Moderation Matters

Another in our occasional Blip Central posts.
 
Our team of moderation volunteers has been together for more than a year.  The people involved have now gained lots of experience around the issues that get reported.  This helps them to work together in a consistent way, dealing with the rare occasions where an entry gets reported and doesn’t meet our contribution rules.
 
We moderate with a light touch. We don’t actively monitor every entry that is added to the site each day.  That would be a mammoth task, and beyond our resources when you consider that everyone is a volunteer behind the scenes. We’re also mindful of what the membership has told us in the past, when we consulted you on various matters about the site.  This has helped guide and develop our moderation policies to what it is today.  For example, over three quarters of respondents felt that the approach we had used to moderation since taking over was about right. They went further and around a half said that there should be a certain amount of leeway around occasional and acknowledged ‘violations’ of the ‘rules’.  With that background to the moderators’ tasks, we wanted to just touch on some types of entries that still give rise to reports and ask for your consideration before posting an entry that may break the rules.
 
Images of other images

We’ve raised this under the heading of copyright in the past. It’s when an image is posted of a television, cinema or computer screen, magazine and book covers, paintings, etc.  Our moderators will suspend entries of this type when they are reported.  It isn’t to say you won’t see such images on Blipfoto, undoubtedly you will, but that is only because no one has reported the entry, not because it isn’t against the rules.
 
We don’t want to get into a long-winded discussion about ‘Fair Use’ or where a use of copyrighted material may be permitted.  That isn’t the point.  Our rule is quite specific, only post content where you own the copyright.  You don’t own the copyright if you take a screen shot or photograph a painting (unless you painted it).  Again, we have qualified what we mean.  In our acceptable use policy, we say ‘If photographs include these elements but they are not the main focus (for example a commuter holding a newspaper or a photo of the view from your armchair including your feet, a cup of tea and the TV) then they are less likely to breach copyright.
 
But we go on to ask that you ‘please err on the side of caution and don’t post images or text unless you’re sure they are on the right side of copyright law!’
 
Posting against the Day

This is what makes Blipfoto so special.  Members go to considerable effort to maintain continuity of their journals by never missing a day; the discipline of finding an image from the day should never be underestimated. Rather we celebrate this achievement.  It might mean the image does not come up to your usual standard, but to maintain your record is more important. If you can’t find a photo and so substitute an image from another day, you are really only cheating yourself.
 
Although we need to have rules and the facility exists for members to report images for not being posted on the day, we trust this will only be done when an entry or a journal is clearly in breach of the spirit of the site. We recognise that on a particular day, a contributor may want to commemorate a special something or someone by posting an image taken at another time.  We ask that you acknowledge in your commentary if this is the case, so that others can understand.  As always, be excellent to one another.
 
Frequent and/or regular posting of images not taken on the day is not acceptable, even if acknowledged in the journal. Such entries are liable to reports for moderation and liable to be suspended.
 
Remember that Blipfoto started as one person’s journal, based on the idea of posting an image taken on the day.  We believe it is that simple concept that helps make Blipfoto so special.
 
Advertising
 
Blipfoto is for personal use only and it must not be used for commercial purposes, or to advertise.  The majority of the reports we get to our moderators are new journals where they are blatantly using our site to create content for advertising a business.  Thankfully, you are quick to report such sites and they are usually suspended within a few minutes, and their journal blocked.  Regrettably, it’s not possible to stop these users from starting another journal so your help in identifying these accounts and reporting them is really appreciated.
 
We know there are people on our site who run their own businesses, including professional photographers and other content creators.  Further information what is and isn’t permitted is in our acceptable use policy.  While we are comfortable with them referring to their work and providing a link to their website in their profile, to let other members know their background, regular mention of products and/or links in posts would be considered advertising.
 
Being Excellent
 
Perhaps the most difficult area of moderation, because of its subjective nature.  We want everyone to be excellent to each other, but we recognise that sometimes one person’s opinion about a particular subject can be the opposite of someone else’s.  We often receive reports when a member makes derogatory comments about a famous person (e.g., celebrity sport star, politician, etc), or a conflict situation around the world.
 
Our content standards, within our acceptable use policy, cover the dos and don’ts.  We’d ask you to think carefully before you jump on a soap box and start defaming someone, because you’re angry at something.  We appreciate that these are your journals, and you will want them to reflect your life and how you feel, but we are a broad church and there is a way of putting things without it becoming offensive, hateful or inflammatory. As we say in the rules ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it!’
 
Equally, if you come across an entry you don’t agree with, perhaps the best response is to ‘be excellent’, accept you disagree and move on.
 
Please remember that the moderators are also members and users of the site.  They don’t enjoy suspending an entry and equally we appreciate that it isn’t something that members like to happen to them.  You will only know because you won’t be able to find an entry for a particular day, but if you try to post a new entry, the system won’t let you.
 
If this has happened, please contact the helpdesk. We will explain why and explain the next steps.  Please remember to ‘be excellent’ in your communications. We are there to help and things can soon be sorted out.

Finally and most importantly, thank you for making Blipfoto the friendliest part of the internet.