15. Moderating or facilitation discussions
From:
Carol Hayward
Date:
2005 Dec 08 10:18 UTC
Short link
Hiya,
There are different ways for discussions to be moderated:
1. pre-moderation where nothing is published until it has been approved. If
dealing with a sensitive subject this could be a good option but if you have an
active e-panel or forum, this takes a lot of time and participants may feel
frustrated at the delay incurred. Our colleagues in Wolverhampton have this
approach as the council is nervous about letting people have their say without
some form of control.
2. post-moderation where everything is published but checked when it is live.
This implies more trust in participants but is slightly more risky in that
offensive messages could be posted. We use this approach in Bristol and so far
have not had to remove any messages. I tend to check forums once or twice a day
unless they are particularly lively debates.
3. moderation on request. The 'owner' of the forum doesn't moderate unless
another participant tells them something's wrong. The BBC have just introduced
this policy for their discussion forums
Most consultation software will allow both pre-moderation and post-moderation
and should allow you to define different approaches for different forums. Some
also allow you to introduce pre-moderation or other control measures for
particular participants so if they misbehave, they can be monitored for a
while.
We advise that a moderation log is kept so that all messages that are removed
and the reasons why are kept on record and are viewable on request. From a
freedom of information point of view this is important, but it is also good to
be able to defend yourselves against accusations of censorship.
People should be told if there are problems with their message and an
explanation given about what the problem is. A suggested rephrasing could also
be offered removing any offensive comments.
Does anyone have any particular questions or issues they would like to discuss?
.