[amandalouise]

I dont know if this fall s under administrative issue or not so making a post...

I have noticed that there are times when no moderators are on, times when moderators are listed as on but turns out they are not, and sometimes in pming theres always one or two late to the show kind of thing where the problem is worked out with one moderator then days later another mod asks questions or replies about problem already worked out...

my questions...

do the moderators all come from the same time zone?

Are they all still volunteers who have no real schedule of when they are on?

Should I assume they are not online even though their online icon shows green?

Are meetings held or mods confer with each other so that one knows what the other is doing kind of thing?

my point ...

its kind of frustrating to see a mod is online only to find out after trying to contact them / later that they were not actually online. I know that it can be next to impossible to have a mod online at all times. I dont mean that, i just get frustrated sometimes when I see something that should be handled right away on the boards so I go to pm the mod showing they are online and later a day or so later, find out they actually were not online. eventually the problems do get taken care of, its just a bit frustrating to think a mod is online then after the fact that they actually were not online.

its kind of frustrating days to a week later to have to rehash something that is already taken care of days to a week ago, for the mods that are late to the show. example a bit ago I sent in a report on a thread and contacted the mod online. (my normal routine for some types of postings ) the problem got taken care of by a different mod, and then a week later I get a response from the first mod and have to remember what the problem was, tell them and then tell them the problem is taken care of already and how it was taken care of and by which moderator...

is there some way to make these parts of the site run a bit more smoothly? or is it just a site glitch or time zones or lack of communications or what ever else these things could be...

[seesaw]

I think this is an excellent question.

I also would like to ask why there are people who are mods who spend no time in the chat rooms, so have no idea how chat functions, but then come in chat and try to arbitrarily lay down their interpretation of how chat should work?

Seesaw

[Crazy Hitch]

I think the safest bet is just using the red triangle report button once and once only, otherwise it's doubling up mod's work. I don't think it's necessary to send a mod a pm and press the triangle over the same issue.

There's lots that go on behind the scene that we don't know about. This isn't a "first come first to click the button" gets a response type of thing like when we're ordering meat from a deli

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Crazy Hitch

I think the safest bet is just using the red triangle report button once and once only, otherwise it's doubling up mod's work. I don't think it's necessary to send a mod a pm and press the triangle over the same issue.

There's lots that go on behind the scene that we don't know about. This isn't a "first come first to click the button" gets a response type of thing like when we're ordering meat from a deli

sorry hitch I think you mis understood me. Im ......not..... talking about the report a post triangle and using the report triangle more than once...

every member has an icon next to that red triangle. it turns green when the member is online, gray if they are invisible and red if they are not online.

with the mods I have noticed even when their "online icon" says green which notifys everyone that they are online, they are actually not online.

think of it this way. you pass by your friend's house. you see people inside, you see lights on, you see a car in the driveway. everything points to they are home. you give them a call asking them a question that you feel is important. then days to a week go by before they call you back and you find out even though you knew they were home they are saying sorry I wasnt home. and now even though what ever reason you called them is long done and over with, you now have to fill them in, go over the details again.

thats how it feels when I see the green icon saying a mod is online then days to a week later I find out they were not actually online.

either that green icon isnt working right or something else is going on, (time zone changes, website glitches or what ever...)so that members here are actually seeing mods marked as being online when they are not.

its very confusing and frustrating to see a mod marked green icon, then find out even though the site said they are online they were not..... now do I trust what the mod is telling me days to a week later (that they were not here) or do I trust that green icon saying they are here. or do I just assume even though it says they are here, that they are not here.

as for the reporting more than once....sometimes there are threads and posts that need help right away one example is when someone is suicidal I report the post with the triangle because of the sites no suicidal postings rule.

with the report triangle there is no way of knowing when someone can get to it. it could be today, tomorrow or when ever, it all depends on which mods work that forum board and when they come online.. after sending the general report then I look to see what mod is at this moment online who may be able to help that suicidal person right away. this is just one example of why I do both.

my point is there are some kinds of posts and threads that do need attention right away. reporting the post with the triangle is well and good when immediate help isnt needed. for immediate help thats what the mods online at that moment are for, (they have other jobs too but you get the idea)

[TheWell]

Hello,
I know it’s been said before but I want to reiterate that all the moderators on this site are volunteers.
As for why someone would show online when they are not at the computer I’m sure there are a lot of valid reasons. Life is messy and people get busy with other things.

You stated that you PM a moderator when someone is posting that they are suicidal. This is the reason we don’t allow suicidal postings. There is no guarantee that there will be a moderator available to deal with it. To quote John

We're not okay with people discussing their specific intentions, plans, methods, or such in a way to suggest they are currently in crisis and in need of immediate assistance. So we do not allow talk of specific plans, methods, or intentions. We're not a crisis hotline, and are not setup to deal with people in such immediate need. We believe that when a person is at that point, they should reach out for a real-world resource in getting help.

As John said, “We are not setup to deal with people in such immediate need”

You can report a post with the triangle but if you also PM a moderator then you might get a response from two different people because you reported an issue in two different ways.

I hope this helps answer some of your questions.
W

[DocJohn]

I would *not* use the online indicator as any sort of reliable indicator that if you PM a member of the support team that shows they are "on," you will receive an immediate response. I would basically ignore that indicator when it comes to support issues, because that's really not how the team works.

As it's been from the beginning (and if it ever changes, we'll surely let you know), everyone who is a member of our community support team -- moderators, super-moderators, and administrators -- is a volunteer. That means they do not get paid to be here and do moderating duties to help give back to the community they are a part of.

Because they do not get paid, we cannot assign "shifts" for moderators, and just rely on people meeting the expectation that if they agreed to be a moderator, they will log on regularly (most of our team logs on a multiple-times-a-day basis).

Community support team members can come from all around the world, but our current team is mostly US-based, with a few from the UK, and I think one or two from Canada. We are not all in the same time zones.

The community support team has its own forum where we discuss, on a daily basis, issues that are brought to our attention, reported threads, or reported problems in the chat rooms. We discuss the issue and reach a resolution for it, usually within 2-3 days (although some things can take as long as a week to resolve if it's complicated). That may seem like an eternity for some things.

For more straight-forward concerns, like spam or someone clearly posting against the guidelines, we will often temporarily close the thread or remove the offending post while we discuss it further. Primarily we're looking to keep things drama-free and keeping within the community guidelines within the community.

Yes, we *always* suggest you use the report triangle to report a post. Why? Because that starts a thread in the admin area about the post and spurs actions by the team to address it. If you, instead, try reporting the post to a single mod or admin, they may not log on until the next day and see it. Or they may read it and simply forget to act on it (everybody's human, so yeah, we sometimes forget things). Reporting a post with the triangle icon is the quickest way to get action on something. Period.

In most cases, we can't speed up the process because we work as a team for anything that isn't clear-cut. And that means waiting until different team members chime in. While this slows things down, it also assures we're acting in the fairest and most unbiased manner possible (e.g., no single moderator can play favorites or go rogue on us ).

We do not offer "immediate help" here in the community -- it's just not a part of the service we have.

Best,
DocJohn

what is the diffrence between a moderator, and a "super" moderator

curious

[amandalouise]

Thanks everyone for the replies, sometimes my mind gets fixated on something and wont let it go until I find the answer, thanks doc john and the well for the admin/ mod side of things. makes sense now.

[FooZe]

Originally Posted by shattered sanity

what is the diffrence between a moderator, and a "super" moderator

curious

Someone else asked that question several years ago and we answered it here: https://forums.psychcentral.com/comm...ml#post1761657

[CepheidVariable]

Originally Posted by DocJohn

Yes, we *always* suggest you use the report triangle to report a post. Why? Because that starts a thread in the admin area about the post and spurs actions by the team to address it. If you, instead, try reporting the post to a single mod or admin, they may not log on until the next day and see it. Or they may read it and simply forget to act on it (everybody's human, so yeah, we sometimes forget things). Reporting a post with the triangle icon is the quickest way to get action on something. Period.

Thank you. This was very informative and useful to me, knowing that this works sort of like an "issue tracker" that pops up for all moderators to see immediately. (Rather than just going into some kind of queue somewhere.)

Along with the warning that the "logged in" indicator isn't completely reliable, this might be something to note in the FAQ/Community Guidelines. What's there doesn't seem to clearly state a preference for the report button. Unless I've missed something.

[amandalouise]

great idea CepheidVariable...

another question/ suggestion for the moderating/ admin team...

for those of us who try and post on the age group/ understanding levels of the original posters how do we know for example that we are talking to a 13-14 yr old vs an adult.

your info on registration for the site states a person has to be at least 13. but I dont see any place on the members profiles designating a member who is a minor as a minor (anyone who is a frequent reader of my posts know I frequently check profiles and past posts of the original poster before I post to them most times anyway, )...

problems can sometimes arise when members do not realize they are talking to a 13-14 or any other minor yr old vs an adult. too much info, regarding the question being asked, wrong content for a minor and so on...

I personally tend to stay away from the minors ..............when i know that they are minors ......................just because my belief system is adults should not be involved with minors too much. minors need to develop friendships and so on from people their own ages, let alone adults talk about some things in great detail with them... example i would not tell a 13 year old most of what goes on with me around my mental and physical health problems why because Im an adult, they are not in my age grouping. I have been through things that they may not be ready to hear about...

anyway I see that there is an age requirement for registering but there doesnt seem to be anything in the profiles designating a member is a minor. more than once I post thinking I am talking to an adult who knows some things about the world and what I am talking about but then after posting I discover Im talking to someone who should not have the info that an adult would have otherwise been ok having.

ok now getting to my question/ suggestion... when you redo things again or what ever you do behind the scenes, ....is it possible to designate who the under 18 members are so that for their protection and well being those of us adults may be able to see right away we need to take an extra step / extra precaution when replying to that member and like me choose not to post to that person because I am an adult and they a minor.

i know that this may not solve all the problems of adults posting adult experiences, symptoms/ problems/ info to the minors but it can help in my opinion.