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Nothing in this part of the wiki should be considered official site policy until it is moved to the public wiki.
Staff guidelines
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These documents serve as guidelines for the site's Staff. If you have recently been promoted to a staff position on the site, please read them carefully to understand what is expected of you, given your new privileges and responsibilities. In the interest of transparency, most of these documents are publicly visible to all users of the site.
Please remember that being an admin or moderator, you are one of a select number of users representing the RYM staff. In this capacity you are expected to be polite, respectful, and generally act in a mature and civil manner towards other people on the site.
The most important thing is to be polite. When you are polite, users will typically be polite in return. If someone acts disrespectfully toward you, please respond calmly the first time it occurs. Normally, doing so is enough to make them realize that they were unnecessarily rude, and their behavior will quickly change. If they continue to be disrespectful, please calmly and matter-of-factly point out their behavior (for example, "We are here to help you with your submissions. You have continued to act disrespectfully toward us; if you continue to do so, you will be excluded from contributing"), and then report them to the admins using the Contact/Feedback (who can then issue a warning or ban if necessary). Do not exacerbate the situation by responding in kind, that never solves anything.
Keep in mind that all comments posted on database submissions will become a permanent part of the database (as part of the submission history for that item), and may be reviewed by other people in the future. It reflects poorly on the site when those submission histories are routinely littered with petty arguments and rude behaviour.
Also remember that RYM is a global community with users from many different countries, cultures, and backgrounds. English is a second or third language for a lot of users, and the language barrier can sometimes cause misunderstandings and communication problems. Please try to be patient with users like this, and if necessary try to find a moderator who speaks their native language so they can help out.
As a staff member you're expected to behave in a neutral and fair manner towards all users of the site. This means for example that you should not use your database moderator powers to exclusively deal with submissions made by people who happen to be your friends on RYM, or give them preferential treatment in some way. And of course the opposite is true as well, if you happen to not get along with certain users on the site, do not let this affect your interaction with them in the site queues or community areas. If you find it too hard to be neutral towards certain users on the site, it's better to avoid dealing with them entirely and leave the matter to another staff member.
The RYM database has grown in complexity tremendously over the years and it is difficult for any user (or even any staff member) to be well-versed in every aspect of the site. Therefore, if a submitter is doing something wrong, please be constructive in your criticism and guide him/her in the right direction. Link submitters to relevant Wiki pages when necessary, or explain clearly how they can improve their submission to meet the standards.
Also, while it's certainly not forbidden to do this, try to avoid fixing submitters' mistakes yourself too often. Instead, guide the submitter by suggesting what needs to be done so that they can make the change themselves. They will never learn the rules or standards unless they are ultimately made responsible for their own database submissions. If you constantly fix their submissions for them it creates the risk that they will continue to submit incorrect submissions and just add more to the overall workload of the moderators. Try to find a balance between keeping the queues moving and educating submitters.
As mentioned above, it is certain that someone new to the site (or simply new to contributing to the database) will not be well-versed in every (or any) aspect of the site, and some of the site areas have a considerable learning curve (the release corrections queue in particular). So please guide the user in the right direction if they are having trouble following the standards correctly. A new user may potentially have a lot of valuable information they can add to the database, so it is important not to scare them away with terse responses or rude behaviour. The first interactions between a new user and a moderator can be very important in deciding whether or not they will continue to contribute to the database.
Always remember that we were all new users at one point.
Please always assume that submitters' contributions are made in good faith. Most people want to help the site, not damage it. This is typically driven by a user's desire to improve their own collection or to improve the database as a whole with the information they have to offer. If someone submits something that looks completely wrong, most of the time they are simply unaware of certain site standards or misunderstanding how the site is supposed to work (the concept of a "database" is not always obvious to everyone).
Likewise if someone is submitting information for which there aren't many good/concrete sources, don't be too hasty to accuse them of making things up. Not all information is available on the internet and users who have a good track record on the site should generally be trusted at their word unless there is a clear indication that something is awry. This does not mean trusted users aren't required to follow our sourcing policies, it just means in cases where such sources are not readily available and they have a good explanation for it, give them the benefit of the doubt.
Unfortunately there are always exceptions, and some users do actively try to vandalize the database (usually as a "joke"), lie about their submissions or use sockpuppet accounts to deceive the site staff. If you suspect that a submitter is acting in bad faith, for example, adding fake entries to the database, please report it using the Contact/Feedback link at the bottom of the page and/or post about it on the moderator forum before making any public accusations towards the submitter. It's generally the task of the site admins to investigate these matters and take action if necessary (which may involve sending them a warning, blocking the user from making any further database submissions or banning their account entirely; depending on the severity of their actions.)
There is no minimum amount of work that you are required to do as a volunteer staff member. As the RYM staff consists entirely of volunteers working in their spare time it would be unreasonable to enforce strict weekly quota or something like that, so we don't. You're generally free to work on whichever area of the site you choose, as and when you have the time to do so. However, it is assumed that when you accept a staff position you do so because you actually intend to help out with the moderation of the site, not just to use the privilege for your own personal benefits (e.g. submission auto-approval.)
That said, we do periodically (roughly once a year) perform an inventory of the site staff (admins, database moderators and community moderators). During this time everyone will be asked what areas of the site they are active in as a staffer so we can get a clearer picture of which site areas are in need of more manpower, and we post polls to inquire whether they would like to continue their role as a staff member or not (lack of response to this poll is taken as a "no"). This is mostly done on a voluntary basis (i.e. if you say you want to continue being a staff member then you can), but we do reserve the right to eventually demote staff members who have been inactive for extremely long periods of time. This is not a punishment, it's simply that we want our Staff list to be an accurate reflection of the people who are actively involved in moderating and running the site on at least a somewhat regular basis.
Staff members who are demoted will be given the choice of having "Emeritus" displayed on their profile (e.g. "Admin Emeritus") to indicate their past work on the site. In some cases they may also retain certain privileges (e.g. auto-approval) but this is something that may change in the future.
All of the site's various database submission queues can easily be accessed via the Queues page, the link to which is always available at the bottom of the site and can also be added to the top-right toolbar that contains your inbox, etc. by enabling it in your account preferences.
The information regarding site standards for each queue can be found in the the wiki menu on the left and should mostly be easy enough to find (if not, try using the search box). For some of the queues we've drafted up some additional documentation to help deal with commonly recurring issues in the queues and things to pay particular attention to when moderating. These can be found below:
Contents |
Etiquette
Please remember that being an admin or moderator, you are one of a select number of users representing the RYM staff. In this capacity you are expected to be polite, respectful, and generally act in a mature and civil manner towards other people on the site.
Be polite
The most important thing is to be polite. When you are polite, users will typically be polite in return. If someone acts disrespectfully toward you, please respond calmly the first time it occurs. Normally, doing so is enough to make them realize that they were unnecessarily rude, and their behavior will quickly change. If they continue to be disrespectful, please calmly and matter-of-factly point out their behavior (for example, "We are here to help you with your submissions. You have continued to act disrespectfully toward us; if you continue to do so, you will be excluded from contributing"), and then report them to the admins using the Contact/Feedback (who can then issue a warning or ban if necessary). Do not exacerbate the situation by responding in kind, that never solves anything.
Keep in mind that all comments posted on database submissions will become a permanent part of the database (as part of the submission history for that item), and may be reviewed by other people in the future. It reflects poorly on the site when those submission histories are routinely littered with petty arguments and rude behaviour.
Also remember that RYM is a global community with users from many different countries, cultures, and backgrounds. English is a second or third language for a lot of users, and the language barrier can sometimes cause misunderstandings and communication problems. Please try to be patient with users like this, and if necessary try to find a moderator who speaks their native language so they can help out.
Be fair
As a staff member you're expected to behave in a neutral and fair manner towards all users of the site. This means for example that you should not use your database moderator powers to exclusively deal with submissions made by people who happen to be your friends on RYM, or give them preferential treatment in some way. And of course the opposite is true as well, if you happen to not get along with certain users on the site, do not let this affect your interaction with them in the site queues or community areas. If you find it too hard to be neutral towards certain users on the site, it's better to avoid dealing with them entirely and leave the matter to another staff member.
Be helpful
The RYM database has grown in complexity tremendously over the years and it is difficult for any user (or even any staff member) to be well-versed in every aspect of the site. Therefore, if a submitter is doing something wrong, please be constructive in your criticism and guide him/her in the right direction. Link submitters to relevant Wiki pages when necessary, or explain clearly how they can improve their submission to meet the standards.
Also, while it's certainly not forbidden to do this, try to avoid fixing submitters' mistakes yourself too often. Instead, guide the submitter by suggesting what needs to be done so that they can make the change themselves. They will never learn the rules or standards unless they are ultimately made responsible for their own database submissions. If you constantly fix their submissions for them it creates the risk that they will continue to submit incorrect submissions and just add more to the overall workload of the moderators. Try to find a balance between keeping the queues moving and educating submitters.
Be patient with new users
As mentioned above, it is certain that someone new to the site (or simply new to contributing to the database) will not be well-versed in every (or any) aspect of the site, and some of the site areas have a considerable learning curve (the release corrections queue in particular). So please guide the user in the right direction if they are having trouble following the standards correctly. A new user may potentially have a lot of valuable information they can add to the database, so it is important not to scare them away with terse responses or rude behaviour. The first interactions between a new user and a moderator can be very important in deciding whether or not they will continue to contribute to the database.
Always remember that we were all new users at one point.
Assume good faith
Please always assume that submitters' contributions are made in good faith. Most people want to help the site, not damage it. This is typically driven by a user's desire to improve their own collection or to improve the database as a whole with the information they have to offer. If someone submits something that looks completely wrong, most of the time they are simply unaware of certain site standards or misunderstanding how the site is supposed to work (the concept of a "database" is not always obvious to everyone).
Likewise if someone is submitting information for which there aren't many good/concrete sources, don't be too hasty to accuse them of making things up. Not all information is available on the internet and users who have a good track record on the site should generally be trusted at their word unless there is a clear indication that something is awry. This does not mean trusted users aren't required to follow our sourcing policies, it just means in cases where such sources are not readily available and they have a good explanation for it, give them the benefit of the doubt.
Dealing with bad faith
Unfortunately there are always exceptions, and some users do actively try to vandalize the database (usually as a "joke"), lie about their submissions or use sockpuppet accounts to deceive the site staff. If you suspect that a submitter is acting in bad faith, for example, adding fake entries to the database, please report it using the Contact/Feedback link at the bottom of the page and/or post about it on the moderator forum before making any public accusations towards the submitter. It's generally the task of the site admins to investigate these matters and take action if necessary (which may involve sending them a warning, blocking the user from making any further database submissions or banning their account entirely; depending on the severity of their actions.)
Activity
There is no minimum amount of work that you are required to do as a volunteer staff member. As the RYM staff consists entirely of volunteers working in their spare time it would be unreasonable to enforce strict weekly quota or something like that, so we don't. You're generally free to work on whichever area of the site you choose, as and when you have the time to do so. However, it is assumed that when you accept a staff position you do so because you actually intend to help out with the moderation of the site, not just to use the privilege for your own personal benefits (e.g. submission auto-approval.)
That said, we do periodically (roughly once a year) perform an inventory of the site staff (admins, database moderators and community moderators). During this time everyone will be asked what areas of the site they are active in as a staffer so we can get a clearer picture of which site areas are in need of more manpower, and we post polls to inquire whether they would like to continue their role as a staff member or not (lack of response to this poll is taken as a "no"). This is mostly done on a voluntary basis (i.e. if you say you want to continue being a staff member then you can), but we do reserve the right to eventually demote staff members who have been inactive for extremely long periods of time. This is not a punishment, it's simply that we want our Staff list to be an accurate reflection of the people who are actively involved in moderating and running the site on at least a somewhat regular basis.
Staff members who are demoted will be given the choice of having "Emeritus" displayed on their profile (e.g. "Admin Emeritus") to indicate their past work on the site. In some cases they may also retain certain privileges (e.g. auto-approval) but this is something that may change in the future.
Queues
All of the site's various database submission queues can easily be accessed via the Queues page, the link to which is always available at the bottom of the site and can also be added to the top-right toolbar that contains your inbox, etc. by enabling it in your account preferences.
The information regarding site standards for each queue can be found in the the wiki menu on the left and should mostly be easy enough to find (if not, try using the search box). For some of the queues we've drafted up some additional documentation to help deal with commonly recurring issues in the queues and things to pay particular attention to when moderating. These can be found below: