Thursday, June 16, 2011

Forum Moderation Guidelines-When to Report to a Forum Moderator?


As a good citizen of the nation, we are bound with rules and guidelines that are implemented for the good of each and every one of us.  Rules and guidelines should be obeyed in order not to abuse other people as well as to protect our rights as an individual.  These are our guiding tools to do what is right and to eliminate what is wrong.  Just like in forums, forums have forum moderation guidelines in order to protect their members and failure to comply with forum moderation guidelines could result to some disciplinary action and worse, account termination.

A community forum is a great feature for many business websites.  If you want to talk to someone, ask questions, answer some discussions, or even just want to hang around and meet other people with similar interest, a forum is a great place to be with.  However, forums have rules to follow, forum guidelines have to be met in order to be continuously heard in the forum.  If not, one could be reported and worst be banned in the forum.

When should forum members report another forum member to a forum moderator?

Will it be reported if any members do not follow the forum guidelines?  This could be a debatable issue sometimes since you can’t always determine and say what a real attack is and what a valid point is.  However, there are some forums that have sections exclusively for passionate debate.  If you are on a sports debate or political debate, you are liable to attack someone for a big fan or for a party, but this one is not necessarily a personal attack.  Remember that forum moderators are obliged to give necessary discipline to forum members who break the rules and disobeys the forum moderation guidelines.

When is the best time to report?  

If someone have used your name in an attack or is trying to slander you, you have the right to report that to a forum moderator.  Slander and libel have no place in the forum and should not be tolerated.  Almost all forums have forum moderation guidelines which states that “Don’t make false or malicious claims about other people or organizations”.  Forums have reserved the rights to remove any comments or posts which breaches their forum guidelines.  So read and read the forum guidelines of every forum before making any post and comment.

As forum moderators

If they have found an inappropriate comment, or if they’ve received a report from forum members, they must contact the member directly. They should explain or point to them the rules and forum guidelines and allow the member to remove the post by themselves.   Also, a member that commits an error should be treated as a valued user.  However, if the post or comment needs to be deleted by the moderators, they will advise the member about the violation and the reasons why it should be deleted.  They even issue a warning if the breach is serious.

Forums are all about free expression of opinions.  Site owners must be specific with their forum moderation guidelines and policies.  Moderators should know exactly what is expected from them and should implement the forum rules.  It is essential for a forum member to be able to recognize when to report to forum moderators.  

Remember when you say something on a forum; you are representing yourself as a professional, and you should stay professional in everything you do.

By the way, forum users are mostly business owners who find valuable information in the forum.  Because of the increase number of people who are using social media today, the demand for social media marketing virtual assistant also increases.  Social media marketing virtual assistant is a big help for online business as it helps you reach your global customers.  Social media marketing virtual assistant manages Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media accounts.  If you are a business owner who wants your business make heavy profits and gain online presence, you can benefit from social media marketing virtual assistant at cost-effective prices.

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