Forums & Moderating

• ALL Official Support Group Rules apply to all Support Groups Staff.
• ALL moderators should check with their Lead Mod for other applicable policies and rules.
• All posts that you make in any part of the ‘Restricted Area’ (Staff Issues & Rules, SuperMod/Lead Mod, Recycle Bin, and the Administrators Playland) will not increment your post count.
• All Moderators need to be on the forums at least 4 days a week for as long as it takes each day to run through all of the posts in your respected forum(s) and to take care of the troublesome posts/users. All SuperMods must be on about the same amount of time.
• All Moderators & SuperMods MUST ENFORCE THE FULL RULES.
• When making an edit to a rude or inappropriate comment, a PM MUST be sent to the user letting them know why it was edited (unless it’s a warn, in which case it will PM them anyway).
• Warnings MUST BE set after 3 post edits for rude or inappropriate stuff at the very latest. You must also make a post in staff so all Moderators know of the issue (use the username in the title of your post in the staff forum). If the rule breaking continues after a warn, the Moderator will post the link directly to the post that continued to break the rules in the user’s topic in the staff forum. A SuperMod or Administrator will warn the user, and if it continues, the Moderators/SuperMods will alert Administrators and we will ban the user.

You are not exempt from the rules because you’re a staff member. In fact, you are expected to be a role model for our members. We don’t expect perfection; however, we do expect you to remain as professional and courteous as possible. These rules are more common sense than rules anyway.

Rules for Support Groups Staff and Administrators:

Last Updated: December 21, 2005

General Staff Rules

1. Giving out passwords is unacceptable and will NOT be tolerated. If any Administrator finds any moderator has given out his or her password to someone, even IF the person you told does not use it, ALL YOUR PRIVILEGES WILL BE REMOVED IMMEDIATELY. You will be banned for 1 week. This circumvents the warning system. If we find out who used your account, not only will you be banned, but they will also be banned for a period of 1 week. We WILL maintain a ZERO tolerance policy in this regard.
2. Anything posted in the Staff Forums are considered PRIVALEDGED information and CANNOT BE DIVULGED to any of the other members, regardless if the topic is about them.
3. Edit ONLY those posts that break the Support Groups’ Rules.
4. Expressing your opinion is encouraged, however, fighting between staff members in any forum will not be tolerated. If you have a dispute with another staff member, work out your differences in a calm manner. If for some reason, you’re not able to solve the dispute on your own with the other staff member you are required to notify an Administrator. If an Administrator has to get involved, there may be consequences. We hope this won’t be a problem since you’re all mature young men & women.
5. You are not, under any circumstances, to make fun of members in the Restricted Area (Staff-Only forums). This policy is non-negotiable and will be strictly enforced in topics concerning members as we know that the regular members cannot see the forums anyway. There will be no laughing at their actions behind their backs and there will be no making fun of them either. The Restricted Area is for discussion between staff members.
6. Do not pick on or single out certain members. Everyone should be treated equally, no matter who it is.

Topic & Post Handling Rules: Edit > Close > Move to Recycle Bin

1. Due to changes in our software it is now easier to take bad topics and posts out of view of our members. While viewing the bad topic select the delete option in the dropdown menu of moderation options and click go. After deleting the topic, locate it in the HelpingTeens Recycle Bin and add a post with the reasoning for why it was deleted from view. Remember that all actions are logged and if you do not post at the end of a topic that you delete, the Administrators can still see who removed the topic.
2. Users may post messages that break the Support Groups’ Rules. The first thing you need to do for that post is to edit the post and eliminate the content that is breaking the rules. Sometimes the entire post needs removing, so edit the post removing all content. PM the user who made that post and show them what rule they broke and explain why you edited their post. If you feel that an official warning is necessary, use the Warning option of the forums FIRST. READ THE PROPER METHOD TO WARNING USERS below.
3. If you find out the user re-edited your post to again, because this is breaking the rules, warn them (again) and remove the post.
4. CLOSE TOPICS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO MOVING THEM TO THE RECYCLE BIN. Always consider closing a topic before moving it to the Recycle Bin. If the whole topic is a flame-war, move it to the Recycle bin. If it only turns into a flame war at the end of the topic, close the topic with a post at the end as to why.

To close a topic/thread:

1. Click Add Reply and enter a little note indicating why it is being closed.
2. Just above the ‘Add Reply’ button, there is a section called ‘After posting…’ and by default it is selected on: ‘( Do Nothing )’. Change this to ‘Close this topic’ and click ‘Add Reply.’

To move a topic/thread:

1. Click Add Reply and enter a little note indicating why it is being moved (as simple as the word ‘moved’ or as detailed as it needs to be to get the reason across).
2. Just above the ‘Add Reply’ button, there is a section called ‘After posting…’ and by default it is selected on: ‘( Do Nothing )’. Change this to ‘Move this topic’ and click ‘Add Reply.’
3. The next screen will ask where do you want to move it to. Choose the forum you wish to move this topic to. If you wish to leave a trial link in the original forum, in the pull down menu beside ‘Leave a link to the new topic in the source forum?,’ make sure it is selected on ‘Yes.’ For any moves to the ‘Recycle Bin’ change this box to read ‘NO’ and click ‘Move.’

To split a post from a topic/thread:

1. In the topic/thread, look at the bottom where you have your ‘Moderator Options’ box. Pull down the list and select ‘Split Topic’ and hit ‘Go.’
2. Fill in a topic title for the new post that you will be creating, and an optional topic description and choose from the pull down box list where this new topic should be placed.
3. Put a checkmark beside each post you want to split off and remove from the current topic to put in the new topic and then click ‘Split the selected posts.’

To merge 2 topics of similar nature:

1. Load the topics you want to merge in different pages
2. Go to one of them and look at the bottom were you have your ‘Moderator Options’ box. Pull down the list and select ‘Merge Topic’ and hit ‘Go.’
3. Copy the URL from the other page and insert it into the merged box.

The Recycle Bin Rules

1. Any topic that is moved to the recycle bin MUST HAVE AN ACCOMPANYING POST of the reason why it was moved. If the reason is obvious, a post of just ‘moved’ will suffice but if it is not that obvious, the accompanying post must explain why it is being moved.
2. When moving topics to the Recycle Bin, leave no trail. To move a topic with no trail, see the above instructions on ‘To move a topic/thread:’

Steps To Warn Users

1. Open Notepad or another text based editor.
2. Click the ‘Post #’ link on the particular post you’re warning the user for. It is located in the top left corner to the immediate right of the date and time of the post. Up will pop a box with the complete URL of the exact post. Copy it (CTRL C) and click Cancel.

   

3. Paste the URL into notepad (CTRL V).

   

4. Go back to the post and click the (” Reply) button on the post you’re going to warn the user for. Highlight the ENTIRE BOX and copy it’s contents into the clipboard (CTRL C). This needs to be a complete quote of the original post. If it is not the warning becomes invalid.

   

5. Paste the quote of the post into notepad (CTRL V).

   

6. Open up the Rules. You MUST cite the rules that the user violated. Cite each of them. Please include the rule # and what the rule states.

   

7. Paste the quote(s) of the rule(s) that apply into notepad (CTRL V).

   

8. Copy everything that is in notepad into the clipboard (CTRL C). Go back to the post and click the + beside the warning. Paste the contents from the clipboard into each of the 2 boxes (CTRL V), and fill the middle box with the word “Warning.” All of the options should look exactly the same as in the image below. When done, click the “Alter Warn Level” button to finish the warning.

   

9. Go back to the original post and paste what is currently in the clipboard (CTRL V) into the post REPLACING the part(s) that broke the rule(s) where needed. Remove the URL to the post and the quote of the original post and edit the post. The below example assumes the entire post needed to be removed.