Become a Forum or Community Moderator!

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Program Overview

The Playdom Forums are a group of sites where lively communities of hundreds of thousands of members share their passion for social online games. To help nurture the community and ensure a positive, thriving environment, we have implemented a Community Moderator's Program.

This Process and Guidelines will help new members who wish to apply to become Forum or Community Moderators the opportunity to learn what’s expected of a moderator. This also means that we will continue to refine and expand these as our communities grow.

In addition to helping to guide and nurture a beneficial community atmosphere on the forums, as an active contributor to the community, the community moderator has access to special moderator features that help enforce the Forum Rules, Code of Conduct, Signature Rules, Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

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Community Moderators Process and Guidelines

Identifying a Forum/Community Moderator

Forum and Community moderators can be identified by visiting the Forum Leaders link.

Welcoming new players
Posting to a forum for a first time can be intimidating and confusing. New players often don't post their questions like a pro, so the Code of Conduct and Forum Rules may be useful when training new members to post well-formed questions that are more likely to result in efficient and complete answers that benefit other members of the community.

i.e. Encourage new players to do a search before submitting your question. More than likely someone’s already posted your question. Make sure to provide instructions on how to find the Search feature and how to use it.


Redirecting posts to a more appropriate forum
All moderators are provided with instruction on how to merge and move posts. Forums can become overwhelming very quickly if they aren’t kept organized. One of the main duties of a moderator is to help organize the forums and point players in the right direction.


Making decisions in the grey zone
Reacting to a member of the community who isn't specifically violating the Forum Rules, Code of Conduct, Signature, Rules, Terms of Service or Privacy Policy but is heading in that direction can be a tough call - especially if they are a long time member with a history of positive contributions. As a Forum/Community Moderator, you are a member of the moderating team and have access to the private moderator’s forum. If in doubt, discuss the situation with the team in the private forums. Don't let your emotions as an individual player or history with the individual skew your judgment in situations that fall in the grey zone.


Engaged in the debate?
As a moderator, it is critical that decisions that lead to exercising a moderator's privilege are objective. If a moderator has participated in a debate that has lead to necessary moderation action, s/he should engage a senior member (Forum Mod - Community Mod - Super Mod - Community Manager - Community Administrator) of the moderation team to make the call.


Responding to clear violations of the Code of Conduct
In a way, dealing with most situations that clearly violate any of the rules listed above is simple, but can be time-consuming and a real test of one's patience - especially, if the violator is relentless and has nothing better to do with their time then attempt to disturb the community.
Some of the other actions that you may take are:

• Delete Individual Posts: A post that violates any of the rules linked above can be removed from the forums.
• Delete/Lock Threads: If an entire thread is caustic, it can be locked or deleted from the forums.
• Block Individual Users: Abusive users can be blocked for a period of time or permanently.

*Consult the Ban Rules prior to moving a thread or deleting a message or blocking a community member. All of the above actions can be reversed in the event the blocking was erroneous.


Appealing a moderator's decision
Community members who disagree with a moderator’s action may appeal by contacting a Playdom Community Manager.

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To Summarize:

If you are interested in becoming a Forum or Community Moderator you'll need to show us that you understand the rules and you can begin by assisting the community with questions or making suggestions on how to improve forums (we don't run the game so suggestions for the game should be sent to our Support site)

1. Reach out to an existing Forum or Community Moderator to let them know you're interested.
   
2. Once you do that, your name will be submitted for consideration by the Community Administrators.

We are always watching so we'll be evaluating whether or not you'd make a good fit for our team. If you do, we'll reach out to you with additional information.

DO:

• Assist others
• Answer questions
• Provide feedback and if you do provide criticism, do so in a constructive manner that falls in line with our Forum Rules and Code of Conduct

DON'T:

• Harass other players or begin arguments
• Spam support asking if you can become a moderator
• Be rude to the support staff, volunteer moderators or other members