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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">FLYERTALK MODERATOR GUIDELINES (with thanks to AAW and Robb for providing the base)
WELCOME ABOARD MODERATOR AND THANKS!
Welcome to the FlyerTalk Moderator community. FlyerTalk and its members thank you for kindly volunteering your time.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

If a forum is generating many misplaced posts or many posts that violate the terms of service, it is likely lacking in a clear objective or is inappropriate for FlyerTalk. Consideration should be given to better defining the forum with an education period, deleting it entirely and replacing it with a more clearly defined forum, or deleting it without replacement. It is easier to redefine a forum or remove it than to be constantly moving or editing dozens of misplaced threads.
WHY DO WE HAVE MODERATORS?
FlyerTalk has moderators because it’s an enormous community. With thousands of users engaged in conversations ranging from how to earn an upgrade on United Airlines to where to eat in Paris or how to grab a quick shower at NRT, there are dozens of new conversations (threads) started every single day! Like a small city, FlyerTalk needs some help to keep things running smoothly.
Moderators serve 3 primary roles. They enforce the rules, provide first-level dispute resolution, and guide posters towards good behaviour. Enforcing the rules is the obvious task, and you will be called upon to take real action, by closing threads, moving them, and even removing them altogether. More often, though, we hope that you’ll be able to guide posters towards good behaviour.
As a Moderator, your job is basically to watch out for posts that violate the terms of service (crude, insulting, off-topic, exploitive). People get upset or hit the post button without thinking, and end up insulting another member or saying something crude or offensive. In other cases, tempers flare and cause attacks ("flaming"). Bulletin boards occasionally draw the attention of people trying to exploit others for their own profit. The most important tool a Moderator has is his or her own judgement. Use a velvet glove or creative approach and make people feel good about moderation rather than a sledgehammer or rigid approach that creates more instability and hard feelings.
WHAT ARE MODERATORS SUPPOSED TO DO?
There are several different kinds of situations you’ll find yourself faced with in your forum, the most common of which are covered by the following progressive approach to enforcement of the rules. This is by no means a strict policy, but a guideline of how you can hold off on more serious action if less serious action can accomplish your goals. There may arise situations in which you have start with the most severe action possible. Seek advice from other moderators if needed.
BASIC EVERYDAY TOOLS FOR MODERATION
Here are the basic everyday tools available to Moderators in dealing with inappropriate posts or abusive members (in the order you should consider them) and guidelines for their use:
In case you’re wondering how to do these things technically, our tech tips are included in italics at the end of each section. Note that you can only use these features on forums for which you are listed as a moderator. The system will not allow you to take any of these actions on forums other than your own.
Move the Topic
If a member has posted a message that is off-topic for your forum, it can often encourage others to post similar off-topic messages, and this brings the overall level of discussion down. If there is a different section in which the post would be on-topic, you can move the topic.

As a courtesy and for educational value, it is useful to send a note to the author letting them know why their topic was moved. Alternatively, you can ask the author to delete the original topic and re-post it elsewhere or you can place a post in the forum indicating where it has been moved to. The latter is recommended only where there was significant posting to the thread already--this will be seen by the community as a courtesy to help them find the missing threads and continue their discussion.

There may be some lag time of the Misplaced Threads being placed into their appropriate forums. Catching inappropriate posts early and getting the authors to delete and move those topics will help reduced member frustration associated with looking for the threads and then not being able to post to them.
There are two different situations you’ll face when moving a thread. One is moving a thread to the same FlyerTalk Board, and the other, less likely action, is moving the thread to another FlyerTalk Board.
Moderators may only move topics to and from forums they moderate. (That is, if you are not the Moderator for Forum B, you cannot move a topic from your Forum A to Forum B.) As a function of the security programming only administrators may move topics between boards with different moderators. If you feel you need to move a topic that you can't, contact the administrator with the title of the topic and where it belongs or place it in the "Misposted Threads" Forum. All Moderators have access to the Misposted Threads.
To move a thread within a board, open it as you would any other thread you were reading. Near the bottom of the page, you’ll see “Administrative Options: Close Topic | Archive/Move”. Click on Archive/Move and enter your name and password and you’ll see a number of options to move the thread. Click on the circle next to “Transfer Topic to This Forum” to move the thread (Archiving is not a moderator duty) and select the new forum in the drop-down box to the right. Make sure to leave the option “Keep topic in current forum after transferring” as this will help participants find the new location. The topic will appear to be closed in your forum, but clicking on the message will automatically take the reader to the new copy of thread so that they may continue to participate.
To move a thread across boards, you have to do this manually. Use your mouse to highlight or "select" everything from the first poster’s name until the last words of the last post on the page (Hopefully, you’re taking action before it’s a multi-page post, but if not, then repeat this for each page), and use the copy command (Ctrl-C on Windows computers) to copy all of the posts info into your computer’s memory. Next, post a new topic in the correct forum with the same subject as the thread you’re moving. Click in the body of the post and issue the paste command (Ctrl-V on Windows computers). This will post all of the info from the old thread into the new thread (all in your initial post). To help keep things readable, walk through the new post and add bold tags and around the names of each poster so that it will be easy for someone to figure out who said what and where each original post started and ended. Finally, back in your forum, add a comment with a link to the new location and then close the thread.
Contact the Member
If someone posts a somewhat insulting, angry, or generally inflammatory message, let them know (via a polite private message) why it's not appropriate, and (if necessary) request that they edit or delete their post. You may also wish to suggest that an angry member settle his differences with the opposing member privately.
Edit the Post
In minor cases such as an objectionable picture or phrase being placed inside an otherwise useful message you can simply edit the post. Do not edit anymore than you absolutely have to and make a note of what you edited and why. If it’s simple, make the note in the post itself, or post your own follow-up if more detailed explanation is necessary. The best way to do this is to replace the item removed with a statement such as "[INFLAMMATORY LANGUAGE DELETED]". You should also probably let the member know (privately) what happened and why.

Under no circumstances should your words appear to be the posters or should you change the meaning of someone’s post without making it clear what you’ve changed. Your edit will leave a trail and show that you edited the post, so remember that you become responsible for what you’ve changed.
You can edit any post in the forum as if it were your own. Simply click on the edit icon on the offending post, enter your name and password, and make the edits you think are necessary.
Lock or Close the Topic
If a topic is fine, but starting to turn into an argument, or should be stopped, but doesn't need to be deleted, you can lock it. Make a post to the thread letting people know why you’ve locked it. While it may be obvious to you, others might not see things so clearly. It just takes few seconds to let people know why and can head off lots of frustration from offended posters who don’t understand. You get the chance to educate and prevent problems rather than respond to more future problems.
To Lock or Close a thread, open it as you would any other thread you were reading. Near the bottom of the page, you’ll see “Administrative Options: Close Topic | Archive/Move”. Click on Close Topic and enter your name and password to close the thread. That’s It! You will be able to reopen a thread later if you decide to do so by noting that the options now include the option to “Reopen Topic.”
TOOLS TO USE IN EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES ONLY
Most of the situations you’ll likely face are off-topic posts, and hopefully it won’t get much worse than that. If it does, here is some more guidance.
Delete the Post or the Topic
In the most egregious circumstances ONLY, you may consider deleting individual posts simply by clicking the "delete" button toward the top of any post. Do this if a post is an insult directed at another member, very offensive (and of no other value), intended to pick a fight, or is in essence not a part of constructive discussion about the topic at hand. In most cases, you should also send a polite message to the member and let them know why their post was inappropriate for this forum. If the behaviour continues (after you've politely warned them more than once), send a copy of one of the messages to the administrator and explain the situation. Copies of deleted posts should be saved/forwarded to the administrators for possible follow-up.
If you want to delete a single post, then click on its edit icon as if you were editing the text. At the upper left, you’ll see a checkbox to “Delete this Post.” Click that box and then enter your username and password to delete it. Note that you cannot delete the first post without deleting the entire thread, so you would need to edit out the first post if that’s your intention.
If an offending topic contains only the opening post, do not delete the post, delete the topic.
To delete an entire topic, you must delete the first post. Click on its edit icon as if you were editing the text. At the upper left, you’ll see a checkbox to “Delete this Post.” Click that box and then enter your username and password to delete it. . The entire topic will be deleted.
Request a Member Be Banned From the FT Forums
We hope that it's never necessary to ban anyone from the FT Forums, but it can happen. It is not the role of moderators to ban people but to recommend banning in extreme circumstances. Individual members may also ask for banning of other members. Termination of a member's account and banning is a very serious action, and it will only be taken in the most extreme cases and when all other options have been exhausted. Generally speaking, if a member has repeatedly ignored or rebuked requests to stop objectionable behaviour, you should stop contacting the member, then notify the administrator and give a thorough explanation (with examples of posts/messages) of what has happened to this point.

If a Board Moderator feels that an individual should be banned, such as in the case of an individual or group that engages in one of the activities listed above, take the following steps:
1. Cease all communication with the offending party; the administration will take it from here.
2. Do not delete the posts/IM's/e-mails from the offending individual as Board Staff will need to examine them, and will need to retain them if the action taken is ever challenged. Do lock any offending topics.
3. Inform all other relevant parties, except the offending party, to also retain their copies (in the case of IM or email offences), and that they should not communicate with the author until the matter has been resolved.
4. Send a message to the administrator outlining the following:
o the board(s) and topic titles on which the offending post(s) appears;
o if the offence is not related to public posts or e-mail spamming, send representative samples;
o an approximate count of the appearances/instances of the offending post/message;
o the member's username and real name;
o the handles (usernames) of all members or Moderators who are aware of or have been victims of the offence; and
o an explanation of why you believe banning the member is warranted.
STILL IN DOUBT, UNSURE WHAT TO DO?
Seek advice from other moderators if needed. Go to the moderators' forums to ask for help or to pose questions.
GOOD LUCK!
Thanks again for your help. This probably doesn’t cover all the situations you’ll come across in your role as a moderator, but let the principles here guide you in trying to resolve problems as simply as possible without resorting to harsher actions until absolutely necessary.
PS. WHAT IF MODERATORS BREAK THE RULES?
Moderators receive no special exemptions from terms of service violations or from the guidelines above. We know you will act as responsibly as you can. If a moderator is unable to work within those parameters, then that moderator's privileges will be removed. Moderators provide leadership in the FlyerTalk community. Remember to seek guidance before doing anything that could undermine the confidence that members have in the moderators.
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