If you're a system administrator, space administrator, or a space's content moderator, use this document to learn how to moderate content. This document covers moderation for discussions and documents (content related to blogs can only be moderated by their authors or a system administrator).
Summary
- Moderators review content in a space and make decisions about its appearance to other people. This can include editing or deleting content, moving it from one space to another, and deciding who can edit. By default, a moderator for a particular space is able to moderate content in spaces inside it, too. Note that the moderation feature itself is not inherited in the same way; it's enabled separately space by space.
- Content that can be moderated includes discussions and documents. If moderation is turned on for a space, a moderator can review discussions and replies before they're published. Whether or not moderation is turned on, a moderator can make changes to discussions and documents while viewing the content itself.
- Moderators can moderate because they have access to document and discussion features that other people don't have. These features include links in the Actions list and in the body of discussion replies. A moderator will also have access to a Moderation Summary page (for moderating discussions) through a Moderation link in the Actions list of their profile.
- A space approver isn't a moderator, but can do a kind of moderation because all documents in the space must be approved by them before being published for view by others.
- A system or space administrator designates someone as a moderator or space approver by assigning them the correct permissions in the admin console. System and space administrators are automatically granted moderation permissions and have access to a space's moderation summary.
What Is Content Moderation?
Moderation is essentially keeping an eye on content in a space — and taking action when it's needed — to help make sure that the content is appropriate to the community of people using Clearspace. For example, if discussion posts in the space could become contentious, you might want to review them before they're visible to other people. The same could be true if discussions or documents could contain sensitive information.
As a moderator, you're able to take action on content when you need to. But you'll probably find that action is rarely needed if your guidelines about content are clear. Here are a couple of things you can do to head off any need to act on content.
Develop Your Usage Policy
Design a usage policy to ward off abusive or inadvertent posts. Early warning can make a big difference, and can prevent people from having a negative experience. Make the consequences for unacceptable behavior clear. Some ideas for possible policy statements to include are:
- No profanity.
- Treat others with respect.
- Stay on topic.
When you enforce usage guidelines quickly and publicly (such as by removing or editing an offensive post), other community members are more likely to follow the guidelines.
Encourage People to Report Abuse
For discussions, Clearspace includes a report abuse feature. When this is enabled (by a system administrator), a discussion thread includes a "Report Abuse" link in the Actions list and an "Abuse" link on each of the replies. When someone clicks an abuse link, the original post or reply is put into a moderation queue. A reported post can automatically be taken out of the thread when the number of users that report the post exceeds an administrator-specified number. The post is put into a moderation queue, and must receive moderator approval before it can be placed back into the thread.
Enable Moderation
Having designated moderators and having moderation enabled are separate features that don't need to accompany one another.
If moderation isn't enabled, people designated as moderators will still be able to act on content on a case by case basis. That is, when they're looking at a document or a discussion in Clearspace, the Actions list will display links they can use to do things such as delete, edit, or move the content.
If moderation is enabled, then new discussion posts and replies are sent to a moderation queue for approval, as described below. If no one is designated as a content moderator, then the queue will be visible only to a system or space administrator.
Content Types
The following lists the main content types in Clearspace, along with the roles moderators play. Note that blogs are included here for comparison's sake, but aren't available for moderation except by the blog's owner.
| Document | Discussion | Blog | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Description | People can type a text document using rich text formatting or wiki markup. | People can make suggestions and comments or ask questions that others can respond to. | People can post their views, observations, and analysis. |
| Use | Codify existing knowledge, document processes, create reports, best practices, and meeting notes. | Get feedback, report a problem, find a solution to a problem. | State an opinion, describe a solution, point to something interesting, ponder an idea. |
| Shape | Top heavy, with a longer initial message. | Bottom heavy, with a shorter initial message. A larger number of replies and comments. | Top heavy, with a longer initial message. Similar to a magazine article. Small number of comments. |
| Language | Formal, third person. | Informal, first person. | Informal, first person. |
| Moderators | A content moderator can moderate document content because they are able to edit, move, and delete documents even if they're not its author. A system or space administrator can assign content moderator or space approver capabilities to someone using Clearspace. | A content moderator can do things to discussion threads that others can't do. This includes edit, delete, lock, move, and branch. A system or space administrator assigns content moderator capabilities to someone using Clearspace. | Moderated only by the author. A system administrator also has the ability to delete posts, remove the ability to create a blog, and so on. |
Moderating Discussions
A discussion thread is a collection of messages and replies on a particular subject. Threads may run only a few messages long or may include hundreds of messages. There are two kinds of actions you can take when moderating threads:
- You can do something with a thread (original message or reply) while viewing the thread itself.
- If moderation is enabled for the space, you can review a summary of threads or replies that have been posted by people.
Acting On a Single Thread
When you're viewing a thread, you can use the links in the Actions list or in replies to take action on the thread.
For the thread as a whole, these actions include:
- Editing a thread, such as to remove abusive language or sensitive information.
- Moving a discussion thread to another space.
- Locking a discussion thread so that no one else can reply to it.
- Deleting a discussion thread.
For a thread's replies, actions include:
- Editing the reply.
- Branching the thread from a particular reply. Because thread topics can drift, you might need to intervene as a moderator to keep a thread focused on the subject for which it was created. You can do this by branching a thread, which creates a new thread based on the "off topic" message, and by moving content (messages and entire threads) from one location to another.
- Deleting a reply.
Reviewing Discussions in a Moderation Summary
When moderation is enabled for a space, new threads and/or replies must be reviewed and approved by a moderator before they are posted for others to see. A system or space administrator turns on discussion moderation for the space. In the admin console, they specify whether new threads, replies to threads, or both should be moderated.
When a person submits a post for approval, they'll see a message indicating that the post will need to be approved.
After they add the post, it will show up in your moderation summary. You use the Moderation Summary page in Clearspace to view the list of threads in the space that are waiting for moderation. You can reach that page by going to your profile (click Your Stuff > Profile), then clicking the Moderation link in the Actions list.
In the complete list you might have messages reported for abuse (if an administrator has enabled that feature) and messages awaiting moderation (if moderation is enabled).
To moderate, simply take a look at each message and make a decision whether to:
- Approve the message, making it visible to other people using Clearspace.
- Defer the message, leaving it in the list until you or another moderator comes back to it.
- Edit and approve the message (you'll get a form through which you can edit the message's contents before approving).
- Reject the message, effectively removing it from the system.
At
the left side of the page, you can choose whether to filter the
messages listed, which can be handy when you've got a very long list.
You can filter by moderation type (awaiting "Moderation" or "Reported Abuse"), when the message was posted, and the name of the person who
posted it.
Other Best Practices for Discussions
As you're moderating you might want to make suggestions that enhance people's experience with Clearspace and keep things running smoothly.
- Encourage people to mark replies as "Helpful" or "Correct". This not only helps other people identify the content they need, but also identifies the responder as someone who might have useful answers.
- Convert some discussions into documents as needed. You can save a discussion thread as a wiki document. This is useful when, for example, the thread has captured information that you might want to hang on to for later use.
- Encourage people to tag content. Tags make content easier to find.
- Try to moderate discussions lightly. Instead, make the guidelines for discussions available and easily discoverable, then only moderate when a post is out of line or off topic.
Moderating Documents
When moderating documents, you can take action while viewing the document.
Note: Enabling moderation for a space affects discussions only, not documents.
Acting on a Single Document
When you're viewing a document, you can use the links in the Actions list to take action on the document. These actions include:
- Editing the document, such as to remove abusive language or sensitive information.
- Moving the document to another space.
- Manage collaboration for the document, deciding who should be able to edit it and whether someone must approve it.
- Deleting the document.
How Document Approval Works
It's not really moderation, but approving documents is similar. A space approver approves documents published to Clearspace before the document is visible to others. A system or space administrator defines who space approvers are. Here's how approval works:
- When someone has been assigned a space approver role, documents in the space must be submitted for approval before they can be published.
- Approvers will see the document listed under the menu Your Stuff > Items Awaiting Your Approval.
- If there are multiple approvers, all of them must approve a document before it can be published. When the last one approves the document, it is automatically published.
- When someone rejects a document, they're prompted to include a message to go with their rejection. That message is added to the document's Author Discussion area, where comments go under the document's content.
- After someone rejects a document, it must be resubmitted (by anyone who can edit the document) for approval before it can be published. All approvers must approve the document before it will appear to those using the space.
- When a document is approved by all of the approvers assigned to it (including both any approvers for the space and the document), it is automatically published and visible in the space.