FamilySearch Wiki:Moderator

Policies of FamilySearch Wiki

Guiding Principles FamilySearch Wiki Policies Copyright, Copyleft, and Intellectual Property Privacy Policy Image approval

Tools for Moderators

The moderator user box added to your user page will communicate to other wiki users that you are the moderator for the content. Add the box by typing {{User Moderator{{{2}}}{{{3}}}{{{4}}}{{{5}}}{{{6}}}{{{7}}}{{{8}}}{{{9}}}{{{10}}}{{{11}}}...}} to your user page. You might want to add the name of the localities and/or subjects you are moderating to your user page along with the user box.

Moderation

Moderators are volunteer administrators of the FamilySearch Wiki who help monitor wiki content within a subject area and guide others as they contribute. If you are interested in being a moderator for a specific locality or research subject, Please contact the Support Team.

 

Responsibilities

The Moderator Job Description includes the following items:

• Be familiar with the Guiding Principles and Policies of the Wiki.
• Be familiar with the content in the subject area you moderate.
• Add information and links to the pages you moderate.
• Share best practices with others as they contribute.
• Know how to contact other users through their user discussion pages and the E-mail this user feature. 
• Be familiar with how to contact administrators when needed.
• Add this page to your Watchlist to be notified of any changes to the Moderator role.
• Subscribe to the Contributors' Corner forum so you can be aware of changes in policies, governance, stylistic issues, and templates. 

Become a Moderator

If you are interested in being a moderator for a specific locality, Please contact the Support Team. Send the following information in to apply to be a moderator:

• Name:
• Username (Wiki login):
• Have you created your User page?
• What is your experience in editing in the Wiki?
  
• Do you use the FamilySearch Forums?
• What is your experience in genealogy research in the area you would like to moderate?
  
• Have you read through the following pages regarding moderator duties on the Wiki, and do you understand the moderator responsibilities?

• FamilySearch Wiki:Moderator (this page)
• The Purpose of Site Moderation
• FamilySearch Wiki:Moderator/Getting Started
  

• Are you familiar with the FamilySearch Wiki Manual of Style?
  
• What questions do you have about Moderator duties? You can ask on the forum!
  
• Have you ever been involved in genealogy-related projects with a group of people before?
  
  

Who are the Moderators?

Our current moderators include:

Countries Austria is SugdenHG British Columbia, Canada is User:MDianeRogers China is Twlisa and Chincm Czech Republic is Pysnaks France is SugdenHG Germany is Baerbel Panama is User:Anelson Italy is Merrimanrl Luxembourg is dsammy Norway is Rcsteuart and/or SteuartRC Poland is Pysnaks and Sonja Singapore is Chincm Switzerland is Sonja Taiwan is Chincm Wales is Darris

United States Alabama is 1tanya Alaska is Arizona is Jamestanner Arkansas is Wjhonson California is Moderator Marty39 resigned, Dec 2010 Colorado is Connecticut is dsammy Delaware is District of Columbia is Florida is Georgia is Hawaii is Johnvilburn Idaho is Jbparker Illinois is Lembley Indiana is Iowa is Familyjournals Kansas is SAErickson (need wiki username) Kentucky is Linnielou Louisiana is Aberksan Maine is jenson1 Maryland is Massachusetts is dsammy Michigan is Minnesota is Mississippi is Missouri is 86woo Montana is Nebraska is  Nevada is New Hampshire is Jabhammons New Jersey is New Mexico is New York is dsammy North Carolina is North Dakota is Ohio is Familyjournals Oklahoma is Oregon is dsammy Pennsylvania is familyhart Rhode Island is dsammy South Carolina is South Dakota is Tennessee is Evancol Texas are OldNews and Daveccrane Utah is Jamestanner Vermont is cathiwd Virginia is Gregorybean Washington is West Virginia is Wisconsin is Alan_wambold Wyoming is Ckwahlquist

Focused Research Germans from Russia is Diltsgd Indians of North America is Jbparker LDS Research is cbb Tracing Immigrant Origins is Diltsgd United States Military Records is Jim1Trek

How-to Articles

All moderators in the Wiki are invited to help write the following articles. Each article is specifically related to being a moderator. Sharing your experiences in the Discussion tab would be a great place to start. The thoughts and ideas you add to the Discussion tab will assist anyone who wishes to write the article. The articles listed below were started as stub articles. Your participation in this effort will help all moderators.

Moderating the Community

• The purpose of site moderation explains how moderation helps the community of volunteers who are using and contributing to FamilySearch Wiki.
• How can a moderator expand and grow the community?
• The best practices for communicating with domain community
• Ideas for recruiting writers to fill in content holes
• Policies and procedures for moderating non-English language Wiki pages
• How to recognize moderator candidates and, or nominate someone to be a moderator?
• What is the escalation path when issues arise?
• What is the best way to resolve content-centered community conflict?

Moderating Content

• To what extent should facts in articles be verified?
• To what extent should grammar, style, and spelling be reviewed by a moderator?
• Reverting Content to Previous Version When should content be reverted back to a prior version? What is proper etiquette when it is necessary to revert content to a prior version? (use "Undo" from the History tab)
• When should a page in the Wiki be protected from additional edits? How is this done? (this has to do with the "three-revert" rule)
• Archiving Pages and Restoring Archived Pages What is the process for archiving pages? When should pages be restored from the Archive?
• Moderating the deletion of pages How does the moderator discover that pages have been incorrectly deleted? "Watch" all the pages in your area of expertise. When you are watching the pages, you will automatically be notified when a page is deleted.
• What should be done when a page needs to be deleted?
• How to Patrol a Wiki Article

Things you can do

The following items are things that a moderator can do to help improve the content in their area of expertise and also grow the community of volunteers authors and editors:

• Review and edit content as needed
• Showcase content from your area of expertise
• Upload images
• Encourage the creation of new pages
• Encourage users to clarify ambiguous page titles
• Discuss, approve, interpret, and clarify policies
• Get good ideas from other moderators and areas of the wiki and lead contributors in your area to implement them
• Communicate important issues to other contributors in your subject area
• Organize and lead wikiprojects
• Identify and invite knowledgeable people to help with the wiki

See also

• FamilySearch Wiki:Moderator/Getting Started