On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 1:56 PM, Rick Tanner <rick at real-time.com> wrote:
> Do you, as list subscribers, want a person or people in charge of
> moderating content?

Yes.

> If so, then the list needs to agree on what is acceptable and not
> acceptable to post in the list and a course of action to take when the
> unacceptable happens.

This part is absurdly hard.  I have several years of experience
moderating among other things the #ubuntu-offtopic IRC channel, and
trying to figure out where to draw the line between "offtopic stuff
that belongs in this chat" and "inappropriate and unacceptable" has
been a source of substantial friction both between the ops and users
and between members of the ops team.

> If this should proceed, then how are moderators chosen?
> I.e., nomination and voting or strictly volunteer or some other
> method?

Volunteering subject to an up-or-down vote by existing mods (perhaps
after a learning / settling-in period) seems to work reasonably well.

> How many are allowed?

As many as are needed to always have one available to deal with the
workload and avoid burnout.

>   * How are tasks tracked between moderators to make sure one does not
> undo the work of the others?

That depends on how many you have.  If it's two or three people, it's
easy for them to communicate.  If it's a dozen, you might need a
separate mailing list or ticketing system.  The Ubuntu IRC team had
some members actually write a piece of "bantracker" software that let
you comment on bans so others would know the rationale, history, and
whether and when someone else could remove it.  That was pretty slick,
but a huge amount of work to build.

>   * Is there a need for any kind of audit trail for moderators and
> their moderation actions?

"Maybe".  I'd start with no and see if it becomes a problem.

>   * Is there a chain of command between moderators?

I don't think this group is large enough for that to be appropriate.

>   * How are disagreements and policy discussion between moderators
> handled?

Disagreements should be discussed privately and attempt to find some
sort of consensus among the team.  Policy discussion should be public,
and consensus is good, but majority approval can work too.

>   * What course of actions can a subscriber take dispute a moderation
> ruling?
>   * How is such a dispute handled?

There should be a way of contacting the moderation team off-list, and
their dispute should be reviewed and handled by a different moderator
than did the original action.

 - Tony