Mods and Moderation Policy

TheMix

Who are we?

This is the account the staff team use to post about any official The Mix business. If you need to send us a private message, use this account. When we post or send you a PM, the person who physically wrote it will sign it off, but keep in mind we share information between us and collaborate on everything we write.

You'll also see us posting using the following accounts:

@Mike

@Aife

@Emma
@Leon

You'll also see a few other moderators who pop in regularly:  

Super Moderators
@Riley
@Stephanie
@Jordan
@Ed_

Boards Moderators
@Jade09
@AislingDM
@Laura_tigger82

Comment Moderators
@Maisy

We can't PM from our personal accounts, so if you have any questions about how to use the boards, feel free to drop @The Mix a message, or even better, post in our Help Desk.

What do we do?

Reporting posts

In the bottom left corner of every post, there is a 'flag' button that anyone can click to make moderators aware of a concerning post. We'd rather hear about something that might not be a problem than not be told about something that turns out to be serious. So if in doubt, report it.

Moving posts

If a post is somewhere it doesn’t belong, we’ll move it. It's worth reading through the guidelines specific to each forum before posting in it. This will give you an insight into what fits there and how certain rules may be interpreted for that space.

Closing threads

Closing a thread prevents people responding to it. There are a few reasons we might do this:

1) The poster might be posting on something that hasn't been active in months or years. Posting on a 'dead' discussion can bring back feelings and memories that the OP would rather leave behind them. The general rule is: if a thread has been inactive for over a couple of months, it's best left in its grave.

2) The post might simply no longer be relevant. For example, if the OP was asking how to apply for uni 3 years ago, they won't still need that advice.

3) The post has descended into arguments and is no longer on-topic. In this case, a moderator will usually warn those involved before the thread is closed so it's there's an opportunity for everyone to get the discussion back on track.

Editing posts

Wherever possible, we edit problematic posts to bring them within guidelines. When we do, the moderator will leave a marker to show that something has been removed or changed e.g. [post edited by moderator]. We’ll also PM the poster to explain what we’ve done and why.

You'll most often see this when explicit or triggering language is used, where a moderator will go in and remove or substitute the problematic words or phrases.

Deleting posts

If a post breaks the guidelines and can’t be salvaged with an edit, we’ll delete it. Like with edits, we’ll always PM the OP to let them know if we delete their post. We may also tell those who have responded, depending on the thread.

Deleting a chain of posts

If we delete a post, we may also delete following posts. Even if follow-up posts are within guidelines, we may sometimes remove them if they don't make sense without the original post.

Breaks

If we notice a persistent problem with how someone is using the community, we'll raise our concerns with them privately. If that problem continues, we may put that person on a temporary break with conditions attached to their return.

When a user returns, moderators maintain a close watch on their behaviour and any return to previous problems will result in another (potentially permanent) ban. This is entirely at the discretion of the moderators.

We believe it’s important to work with challenging members to overcome barriers they’re facing on the community. For this reason, we dedicate a fair amount of time to private communication and tend not to insta-ban anyone.

Reading private messages

We will only do this if we are seriously concerned for your wellbeing and have reason to believe there is critical information in your private messages. Please know that your privacy is paramount to us and it takes exceptional circumstances for us to do this.

You can also ask us to check your PMs if someone is sending you inappropriate or worrying messages and you want us to take a look. Alternatively, you can send us screenshots.

Issues outside of The Mix

Moderators don't follow any members of The Mix community in other places (e.g. social media), which means we don't know what goes on there unless someone tells us. If an issue related to the community is being talked about elsewhere, please let us know. Provided we have evidence and the issue is related to The Mix, we can do something about it.

Keep in mind that, while there are consequences for breaking our guidelines away from The Mix (e.g. breaking someone's confidentiality or anonymity), we have no control over the posts themselves on other platforms. 

Other times you’ll see us

Sometimes we'll post in a thread to help focus the discussion, or to offer support and links to additional resources that may be able to help with issues being discussed. We'll also use the boards to let you know about other community activities such as upcoming chat sessions, surveys or competitions. 

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Feel free to comment below with any questions or suggestions.