Moderating a Post

This is one of the personal crib sheets used by Vee Martin, Mentor, when training new moderators. The views expressed within this and her other two crib sheets are her own. The other two crib sheets are ModTools Functions and Problematic Posts.

1. The posts to be moderated are to be found in Pending. Posts can now be edited both before they are approved, and after they have appeared on the board. Aim where possible to edit a post, or invite the sender to do so, rather than deleting it, which should only be a last resort.

2. Check the postcode is covered by the group, if your group has a defined area. Otherwise go to section 3. If it isn't, select standard message 'Out of area - reject' first, making a note of the membership email address. A pop-up will show you the email to be sent, which should meet your requirements. Click "Send". Go to Members - Approved, locate the membership by searching for the email address, and click "Remove". Occasionally there may be a good reason for accepting an out of area post, e.g. a house clearance following a bereavement.

3. Check if other posts have been made by the poster. If 3 or more have been made successfully, and there is no red button with a number in it (which indicates a mod email has been sent in the last 28 days), and the post meets Freegle rules, select message "Change to unmoderated" and click "Send" in the pop-up. (This option is not available on Freshers.)

4. If the post is OK but doesn't qualify for 3 above, click "Approve".

5. If the post is not OK, you can either reject it or edit it. If you are going to reject it, you should be able to find a standard message which explains the reason why - select it and click "Send". If you are going to edit it, you may find an appropriate message, e.g. borrowing/lending or including personal details, or you can compose one of your own using the blank message option. Remember to add in the heading what the problem is. You can then edit the post, which usually means just deleting some unacceptable words, e.g. borrow, lend, phone number, address etc, saving those changes and then approving the message.

All standard messages are copied into ChitChat, though not all of them seem to arrive there, especially the custom ones, as well as those to TrashNothing members. If you don't read them in ChitChat, you'll also get a copy to your email address. The member's card will be marked with a red radio button, and you can also pick up who has sent what in the logs.

6. If you don't know what to do, or you want more information from the sender, click "Hold". Use the Notes field to state why the post is being held, so your fellow mods can see what's going on. Any mod can release the post. Remember to clear the notes field if the info in it is no longer relevant.

7. An unmoderated post that appears on the board which is unacceptable can be deleted. You can either use the standard messages for Messages or Member to explain why to the sender. If it is a minor transgression, you can leave the post but write to the member explaining what is wrong, using the standard messages as above.

Links:

• Mentors' Training Manual for Modtools
• ModTools
• Recruiting, Training and Retaining
• New Group Owner Training Step 1