Guide How to moderate a cyber room

Tips and advice on how to moderate a cyber room.

Good things to have prepared in order to moderate successfully:

  • Core values. It is important to have prepared core values that you can refer to when you are motivating your moderating decisions.
  • Code of conduct. How to moderate a room is one thing, the code of conduct that members need to follow is something else.
  • The people responsible will moderate, while the group members should and will interact with each other. This brings your core values to life. Both the code of conduct and your core values are good for being able to motivate your moderating decisions and create transparency.

Things to consider:

  • Distribute responsibility and time.
  • Check the comment section regularly.
  • Gather digital evidence when someone commits a crime. Hide the comment, don’t delete it! It will be needed in a potential police report. 

Positive examples of moderation and codes of conduct from the Facebook group StreetGäris

Code of conduct

  • Use gender neutral language when you are addressing everyone in the group.
  • Write which city you are talking about when asking for tips or have questions. 
  • Flag for sensitive content by using CW or TW**. If someone asks you to do so, do it.
  • Not everyone can Google new information. Share your knowledge, or if you don’t have the energy to explain, keep scrolling and let someone else take care of it. 
  • Write your own reflections of questions when you share an article. 
  • Separatist threads are OK, and it should be clear who they are targeting. 
  • Be constructive in your criticism of each other, both other members and public figures. Avoid dogpiling (when many people criticize the same thing about a person without getting a response or in a very fast sequence) because this makes dialogue difficult.

It is forbidden to:

  • Share posts or screenshots of things that are written in the network. If you want to share something, ask for permission first.
  • Spread the name and/or picture of private members of the network, especially when dealing with secondary information. 
  • Ask for (or offer) prescription medicine or narcotics. 
  • As a journalist, ask questions or contact people from your professional role without being clear about it.
  • Buy or sell products or services in the group. 
  • Belittle, insult, or express yourself degradingly against other members.
  • Start or arrange projects, events, or subgroups in StreetGäris name without the approval of the board.

Warnings will be given when 

  • Despite being told to stop, repeatedly breaking the rules, guidelines, and attitudes listed above.
  • Harassment and hatred on the grounds of sex, transgender identity or expression, sexuality, race/ethnicity, class, religion/belief, disability or age.
  • Spreading/sharing what is written here.
  • Insults or a degrading way of expressing yourself toward other members.
  • We usually remind of the rules in the group. Sometimes, we lock or delete posts and comments. Warnings are given in private messages, and after three (3) you will be removed from the group.

Responding on social media 

Internet trolls and dogmatists