Policies and Guidelines for AVSIM Moderators and Staff
Last Updated: October 8, 2012
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As a moderator and staff member of AVSIM.com you are expected to perform certain tasks, follow basic policies and adhere to guidelines issued from time to time.
We promote a friendly environment where members can freely exchange ideas in a positive and supportive community. Moderators and Staff members should promote and demonstrate the principles of the AVSIM forums and are not exempt from the general rules for the forum.
As a moderator, you are expected to be active on the forum. This not only includes logging in frequently, but posting and initiating new topics of interest as well, especially in the board(s) that you specifically hold responsibility for and moderate.
As an active moderator, you are expected to help other members by offering knowledge that you have or providing links when necessary so that they can find answers to questions you cannot answer yourself.
You are expected to conduct yourself on AVSIM and other forums (if under the same username) in a way that represents the forum - no offensive behavior or arguments. We are the role models for the forum and members will emulate our actions.
Notify a forum administrator of any violations that cannot be handled as a moderator and send a warning to the member. In an instance where a member's behavior is so offensive that it requires a ban, contact an administrator immediately.
If a thread is started in the wrong board, move the thread to the correct board. Use your own judgement as to whether you leave a forwarding link or not. (August 31, 2012 - We have a system in place now that will automatically append a message to the topic that is moved, stating the reasons for having done so.)
If a thread begins to get off-topic, split the thread and all applicable posts into a new thread with an appropriate thread title.
Treat all members with respect. As a moderator of AVSIM, you should exercise restraint when responding to an infraction. Try to keep your personal opinions regarding vendors and other members to yourself as it reflects negatively on the forum. The responsibility of being a forum moderator includes acting in a manner that is considered unbiased and level-headed. And, we certainly know how hard that is, and recognize that we do not always achieve that lack of bias. But, you are required to give this your best effort. If you need to, step away and come back later after emotions have calmed.
Learn and be familiar with all of the forum rules and policies, including those specific to vendors. Moderation actions should only be taken in response to a direct infraction of these rules and for no other reasons. When in doubt, contact a forum administrator for advice on how to handle a situation.
All information in the moderator, staff forums, sub-forums AND EMAIL is considered CONFIDENTIAL and should not be shared with other members or non-members. If a moderator or staff member is found disclosing information from these forums or email, they will immediately and permanently be banned - no questions asked and no excuses accepted.
No moderator should EDIT anyone's posts. What we mean by that is that no editing of content; that is, changing a sentence, syntax, or detail that could alter the message in any significant way. What that does not mean is the remove of offensive material or violation of our image policies. If there is a dispute regarding a post please send a personal message (PM) to the original poster (OP) to discuss it or remove the post. Posts should only be removed when absolutely necessary - such as when maintaining the integrity of the thread or the forum and it's guidelines/rules.
Acting as a moderator or Staff Member of AVSIM is done on a completely voluntary basis. Should you choose to stop being a volunteer or plan to be absent from AVSIM for an extended period, please send a message to an administrator or your direct volunteer supervisor.
AVSIM reserves the right to modify these rules as needed without prior notification and to remove moderator privileges at will.
The Board of Directors and the executive management of AVSIM are not perfect. We do make mistakes, and sometimes we do not communicate all that we need, or should, to you as team members. We do not expect you to fawn over AVSIM and act and post as if we walk on water.
What we do expect is that if you have an issue with AVSIM, that you communicate via email or Private Messaging in the forum system. We do not expect to see, and will react negatively to, a public posting anywhere that detracts from, disparages, or otherwise puts AVSIM in a bad light or in any other way removes our opportunity to deal with your issue directly. If the posting is egregious enough, we will immediately terminate your relationship with AVSIM. We are a team; we expect you to act and behave as a team member. Please, give us the benefit of the doubt initially, give us an opportunity to respond, and then act accordingly.
SPECIFIC POLICIES BEYOND THE ABOVE:
EULA's & LICENSCES: It is AVSIM standing policy that End User License Agreements and Software Licenses are enforcable contracts between vendor and purchaser. It is not AVSIM's remit, purpose, or desire to intercede between vendor or user in discussion regarding EULA's or licenses. An EULA or a License is an agreement that a user accepted at time of purchase or time of product opening. Arguing terms of a EULA or license after that fact, is not acceptable material on the AVSIM forums. AVSIM staff members who publicly support "busting" of EULA, or Licenses will be warned once. After that, they will be removed from our staff.