I am the group owner of a site. My moderator oversees all messages and activites. Without my knowlege she edited a message of a moderated problem-making member by deleting a portion of the message which mentioned another member by name because she felt it was insulting to the mentioned member. Is this wrong? The moderated member is furious and is harrassing me with his expectations to have the original memo posted to the site with an apology from the moderator. He also expects the moderator to devise a plan so posts will never be edited again in this way. He demanded the moderator to announce her plan to the group otherwise he will take legal action. HELP!!! I don't know what to do.
2007-01-26 13:27:00 · 6 answers · asked by Shelly 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
It's a tough situation. I've been there.
1. create and establish a set of "rules" and try earnestly to adhere to them equally with all members. (Stipulate that the rules can change at any time without notice to cover your butt.) One of the rules can and should be that personal attacks, slander, etc. will not be tolerated.
2. ultimately a moderator of a board is considered the "owner" of the board in most circumstances. That means s/he gets to make the rules and set the tone of the group. Some people don't like that - they're welcome to leave.
3. tell the member who's upset at being censored that the decision was made and will not be revoked, that the mods are sorry he's upset by this and that while you all sympathize, the decision will not be reversed. Furthermore, if necessary, put the user on a probationary "ban".
4. in many cases online, moderated groups aren't businesses or whatever but are groups created and operated by non-professionals. If no money has been exchanged, no guarantees were offered, etc., I find it highly unlikely that the threat to "lawyer up" will go anywhere.
Good luck.
2007-01-26 13:41:14 · answer #1 · answered by zoni_tonya 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have my own website and, on that small slice of the web, I am God.
Part of my rules include no bigotry, no hatespeech, and the like. I also do not allow my members to take potshots at each other and I do not allow names mentioned even in my Rant forum.
Part of the rules for my "staff" are to come to me first, if at all possible, before acting. If they cannot reach me, set that post invisible until I can be reached.
I do not know the comment your member made but it was a judgement call on your moderator's part. Setting a post as invisible rather than editing it avoids problems like you describe. Then you, or you and your staff, can talk about it.
One of the reasons I have my "staff" bring this to me is that if a member is going to be angry, they are angry at me. I have a policy of pming the member to discuss whatever occurred.
I have edited out objectionable bits of posts and, most often, had no problems from my members after they and I discuss it. I alwyas PM them immediately. I would rather edit out a bit and have the talk with the member than just delete their post or reply.
Part of owning a website is the occasional angered member. If the member and yourself cannot reach resolution, well, there are many other boards on this great grand Internet.
I do not think there is any legal action a member can take against a moderator, or a board owner, who edited or deleted a post. Frankly, even if the moderator edited IN something vile, there is nothing the member can do. This is something I strongly disagree with... I have seen on some boards where a member's post is edited to INCLUDE vile material.
I would have a talk with your moderator on how to communicate better if I established that there was indeed a problem and insist that the member him or herself discuss the issue with you, as the board owner, not the mod. Unity of staff is always essential as is consistency of application of rules.
Feel free to email me if you wish. I have my email enabled on Yahoo Answers.
2007-01-26 13:39:04 · answer #2 · answered by j 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You do not say if the post itself was an insulting one or if it was just insulting because another member's name was mentioned. If this post, in itself, was insulting, then I would tell the upset member that I do not allow that type of thing on my board. ESPECIALLY if it is against another member. I would, regardless, stand by my mod now that it is done. Tell the member that is upset that there are other boards out there and he is welcome to go to them. That you do not allow anything on your board that may end up pitting member against member. And if he does not back off, he can and will be banned. The board belongs to YOU, not HIM. It is your home, he is a guest. If he cannot behave, kick him out.
2007-01-26 14:06:31 · answer #3 · answered by Lost in Erehwon 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
moderators can delete posts by utilising default. besides the shown fact that that attachment that became sent wont be saved to the communities documents. if all and sundry interior the destiny reads that from the team, there wont be a report to acquire. it's going to say 'attachements no longer saved'.
2016-11-01 09:28:59 · answer #4 · answered by deliberato 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its okay to reject the entire message or post the entire message. If you edit the message, it is no longer the members message, it is yours. You have no more right to post a message with parts deleted than you do to add parts. You don't need a 'plan' not to edit massages, just don't do it. You owe the member whose message you changed an apology. I don't know if the message should be posted. but the edited version should be withdrawn.
2007-01-26 14:15:50 · answer #5 · answered by STEVEN F 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
you own it, you can do whatever you want wtih it. and if they dont like it, well they can go somewhere else to do what they want. btw i am the owner of my own site: http://www.dodgeintrepidchat.net/
and since you own it, they really cant do anything to you
2007-01-26 13:37:48 · answer #6 · answered by Michael O 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋