DukeMcQ
Member
Why is prior approval required before posting? Is this a feature primarily intended for newcomers, or is it a standard procedure for all posts? Additionally, I'm curious about the moderator's availability—is this a full-time role?
New Why prior approval before posting?
- Thread starter DukeMcQ
- Start date
A new suggestion that needs examination
Howdy Donna, and welcome! We're very happy to have you here! You already know that you have many fans in our midst. 
Yes, approvals for the first handful of posts for new accounts. You wouldn't know it to look -- because the system works -- but for every new account from a real person like yourself, we get maybe five new spam accounts. This is actually on the low end relative to other sites I've worked on. At my previous site, we'd get hundreds per day. A bunch of custom-developed tools brought the number that we needed manage by hand down to a dozen or so per day, but it's impossible to run a site our size (140,000-ish current members) without a little automated help. A light tap of the brakes for the first few posts makes a big difference.
Spam is to the internet as junk mail is to the post office -- a bane for folks like us on the downstream end of it, but it constitutes so much of the revenue for the backbone providers that they can't afford to make it go away. My goal is to keep it from being part of anyone's experience here, and for the most part, that's the case.
The moderation role is something that we all fit to ourselves, according to our skills, interests, and availability. The nature of volunteer work. I love online communities in a wide range of contexts, and have helped manage them since 1988. I've been a member at UU since 2020, and started moderating last December. There have been weeks when I've been at it 50+ hours, but for me, that also includes considerable work on the back end of the forum infrastructure, everything from themes to security.
The classic moderator's role (approving new accounts and posts, responding to reports of inappropriate content, general organization, etc.) takes much less than that. (Except during the recent Blue Moon, the less said about which, the better.)
It has been close to a half-to-full-time-ish job for most of the year to go with my other one, but my ACTUAL job (ie, the paying one in medical education: helping primary care providers keep up with latest research and treatments) has recently gone into overdrive, so I'm around a bit less these days.
My colleague and partner @ploverwing has a more human (and humane!) approach, and is also a better ukulele player. Her careful consideration also represents a massive contribution to why our systems work as well as they do (when they do) because she's much better than I am at beta testing. I've led beta testing programs in a number of previous jobs in software development, and I always felt like my long suit was finding people who were better at it than I was. In this case, I take no credit for that, because Amie just volunteered, for which I'm constantly beyond grateful.
This is surely more of an answer than anyone was looking for, but that's what happens when you ask me a question.
Thanks again,
Tim
Mod
Yes, approvals for the first handful of posts for new accounts. You wouldn't know it to look -- because the system works -- but for every new account from a real person like yourself, we get maybe five new spam accounts. This is actually on the low end relative to other sites I've worked on. At my previous site, we'd get hundreds per day. A bunch of custom-developed tools brought the number that we needed manage by hand down to a dozen or so per day, but it's impossible to run a site our size (140,000-ish current members) without a little automated help. A light tap of the brakes for the first few posts makes a big difference.
Spam is to the internet as junk mail is to the post office -- a bane for folks like us on the downstream end of it, but it constitutes so much of the revenue for the backbone providers that they can't afford to make it go away. My goal is to keep it from being part of anyone's experience here, and for the most part, that's the case.
The moderation role is something that we all fit to ourselves, according to our skills, interests, and availability. The nature of volunteer work.
I love online communities in a wide range of contexts, and have helped manage them since 1988. I've been a member at UU since 2020, and started moderating last December. There have been weeks when I've been at it 50+ hours, but for me, that also includes considerable work on the back end of the forum infrastructure, everything from themes to security.The classic moderator's role (approving new accounts and posts, responding to reports of inappropriate content, general organization, etc.) takes much less than that. (Except during the recent Blue Moon, the less said about which, the better.
)It has been close to a half-to-full-time-ish job for most of the year to go with my other one, but my ACTUAL job (ie, the paying one
in medical education: helping primary care providers keep up with latest research and treatments) has recently gone into overdrive, so I'm around a bit less these days.My colleague and partner @ploverwing has a more human (and humane!) approach, and is also a better ukulele player.
Her careful consideration also represents a massive contribution to why our systems work as well as they do (when they do) because she's much better than I am at beta testing. I've led beta testing programs in a number of previous jobs in software development, and I always felt like my long suit was finding people who were better at it than I was. In this case, I take no credit for that, because Amie just volunteered, for which I'm constantly beyond grateful.This is surely more of an answer than anyone was looking for, but that's what happens when you ask me a question.
Thanks again,
Tim
Mod
OP
OP
DukeMcQ
Member
Thank you for your insight. And my deepest respect for you and your team's moderation work here. I know there's an art and talent to being diplomatic, and that's why Mike at UR has the job with our customer service. I'm just a background character.Howdy Donna, and welcome! We're very happy to have you here! You already know that you have many fans in our midst.
Yes, approvals for the first handful of posts for new accounts. You wouldn't know it to look -- because the system works -- but for every new account from a real person like yourself, we get maybe five new spam accounts. This is actually on the low end relative to other sites I've worked on. At my previous site, we'd get hundreds per day. A bunch of custom-developed tools brought the number that we needed manage by hand down to a dozen or so per day, but it's impossible to run a site our size (140,000-ish current members) without a little automated help. A light tap of the brakes for the first few posts makes a big difference.
Spam is to the internet as junk mail is to the post office -- a bane for folks like us on the downstream end of it, but it constitutes so much of the revenue for the backbone providers that they can't afford to make it go away. My goal is to keep it from being part of anyone's experience here, and for the most part, that's the case.
The moderation role is something that we all fit to ourselves, according to our skills, interests, and availability. The nature of volunteer work.
The classic moderator's role (approving new accounts and posts, responding to reports of inappropriate content, general organization, etc.) takes much less than that. (Except during the recent Blue Moon, the less said about which, the better.
It has been close to a half-to-full-time-ish job for most of the year to go with my other one, but my ACTUAL job (ie, the paying one
My colleague and partner @ploverwing has a more human (and humane!) approach, and is also a better ukulele player.
This is surely more of an answer than anyone was looking for, but that's what happens when you ask me a question.
Thanks again,
Tim
Mod
