Category Moderators, aka CatMods, are the newest
brand of editor permission, created to provide leadership in specific sub-communities,
and to round out the leadership ranks of the editing community. CatMods
have a unique set of privileges which combine the aspects of the Editall
and Meta permissions, but their scope is limited to one top level category
node (e.g. Arts, Computers, etc.). The purpose of this role is to allow
exceptional editors who specialize in a top level category, the ability
to become a leader, or moderator, and to oversee the needs of individual
category nodes. A Category Moderator should lead forum discussions in their
subject, mentor new editors, keep editors on track with reorgs and current
events, and essentially be the experts for their given category.
General Guidelines
CatMods, as leaders of their category node, are expected
to focus more on the community-related aspects of higher editing. Each
sub-community should embrace the CatMod as their first point of contact
for any conflicts or issues, including heated taxonomy discussions or editor
disputes and abuse. Likewise, the CatMod should keep up to date with all
related forum threads, and seek out editors to promote, as well as sift
out abusers.
Category Moderators have the following permissions:
Ability to view and process New Category Permissions for their category node
Access to the private Joint Meta forum
Ability to warn editors and post notes on an editor's profile
Editall/Catmv for their category node only
Initially, there will be a 6-month term trial limit
for this permission. We may allow this to be a permanent permission in
the future. The purpose of this time limit is to allow more exceptional
editors the opportunity to be a leader and the chance to shine. Successful
CatMods may be granted subsequent terms, however, an editor may not be
a CatMod for more than one category node at a time. Currently, Editalls
and Metas may not be CatMods. However, Editalls may be allowed this opportunity
in the future.
Since the CatMod has many of the same privileges
as the Editall and Meta, much of the text below are direct excerpts from
the Editall and Meta Guidelines. It would be helpful to read those Guidelines
in full to give you an overview of their responsibilities, and how the duties of
a CatMod relate to those of the other positions of leadership in the ODP.
New Category Permissions
CatMods have the ability to access the New Category
Permissions (new perms) queue. However, their access and ability to process
applications is limited to their specific category node and below. For
instance, an Arts/ CatMod can only view applications submitted for an Arts/
category. We expect CatMods to have an excellent grasp of their fellow
category editors, as well as the special issues and needs of certain categories,
and will rely on their expertise to make good decisions in processing newperms.
Below is the guideline for New Category Permissions, adapted from the Meta
Guidelines:
Be judicious about who you approve for new permissions.
Remember, it is very labor intensive to clean up after a bad editor, so
it is important to keep these things in mind when evaluating a new permissions
applicant:
Check to see how many active editors are in
the category the applicant wants to edit. There may be enough active editors
already.
Look at the applicant's Total Edits - unique
adds and deletes. Unique adds show a commitment to growing the directory.
Check for recent activity.
Review a few of the edits.
Are the titles and descriptions clean?
Have the sub categories the editor has created been logical?
Should the editor have a business interest in the
category, do they look to be doing a fair and unbiased build out of content?
Are the sites in their category appropriate for the category?
Have they marked their own site as cool?
Check out the date the editor first joined the ODP.
Are there any profile notes that indicate past abuse, poor editing, etc. OR positive notes indicating outstanding work?
If you are unsure of the applicant, there
are a couple of things you can try. Check to see if there have been any
problems with this editor by reviewing the forums and communicating with
other Category Moderators, Editalls, and Metas. Look at the applicant's
previous requests. In some cases another CatMod or Meta may have rejected
them, and you can thus follow up and find out why, if there it isn't evident
from the notes.
Joint Meta Forum
This forum was initially created as a place to house
discussions between the classic ODP Metas and the Kids & Teens Metas.
Many of the issues pertain to editor discussions and issues that overlap
the entire directory. As a CatMod, it is important to have access to these
discussions, especially when processing newperms. Joint Meta should be
your primary area to discuss any difficult issues regarding editors with
the Meta community. Most likely, a Meta will be able to guide you in the
right direction, or the Meta community will be able to provide a consensus
when a decision needs to be made. All reports of editor abuse should also
be posted in Joint Meta.
Abuse
Unfortunately, part of keeping the directory clean and running smoothly means that you will uncover abuse from time to time. Although CatMods do not have the ability to remove editor permissions, you do have the ability to warn an editor about their abusive editing, as well as report their abuse in the Joint Meta forum, where the Meta community may decide to take further action against the editor. CatMods can also investigate abuse reports, but should only do so in cases that affect editors or categories within their node. If matters addressed in the abuse report (or uncovered in investigating the report) extend outside the boundaries of a CatMod's node, the CatMod should relinquish the "Investigator" role and alert a meta to the situation. Below is an adaptation of the abuse section of the Meta Guidelines:
As a Category Moderator, you will undoubtedly
come across instances of bad editing and potential editor abuse. In cases
where an editor is not following the guidelines, you should send editor
feedback or use the Warning feature to send a documented notice to the
editor. Keep in mind that we are all human, and some editors are not as
active, and aware of the ODP culture as others. Please be diplomatic and
courteous in your approach. Make sure you give the editor sufficient time
to correct any mistakes.
Here are some examples of the kinds of abuse you might run into:
General Bad Editing
Poor editing differs from abuse, in that, there
is no intent to cause harm to the directory. In these cases, if the editor
continues to edit poorly, you may wish to send another email, or consider
starting a thread to discuss partial (or full) category removal, allowing
the editor a few categories to improve their edits.
Guideline Abuse
If an editor has been warned and continues to
disregard the guidelines, this is considered abuse. Here are a few examples
of guideline abuse: repeated self-cooling, manipulating titles/descriptions
to favor their own site, deleting competitors' sites, and creating vanity
categories.
Extreme Abuse
In the event of an editor doing immediate and
serious damage to the directory, or violating forum communication and privacy
guidelines in the most egregious way possible, the Meta community should
be notified via the Joint Meta forum. Staff should also be contacted and
referred to the appropriate thread. Immediate damage to the directory generally
refers to an editor who is mass-deleting sites or mass-spamming the directory
and/or the forums, but can refer to any situation where serious damage
is in progress.
Other Violations
Editors who cannot work with others in a team,
and make editing an uncomfortable experience for co-editors should also
be reported in the Joint Meta forum. This includes flaming other editors,
submitters, or staff. Violating the confidentiality of the forums or editor
notes is also unacceptable. These kinds of violations apply to editors
of all levels. Staff should be consulted only as a last resort when every
attempt at a resolution has been made.
Notes
The Notes feature is a great tool that allows
you to jot down notes about editors directly on their profile page. This
is especially helpful when a good or bad editor ends up in the newperms
queue - their name will appear in the corresponding color code that you
choose when leaving a note.
Category Editall/Catmv Features
Category Moderators also have Editall-like abilities,
limited to their category branch. As with any major move, you should have
the support of the community before proceeding to make any significant
changes to the directory's taxonomy. Smaller changes can be made with the
consultation of any individual editors in the affected categories. Below
is the text regarding the procedures for Editall/Catmv, adapted from the
Editall Guidelines:
Overview
Category Moderators are able to do a number of
different things for which a standard edit login won't allow. Following
are a list of the basic permissions a CatMod has:
Move a category within their category branch
Rename any category in their branch
Delete any category in their branch if *all* the sites have been removed
Set Sort Priority for sub categories and @links within their branch
Create a new category in their branch and list up to one editor as editor
