FamilySearch Wiki talk:Moderator

Page Name Proposal
I'm not sure if there is enough of a need to make this change, but I want to present the idea as an option. On Special:ListGroupRights there is a section for Moderators. The link for Moderator is red because the page doesn't exist. Unfortunately, when this page was created, the title "Moderation" was chosen. Either the link on the Special page needs to be changed, or this page needs to be moved to the page name FamilySearch Wiki:Moderator. My choice would be to change the name of this page to Moderator. I welcome other thoughts and ideas. --Fran 19:21, 25 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree that the link in the special page should link to this information. The best option would be to move this page as changing the link in the special page would be a modification to the standard MediaWiki installation, which I believe is not encouraged. I will make the move and if anyone objects it can be reversed. --Steve 08:23, 26 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Excellent, and thanks for the quick follow-up in moving the page. I was concerned about the Special pages link being part of the standard MediaWiki installation, but I didn't know for sure if that was the case. So, thanks for the details and reasoning behind why the page move was the best option. -Fran 17:01, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

List of moderators needs improvement
We need to enhance the list of moderators and at the same time show all the localities that still do not have moderators. Is there a way to create a template or a drop-down template for the major locality areas that also allows someone to select the option to request to be the moderator? Some areas might also need assistant moderators, so more than one link would be need to request it. The same is needed for the major subject areas like the ones already on the page. I know there are other main subject areas not listed. I've only listed those for whom we have a moderator already.

We also need to set up a Forum for moderators. Two purposes: One, so the requests for being a moderator can be added to the Forum instead of private email to the administrator. Two, so moderators can begin communicating with each other to share ideas and successful stories about their moderator activities. We might choose to set up a thread within one of the Wiki Forums we already have, but I'd prefer to have a separate Forum. Any other ideas? --Fran 17:42, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Who to contact to become a Moderator? And moderator communication
The two email links for people to contact if they would like to become a moderator are broken. Who do people contact now if they want to become a Moderator? I see the suggestion above for a forum to be created for this purpose - with the changes, who now has the responsibility to assign moderation rights?

And I agree with the above, a section showing where we still need moderators would be great.

Regarding the second purpose of setting up a forum, encouraging communication with each other, now that we have a "Contributor's Corner" in the Forum, maybe moderators can start discussing topics there? Maybe they can just begin using that and then depending on the amount of traffic we could see if they needed separate categories or sub-forums from there. --VasquezJL 14:42, 11 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I have updated the email link/template for people to use to contact a Sysop. --Steve 15:06, 11 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Great idea from VasquezJL about moderators using the forums for discussing topics. Aberksan 14 November 2010

Moderator setup
We recently received a request for someone to become a moderator and talked through the various things we wanted to know to evaluate them. I added a list of those things in the "Become a Moderator" section on the page. Any thoughts/suggestions? janellv 21:38, 18 May 2011 (UTC)


 * We brought the "Become a moderator" list up in a meeting yesterday and had some good discussion and made some revisions to it on the main page. Thoughts? janellv 11:54, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Forum threads about the role of moderators

 * Relative stewardship of moderators and adopters - started November 2010
 * Should we have substantial prerequisities for moderators? - started February 2011
 * Refining the Moderators role - started September 2011

--Steve 17:55, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Heading "Moderation"
Is anyone really attached to that introductory heading "moderation" that is front and center for someone reading the page? If you remove the heading completely, the page begins with the short paragraph explaining what a moderator is, and then the subheadings provide details. Lise 12:56, 24 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I would support removing the heading "Moderation". Many pages in the wiki include a redundant section heading that repeats in some form the page name. The page name should be treated as the heading to the lead paragraph(s). These should introduce the topic in a simple straight-forward manner. &lt;/gets off soapbox&gt; --Steve 17:23, 24 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Sounds good to me. -- janellv 17:56, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

List of Moderators out of date
I was just looking at the recent changes to the user rights log and notice that some users listed as Moderators on this page have had their status changed.

In an ideal world part of the process of adding or removing a user from the Moderator group would be to also amended this page and add/remove the User Moderator userbox from the person's user page. --Steve 18:08, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

Moderator responsibilities
All, we would like to go ahead and update the Moderator responsibilities based on the Forum thread of Refining the Moderators role. We will update this page next week. Please add comments or concerns here or in the forum thread if you are not comfortable with the changes. Thank you! -- janellv 16:21, 10 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Changes have been made! -- janellv 13:42, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Moderator Community Rules
I suggest that we add the following wording to the paragraph on Responsibilities.

Moderators are expected to abide by the FamilySearch Wiki:Policies, the FamilySearch Wiki:Guiding Principles and the FamilySearch Wiki:Etiquette Guidelines. Failure to abide by these community rules may result in the termination of moderator status. See Guidelines for Moderator Retention

I will be making other suggestions on other pages to institute a policy on moderator retention

James L. Tanner 16:19, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

I further suggest adding this section, probably at the beginning following Responsibilities,

Duration of Service
Moderators are asked to serve for one year at a time. At the end of each year the Moderators will be asked to renew their service. However, consistent with the Guidelines for Moderator Retention a Moderator may be removed at any time for failure to abide by the community policies.

James L. Tanner 19:09, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

New Moderator Responsibility - Things To Do page
We would like to propose a new Moderator responsibility that fits right along with their current responsibilities, but just adds something specific to help focus and organize the work better. The responsibility would be to create a "Things To Do" page for the location that they are responsible for. They would add to that page everything that needs to be done for their locality - links to Stub pages, links to Wanted pages, and anything else that needs to happen for the locality to become a great resource to research in that area.

Please share your thoughts on whether you feel this would be a good addition to the Moderator responsibilities as one of the first things a new moderator would do. Since we no longer have the forums, the discussion will take place here. -- janellv 17:17, 7 January 2013 (UTC)