And next, the text of the Moderation FAQ for 
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, which can be found here: 
http://fjordstone.com/rastb5mod/mod-faq.html


The Moderation FAQ for rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated

The following document is the current Moderation FAQ for the 
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated Usenet newsgroup, and contains more 
detailed information regarding the specifics of moderation style and 
technique.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) version 2.0a - 17 May 97 for: 
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated moderation style

	?	What is the purpose of the FAQ?
	?	What types of posts will be disallowed on the newsgroup?
	?	What will the user see of moderation?
	?	What else will be moderated?
	?	What cross-posts will be allowed?
	?	How will spoilers be treated?
	?	How will hand moderation be performed?
	?	What can I do if a message is rejected, or if I have other questions 
regarding posts?
	?	What can be done about problems with the moderation panel?
	?	Who are the moderators?


What is the purpose of the FAQ?

This FAQ serves to answer questions about how moderation is performed on the 
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated (rastb5m) newsgroup.


What types of posts will be disallowed on the newsgroup?

	1.	Story Ideas
	2.	Flames
	3.	Trolls
	4.	Spam

A "Story Idea" can be the description of a new character or event in the 
show, the exact scripting of a scene, or any detailed discussion of events 
which have not already appeared in an aired show, been described on-line by 
show production staff, or specifically predicted by dialog and events in 
shows already aired.

(Obviously, "joke" entries, outlandish dialogue, situations that will not 
occur in the series, and parodies, may be acceptable.)

Speculation is allowed, however. The difference between speculation and a 
story idea is that a speculation is directly supported by events or dialog on 
the show or stated on-line by show production staff.

For example: 
If Morden is afraid of green penguins, and Draal is shown to have access to 
them, a speculation would be that Draal will use them against Morden in the 
future. However if Draal only has a purple moose, saying that he could use it 
against Morden would be a story idea.

Flames are defined as posts which:

	1.	personally insult or hurt one of the members of the newsgroup; or
	2.	make allegations, without corroborating evidence, concerning a 
person/poster in the newsgroup, in a deliberate and repetitive manner 
(resembling a common sense definition of libel/slander, but not specifically 
limited to the legal interpretation of those terms).

Trolls are posts that seem designed for the specific purpose of provoking 
members of the group into responding heatedly.

Spam is a post that was made essentially unchanged to a number of newsgroups, 
generally for religious, political, commercial, or irrational reasons.

What is ON-topic, but unacceptable, is:

...a posting that contains a spoiler, but no warning in its heading.

Spoilers are information contained in a show that has not been broadcast in 
both the U.S. and the U.K. It has been agreed that after the last day of 
broadcast in both countries' first run, spoiler protection is no longer 
necessary.

For a more detailed explanation, refer to the Story Idea FAQ.



What will the user see of moderation?

The first time anyone posts on the newsgroup, they will be entered into a 
list of posters. Software will notice the new user and will send them a 
greeting. In that greeting will be a form to fill out indicating their 
familiarity with the etiquette of the newsgroup and their agreement to follow 
those rules.

Once the new poster agrees, they will thereafter be allowed to post without 
human intervention as long as they follow these rules.

Any poster who violates these rules will be warned several times by the 
moderators depending on the attitude of the poster, and the severity of the 
violation. If the moderators decide the person is unwilling to follow the 
rules, they will be put on a list of people who will be hand moderated.

When a person is placed on this list the first time, to get off the list, 
they will need to send e-mail to the moderators promising to follow the above 
rules. They will then be reinstated.

The second time they are put on the list, they will be there for a minimum of 
one month (30 calendar days). After the 30 day period has expired they can 
again ask to be removed from the hand moderation list. If they have not 
violated the charter during the last month their request will be granted.

Thereafter having been placed in the hand moderation list each person will be 
automatically brought to the attention of the moderators on six month 
intervals. At this point the moderators will then decide on whether to take 
the person off of the hand moderation list or not.



What else will be moderated?

Any thread which seems to be in danger of venturing into story idea, flame, 
or spoiler territory will be moderated by hand, subject to the other 
limitations of the moderation process discussed in the next sections.



What cross-posts will be allowed?

Cross-posts will only be allowed to the other unmoderated b5 newsgroups. Any 
other newsgroups will be removed from the header.



How will spoilers be treated?

Any thread where it is likely that unprotected spoilers will be introduced 
will be hand moderated. Any poster who puts a spoiler in the subject line 
will be hand moderated.

Any post which requires, but does not contain spoiler protection will have it 
inserted. Spoiler protection is defined as having a subject of the form: 
"Episode Name or abbreviation" (* Spoilers *). The first line of the message 
should read something like "* Spoilers for episode (episode name) *". This 
should be followed by a control-L (^L) alone on its line (optional but 
preferred), 24 or greater blank lines (required), followed by another ^L 
alone on a line (optional).

Posts containing spoilers which may have passed through automoderation 
without proper protection will be cancelled by the moderators and a 
notification sent to the poster so that they may repost with proper spoiler 
protection.



How will hand moderation be performed?

Any time a moderator chooses to perform this function they will send a 
message to the moderation site. They will then be put on a list of 'online 
moderators'. These moderators will have posts sent to them in a round robin 
fashion. They can specify how many outstanding messages they can have. The 
system will send no more than that many messages to them at one time.

Upon receiving the message, the moderator can accept or reject the post. If 
the post is rejected, they can select one of several boiler plate replies, or 
write one of their own. They will also insert spoiler space on unrejected 
posts, if needed.

If the message is not received back at the moderation site within half an 
hour, the message is resent. If it is still not received within another half 
hour, the post will be sent to the next available moderator, and the 
unavailable moderator will be automatically logged out.

When a moderator logs out, any messages that they have not replied to will be 
sent to the next available moderator.



What can I do if a message is rejected, or if I have other questions 
regarding posts?

There is a mailing list, b5mod-request@deepthot.org, that will reach all the 
moderators. If you feel like your message should not have been rejected feel 
free to contact the moderators as a group. If any one of the moderators 
thinks that the message should not have been rejected, it will be posted.

The moderators reserve the right to ignore mail which is clearly abusive. It 
should be remembered that the moderators are volunteers and that they are 
attempting to be as fair as possible in this situation - and as such should 
not be expected to be treated as a "shooting gallery".



What can be done about problems with the moderation panel?

Grievances should first be taken up with the moderator list mentioned above. 
If the issue is not resolved to the person's satisfaction they can bring the 
issue up to the list of people interested in moderation, satai@deepthot.org, 
after the moderators are given sufficient time to resolve the issue (at least 
3 days, due to mail accessibility and propagation delay issues).

This second list is publicly accessible, and anyone who wants to join can 
send a message to satai-request or satai-digest-request on the same machine 
with the word 'subscribe' in the body of the message.

This group acts as an oversight committee. They have no official power, but 
are rather a publicly accessable list where people can air their grievances. 
It is to be understood that bringing a post to this list is accepting the 
greater propagation of the more public list.

If a majority of the moderators decide that a moderator is indeed abusing 
their power he will be removed from the list of moderators or censured at 
their discretion.

David Stinson  and Peter Seebach  
have agreed to monitor all traffic on the moderators' and public mailing 
lists, and the moderators have agreed to abdicate as a group if Peter and/or 
David feels it to be necessary.

In the event of abdication the moderation address will be changed to a new 
group of moderators if a group acceptable to the current moderators are 
found. Otherwise a request to remove the group from usenet will be generated 
- due to the requirements of Usenet (this is not a choice that the moderators 
have an alternative for.)



Who are the moderators?

The moderators currently active for the newsgroup are (in alphabetical order 
by last name):

	?	Jennie Dailey-O'Cain 
	?	Jay Denebeim 
	?	Michael J. King Sr. 
	?	Teresa Lhotka 
	?	Cheryl Martin 
	?	John Schilling 
	?	Patricia A. Swan 
	?	Bill Zimmer 

You can reach the moderators at: b5mod-request@deepthot.org 
To post messages to the group: b5mod@deepthot.org



-- 
Diligent Moderatrix
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