I know from the name, you may either be confused or thinking this is a bad idea. Just hear me out. I think this could be a great addition to Scratch if implemented correctly.

Okay, so you know how there's some Scratch Team members that moderate the forums a lot (@Paddle2see, @Harakou & @CheddarGirl)? They do a phenomenal job, don't get me wrong, but what if we added a program for Scratchers to help out as well? This would operate similar to the SDS/SWC, where if Scratchers help out and such, they may be invited to join the program. Forum Moderators would receive a different status only on the forums similar to @LiFayTheGoblin's (a former Scratch Team Member). Here is a picture of what it would look like:



Forum Moderators WOULD be able to:
~ Sticky a topic
~ Close (lock) a topic
~ Move a topic

Forum Moderators WOULD NOT be able to:
~ Delete a post
~ View reports on forums (I'm still considering - let me know what you think)
~ View the special forums (SDS, SWC & Archives) UNLESS they are in those programs.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Sticky a topic, close a topic, move a topic? Those seem like things only the trusted adults of Scratch should do. Otherwise, the forums will turn to mayhem! Here's the thing, though, only people trusted by the ST (perhaps chosen by the three listed above) would be selected. This wouldn't be the sort of thing that if you apply, you can become a SFM, or anything like that. It would be more of a “If the ST selects you for whatever reason, you are selected and offered to join. If they don't, they don't.” (Check out how SDS and SWC curators are selected for a better idea of this if you still don't understand.)

Though not really the purpose of this suggestion, I think that another forum could be added in for Forum Moderators to meet and discuss various things relating to the forums. It could look something like this:



Here's a nifty list of a couple pros and cons I came up with:

Pros:
~ Forums would generally be moderated better (simply because there are more people doing the job)
~ The Scratch Team would still be moderating/working and things of the sort, but it should give them more of a break from having to do so much.

Cons:
~ Someone could abuse this “power”
~ People would most likely ask to become a Forum Moderator (the requests would just be ignored, or replied to generally; similar to the How to be a SDS Curator project works.)

All feedback and support is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Don't forum helpers already in some way help the forum moderators?

NilsTheBest wrote:

Don't forum helpers already in some way help the forum moderators?

In some way, but this would be a program installed by the Scratch Team, where Scratchers can help directly (ex. instead of reporting to close a topic, Forum Moderators can simply close it).

No support.

I think this used to be a feature, but the Scratch Team has since retired it. You can read all about it here: https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/Community_Moderators

The primary reason why I don't support is that it doesn't really make sense to give Scratchers an unpaid job for which other people get paid to do. The “Community Moderator” is already a paid job (see the “Jobs” tab). In that case, those who are under 18 may legally not be allowed to do such a job.

I think the cons outweigh the pros here. It can indeed be abused, and even though it does make “less work” for the Scratch Team, that's the problem — for instance, @Paddle2See's job is to moderate the website, including the forums. What if he runs out of work to do, then what?

I'm sure the Scratch Team wouldn't have retired the program if there was a need to keep it. But there isn't, so I don't think it's necessary to bring back.

Za-Chary wrote:

No support.

I think this used to be a feature, but the Scratch Team has since retired it. You can read all about it here: https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/Community_Moderators

This would be a little different. Instead of moderating the entirety of Scratch, it would only be the forums.

Za-Chary wrote:

The primary reason why I don't support is that it doesn't really make sense to give Scratchers an unpaid job for which other people get paid to do. The “Community Moderator” is already a paid job (see the “Jobs” tab). In that case, those who are under 18 may legally not be allowed to do such a job.

There is no actual legal restraint on “moderating” a website. The Scratch Team could give a 6 year old's account moderator permissions on Scratch if they truly desired.

Za-Chary wrote:

I think the cons outweigh the pros here. It can indeed be abused, and even though it does make “less work” for the Scratch Team, that's the problem — for instance, @Paddle2See's job is to moderate the website, including the forums. What if he runs out of work to do, then what?

This is a very fair point. Though, I do think it still gives them a good amount to do. For one, this would only be on the forums - not the main website. Second, the idea would be it be part of their jobs to say “appoint and manage” the Forum Moderators.

It is also worth taking into account that @LiFayTheGoblin has this role, and is no longer a paid member of the Scratch Team. It wouldn't be much different from that.

Weak support if you add 18+ age limit.

Mods here are paid, so they need to have authorization to work on US. It's hard to obtain that right for us, yeah we are foreigners. Scratch Team says it's nice to have ability to read/write many languages. However, we can't apply for jobs. I think that can be avoided if it's not paid.

Of course, age limit is needed, and I will send my resume. Only “authorization” makes the wall too high for us.

Semi-Support. Because even though a person is selected by the ST, they could still use the power to sticky only their topics and not give chance to others. While this would be a good way of moderating the forums, it still has a lot of problems. Even if we have an age limit like 18+ only can become, how do we verify? Some people (like me) enter fake date of births while registering so it may be a problematic feature

apple502j wrote:

Weak support if you add 18+ age limit.

Mods here are paid, so they need to have authorization to work on US. It's hard to obtain that right for us, yeah we are foreigners. Scratch Team says it's nice to have ability to read/write many languages. However, we can't apply for jobs. I think that can be avoided if it's not paid.

Of course, age limit is needed, and I will send my resume. Only “authorization” makes the wall too high for us.

Think of the SFM program separately from how we think of Community Moderators now. It would be based on who the Scratch Team trusts from maturity, and selects. Not necessarily age, but trust.

jseeli wrote:

Semi-Support. Because even though a person is selected by the ST, they could still use the power to sticky only their topics and not give chance to others. While this would be a good way of moderating the forums, it still has a lot of problems. Even if we have an age limit like 18+ only can become, how do we verify? Some people (like me) enter fake date of births while registering so it may be a problematic feature

The hope of it being selected by the ST, is that said user is trustworthy enough not to do that. If an abuse of power occurred, they'd simply be removed from the position (or perhaps banned if to an extreme). I wouldn't do it by an age limit. I would base it off of who the ST feels is trustworthy and mature enough to fulfill the responsibility.

bump

For everyone else to see, here is @Paddle2See's comments about this sort of suggestion (found on his profile):

Paddle2See* wrote:

That's kind of the way it was when I first started with Scratch. We had a pretty large team of forum moderators from the community - maybe 5 or 6. However, at that time, forum moderators also worked the report queue - and there was some very ugly stuff showing up in the queue due to some trolling. We decided, for that reason and others, that we would stick to adults for forum moderation.

Lol, nice research, @Za-Chary.

Anyway, for the reason shown above, I’m going to go ahead and close this topic seeing as it looks like it will not be implemented. Thanks for your opinions!