Guide To Efficient Moderation

A re-post of an earlier version of a guide I had in the moderator section of the special users sub-forum. I have no clue if it's there or not, so I figured I'd re-post it here with a few updates. If anybody is wondering who I am thinking I can tell staff what to do, this is in no way the "guidelines" for staff members. I am a former moderator and administrator *not stroking my ego here* and I am simply putting this up in an effort to help future staff members.


1. No matter how difficult you find it, you must be impartial in a dispute. It doesn't matter if it's between your best friend and the kid you hate, you must put your job before friendships. Not exactly a positive thought, but if your friend starts to hate you because you made a decision to ban or mute him, or didn't ban someone he claimed hacked him or whatever, maybe he shouldn't be your friend in the first place.

2. Act classy, and follow the rules. This should go without saying, but it's been shown in the past some staff members believe once they reach their position there's no direction for them to go but up, and they can act however they want. There are plenty of players would love to have your position, and Crash is more than willing to demote a staff member.

3. Another one that should go without saying; know the game you're playing. On several servers I've seen staff who know jack shit about RuneScape and got their position because they know someone. Learn the game, then try to go for staff.

4. Don't ask for a promotion or anything like that, you're lucky enough to be in whatever position you have, no need to get greedy.

5. Understand your role: You are simply a player who has access to certain commands that other players don't, and you have a cardboard crown next to your name. First and foremost, this does not make you a god. Second of all, your only job is to enforce the rules. You are not required to help anyone, although most players will expect you to.

6. Be nice to everyone. A tip I partly ignored during my tenure as a staff member on both servers. Leave your personal feelings aside for anyone you may dislike, it will only cause problems otherwise.

7. Don't abuse your power. This means don't ipban someone because they annoyed you, etc.

8. Interact with the community and stay active. If you're going on a trip, inform Crash. If you suddenly dissapear off the face of the planet for a month, don't expect your shiny crown waiting for you when you get back.

Since I feel like I've made myself sound like the perfect staff member who never did anything wrong and everyone loved, I'll write a list of things I did poorly while I was a staff member:

• I was not always impartial.
  
  
  • I tended to, and still act somewhat immaturely on the forums.
    
    I let my annoyance with certain members of the community painfully obvious.
    
    I somewhat abused the ::xteleto and ::xteletome commands, but then again who didn't?
  
  
  On the beta for the second server, I tended to guide every new player through the tutorial instead of letting them figure it out for themselves.
  
  Now that I'm done writing my confession, I'll make a few quick requests for responses to the guide.
  
  If you've found any spelling/grammar errors please point them out to me.
  
  Don't tell me something like "#8 is wrong!" these are my own opinions, it is impossible for them to be wrong, or right.

SHOUTOUT TO LEKI FOR HIS SICK GUIDE

*thumbs up for Leki*

Though, I would want to lock this topic.

Good idea, if there's some typo in there that annoys you guys that much just send me a pm lol.

The original was removed, IDK why I removed it though. I meant to keep it.

No problem, I found an old saved copy of it and figured I'd re-post it.