On Being a Moderator for BNUG
Thank you for at least looking into becoming a Moderator for the group.
What does a moderator do?
The Moderator receives occasional emails asking them to do something. These include…
- Moderate (approve or deny) posts by non-list-members (e.g. spam)
- Process and approve (or not) requests to join the email list (also prevents improper use)
This is a low-overhead job (maybe 1 join request/month, maybe 3-4 message moderates/year)
As an moderator you will receive the Moderator Password to let you do Moderator activities. The page you visit to perform these duties depends on what list you are moderating.
- BNUG Members: http://lists.bnug.org/admindb.cgi/members-bnug.org
- BNUG Board: http://lists.bnug.org/admindb.cgi/board-bnug.org
A Day in the Life of a Moderator
- Usually there's nothing Moderator-ish to do.
- Occasionally you will get an email asking you to do something.
- It might be asking you to allow or deny someone from posting a message to the group.
- It might be asking you to allow or deny someone from subscribing to the group.
Moderating Postings
You've gotten an email asking if it should be sent to the list.
There are usually instructions in the message telling you what to do about it. You can also see and Moderate any pending posts by visiting webpage above.
You will need the Moderator password for the group(s) you are a moderator for, ask Steve Isenberg for it.
After you log in, you'll see one or more messages requiring approval or rejection. Each has a number associated with it, for example [1] or [2]. Click on the number [1] etc to see what it says and use that to make your decision. The decision is either to: Accept it (and it'll be sent to the list), or Discard it (the message is dropped and ignored). These are the only options you should use (if you Reject it you're telling the spammer that it's a valid email, for instance. Accept or Discard options are sufficient).
That's it.
Allowing/Denying Subscriptions
You've gotten an email from someone asking to be added to the group list. Currently this isn't set up for BNUG lists.
For some lists, we validate potential members, and if BNUG does this, any request to join the list would need information such as:
- Their full name
- The town where they live
- A brief introduction and telling why they'd like to be added to the email list
- Topics they might present to the group
If any of this is missing or incomplete, the first task would be to respond to the requestor and ask for the additional information.
Once you've gotten all of the information and after you feel that they would be OK to add to the group, follow the instructions in the original email to add them to the email list.
Is there more to it?
As far as I know, that's all there is to it.
Am I on my own if I volunteer?
Nope. Not at all. The administrator (currently Steve Isenberg) and any other experienced Moderators recognize the importance of you volunteering and will be there to make sure that you have the support you need to learn what has to be done and how to do it.
Do I get paid?
We don't pay in any legal currency, because we're not paid either.
We do pay in “Brownie Points” (pats-on-the-back) and the thank-you's you get for being a volunteer and helping us.
Thank you.
If you have questions, let SteveI know, you can email him at: steve@bnug.org