Guidelines for the Ufomind Moderator

Submitted Links

The link file can be edited directly via telnet.

1. Every link should be checked to see what it actually leads to.

2. A link should go directly to the most relevant and useful part of a site. You shouldn't have to go through extra pages to get to the information advertized. Change the link if necessary.

3. Long descriptions ("comments" field) with superfluous words should be cut down in size.

4. The relevancy of a link to the current page should be obvious from the title and description. If it isn't, add something to the "comments" field to make it clear what relevant info can be found there.

5. Some people add way too much information to the link record, inserting fields that aren't really important. Delete any superfluous fields.

6. General UFO sites, like "Joe's UFO Page", are often linked to places where they don't belong, and these should be removed. However, although the top-level page may not be relevant, there may be some individual sections and documents within it that are useful. If the moderator has time, he can cruise through Joe's site for useful material and link it to the appropriate pages on our site.

7. If the moderator, moves or deletes a link, and an email address is give, the moderator should try to provide feedback by email to the original poster (within reason). If someone is posting a lot of links, and you want to give them some advice, please do. The aim of feedback is to train and encourage the active users who are building our link structure. For example, if an active user posts a link, and we choose to move it, we should tell him.

8. Email feedback is also useful for certain "problem" users to tell them why the link was removed. If they don't get feedback, they might try to re-post the link again and again. Problem posters can potentially cause a lot of inconvenience on our system, so we have to make sure they don't get too frustrated. Excessive courtesy is warranted especially for the jerks.

Comments

The comment file can be edited directly via telnet.

1. Our main criteria for comments is that they be relevant to the page they are attached to. Any comment that is irrelevant should be deleted. If it is irrelevant but strikes the moderator as particularly interesting, he may, at his discretion, move it to a page where it is more appropriate.

2. Comments that obviously cross the bounds of decency -- like those full of expletives -- should be deleted, unless it contributes something to our knowledge of the author. (For example, if a prominent ufologist posts a message full of expletives, it s hould probably be retained as a reflection of their personality.)

3. A person may only make one comment per page. If a comment seems to have little value, the moderator can look back at previous comments to see if that person has posted before (use the host number to help determine this). If so, kill it.

4. Also watch for duplicate sequential postings where a person pressed the "Send " button twice. Delete the earlier version.

5. We are generally more lenient on relevancy at the higher levels of the structure. E.g. on the Area 51 page, almost any kind of alien inspired rant is acceptable, whereas on the Nellis AFB page, the comment has to be fairly rational and directly relev ant to the topic.

6. Comments posted to the /org/ page must be comments about our server itself -- pro or con -- not about UFOs or Area 51.

7. Watch for false names, where someone posts an inflammatory comment under the name of someone prominent. If there is an email address supplied, you can verify the comment with them. If none is supplied and the comment is questionable, kill it.

8. The moderator may not edit comments. He only decides whether to delete or move them.

9. There is no need for any feedback to users regarding comments. The volume is just too great. Feedback may be useful only for known problem users: an extremely polite request might stop them from abusive postings. (Stern threats don't usually work.) If necessary, we can implement a system to block them, but we would like to avoid this.

Ufologists

1. To be added to the ufologist list, there must be significant documents by or about this person already on the net. It is the responsibility of the requester to supply starting links. If none are given, and you have never heard of the ufologist, you can ignore the request.

2. When a requester gives their email address, feedback should always be given -- either that the record was added (giving the address) or that it was not added (giving the reason).

3. When a ufologist request comes in, check the by-letter page to see if someone with that last name already exists. If so, then you must use a different last name in the initial add. Do this by adding the new person's first initial to their last name. E.g. if "Jane Smith" exists already, then for a new Robert Smith, enter it as "Robert", "Smithr". This puts the new entry in a "smithr" directory. You can then edit the person.data file to change the name back to "Smith". (All the index entries and titles will be fixed the next time you run "makeufo."

4. The moderator can add a new ufologist on his own whenever he comes upon a homepage for that person, a photo of them or a significant document about them.

5. Care should be given to the main description line for each ufologist. It is rarely acceptable as given by the requester. Edit it to neutrally describe the person's role with a minimum of words. The description should be something that both supporters and critics can agree on.

6. After the ufologist record has been created, the moderator should select initial topics for that person through the topics screen.

7. If time allows, the moderator can do a cursury search for any missing information for that ufologist, like homepage, photo or place of residence.

8. Ufologists are cross referenced with topics, etc, by running the "makeufo" program, which can whenever necessary.

9. The moderator can further edit the person.data file as new information becomes available or changes are requested by users.

Changes to Older Pages

-- Glenn Campbell, 2/18/97