Reactive moderation standards
Before contemplating a move to reactive moderation, the person who is editorially responsible for the site should become familiar with its history, be satisfied that it is editorially appropriate, and be committed to putting the appropriate hosting and escalation arrangements in place. Site owners should recognise that users may not alert moderators to every breach of the House rules. While hosts are not expected to read every message, they should monitor the overall tone of conversations and be across the issues discussed on the site.
The community's standards, the quality of contributions and the method of moderation should be kept under active review and we may, if necessary, revert to postmoderation or even premoderation at short notice.
How to handle Alerts
Reactive moderation relies on alerts from members of the public and moderators should treat each one with care and consideration. If in doubt, moderators should refer an alert to the host for advice and keep Executive Producer, Communities, New Media informed. Each alert should get a clear response in a reasonable time from the moderator. A record should be retained of the complaint, the message complained about, the decision reached and the reason given for the decision. The procedures in each area should be checked with Executive Producer, Communities, New Media.
Further advice on reactive moderation is available from Editorial Policy.
If adequate funding is not available for the appropriate levels of moderation and hosting, it may be necessary to consider closing a site.