Moderator Guidelines
This guide is here to help staff keep the community running smoothly. As moderators, our job is to enforce rules fairly, stay professional, and encourage good discussions across the site.
1. Purpose of Moderation
The primary goals of site staff are to:
- Keep discussions respectful and civil.
- Enforce site rules consistently and fairly.
- Protect creative freedom while maintaining quality.
- Prevent harassment, spam, vandalism, and disruption.
- Help authors refine their drafts and contributions.
Staff members aren't here to police personal taste or control creative direction. We're here to make sure the site stays a safe, welcoming, and high-quality environment for everyone.
2. General Staff Conduct
As a moderator, you should:
- Stay calm and professional, even when things get heated.
- Remain objective and show no favoritism.
- Explain the reasoning behind your actions whenever appropriate.
- Listen to and consider community feedback.
- Base all staff actions strictly on user behavior and page content.
As a moderator, you must not:
- Abuse staff privileges, commands, or permissions.
- Act impulsively, emotionally, or out of frustration.
- Bully, mock, or publicly shame members of the community.
- Escalate conflicts or arguments.
3. Low-Quality Pages
When dealing with low-quality articles or drafts:
- See if the page can be saved through standard revisions.
- Offer constructive critique whenever possible.
- Give the author reasonable time to address feedback and edit their work.
- Provide actionable suggestions for improvement.
- Resort to deletion only if the page is beyond saving, unreadable, spam, or a clear rule violation.
A poorly written page is never an excuse to treat an author disrespectfully.
4. Constructive Critique
When reviewing articles or giving feedback, focus on:
- Reading flow and narrative structure.
- Proper Wikidot syntax, formatting, and layout.
- Grammar, spelling, and mechanics.
- Writing execution and overall tone.
- Originality and effort.
When offering critique, never engage in:
- Personal attacks or insults.
- Condescending or elitist behavior.
- Demanding changes without explaining why.
- Dismissing unique or unusual concepts purely because they're non-traditional.
5. Managing Disputes
When conflict arises between users:
- Direct the conversation back to constructive discussion on thread or forum pages.
- Keep the focus strictly on the content or specific behavior, not personalities.
- Intervene immediately if arguments turn into personal attacks.
- Focus on de-escalating the situation before taking harsh action (╯_╰)
- Lock discussion threads temporarily if tempers are running too high.
Staff members must remain neutral third parties during disputes.
6. Spam and Vandalism
The following are subject to immediate deletion or revision rollback:
- Spam pages, junk posts, and blank submissions.
- Page blanking, malicious edits, or link hijacking.
- Commercial spam, advertisement, or self-promotion.
- Intentional trolling or persistent disruption.
- Direct site vandalism.
- Hate speech, slurs, or targeted harassment.
Users engaging in deliberate disruption or spam will face immediate warnings, revocations, or bans per site policy.
7. AI-Generated Submissions
If a submission appears to be AI-generated:
- Verify whether the content breaks current site policy regarding AI text or images.
- Reach out to the author for clarification or proof of drafting if necessary.
- Remove or request changes to the article in line with site rules.
- Avoid making public accusations without proper evidence or staff consensus.
Apply AI policies consistently, objectively, and without witch-hunting.
8. Revisions Over Immediate Deletion
Whenever feasible:
- Encourage authors to revise and rewrite rather than immediately summary-deleting.
- Give creators a fair opportunity to fix issues.
- Point out specific elements that need work.
- Avoid deleting articles that can be easily cleaned up or reformatted.
Deletion should always be a last resort after reasonable attempts to guide the author have failed.
9. Disciplinary Actions
Staff may issue formal warnings for:
- Harassment or hostility toward other users.
- Repeated disruptive posting or thread derailment.
- Excessive spamming.
- Minor or first-time rule infractions.
- Minor vandalism.
Bans and revokes should:
- Fit the severity and frequency of the infraction.
- Be logged and explained clearly to the user when appropriate.
- Never be used to settle personal arguments or grievances.
Permanent bans are reserved for severe, malicious, or chronic offenses.
10. Neutrality and Objectivity
Never mistake personal preference for staff enforcement.
An article should never be deleted, locked, or penalized simply because:
- You personally dislike the concept or genre.
- The execution is unusual or experimental.
- The writing style doesn't match current popular site trends.
- The page presents a different interpretation of site canon or lore.
Staff decisions must always rest on clear rule breaches and objective quality standards—never personal taste.
11. Staff Transparency
Where practical:
- Post brief explanations for major staff actions (such as in summary deletion posts or official staff calls).
- Keep staff logs and disciplinary records accurate and up to date.
- Maintain a polite, clear, and professional tone in all staff communications.
- Maintain a clear process for members to appeal staff decisions.
Transparency builds trust between the community and the staff team :3
12. Core Responsibility
At its core, moderation exists to cultivate a safe, welcoming, and high-quality collaborative environment.
Staff are here to guide, support, and protect the community—not rule over it (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)☝️