`TALKCITY TRAINING NOTES`

updated June 13, 1999 TALKCITY COURSE NOTES Consider this your Staff Library! Here you'll find all sorts of usefull bits and pieces. Training Course Notes, Technical updates, Tips and Tricks and a variety of information put together over time by various members of our Team. If you have a submission for this area, PLEASE submit it to us so we can include it here. Crew Display GIFs The Gag Tool Harassment: Empowering Our Users Through Education Hosting Basics Kick/Ban Guidelines Professionality, CSAs, Handling Conflicts, Hoaxes Words of Wisdom: Hosting Tips, Tricks and Suggestions from TCC's and CCC's Š1998-9 Talk City, Inc Last Updated: 14 May 1999 THE GAG TOOL As hosts, we have at our disposal several tools to handle violations of Talk City standards and disruptive chatters. These tools include educating, warning, kicking, banning and the gag tool. Until recently the gag was reserved for use by CSA/CCC staff only. It is now being extended to all authenticated hosts, including TCCs. Warn/Kick/Ban guidelines are included on another document on this site. Please refer to it as needed. Server-wide intervention. The gag tool differs from "room only commands" such as kick/ban, in that it is a server wide intervention. This means if a user is gagged by a host in one room, he/she is "silenced" across the board in all rooms on the server. It is important to fully realise the scope and magnitude of this tool. Gagging a user prevents a user from not only participating in any room, but from private msging, including msging the CSA. The gag remains in place, no matter where on the server the user goes, until he/she logs off and returns to the server. When deciding the most appropriate action to take against a user, please ask yourself "Is this serious enough to warrant a server wide intervention?" and "Is this least disruptive to the room as a whole?" The Gag tool is confidential and should never be discussed with our users. Giving a "warning" of "If you don't stop that, I'll gag you!" is NEVER appropriate as it is considered threatening a user as well as discussing confidential information. Do not msg the CSA to report that you have gagged someone. The CSA sees the msg through the bot automatically. You need not remove a gag at the end of your shift like bans since the gag is removed the second the user leaves the server. A feedback loop to CSAs has been setup. This feedback loop will send the CSA on duty a note about each person being gagged, and includes the user's nickname and the nick of the host placing the gag. The feedback loop is also sent to Chris2x, DaleCCC and ResCCCue (Chatmaster) to allow monitoring of proper use of the gag tool. This means every host must be very careful using this tool. It is closely monitored and abuse of this tool is easy to determine. Chatmaster has clearly stated that abuse of the gag tool will not be tolerated and any host found abusing it will be terminated completely from hosting anywhere on Talk City. Use of the Gag Tool The use of any hosting tool is mainly common sense and experience. Just takes time and practice dealing with the many and varied situations you will come across as hosts. When ever in doubt about the most appropriate intervention to take, please msg your cohost or the CSA on duty and ask their opinion. It is never a weakness to ask for help, verification or support. We are a team and work together, always. Note: Authenticated WebTV hosts *can* use the gag tool. When NOT to use the Gag Tool (taken primarily from ChatMaster's email): Gagging a user because of a personal argument between the host and the user, even though the user is not doing anything against the rules and isn't even in your room. Gagging people as a joke Gagging your ex girl/boyfriend Gagging your ex girl/boyfriend's new boy/girlfriend Gagging anyone for any reason EXCEPT for when they violate a Talk City Standard in the room you are currently working in on duty Gagging people while not on duty Gagging people in Forums you don't work for Gagging people in private rooms who are not in your room Gagging people for typing in ALL CAPS (which is NOT against the Talk City Standards) Gagging people for differences in opinion Gagging friends just to "show how it looks and feels" Gagging people for things you do not personally see (meaning gagging because a chatter complains of being harassed in private msgs or in another room) Gagging a user for perceived "violations" of your own personal standards rather then Talk City standards. (Very simple example: You personally are deeply offended whenever the words sucks or pissed are used. But you can not gag when used in the non-harassing context per Talk City standards as in "My day really sucked" or "That really pissed off.") When To Use the Gag Tool The gag tool can be our most effective tool. It is nondisruptive and quickly removes offensive or questionable behavior from the room. Gag people when the room in general is so hostile that a ban/kick would be more harmful over all. Gag people for excessive length or use of popups when it becomes disruptive to the room (Remember the use of popups is NOT a violation of standards and users should not kicked, banned or gagged simply for using popups. Only gag for room disruption in this case.) Gag people for scrolling. Gag people for continued off topic discussions in a topical conference. Gag people for escalating harassment/room disruption that isn't bad enough for a kick/ban. Gag people who keep getting around a ban and reentering the room causing disruption each time. Gag people threatening suicide in the room if they refuse to take it to private msgs. This is to remove the disruption quickly as this is a very upsetting situation to all chatters in the room, giving you time to msg the CSA and turn the situation over to them. (Please see the suicide threat guidelines on this site) This is by no means a complete list. You will encounter as many varied hosting situations as you will different people. Trust your instincts, judgement and when in doubt, ask the CSA on duty. Š1998-9 Talk City, Inc Last Updated: 14 May 1999 HARRASSMENT: Empowering Our Users Through Education What can we as hosts do and what can we tell our users to do to help themselves should harassment occur? As hosts, we can educate our users on how best to protect themselves. This education includes teaching the ignore command, helping people learn what a CSA is and how to msg one when needing help and in providing the email addresses of the appropriate people when a persistent problem needs to be dealt with. Email referrals. The email addresses you can give out to our users to report harassment occuring ON Talk City or send logs to are: Appropriate Forum Leader - CCCnick@hosts.talkcity.com LuisCSA@hosts.talkcity.com Chatmaster@corp.talkcity.com Take no action on unseen harassment. Please remember that as a host, we can not gag, kick or ban for things we do not see. In other words, please don't kick someone for something said in a private msg. When it occurs in private, we have no way to know who is telling the truth and cut/paste is real easy to doctor if someone is intent on getting another user in trouble. Only gag, kick and/or ban for things you actually see happen in the room you are hosting. If someone comes to you reporting harassment in private msgs, please tell them to msg the CSA on duty to report it. Please Note: If a coworker (on duty or off duty) msg's you concerning a violation of standards, it is considered a witnessed event and you can and should intervene appropriately. We trust our coworkers and are thankful for an extra pair of eyes since we can't be in all places at all times. Empowering our users It's upsetting to many when any harassment occurs, but there are things each user online can do to protect themselves and to take responsibility for their own experience while online. It is amazing when people complain of chronic harassment and yet they don't put the user on ignore (We realise this is impossible for someone on EZLite and they should be instructed to just msg the CSA and report the situation immediately) Here is the information you can pass on to our chatters who report harassment. Harassment on Talk City Please remind users to not provide personal or identifying information in a general chat room. This is especially important for our youth chatters. Remind them not to tell people their last name, their school name, address, phone number or other information that would make it easy to locate someone real life. When harassment starts, the first lines of defense are to put the user on ignore and notify the CSA. If the alleged harassing user changes his/her nick to get around the ignore, tell the chatter to put the new nick and any subsequent nicks on ignore and again msg the CSA. During all of this tell the chatter to LOG everything. If the harassment continues and the person refuses to leave someone alone after repeated requests to do so, then ask them to gather up the unedited logs and send all to the addresses I mentioned above with a description of the problem. Note: WebTV can not log, but they can video tape their chat sessions. The video taped transcript is considered valid documentation. If a chatter complains of chronic harassment and has the videotape, please email Julia@corp.talkcity.com and she will provide the address to send the tape to. Harassment in Email If a user reports harassment through email, again, we can not do anything about that as it is not occuring *on* TalkCity. What you can do is tell the chatter to forward the offending email to postmaster@theharassersdomain Example: If the harassing email is coming from Harasser@myworld.com, then have the chatter reporting the problem forward that email to: postmaster@myworld.com. For harassing emails coming from a webtv address, have the user forward the offending email to Abuse@corp.webtv.net. If a user reports to you harassment that has crossed over to real life, please know we can not do anything about what people do off-line. Our authority only covers their conduct on the TalkCity server. In a case such as this, please tell the user to contact their local law enforcement agency to have any real life harassment dealt with. Once you have passed on this information, you have done your job. We can't force a user to put someone on ignore. We can't force them to log a chat session. We can't force someone to email forum leaders, Chatmaster or LuisCSA and report a chronic problem. The chatters have to accept responsibility for their own experiences here. We can assist and help them best we can along the way, but they have to help as well. Š1998-9 Talk City, Inc Last Updated: 14 May 1999 HOSTING BASICS I. INTRODUCTION Welcome to the world of Internet chats! At Talk City, we believe that our professional hosts provide the best chat experience on the Internet. A good host makes it look easy, but it requires a lot of preparation and practice. This document is written for anyone who wants to host a conference with a professional flair. It's also mandatory reading for those of you who want to go through Talk City Host Training :-) Before we begin, we'd like to give you some general pointers: It's normal to be nervous before a conference, and we all have different ways of showing it. For some of us our fingers get cold and for others our heart starts beating a little faster. Correct spelling and grammar are important for macros, but it's okay to make a mistake while typing real-time. It's more important to get the thought out in an expedient manner than to spend time thinking about your mistakes. It's important that you're familiar with Talk City Ordinances (http://www.talkcity.com/csa/) and prepared to enforce them without being heavy-handed. In many cases people aren't aware of the rules but are willing to follow them once they know what they are. Also, keep in mind this is a family environment even though there are adult-oriented topics in some channels. Don't think that because it's after midnight (your time) the kids will all be in bed! There's always someone around to help with problem conference attendees. Most of the time the other people in the room will put the pressure on the offenders to stop but you can always send a message to a City Standards Advisor (CSA) by typing /msg CSA MessageHere While you're hosting your conference, it's good to acknowledge people along the way. You can acknowledge your guest for the excellent answers and being smart and the attendees for their good questions and manners. You'll hear this again, but we don't think we can say it often enough. The best advice we have to offer is that you be enthusiastic and don't censor your words unless they're inappropriate. It is our experience that the best conference hosts are those who let their personalities shine through. Ready to begin? First we'll take you through the process of preparing for your conference, then we'll tell you about the four types of conferences - freeform, protocol, modified protocol, and moderated. In our final section we'll walk through a conference. Then you're ready to practice what you've learned and/or head off to Host Training! II. Step-by-Step Instructions for Preparing for a Conference Follow these eight easy steps and you're on your way to a rewarding experience for yourself and your conference attendees. The first time you go through them it will take a while, so make sure you have plenty of time before your conference! After that you can figure out what shortcuts to take and what works best for you and your style. State the purpose. Choose the topic. Decide whether or not you're going to have a guest and what type of conference it will be. Determine the number of hosts you'll need for your conference based on what type of conference you're going to have. Select a date and time for your conference. Prep the guest. Search the Internet. Create Macros! III. Types of Conferences There are four types of conferences: free-form, modified protocol, full protocol, and moderated. We strongly recommend that you use free-form whenever possible, as it encourages the most audience participation and greatest flow of information. If you find yourself being overwhelmed, you can always institute protocol at any time during the conference. Once the questions drop off, switch back to free-form. Use good judgment and discretion: even if you have a large number of people in a conference room and only two are asking questions, drop the protocol. Free-form. Modified protocol. Full protocol. Moderated. IV. Let's Chat Blow by Blow details on running a conference from start to finish. That's all there is to hosting a chat! We'd like our final words to be to remember to use humor, be yourself, and have fun! Š Copyright 1997 LiveWorld Productions Inc Last Updated: 10 August 1998 BEING PROFESSIONAL by Julia DeMeis, Family Producer Though many see TC as something "fun" in their life, TalkCity is a business. It is run as a business. As contracted employees and as trained volunteer hosts, we represent TalkCity. Ususally a user's first experience with TC and how they first come to perceive and know TC are through our hosts. Please keep this in mind each and every time you are hosting. We are a business. You must conduct yourself in a professional manner... Always. Even off duty, you still reflect this company. What does professional conduct include: Being on time, in uniform, ready to work at your scheduled time. Being consistantly late,unexplained missed shifts, showing up unprepared for topical conferences will be seen as a performance issue. We are a team. United we stand. Divided we fall. You are expected to speak about the company and your coworkers in a positive, supportive manner in public. No airing of dirty laundry and personal disputes between coworkers in public. Support of company policy. If you disagree with a company policy, which is your right, take it only to the appropriate person within TalkCity management. Do not ever discuss it with our users., in public or in private. Support your coworkers. If you disagree with how a coworker handled a situation on duty, never air your opinion on that situation with our users...in public OR in private messages. Instead, go to the coworker and discuss the matter privately with them. If you are uncomfortable with that or feel it requires more intervention, please go to the appropriate forum leaders. NEVER tell the users you agree with them that a host handled something poorly. Privacy and Dignity. When you have taken an intervention against a problem/disruptive user, do not ever discuss that action with the other users in the room. As a professional, it is expected and demanded that such things only be discussed only with the party directly involved for their privacy and dignity. By all means, run a general TC standards macro to educate people in the room, but do not discuss specifics regarding another user. Confidentiality. Never under any circumstances discuss forum or company business with anyone who is not a staff member. This includes being off duty and out of uniform as well. If you feel the need to ventilate about an incident, use the forum leaders and your fellow staff members only. By all means use your coworkers for support or ask them for help if you find yourself in a situation you are having difficulty with. By all means come to the appropriate forum leaders to discuss the incident. But do NOT discuss it with our users. The CSA is Here for You! by ChezzCSA Let's consider the issues of how to regard the CSA and how to use CSA services to best advantage. It's important to realize that each CSA is a person, not a bot. I have seriously been asked several times, "Are you a bot or a person?" Each CSA has an individual personality and style of dealing with folks who send messages. In the end, however, all CSA's all have common procedures and rules to follow in the performance of their jobs. One of the most common reactions to a CSA entering a room is annoyance that the CSA doesn't chat with them. The CSA simply doesn't have the time to chat. Generally the CSA is working on a specific problem, engaged in private queries, while also in another room, and checking the banlist -- all at the same time. CSA's don't mean to be rude; they are busy working to keep Talk City a comfortable, well-lighted community. As Talk City traffic increases, CSA's work with an ever increasing number of calls. Duty can be frantic sometimes, so you may not receive an instant answer to your CSA query. When you don't get a reply in a reasonable time, try: /msg CSA Help! Hosts need to be sure to give the CSA full information when asking for help or reporting a problem. Be sure to give ISP info as well as the room and describe the problem so that CSA can most effectively help you. Example: /msg CSA Hi there! JoeCoolSmooth (~JoeCoolSmooth@ppp345.cust341.someplace.net.au) is disrupting a discussion in #TheInSite-Earth with racist comments. Thanks! It's best to remember that CSA's are both people and hosts. At times, they are overburdened and out of sorts. They also get deluged with calls! Don't be too hard on them. I have yet to meet a CSA who doesn't try very hard to do his/her job to the best of his/her ability. Remember, CSA is your team mate and your friend in Talk City! Crew Do's and Don't by WotanCCC, @Music Forum Leader Here are a few reminders for hosts on passwords, scheduling and spamming. KEEP YOUR PASSWORDS PRIVATE! Your password gives you access to Talk City's hosting functions. It carries privilege and responsibility. There is NO REASON someone else should have access to your password and account. If you are having access problems, ask another staff member, NEVER a Citizen. Guard your hosting password! RESPECT SCHEDULED TIME SLOTS - The person who is scheduled to be in the room is in charge of the room. No ifs, ands, or buts. In various forums, CCCs and TCCs may share the same scheduled time slot. A host may ask for help in a special situation as long as both parties agree and you are working in an appropriate manner. However, stepping into uniform to work uninvited is inappropriate and steps on lots of toes in the process. Instead, please follow these guidelines: - Don't assume your help is needed - Only work with another TCC or CCC if asked - Never criticize another TCC or CCC while on duty - Don't tell people how to do their job - Only give advice when asked - Always behave in a courteous, professional manner If you see something happening that you feel is inappropriate, log it, and send it to your forum leader. If you think the person is breaking Talk City standards, log it and call CSA. If you want or need to work more hours, sign up for more time slots. Please, respect others right to work without interference. DON'T ADVERTISE THE COMPETITION. Please, don't mentioning other networks and services, especially in a negative fashion. Let's make sure our standards are consistently higher than other servers. Likewise, if you see a user regularly advertising some service on another server, you may ask them to stop and if they do not comply, you may "boot" such an offender. Be sure to ask nicely first and kick only if you don't receive cooperation. When Users Want to Know Why by Julia DeMeis, Education/Family Producer We've all been there. A user pounces on us demanding to know why another chatter was kicked/gagged/banned. Some can be quite relentless and make a routine hosting shift a literal nightmare. What is the best way to handle such a situation? There is only one correct way to handle this situation. No staff member is allowed to ever discuss a ban/kick or gag with anyone but the user directly involved, the CSA, fellow forum staff and forum management. All such discussions with approved parties are to be done in private only. You are not allowed to discuss these situations with non-staff members and, especially, never in an open room. If other chatters ask you about a situation regarding another user or complain about an "unfair" ban, you are NOT allowed to discuss it at all. If you were the one who intervened with the chatter in question, tell them you are not allowed to discuss such situations except with the user directly involved. If they persist in questioning you, refer them to the CSA on duty and give them the forum leader's eMail address. Do not ever discuss the matter further. If you were not involved in the event in question, simply state that you were not present and have no knowledge of the alleged incident. Then refer them to the CSA or forum management. You should never reverse or openly question another staff member's actions, especially in any room or with non-staff members. Even if you secretly agree with the chatter demanding an explanation of an unfair intervention, as a Talk City staff member, you must remain publicly silent. The appropriate way to express any concerns about how a situation was handled, is to discuss it privately with the staff member in question when they are off-duty. Please never confront anyone on-duty. If you are uncomfortable speaking to the staff member, discuss the problem with the appropriate forum leader for further investigation. We are a TEAM. United we stand, divided we fall. We must always support one another, present a cohesive front to our users, and direct questions and concerns through the proper channels. Professional behavior toward our guests and professional courtesy toward our fellow crew members help keep Talk City the best community to visit and to work. Hosting or Combat Duty? by Julia Demeis, Education/Family Producer Growth and change within Talk City affects everyone -- from management to hosting staff to users. Change can produce stress and anxiety on all involved. People feel off balance and tensions rise. Forums are expanding rapidly as new rooms open and hordes of new chatters join us. Hosts are overwhelmed at times, trying to roam, one room at a time, and still be everywhere at once. Users are settling in newer, smaller rooms that aren't staffed consistently yet. Some adopt an almost vigilante, "Old West" mentality to protect and defend their new online home. The result is often rooms that put fear and dread into the hearts of even the most experienced hosts. We all can name rooms no host particularly enjoys moderating, the ones where an "Us vs. Them" mentality is so obvious that it resembles threading a live mine field. Hosts are ignored, chatters are openly hostile, and neither group is happy with the situation. These hosting tips can help decrease animosity, foster understanding and promote increased comfort and satisfaction for both staff and users: Remember that we are here for the chatters; they are not here for us. While realizing a room or conference has a specific purpose or focus, we can not be so blind to user needs as to force any topic. A good host knows how to gently redirect, guide and refocus a conversation without alienating their guests. The hostŐs most important duty is not presenting prepared material, but instead, engaging the chatters in conversation and debate, and facilitating discussion. Our focus should be the chatters, not ourselves, even in topical conferences. Choose your battles. This is critical for maintaining a pleasant and comfortable room for everyone. Intervening excessively for the "small stuff" and thus alienating our chatters really isn't our purpose. We are not the police. Our primary duties are NOT enforcement of the rules/standards. That just goes along with the territory. We are here to facilitate good conversation and make everyone's stay in our rooms enjoyable. Remember to use humor when possible. People respond better to humor and kindness then to being yelled at or reprimanded. Use humor to make a point and to educate. For example, when an excessive popup is posted, I will type into the room "/me grabs her chest, gasps for breath, falls to the ground and faints dead away from....POPUP TOXICITY!" This humor effectively makes a point while also making everyone laugh. Keep your audience always in mind. If you are in a 4Kids designated room, stricter standards need to be enforced than in other forums. 4Kids rooms do not permit tolerance with many things that might be acceptable elsewhere. An example is that "sexy" nicks are not permitted in 4Kids designated rooms, but are fine in adult rooms. When in a room that is *NOT* 4Kids designated, please do not impose the harsher 4Kids rules. Such enforcement results in adult chatters feeling they have been treated like children, increasing their resentment of staff members. Context is critical! Be sure to take a moment to look at context. Not all words are always "bad" or inappropriate. No host should kick anyone for using words like "damn" or "hell" when used in a nonderogatory, non-harassing manner. Saying "Damn!! It's hot as hell here!" isn't a violation of standards. Considering the terrible heat waves this summer, the statement was probably completely accurate! It's also acceptable to be pissed OFF all one wants; you just can't do that ON anything. It is acceptable to say "Talk City sucks!!" or "Man, my day really sucks!", but it's not okay to say "You suck, SoandSo!!!" Keep things in perspective and intervene appropriately. Sending a 5 line popups/alias/macro to warn a chatter about a popup that went 2 words over the 2 line length limit isn't the most effective action to take. Warning chatters about something by doing the very same thing only increases the "Us vs. Them" hostility. Don't send excessively long notices, promos and ads into the rooms. Edit and shorten them before using. Announce that the problem is being handled. Many times user hostility results when they do not "see" us intervening. A host may have a disrupter gagged or be "educating" them in private messages, but the room doesn't see any action. Take a second to send a brief message to the room that the problem is being addressed. A simple "All right, it's being handled. We now return you to your regularly scheduled chat" is often enough to calm the room. 8. When all else fails, take a deep breath, count to 10 and remember to "Smile from the wrists down!" What Is Real? Dealing with Hoaxes Online by Debbie Blailock, Community Senior Producer: Kids, Education, and Family One of the dilemmas we all face as hosts is discriminating between fiction and fact in the online community. To some degree, we must take at face value what we hear within the chat rooms. Yet, we can all no doubt name a time when we heard rumors or stories that were hard to believe. We are all good-hearted people; and we want to believe that everyone else is, too. However, common sense tells us that is not always the case. Some people create lies and rumors online for malicious purposes; some are just insecure and use fabrications to get attention; some are truly in need of help in the off-line world; and others just have a very warped sense of humor. To some of these individuals, the online "community" isn't real. They do not see the impact their lies have on others. But, as most of us know, the relationships and interactions we share here online are very real. When something happens within our community we all react in very real ways. Over the past several months, we have had several occasions when both users and hosts were deceived by "tall tales. " In the Parenting Forum, a user claimed to give birth to premature twins. The entire parenting community was involved in the event; it was special to us, and very real. We saw pictures of the babies; we were given regular updates; but, as it turned out, it wasn't true. We were all left feeling gullible and hurt that we were dragged into this charade. Many emotions are evoked in our community when such situations happen. Users and hosts alike are angry, with themselves and with the user spreading the lies. We feel hurt; we feel foolish. But, we don't want to become so wary of what we hear that we stop believing everything. Much of what we read online is probably true. When such situations occur online, we try to gather as much real life information as possible to confirm the reality of such events. Then we give our users this information so that each individual can make an informed decisions. When a CCC or TCC is involved, verifying what happened is easier. Many of us are connected in real life, too, and share off-line time together. Often a phone call to someone on staff can provide the necessary details . With users, the situation different. We may THINK we know them because we have seen their nickname in our rooms. When a question arises. at times we can call on someone to check the reliability of a source. But, frequently no reliable source can substantiate a claim, and we must rely on intuition. As hosts, we must not not get drawn into these issues. Nor should we fuel rumors with unverified information. If you post a topic line that supports a claim, or if you ask users to pause for a moment of silence, or if you suggest that we "do something", then you are giving support to the rumor. Users will follow your lead. We should, however, be sensitive to the needs of our rooms and our community in ways that do not feed lies. When a claim is made, we don't want to upset an entire room by suggesting that it might be a lie. We'd feel foolish if it turned out to be a true situation. Instead, we can gently encourage users to wait until they know the facts. When this type of crisis arises, you can tell our chatters: "In my experience online, I have found that it may take awhile for all the facts come to light. Let's be concerned, but let's wait to take any action until we can get more details to provide a clearer picture of what has happened." When money or other contributions are involved, you can add: "In the meantime, I encourage each of you to not be drawn into contributing to memorial funds or any other such donation of your personal resources." This macro may also help to ease user confusion and anger: "It's important to keep in mind that building a online community is important and very rewarding, but that we must not allow it to interrupt our own ability to judge truth from fiction, and it's always best to not take everything at face value. Being a liar isn't against the rules of Talk City. Being taken in by someone's lie isn't either. However, soliciting funds for illegitimate causes is a federal offense. We will each leave a situation believing what we want to believe. Each of us is responsible for making sure to have all of the facts before making a personal decision." If you are unsure of a situation in your hosting rooms, consult your forum leader immediately on how best to handle it. Especially if you see a request for contributions or any form of monitory support, act quickly to get advice. By keeping a watchful eye and a little cautious detachment, we may be able to identify problem situations and help protect our users from the aftereffects of careless or malicious lies. Page index | Site index Š1998 Talk City, Inc Last Updated: 21 December 1998 TO KICK OR NOT TO KICK Reference Guide to Kicking/Banning Many recently have voiced questions and concerns over how best to handle and deal with disruptive users. The following is in response to your concerns and an attempt to provide clear guidelines to handle a variety of situations. We hope this proves useful to all. While it is important that our actions with disruptive users be visible to the people in channel so that they know we aren't ignoring, but are dealing with the situation, it is important to try to handle things with the least amount of disruption to the channel as a whole and to maintain respect and dignity for everyone involved. With that in mind, let's continue with when and how to most effectively intervene in a situation with a disruptive user. Utilizing The CSAs We are here to be hosts, to facilitate discussion and conversation first and foremost. Yes, policing and upholding standards is part of our job, but it should be a secondary role. We have CSAs online 24/7 and the policing is their job. Let them do that job and free ourselves up to do not only what we are paid to do, but what we enjoy most...hosting. Rule of thumb: When in doubt, msg the CSAoD (on duty) and ask for a second opinion. Not sure if a nick is okay or a violation of standards? Ask the CSAoD. Have a user who refuses to stay on topic or is openly harassing people in the room? Msg the CSAoD and report it. Not sure if you should just kick or ban and kick? Not sure if a kick is called for? Ask the CSAoD. Please utilize the CSA whenever possible. It is not a sign of weakness, nor does it indicate an inability to control your room. Let the CSAs do their job, so you can do yours. If the CSAoD is busy and unable to respond quickly and expediently, it is appropriate to msg the Forum Leader or a fellow staff member and ask for their opinion and/or assistance. General Guidelines First Step...The Warning The number one tool that we can use is our mind and our wit. Watch closely and be alert to any potential problems before they erupt. Try to steer the chat and use humor to diffuse a situation, divert the rest of the channel away from the disrupter whenever possible. If not a flagrant and blatant violation of TalkCity's standards of conduct, please warn the user before taking action to cease their behavior. Remember, it is our first duty to inform and educate a user. Never mention the intervention you wish to take, simply make clear that such words, actions, nicknames are inappropriate on TalkCity. Example: Do NOT say: "So and So, I will ban you if you don't stop your harassment." Instead try: "So and So, Harassment towards anyone is not tolerated on TalkCity. Please treat everyone with respect." You have 2 choices as to how to warn. In the room or in private and that is completely up to your discretion. Warning in the channel lets everyone present know that you are aware of and are handling the situation at hand. Be aware though that singling out individuals in such a obvious way in the room can make the person defensive or can sometimes even escalate the incident. Sometimes a general, non-user specific warn in the room can be more effective. Taking the warning into private can often remove the disruption from the room immediately as you've engaged the disruptive user elsewhere. This allows the other users present to continue to enjoy the discussion at hand, but realize, the people in the room will not know that you are handling the situation privately and may continue to prod you to intervene. If the problem user is not cooperative or understanding in private msgs, please alert the CSAoD. Let the CSA handle it so that you can get back to hosting. What if the warning has been ineffective? Then we need to move on to other interventions. When To Kick And When To Ban/Kick Most users have chat applications that allow for auto-rejoin after a kick. Please be aware of that as you decide which intervention to take. A simple kick will have the disrupter back on channel almost immediately. A ban before kicking will insure that user from not returning until you remove that ban at the end of your shift. Note: Always unban all users banned during your shift before leaving at the end of your shift. Do not remove any other bans. Only remove those YOU placed. If the disrupter is not a chronic problem, this is a first time offense and the person is not responding to a warning, please kick (but do not ban) the person as a wake up call. This tells the disrupter that we are serious and that interventions will be taken if they continue. Often that is enough to stop the offending or disruptive language or behavior. If this is a chronic disrupter, or someone who just keeps coming back and continuing their disruptive behavior, feel free to ban then kick as soon as they begin getting out of line and warning has been ineffective. We believe in giving people a second chance, so please do not kick a user "on sight" unless this is a repeated problem, nothing else seems to be working or instructed by the CSA to "kick on sight". In the 4Kids rooms, if you have users that are sexually harassing or preying upon kids that you tell CSA ASAP. It is important to IMMEDIATELY report such situations. What Situations Require a Ban/Kick? Blatant violations of TC Standards. Please go to http://www.talkcity.com/csa/ and read the exact text that the users themselves see. Familiarize yourself with those standards. Luis has posted a more detailed listing of language standards in the backstage area. These include: Vulgar and/or offensive nicknames, vulgarity and profanity in the room be it dialog or actions, harassment of anyone in the room (this does include harassment of the host on duty), flooding the room with ACSII art or sounds after asking them to stop, scrolling, refusal to remain on topic in a topical conference thereby disrupting the conversation for everyone else present, discussion of illegal activities real or implied such as illicit drug use or the exchange of copyrighted software and materials. Never ban/kick for a difference in opinion. We are to be respectful and tolerant of everyone who comes into TalkCity. We facilitate discussions and dialog. We are not here to promote our own personal opinions. As long as ideas are put forth in a respectful manner, all have a right to voice their opinion. Never take an intervention against a user unless you personally see the offense take place. Do not ban or kick any user on the word of another user. If a user complains that they are being harassed in private msgs, please instruct them to ignore/silence the offender and to msg the CSAoD to report the incident. Do not msg the CSA for them. Yes, we are there to help each user, but they too must be responsible for their own experience while online. Remember that we are to treat everyone with respect and dignity. This includes all users, even disruptive ones and includes our coworkers. If you disagree with how a coworker handled a situation on duty, never air your opinion on that situation with our users...in public OR in private messages. Instead, go to the coworker and discuss the matter privately with them. If you are uncomfortable doing that or feel it requires more intervention, please come to Forum Leader. NEVER tell the users you agree with them that a host handled something poorly. When you have taken an intervention against a problem/disruptive user, do not ever discuss that action with the other users on channel. As a professional, it is expected and demanded that such things be discussed only with the party directly involved for their privacy and dignity. By all means use your coworkers for support or ask them for help if you find yourself in a situation you are having difficulty with. By all means come to the Forum Leader to discuss the incident. But do NOT discuss it with our users. Please also read: The Gag Tool Š1998-9 Talk City, Inc Last Updated: 14 May 1999