- Joined
- Oct 13, 2014
- Messages
- 2,394
- Reaction score
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I want to be as transparent and conversational as I can in regards to how procedures work so as to answer the why's and how's of the forum. Especially when it comes to long-active members such as our recent link:
Looks like they banned Sparda | Student Doctor Network
For those who may not know, here are the types of moderators / administrators that volunteer on SDN:
1) Pre-professional students (pre-medical, pre-dental, pre-optometry, pre-podiatry, etc).
2) Professional Students (Med Students, Dental Students, Optometry Students, Podiatry Students).
3) Licensed Healthcare Volunteers (Physicians, Dentists, Optometrists, etc).
4) Faculty
*** I would also like to mention our emeritus status users who volunteered their time and energy at some point in the past. ***
With enough volunteers, each type of moderator will be designated to a specific forum or sub-forums. Ideally, pre-students in the pre-student forum and so forth. However, it is not uncommon for many volunteers to take on additional roles which may include covering multiple forums. I myself not only volunteer in pharmacy, but I also cover the Non-traditional / Military Medicine - Veteran Benefit's sub-forum.
As there are thousands of users and only a handful of mods/admins, it's difficult to be the "eye-in-the-sky." So, we have RP's. Those members who feel disgruntled or observe an inappropriate post will type their comment and hit the "report" button located at the bottom of every users comment. This get's funneled into a location viewable by all mods actively on SDN. If further review is needed, other moderators may put in input and comments regarding the RP. Ideally, this is mostly dealt with within the current mods in said forums (but not uncommon for others to assist as needed).
For pharmacy, things are a bit unique: You have 2 moderators - @owlegrad and myself. As owlegrad takes on additional voluntary roles, I myself also cover other areas as mentioned. We do not have a designated pre-pharmacy mod or additional mod coverage as the other health forums do. With that, assistance is always had in our section between our volunteer roles and life/work balance.
The main role of a moderator/administrator is suppose to present information, background, and assistance with student questions regarding their field of choice (ie pharmacy). This is also extremely helpful when we can collaborate with other users who have experience in their field of pharmacy (retail, clinical, academics, etc) and your experiences that come with it. Another role of course is the prevention of bots, spams, and other security leakage that may happen on SDN. Lately (as it seems), mods/admins also have taken on the role of "policing" the forums. In times past it was simple: Someone reports a user, we talk with user, things are resolved. Other interventions unfortunately take place as more and more users find ways to "push-that-line" forcing the hands of mods to unfortunately take extra precautions.
**These are the possible steps that can happen with users who disregard the TOS listed here:
Our Vision, Values, and Policies | Student Doctor Network
1) In-thread Warning - Happens when multiple users tend to troll-bait or put out controversial views that steals away the purpose of the topic thread. No one user is targeted as it applies to everyone in the thread (as well any further actions against the TOS).
2) "Dings" - Specific users will receive a "hit" or 1 point on their user account for continual engagement against the TOS or the warning given. At this point, nothing happens with the account and after a set period of time, the point falls off. User still has the ability to freely use the account as before. Enough "dings" however built over a period of time can lead to the next step:
3) Account - Holds - Users receive this for 1 of 2 reasons. Either they have accumulated enough dings / repeated offenses that warrants a freeze on their account, or they have made a comment that goes well beyond the TOS such as suggestive threats, racism, or forced thoughts on a sensitive subject pushed onto another user or group on SDN.
4) Banned - As imagined, this is the account being permanently shutdown. All cases differ depending on users (from under-cover recruiters, cross-posters selling a product, to users ignoring a long stream of warnings and cautions built up time and time again). This goes unnoticed for some user accounts, but as in all forums it is well noted for our senior-members. For senior members, much discussion and thought is put in with regards as to how to either keep the user in-bounds as they contribute well information or when the unfortunate action is taken to finally say enough is enough.
**Transparency of users**
Believe it or not (many are in the category of "not") mods/admins do not wish to slander specific users who continue to contribute on the forums for the web to see. However, most warnings put in threads are typically known to active users and no true explanation needs to be put out. Now for the confusion of other users concerning why they were put on hold or banned, it is not as known. This is because of editing and deleting that takes place on specific topics put out by the user. This is NOT to have the upper-hand and to put other users in the dark, but rather to protect the integrity and purpose of SDN. Nonetheless, I will try my best to put out as much information as I can so as to put the idea of what is and what is not allowed.
Examples of explaining the reasoning of banning specific users would be telling the group of extreme cases such as pornography, detailed death videos, absence of anonymity of other users for deliberation and slander, etc. For most users, it is the constant ignoring and repeated offenses despite the multiple chances granted to specific users.
Although SDN is catered to students, it is also a great place for a community to be built with our current professionals talking about work, family, financial goals, or just to relate to others with the ups and downs of the work-force. It's great to read and have my own questions answered as well as other users from our contributing community.
This is a lot and I can keep going, but I hope this is at least a foundational point to fill in the blanks that some users may have concerning the roles of the volunteer staff. Feel free to discuss further topics in the realms of how SDN operates. When I can, I'll try my best to jump on and answer any question or thoughts others might have concerning the operation geared specifically to pharmacy.
Looks like they banned Sparda | Student Doctor Network
For those who may not know, here are the types of moderators / administrators that volunteer on SDN:
1) Pre-professional students (pre-medical, pre-dental, pre-optometry, pre-podiatry, etc).
2) Professional Students (Med Students, Dental Students, Optometry Students, Podiatry Students).
3) Licensed Healthcare Volunteers (Physicians, Dentists, Optometrists, etc).
4) Faculty
*** I would also like to mention our emeritus status users who volunteered their time and energy at some point in the past. ***
With enough volunteers, each type of moderator will be designated to a specific forum or sub-forums. Ideally, pre-students in the pre-student forum and so forth. However, it is not uncommon for many volunteers to take on additional roles which may include covering multiple forums. I myself not only volunteer in pharmacy, but I also cover the Non-traditional / Military Medicine - Veteran Benefit's sub-forum.
As there are thousands of users and only a handful of mods/admins, it's difficult to be the "eye-in-the-sky." So, we have RP's. Those members who feel disgruntled or observe an inappropriate post will type their comment and hit the "report" button located at the bottom of every users comment. This get's funneled into a location viewable by all mods actively on SDN. If further review is needed, other moderators may put in input and comments regarding the RP. Ideally, this is mostly dealt with within the current mods in said forums (but not uncommon for others to assist as needed).
For pharmacy, things are a bit unique: You have 2 moderators - @owlegrad and myself. As owlegrad takes on additional voluntary roles, I myself also cover other areas as mentioned. We do not have a designated pre-pharmacy mod or additional mod coverage as the other health forums do. With that, assistance is always had in our section between our volunteer roles and life/work balance.
The main role of a moderator/administrator is suppose to present information, background, and assistance with student questions regarding their field of choice (ie pharmacy). This is also extremely helpful when we can collaborate with other users who have experience in their field of pharmacy (retail, clinical, academics, etc) and your experiences that come with it. Another role of course is the prevention of bots, spams, and other security leakage that may happen on SDN. Lately (as it seems), mods/admins also have taken on the role of "policing" the forums. In times past it was simple: Someone reports a user, we talk with user, things are resolved. Other interventions unfortunately take place as more and more users find ways to "push-that-line" forcing the hands of mods to unfortunately take extra precautions.
**These are the possible steps that can happen with users who disregard the TOS listed here:
Our Vision, Values, and Policies | Student Doctor Network
1) In-thread Warning - Happens when multiple users tend to troll-bait or put out controversial views that steals away the purpose of the topic thread. No one user is targeted as it applies to everyone in the thread (as well any further actions against the TOS).
2) "Dings" - Specific users will receive a "hit" or 1 point on their user account for continual engagement against the TOS or the warning given. At this point, nothing happens with the account and after a set period of time, the point falls off. User still has the ability to freely use the account as before. Enough "dings" however built over a period of time can lead to the next step:
3) Account - Holds - Users receive this for 1 of 2 reasons. Either they have accumulated enough dings / repeated offenses that warrants a freeze on their account, or they have made a comment that goes well beyond the TOS such as suggestive threats, racism, or forced thoughts on a sensitive subject pushed onto another user or group on SDN.
4) Banned - As imagined, this is the account being permanently shutdown. All cases differ depending on users (from under-cover recruiters, cross-posters selling a product, to users ignoring a long stream of warnings and cautions built up time and time again). This goes unnoticed for some user accounts, but as in all forums it is well noted for our senior-members. For senior members, much discussion and thought is put in with regards as to how to either keep the user in-bounds as they contribute well information or when the unfortunate action is taken to finally say enough is enough.
**Transparency of users**
Believe it or not (many are in the category of "not") mods/admins do not wish to slander specific users who continue to contribute on the forums for the web to see. However, most warnings put in threads are typically known to active users and no true explanation needs to be put out. Now for the confusion of other users concerning why they were put on hold or banned, it is not as known. This is because of editing and deleting that takes place on specific topics put out by the user. This is NOT to have the upper-hand and to put other users in the dark, but rather to protect the integrity and purpose of SDN. Nonetheless, I will try my best to put out as much information as I can so as to put the idea of what is and what is not allowed.
Examples of explaining the reasoning of banning specific users would be telling the group of extreme cases such as pornography, detailed death videos, absence of anonymity of other users for deliberation and slander, etc. For most users, it is the constant ignoring and repeated offenses despite the multiple chances granted to specific users.
Although SDN is catered to students, it is also a great place for a community to be built with our current professionals talking about work, family, financial goals, or just to relate to others with the ups and downs of the work-force. It's great to read and have my own questions answered as well as other users from our contributing community.
This is a lot and I can keep going, but I hope this is at least a foundational point to fill in the blanks that some users may have concerning the roles of the volunteer staff. Feel free to discuss further topics in the realms of how SDN operates. When I can, I'll try my best to jump on and answer any question or thoughts others might have concerning the operation geared specifically to pharmacy.
