Guardian Orientation

Introduction

The Guardian staff position, like the TripSitter position, is an entry level staff position. However, its focus lies in maintaining a positive environment on TripSit, rather than in tripsitting users directly. Guardians help to enforce the rules and maintain order in our public channels, acting as a positive role model for users. In this way, these staff members are arbitrators, mediators, and community exemplars. Guardians who are active and perform well may later apply to become Moderators.

Please also make sure you are familiar with our general staff orientation.

Channel Assignments

Unlike moderators, who have access to moderation commands in all TripSit managed channels, guardians are generally attached by assignment to a particular channel. In this way, they become a sort-of 'go-to' person for the channel. We hope that this will inspire some sense of responsibility and pride for the state of the channel. Despite this, as community role-models, Guardians will have voice (+v) in all TripSit-managed channels (those with a single # as a prefix).

Commands

The warning and quiet commands can be used to manage users, but should not be considered as a replacement for guiding people with words. If these commands do not suffice, then you should contact a moderator to consider a ban.

Warning

/msg TripBot ~warn <user> <reason>

Warnings are counted and permanently stored for staff to view past events. These should be utilised as much as possible, as it provides a good record for us when considering a ban. However, a warning is not a replacement for actually speaking to the user to explain what they did and why it's not acceptable. People appreciate being talked to by a human, rather than just being notified from an automatic system. Verbal warnings suffice most of the time, but it does not hurt to apply a #note warning (silent, non-formal) so that we can look back on it if needed. Repeat behaviour should usually lead to a formal warning, and sourcing always leads to a warning/quiet. Warnings applied by guardians are not formal warnings, but notes added to a user, which will be graduated into a formal warning by a moderator if it is considered necessary.

Quiet

/msg TripBot ~quiet [time(<integer><units>)] [#room] <user> <reason>

[time] is optional if you intend to manually remove the quiet when the situation has passed, where <integer> is a number and <units> is either h or m, for hours or minutes respectively.

<#room> is optional if you are using the command in the target room.

Example: ~quiet 5m Teknos Being a jerk.

This command can be given to users to give them a 'time out' in a room. This will prevent the user from talking, but only in this room. You can set the time limit to your discretion, but generally small issues don't need more than a 5-10 minute quiet to get the point across.

Quiets will be your secondary mode of recourse against a problem user, after verbal warning have failed, or the infraction is severe enough to merit a 'time out'. This command prevents the user from speaking in the channel or changing their nickname; and also sends a notify to staff in that channel. For example, a ~quiet in #drugs will alert all moderators to the quiet, while a ~quiet in #tripsit will alert all tripsitters to the quiet. It is an excellent tool for trolls and rowdy users who need a small break to cool off. It's usually better to employ a timed quiet rather than a permanent one, since this is difficult to follow up and is more of a 'permanent' solution, which isn't generally the intended use of a quiet.

Often a good method of 'moderation' is simply to attempt to guide a channel into a reasonable conversation. It's almost always better to try and defuse a situation with your words, than to immediately move towards silencing or warning a user. Most people listen to reason, and simply changing the subject is often an effective tactic in ceasing any buffoonery. ~question, ~topic and ~ptopic can be used to try to pull in a random conversation starter.

Should trying to change the topic fail, one quiet is usually enough to change the subject quickly.