Green indicates everything is fine, Orange indicates a problem easily resolved, Red indicates a serious problem. If you need to do something about an orange or red dot when you notice it, it will tell you.
*
Confirmed - These are members who have been reported as spammers. These reports are reviewed before a member appears on this list.
Once someone is on this list, they will automatically be removed from groups.
If you think someone is on this list wrongly, you can request that they be removed using the button below.


Pending Add – These are members who have reported as spammers by a moderator. These reports will be reviewed to decide whether to add them to the spammer list.
===Us===
Please remember that people may not be spammers even if they are reported. For example:
This button on the top menu bar takes you to the Discourse website, where you will find all the national discussion groups. See [[Central Groups]] for more detail.  All volunteers that are registered on Modtools are given automatic access to Discourse.
• Members may join many groups because they are over-enthusiastic or have relatives in different places.
• Mail can be spoofed or accounts can be hacked - so a member can appear to send spam but not be a spammer.
For someone to be added to the list they need to have clear intent to deliberately spam/scam, or be a massive multijoiner.
Only a limited number of people have the ability to confirm or reject someone as a spammer.


Pending Remove - These are members who are on the spammer list but someone has asked for them to be removed.
===Chats===
This button will take you to the Chats section.  This is where all the emails can be accessed between you and your members, along with other emails from volunteers who work with you on your communities.  Each of these chats (other than those you initiated) can be hidden from your view by clicking the downwards chevron in the top right of the chat screen.


Whitelisted - These are members who have been exempted from the spammer list. Generally they are people who have legitimate reasons to join many groups.
Please note that if you have a chat with a group you don't moderate, the conversation will appear in your personal chat list, not your group chat(s).


==Help and other links==
If you see a green tick at the bottom of the chat, it means the message has been read on the site.  If you see a small envelope it means the message has been sent out via email. There is a deliberate small delay in sending out a chat message via email, as obviously it would be really irritating if you are reading the message on site and also getting emails at the same time with the same message.
There is a dedicated Yahoo Group open to all modtools users


[https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ModTools/info https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ModTools/info]
Your list of chats is pre-populated with the communities you are on, so you can use those to chat to the other members of your team in each of them if you wish.


Freegle reuse groups can contact [mailto:mentors@ilovefreegle.org mentors @ ilovefreegle.org]
See [[Member Chat]] for more information about this feature for your members.


==Help and other links==
*Questions and help with using ModTools, contact [mailto:support@ilovefreegle.org support@ilovefreegle.org]
*Questions, suggestions and observations about ModTools, post on https://freegle.in/tech


Other pages that might help:
Other pages that might help:


*[[Add a Member using Mod Tools]]
*[[Add a Member using Mod Tools]]
*[[Photos]]
*[[ChitChat]]
*[[ChitChat]]
*[[Feedback]]
*[[Member Chat]]
*[[Member Chat]]
*[[Promise Button]]
*[[Housekeeping]]
*[[ModTools History]]
*[[ModTools History]]
*[[Spammers]]
*[[Trash Nothing]]
*[[Substitution Strings]]
*[https://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/images/Training_manual_for_modtools_2020.pdf Mentors' Training Manual for Modtools]
 
 
 
 






[[category:ModTools]]
[[category:ModTools]]

Latest revision as of 11:57, 19 November 2024

Starting with Modtools

You can use ModTools from any browser, e.g. Chrome, Edge or Firefox. If you don't have a preference, use Chrome. https://modtools.org/modtools

If you're using a phone/tablet, then you should get the ModTools app from the Play Store or iTunes. That will work best, and you'll get notifications when there's stuff to do.

Or do both.

Getting Set Up

First things first - set up ModTools for you and your community. Select Settings from the left hand menu bar.

You will see 4 tabs/sections for this:

  • Personal - these are ModTools settings just for you.
  • Community - choose ModTools settings for each community you are moderating, either as an active moderator or a backup. The button to change you from actively moderating or back up is under Your Settings in this Community section.
    For more information on shortlinks, have a look at Shortlinks. Also How to add a picture to a community home page
  • Standard Messages - these are a range of template messages that you can use for moderating posts and members on your community.

Substitution strings are used on lots of messages; they are a special terminology you can put in standard messages, which ModTools expands more fully before it sends a message. For a full explanation of these, have a look at Substitution Strings.

  • Bulk Operations - this section will have some actions that you can use - watch this space!

You may like to get going with the basic features offered and once you are confident, come back and edit as you gain confidence or things change. It is also a good idea to review these, say, annually to check that everything is still fit for purpose.


Now your Settings are sorted, you are ready to go. ModTools should be self explanatory on each of the sections/pages, but for some more information and ideas, there are other sources/pages that might help - see below (in order of how they appear in the toolbars).

Dashboard

For more information on stats, have a look at Statistics

Messages

If you need extra message templates to deal with any member messages, see Sample Messages for ideas. See Postcodes for an explanation of how the website handles postcode and location information in posts.

Pending

This is where the messages that need moderating arrive, whether generated on the website, email or via Trash Nothing. The red number shows those for communities where you are lead moderator, the blue for those on which you are back-up moderator. If messages are left for more than 48 hours they will automatically approve. This means a community can survive a glitch of non-moderation, but it shouldn't be relied on - it is important for the messages to be looked at as members and scammers will notice problem posts.
Marking a message as Spam: If a message is spam, you can just mark the message as spam, or also mark the member as a spammer. Under 'other actions', there is a button to report a member as a spammer, but only use this is you are sure the spam message isn't a one off anomaly as the member seems to be a sound freegler usually. A message that is marked as Spam is used, behind the scenes, to train our spam filters, the Delete button just removes the message.

Approved

The list of all messages on your community/communities.

Review

Messages that are not subject to moderation might have worry words involved, so these are flagged up here for you to review.

Edits

When members edit their approved posts, you can see the edits in this section.

Members

Member Notes gives more information about moderator and system notes on a member's account.

Approved

List of all members in your community/communities. See Banning for explanation of banning and unbanning a member. See Trouble unsubscribing for more information about unsubscribing. See Inactive Members for information about members not active for a long time. The list view default is to show all members, but you can select members who are banned, bouncing, who have notes or who are on the moderating team. You can reactivate Bouncing members if you wish.

Member Review

This section flags up members who have unusual freegling behaviour. Information about possible spammer behaviours and present measures can be found here - Spammers.

There is no national rule about how many communities it is reasonable for one person to join, that is up to local discretion. But please don't ban a multijoiner unless you have clear evidence of 'wrongdoing'.

You have the option to ignore the member, they will pop up again if they do something that is concerning on your community or others.

Chat Review

Chats between members which include worry words or might be spam or scams are diverted for moderation. This allows you to review the messages and catch anything that might be a concern. Spammers#Chat_Review gives more information about chat in the context of spam detection. Member Chat gives more information about the chat facility.

Related

These are members who have used the same device for different member accounts. You can merge members who you know have ended up with more than one account within Members>Approved section, but this section automatically detects possibles and lets you send an auto message asking if they wish to merge.

We can't merge TN memberships with Freegle ones.

Stories

Members are encouraged to submit a story of their freegling experiences. A selection is then sent out in a newsletter to members and as a post on Discourse for volunteers to read.

Stories submitted in your community are subject to your review in Modtools, so inappropriate ones can be declined at this point. The approved stories should be good for publicity purposes and suitable for public view on chitchat, a community page etc. They are then put in a pending list to be voted upon at https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/fornewsletter for selection for publication and then reviewed and compiled into a newsletter by the Stories Team.

If you want to search through published stories, you can do this at https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/summary

Gift Aid

A section only available and visible to the team that checks Gift Aid consent forms.

Feedback

See Feedback for more information about this. Member Ratings also has some information.

Microvols

We invite members to do some basic moderating tasks to encourage participation and identify possible new volunteers. See Microvolunteering for information about the continuing development of this facility.

Notes

Notes that have been added by volunteers for members on your communities, oldest first. Please keep the number and content of notes to an absolute minimum to comply with GDPR requirements. Please also review these regularly to ensure that only really relevant information is kept and redundant notes deleted.

Misc Moderation

Events

Community event posts for your community can be reviewed here before publication. Some events are added automatically by us from the Restart Project for Repair Cafes that are held across the UK.

Volunteering

Posts asking for Volunteers can be reviewed here before publication. See Reach Volunteering for the link we have with them.

Publicity

Facebook posts produced for the Freegle national page are provided here for easy sharing to individual community Facebook pages. If you want to see the full post on the national page, just click the post shown or go to https://www.facebook.com/Freegle

The most popular post on a group is also offered here daily to share on Facebook. You can choose whether to share it or not. The idea is to get interest from those not currently freegling to go to the website and have a look.

Admins

See Admins for some templates you can use for Admin messages for your community. There are three options when composing Admins - Pending, Create and Previous. Write the Admin in Create, send it, it goes to Pending, approve it, a copy goes to Previous for future use. "Call to Action" fields are explained here - https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/call-to-action-button-in-admins/5240

Spammers

See Spammers for a full explanation of how this spam system works.

Misc Admin

Logs

You can see the chronological logs of activity on your community - select your community and then messages or members to see a list. Or you can search for individual messages or members.

Support

This is an option that can be seen only by those who Support Tools access. It is a set of tools that allow some national teams/roles to have access to more detailed information to help them carry out their role.

Settings

See Getting Set Up above for basic information. It is good practice to have a quick look through these on a regular basis to check they are all still fit for purpose.

We have guidelines for deciding on community geographical areas in Community Mapping, Freegle Affiliated Community Area Guidelines and Spammers. Maps for all groups can be found at https://modtools.org/modtools/map

Teams

There are various teams and groups of people working nationally to deal with a variety of tasks. You can see who they are and a brief description of what they do this section. If you are interested in volunteering to help with any of these, find out more information about them via the links on Getting Involved. If you wish to volunteer to do any specific piece of work or want to know what you could do, please don't hesitate to email volunteers@ilovefreegle.org. It will be great to hear from you!

Help

This brings you here! If you can't find the help you want on this page or the links provided, ask on Discourse (click 'Us' on the top ModTools menu) to ask your question and/or to ask for more information to be included here.

Log Out

Self explanatory. Probably best to stay logged in, though, to save you having to sign in each time you wish to moderate.

Top Menu

Red/Orange/Green Dot

You will notice that there are different colour 'dots' that appear over the blue home icon at the top left of each page. These dots denote the platform status - just click on them to see what is happening. Green indicates everything is fine, Orange indicates a problem easily resolved, Red indicates a serious problem. If you need to do something about an orange or red dot when you notice it, it will tell you.

Us

This button on the top menu bar takes you to the Discourse website, where you will find all the national discussion groups. See Central Groups for more detail. All volunteers that are registered on Modtools are given automatic access to Discourse.

Chats

This button will take you to the Chats section. This is where all the emails can be accessed between you and your members, along with other emails from volunteers who work with you on your communities. Each of these chats (other than those you initiated) can be hidden from your view by clicking the downwards chevron in the top right of the chat screen.

Please note that if you have a chat with a group you don't moderate, the conversation will appear in your personal chat list, not your group chat(s).

If you see a green tick at the bottom of the chat, it means the message has been read on the site. If you see a small envelope it means the message has been sent out via email. There is a deliberate small delay in sending out a chat message via email, as obviously it would be really irritating if you are reading the message on site and also getting emails at the same time with the same message.

Your list of chats is pre-populated with the communities you are on, so you can use those to chat to the other members of your team in each of them if you wish.

See Member Chat for more information about this feature for your members.

Help and other links

Other pages that might help:

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