[Announcements]

Note: This thread will be moved to the Announcements board eventually. We just don't want it being the first post on the website.

Changes in HLP moderation style

Over the years we've had quite a few cases of stupid forum drama over moderation style. Although things have been quiet recently, the administration and moderation staff have been discussing what could be done in order to prevent (or at least mitigate) further cases. To that end, we've come up with a few solutions which will be implemented over the next few coming weeks.


1) As HLP has grown and matured, we feel that there are now enough moderators on this board that we can dispense with the old system of simply having an admin wade into a thread and deliver street justice whenever some kind of punitive measure might be required. Whenever possible, decisions will instead be taken after a moderator has consulted with one or more of their peers and agreed on whether or not there has been an infraction, how severe it is, and what should be done about it. Moderators will be required to recuse themselves from moderating in any discussion they've been involved in. They will also be required to recuse themselves if they are involved in any other heated discussions with the same people, or if they feel that animosity towards/friendship with that member would result in them being unable to be impartial. 

2) Moderation discussions will be logged internally. This should help prevent the moderation staff being just as clueless as the general forum members as to why someone was banned/punished. In the case of more public punishments (bans and monkeyings) a more permanent "Thread of shame" will be posted in Site Support. This should prevent off-topic discussion as to which thread led to someone being banned.

3) There will be greater use of The Hammer of HLP Justice account in order to make it clear that moderation is not the action of a single moderator. Users will in general not be aware who is responsible for a ban. If you suspect that you have been the victim of bias, you may report your claims but this will be treated as a very serious accusation. This especially applies to unfounded claims made publicly.
 Publicly complaining that you got punished for something another person has gotten away with is not an acceptable defence for your actions, nor is it a suitable argument for bias. It could be that the other person wasn't reported, was judged to have not done anything wrong, or simply wasn't as much of a disruption to the forum as you were. The fact that someone else has done something wrong and gotten away with it, doesn't exclude you from guilt.

4) The moderation staff will try to let those close to a punishment know in advance that they're getting close by PMs. Should internal discussion of actions lead us to a position where the moderation staff are saying "We're not doing anything this time, but next time we'll ban that user", the moderation staff will elect someone to PM the user in question and warn them to tone down their bad behaviour. Should you receive such a PM, bear in mind that this is the result of a discussion between moderating staff and not evidence of a private vendetta being pursued by that moderator.
 Also keep in mind that the fact you haven't been warned yet doesn't mean you can't be banned for your actions. Warnings are for those who have a habit of occasionally crossing just a little over the line.

5) In addition to the current global moderation changes, we'll also be making changes to how forum moderation works. Unlike the global mods, the forum mods don't have access to internal discussions (Nor should they, as we have so many forum moderators that reasonably often we can expect to have issues involving people who are a forum moderator). For this reason we'll be removing the forum moderation positions for the most of the forums. The hosted project forums will of course be keeping their moderators.

6) We've previously allowed hosted projects broad authority to moderate forums however they wish. This however appears to be causing confusion and trouble of its own. For this reason, we're going to state that hosted project leaders must follow the rules too. No post deletions, flames, or general nastiness will be permitted, even on your own forum.

7) We are again stressing the importance of using the reporting system over taking matters into your own hands. The moderation staff already have a difficult enough job without having to deal with problems caused by users taking matters into their own hands. Backseat moderation, insulting people because they insulted you, etc will all be dealt with harshly. If you have an issue, deal with it by reporting it or if necessary, PM a moderator and let them report it.

8) The guidelines on forum etiquette have changed a little to reflect the new system. You can find them here.