Content Advisor role on IndiaMike.com

Hi all,

I want to announce a new position we have created on IndiaMike.com a little while ago, and that's the role of a Content Advisor. We have brought on a few people on in this role, and hope to add a few more soon. I will be publishing the list of Content Advisors and the forums they moderate shortly, but first I'd like to clear up the duties of the role a little bit. I've also distinguished between a Moderator and a Content Advisor, in case there is some confusion.

Definition of Roles

Content Advisor
A Content Advisor on IndiaMike.com is a user who has been selected to lead a defined list of forums on the site. The role of a Content Advisor is primarily to maintain the integrity of the information within their assigned forums.

The duties include:

• Moving threads to their appropriate forums to maintain the relevance of the content within forums
• Merging threads within forums to prevent redundant threads and conversations
• Splitting threads where appropriate, so off-topic conversations can be maintained in their own relevant threads
• Closing threads when the conversation has come to a realistic end, e.g. threads like “Please comment on my Dec 2004 Itinerary”
• Answering questions and keeping conversations flowing in the assigned forums, or bumping a thread to bring it to the attention of other members
• Deleting posts and threads that are either duplicates or blatant violations of the site rules. Blatant violations include spamming attempts, posting of pornography, and flames that involve racist or excessively vulgar language
• Alerting the Moderators to inappropriate posts and/or members who break the site rules

Moderator
A moderator on IndiaMike.com is a user who has been selected to enforce the Terms of Use of the site. The role of a moderator is primarily to maintain decorum among the members by disciplining users who break the rules, and keep the site clean from spammers.

The duties include:

• Deleting posts and threads that violate the terms of use of the site
• Mediating arguments between members
• Closing threads that are getting too contentious, or moving the thread to either the Chai Chat or Masala Chai Chat forums
• Answering general questions about site functionality and terms of use
• Banning members who blatantly violate the terms of use of the site

Hi all,

As some of you may have noticed, the names of the content advisors have been added to the homepage. I'm also posting a more detailed version of the guidelines for the team, as I've received some questions about what sort of editing of posts and content is typically allowed on the site by the mods and the CAs.

From my perspective, the CAs will mostly be:

1. Moving threads to their appropriate forums to maintain the relevance of the content within forums
2. Merging threads within forums to prevent redundant threads and conversations, or merging posts to an existing thread, as applicable.
3. Merging posts that are made within the span of a few minutes of each other.
4. Merging posts where a user posts several replies to posts in back-to-back posts, i.e. where a multi-quote reply would suffice.
5. Splitting threads where appropriate, so off-topic conversations can be maintained in their own relevant threads.
6. Closing threads when the conversation has come to a realistic end, e.g. threads like “Please comment on my Dec 2004 Itinerary”.
7. Answering questions and keeping conversations flowing in the assigned forums, or bumping a thread to bring it to the attention of other members.
8. Deleting posts if the user has self deleted the post, or is it's a duplicate. NOTE: Please be careful to not delete the first post of a thread, as this will delete the entire thread.
9. Reporting posts and threads that violate the site rules. Violations include:
   • Early post recommendations and condemnations.
   • Uninvited “pick-ups” or propositioning of other members.
   • Classified ads.
   • Use of SMS language.
10. Editing thread titles to correct:
    • Urgency that is conveyed that is not appropriate.
    • Spelling mistakes.
11. Editing posts to remove distracting fonts and colors.
12. Sticking threads in forums that are helpful to fellow IndiaMikers.
13. Bumping threads that require attention from fellow IndiaMikers.