How do you explain pre-moderation to your users?

[bakedjake]

I've been asked to offer some opinions on a site in which they have a pre-moderated discussion forum. While this particular site caters mostly to academics (and consequently the discussion is usually civil), I find the interface horrifying. It was confusing to me when I first used it, and I've used a lot of discussion forum software over the years. This particular site is pre-moderated, but makes no mention of it, so it appears as if posts magically disappear.

Do any of you use premoderation? I know we use it here on a few forums, but I wanted to see how other people handle the very difficult task of explaining the interface and need of pre-moderation to users.

I'm not looking for why you pre-moderate, I'm looking for how you communicate it to your users.

[rogerd]

Jake, how about, "At SnootyForum, we take great pride in the quality of our discussion. Courtesy and relevance are paramount to maintaining this quality. Hence, all new topics (or new posts) are reviewed by a moderator prior to appearing in the public forum. Be assured that we never edit or remove posts because of the viewpoints they express; such actions are only taken to avoid posts that are off-topic, lacking in courtesy, or otherwise violate the SnootyForum's Terms of Service." ;)

This could appear in the TOS as well as close to the New Message text box. The FAQ might also contain an answer to, "Why can't I see my post?" The post confirmation screen could display the explanation, too.

[rogerd]

An additional thought, Jake - the more obvious you make the pre-mod status, the fewer problems you will have. If a new member puts up a post and doesn't see it (and isn't aware of pre-mod), he may assume that a malfunction occurred and post it again, and again. He may send correspondence to mods or admins, reporting the fact that he created a post which never appeared (requiring return correspondence). Or, he might even leave in disgust, assuming that the board is broken or that his post has somehow been immediately rejected. Include a likely time frame for posts appearing, e.g., "Typically, posts are reviewed within 12 hours of initial submission" to prevent other pointless correspondence. Also, if posts are rejected with no notice, warn members of that, too.

[TheDoctor]

I run an open forum, which I call a "notice board", where anyone may post (relevant) announcements, requests for assistance, etc. It's premoderated for those who haven't registered and for regsitered users who have previously transgressed. It also checks for "naighty words", to prevent flames and the like. all this is explained on the Help page.

When someone posts, they see the following text immediately above the area where they type in their message:

Anyone may post a message onto the notice board. Messages posted by registered users will normally appear straightaway on the board. Other messages will have to be approved by the moderator first. For more information about this, please see the Help page.

I've not yet had any complaints. I've had one or two cases where a message has been posted twice, but these have been rare. I've never had a complaint about posts not appearing immediately. Maybe because the announcement is clear or maybe (it occurs to me) because people give up in despair. I like to think it's the former.

[rogerd]

I'm sure it's the clarity of the notice, Doc. You can't make things too obvious or too clear - some percentage of people seem to find it difficult to process information even when it's staring them in the face.

[TheDoctor]

>> You can't make things too obvious or too clear

Tell me about it! I also teach teenagers, which is an excellent training for writing instructions for users of a web site ;)

But any and all help in making things clearer is always appreciated.