Privacy – the ResMods do not have access to any personal information, nor do they have access to the Forum administration software. As of Monday 1/30, we have also removed the Second Life name from the reported posts generated by vBulletin, so they now contain no identifying information of the person reporting the post (no Second Life name in addition to no Real Life name, no IP address, no email, etc).
Identifying Problems – Feedback from both the community and ResMods has identified that moving the threads into a moderation queue is not the best way to preserve moderation transparency within the forums. Therefore, the ResMods will close threads that need further review with a note explaining why they've been closed. Once the moderators (resident and Linden) have a chance to talk over the issues involved and decide whether to leave the thread closed or to reopen it, a moderator will post and explain the decision. To be clear, ResMods do not perform any disciplinary actions, nor do they have access to any disciplinary history, that is left up to Linden Lab.
Pool System - The current group of ResMods are in the pool for the first two weeks. After that, others will join them, so if you have volunteered but not been selected yet, you may be added in the future. Also if you are chosen for ResMod and choose not to participate, you can ask to be removed or simply not participate and be removed automatically after your two weeks in the pool are up. Volunteer Here!
Continued Tweaking – The ResMod plan was beta-tested, with success, on the SL Teen forums and is still in its early stages on the main forums. We will continue to refine the program as we go along, with an extensive review after the first two weeks.
ResMods: Looking Ahead
I was very interested in this thread discussing how to use a ‘carrots not sticks’ form of forum incentive, because that is really what is at the heart of the ResMod program. If you re-read the Second Life ResMod Forum Duties in the ResMod Manual, you will notice this key point:
"Your overall duty as a Second Life Moderator is to participate in the forums in a positive way and to identify when a thread is starting to become derailed."
The number one goal of the ResMod program is to put residents in a leadership position where they can help define and shape a strong, positive forum community. We’d love to have further discussion about how to also incorporate carrots not sticks – how to better highlight the positive feedback portion of the ResMods – please post your recommendations to this thread.