A group for DIY Drones moderators to discuss best community management practices.
Moderator Basics
These are the basic instructions for moderators:
Most of what you'll be doing is approving (or not) blog posts and otherwise keeping things running smoothly.
With blog posts, the key things to check before approving are:
- Does the post start with an image/video or at least have one very close to the top?
- Are videos embedded? (Not a link to a video elsewhere)
- Is the post informative, rather than asking a question or a request for help? (Those should be sent to the discussion forum).
Feel free to make modest edits (such as moving a photo to the top, or turning a video link into an embed) yourself. If the post should be in the discussion forum instead, paste the text into a Friend request to the author explaining that and delete the post. (Using a Friend request will hopefully take some of the sting out of having to reject their post ;-) )
When Moderating Comments:
Deletion is really the course of last resort, and tends to cause more trouble than it solves. Instead, we follow this escalation process:
- 1st course of action in case of TOS abuse: Gentle note in the comments asking people to play nice
- 2nd: Edit the comment to remove offending piece and add: "[Moderator: Text edited to comply with site TOS]". It's nice to PM the member with an explanation, warning
- 3rd: Lock comments. Also PM member with explanation/warning
- 4th (only in cases of gross abuse): Delete comment. PM member
- 5th (very rare, and only after multiple warnings): Ban member
Our Culture and Values:
Mark Harrison, one of our star moderators, articulated our culture and policies best with this post, which I'll just quote verbatim:
Here's my general feeling about a lot of things on this site; in fact, it's pretty much my general philosophy for large parts of my life:
"It's more important to enable good things than prevent bad things"
For diydrones, this generally means:
--Be generous in accepting blog posts. We're not at a point where there are more submissions than can be confortably digested in a day. Likewise, the term "drone" is evolving at such a fast rate it's hard to pin down exactly what it means for everyone. So, I'm happy to lump in quadcopters, FPV, gimbals, RC, artistic aerial videos, electronics, radios... all kinds of stuff that meets my nebulous criterion of "generally interesting to the diy drone community."
Now of course it can be protested, "what if we're flooded by dozens or hundreds of posts on marginally related topic X?" And my response would be, "let's wait until that happens; we'll have tons more context and it will be easier to make a specific decision then than make some globally encompassing set of rules now. We may all even be a little bit smarter and a little bit wiser!"
-- Be generous in approving users. Lots of people aren't comfortable with revealing too much information about themselves, or may not have a particularly cogent reason for joining a site. I'm somewhat of an exception to this case... "Are you asking what I'm interested in? Let's talk about me, it's one of the most interesting topics we can discuss, don't you agree?" But for a lot of people, they may interested in the topic, but not interested in telling you why.
-- Feel free to make mistakes, and be nice when other people are making mistakes. Sometimes the most interesting things happen when things go awry. For better or worse, sometimes the most education things as well!
I think this is pretty much in agreement with how the site has been run historically. It's a site for amateurs, by amateurs (keeping in mind the defintion of "amateur"... from the French "lover of"), and as such has had a pretty wide-ranging scope of what's acceptable. That's served the site well, enabling it to be as relevant (or even more!) in 2013 as it was when it was founded.
Of course there are big exceptions to this "don't sweat the bad stuff" philosophy -- brain surgery, rocket launches, and skydiving come to mind -- but I think it's a useful guideline for a site such as ours.
More instructions:
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commercial advertisment post
Hi dear moderators, Recently I notice there are some " pure " advertising post from Skywalker / TopXgun ect. Where some of the post being deleted some make it to the blog post. I'm not really sure if this type of " blog " have a place here or we should delete it. As for the Skywalker, I saw their blog being deleted and a few day latter they post again with some minor modification, but still look 100% " advertisement " to me. It seems that they do " NOT " get the message or understand what their…
Read more…Scam???
Is this a scam, guy is posting on every group?http://diydrones.com/xn/detail/705844:Topic:2336557?xg_source=activity
Read more…Commercial Groups on DIYD
I think we need to discussion about 'commercial' groups like this new one i just noticed (especially since as the site is getting bigger)http://diydrones.com/group/outdoor-roboticsA quick visual search through gave me these 'commercial' looking groupshttp://diydrones.com/group/voltahttp://diydrones.com/group/ugcshttp://diydrones.com/group/uavsaShould we not be thinking that groups created by commercial enterprises require some form of sponsorship of the site or development work in the DiyDrone…
Read more…
Comments
JJ, what was the issue with that post? Can you give us some more information on why we should be keeping an eye on his activity?
Just wanted to let you folks know I declined this blog request and if you folks could help keep an eye on this members activity for a little that would be awesome.
Zach, that was well put.
Josh,
Don't get too down on yourself. There has been a lot of changes over the last month that just seemed to take affect with no real involvement or recourse from this group. I would like to think that us as a group don't want to push you away from helping the site anymore then you wanted to push moderators out of feeling useful. I don't think anyone wants to see you go or make you feel like you don't do anything good.
That being said you should consider the people in the group as a valuable asset. I don't think there was enough notice about these changes when they went in to effect. I understand the concept of chain and command and realize that people in the admin group have more of a responsibility to shape and grow this site, but that does not negate the feeling that each of us have towards the site. Maybe we don't have to agree with every change that is made, but a discussion might lead to fewer full on negative reactions towards such sweeping changes.
Maybe you folks are right. Maybe all my efforts on this site are counterproductive and don't do anything to improve DIYDrones or 3DR. So over the next week or two I'll stay away from the Moderator Group chat and let you guys speak your mind without my interruption. I'll use this week or two to consider stepping down from my duties on DIYDrones if it will be something that will be better for the future of the website and 3DR. I'm starting to get the feeling that my involvement on the site is unanimously seen as not useful or needed so maybe it is time I step back and reconsider my involvement on the site.
Best Wishes,
Joshua Johnson
I'm sorry if what I am about to say offends some people but I think it needs to be said. IMO the admins have created a divide between them and the moderators, making autocratic decisions and marginalizing the moderators who volunteer their value time to help run this site.
Moderators aren't being allowed to do what they were brought on board to do.
Hi agree with David: let's just take a breath here. I hate to see moderators arguing, and was especially sorry to see any questioning of Mark Harrison's contributions (For the record, Mark is a model member, invariably warm, helpful and patient, both on this site and in person. I wish all members could be like him.)
I'll talk to Tom directly about this now. But let's just say that this is not the path I want this site to be on, and Josh Ott (3DR Editorial Director, who oversees this site) and I will be making some changes to improve things in the next week or two.
@Sgt Ric, I came to you guys and asked for your opinion so how exactly am setting different standards for myself then an average member? If you are working on a blog and set it for a date in the future so it saves as a draft (for example 2-3 days in the future... If you don't change the date or delete the draft blog it will automatically post the blog itself at whatever time you set for it to be posted at on the future date.
@Mark Harrison, This is a direct quote copy and pasted off this groups chat. I believe nowhere I said that it wasn't necessary for you guys to spend your time greeting members. I simply stated an alternative method you can use to greet new members and also just stated its not necessary for you guys to worry about membership approval and denying 2 letter spammers:Heres what I said copy and pasted:
Approving members is something that should be left up to the employees of 3DR (Admins) considering that we are the ones contractually responsible for the site...
You have only been on here 9 months longer than I have Mark I don't know where you are getting your information that I am a "Relative Newcomer"...
This is your direct quote:
With the exact same 18 moderators we have right now on the Team our daily membership averages were around 28-33 over a 1 month span.... Since we have delegated membership approval to employees of 3DR(Admins) our daily average has been around 42-46 with zero 2 letter spammers slipping through the Teams fingers... In my eyes that's the exact definition of an improvement.
How Exactly am I monopolizing social capital for myself?! Please elaborate more on this subject...? Quick question also... Do you work for sUASnews? or Own it?
I have only 9 months less time on this site then you (IF you go by sign up date) so I think it's a little hard for you to say that you have more time invested into this site.... I have worked on this site for 5-15 hours a day, 7 days a week while going to school and working two other jobs for the last 2 years almost. In the last 6 Months alone I have worked on the site 7 days a week for around 10-16 hours a day doing things and dealing with issues while you're not around to see it... I think it's a bit hard for you to say or prove that you have invested any more time into this website then I have...
I really don't understand who you think you are to question my activities on the website or the new position I've had as Assistant Administrator for almost 3 months... Why don't you ask Chris or Tom if they think I do any work on the website or if my position on the website should be eliminated considering they are the ones that hired me and delegated me to this position!!
The 6-12 hours a day, 7 days I week I put into running the DIYDrones Facebook and Twitter and reaching out to new groups of potential members (FRC Robotic Teams, Tech Journalists, Etc) has been enormously beneficial to DIYDrones by expanding our community.... But that's just something I guess you don't see because you aren't someone I have to explain my daily schedule to.
What exactly do you spend your time doing on DIYDrones to improve it?! Do you help out the Wiki Page team on updating the wiki page? Do you help volunteer on the Development team?
@Joshua, a few comments regarding the recent discussions.
People have been aggravated about the new membership approval process. Essentially you took a system that nobody in particular viewed as a problem, and then started changing it. When people said they were interested in continuing to greet new members, you responded that it's not necessary for them to spend their time in this activity.
And then you have the temerity to try to shut down the conversation by saying that this discussion is getting old.
It seems that it is indeed the case the people wish to keep approving new users. Among other things, it's an easy way to build up social capital on the site, and you're wrong to try to monopolize that for yourself.
"You guys have to save some work for the Admin Team"
No, that's incorrect. It seems you're thinking "I need to justify my new position", but I think a better way of thinking is "if there's not much for this position to do, better to eliminate it."
Everyone else is too polite to say so, so let me interject my opinion here: you're a relative newcomer who's messing things up and making people unhappy or at least somewhat disgruntled, and with no apparent improvements as a result.
Anyways, that's how I see it. You're enthusiastic and sincere, but it may be time to step back and evaluate if on balance your activities in your new position (or even the new position itself!) is more of a hindrance than a help. It would be great if you could find some new outlets for your enthusiasm rather than attempting to fix things which most people don't consider to be broken.
Sorry if this seems a bit blunt, but I've got a bit of time invested in this site myself and feel I owe an honest account of my opinions and feelings on the future directions of the site.
And the usual disclaimer, all this is IMHO only.
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