h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just an idle question , but who exactly are the moderators. Are they h2g2 people forced to do this, or BBC poeple who have moved in to do this, or are they trained monkeys, or what? Not that I hate them, just that you aren't too clear on this. I understand that the moderators are not exactly very popular with some h2g2 users at present, but does that mean they have to hide away in Auntie's giant underwear cupboard?

Moderators are people employed by the BBC. The vast majority had no contact with h2g2 before they became our moderators. I've heard that they are quite often students needing extra cash -- sounds better than bagging at the grocery to me!


Mikey

Hi Whoami

Yes Mikey's right, I've talked a bit about moderators elsewhere, it's no secret, honest!

They all work for an independent company. I've met them all in person though, they've come in for briefing and such. They're mainly students / part-time workers, working from home. They do a number of shifts each during a week to earn a bit of money. They work on h2g2, but some of them also work on moderating other websites too. They've said to me that they really enjoy working on h2g2, because they get to read so many funny and intelligent comments, which is nice, they particularly like their h2g2 shifts!

I work on moderating a bit too, but I only deal with the referred material, they pass it over to me if they're not sure. Generally I only get two or three referrals a day, so not too many.

Peta,

Have any of the moderators become researchers yet?

I completely understand that you absolutely could not in any circumstances ever say WHICH researchers had also been moderators.

But I am curious whether any of them have felt the need to join our merry band of maverik lunatics.

All the best

a*cB

I agree that that would be interesting. Perhaps they can tell us once the current furore about them has died down, and they are a little more liked. EG when the queue of 'to be moderated' articles finally disappears so that we're back in the picture with the full guide.

Whoami?

I'd be interested to know how strictly standards of behaviour are enforced on these moderators. Moderating can be very subjective so it's probable that whilst the vast majority of moderators may be fair, others might remove or hide content that is not offensive or unlawful but is simply something they disagree with or don't understand.

It would be very useful to be told immediately what part of the house rules they believe an entry has breached. Maybe when the moderator marks something as hidden/for deletion give them a list box where they have to select the part of the house rules they are claiming it breaches? That way when we go back and attempt to view our entries we can see if it's been hidden the reason behind it and can either edit the entry to remove or change the part being objected to or can appeal if we think the moderator is failing to moderate but is practicing censorship.

Crime and corruption happen in the dark behind closed doors so justice must happen in the light and full view.

Stephen

They do sometimes tell you - in a thread I was participating in, I posted the lyrics to a song, and they removed all but the chorus, leaving this note:

[Copyright material removed by moderator (chorus retained because smaller quotes are ok, whole songs aren't ]

The nerve. It's a song!

If that's true, watch this.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way..."
-A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Oh, sorry, to protect h2g2 users I'll post this instead-

"It was the b**t of t***s, it was the w***t of t***s, it was the a*e of w****m, it was the a*e of f*********s, it was the e***h of b****f, it was the e***h of i*********y, it was the s****n of L***t, it was the s****n of D******s, it was the s****g of h**e, it was the w****r of d*****r, we had e********g b****e us, we had n*****g b****e us, we were all g***g d****t to H****n, we were all g***g d****t the o***r w*y..." A T**e ot T*o C****s, C*****s D*****s

A Tale of Two Cities is a book and was written more than 70 years ago and is therefore out of copyright.

Your song lyrics were probably still in copyright and therefore could *not* be left there. You were lucky that the moderator was kind enough to take the time and trouble to leave the chorus.

I was just commenting on the human-ness of the moderators, I didn't care about the lyrics - I think it's fantastic that in such a human-ified place the moderators don't *have* to be the mechanical faceless entities that they have been - if they're here to stay then they may as well make the most of it

Something for the mods to do, just so we know they're really out there: s**t

Of course the moderators are human. But they aren't part of our community as moderators. h2g2 is something that turns up on their job sheet not their personal power trip.

If I was a moderator I would be offended by people testing the system. Posting on h2g2 should not be a Turing experiment.

Stephen aka Buffy

If moderators are not sure about a moderation decision they refer the entry to me. I make the final decision. An email is then sent to the Researcher saying why their posting or entry failed.

If anyone disagrees with a moderation decision they can come to me and ask for clarification. I'm happy to look into all decisions. If a mistake has been made, and yes, it occasionally happens because we're human, I can reverse the decision and reinstate the posting.

If you ever want to discuss a moderation decision, then post your query at the http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Moderation-helpdesk & I'll reply as soon as I can. Okay?

Peta
Community Editor

Perhaps giving the moderators an anonymous space where they can be personal if they wish, to show their faces, without being able to be kicked around, would be a good idea. Maybe some of them have signed up to h2g2 and exist seperately on both sides of trhe fence? Who knows. Maybe some song lyrics for the moderators (as a little joke, not offensive, please), anyone?

I agree, that it would be nice if the moderators were less "faceless", because I think they would get more sympathy for having to do such a tough job. It's really the moderation that people dislike, not the moderators.

Wanna bet? Can't have one without the other.

Yeah, whoami?...Moderator's hangout.

*tries to hide goo beret, while radioing Zaphodista HQ*

I'm sure the Zaphodistas would NEVER frequent THAT place. Ooooh, noooo.