How To Use Mod Tools
HOW TO FIND THE MODERATOR TOOLS
Log into my.freecycle.org.
In the upper right corner there are four "buttons" or hyperlinks.
- Moderate - navigates to the mod tools for the groups you are moderator of.
- My Freecycle - navigates to the personal account management tools.
- My Groups - navigates to the group pages for groups you are a member of.
- Log out - logs out of My.Freecycle.org.
Click on Moderate.
This takes you to the Mod Home page:
Clicking the group name takes you to the Info and Options page.
INFO AND OPTIONS PAGE
This page provides a snapshot of facts about your group, including the URL, the group’s email addresses, and the unique TFN number for your group, which you will need if you report a problem. There are also statistics on number of members and posts, which moderators can use to track how their group is growing.
The most important item for a moderator is below the information box. Here is your prompt that there are members and posts pending. That means you need to take action on these items.
MODERATOR TOOLS
Mod Tools are listed on the left side of the Info and Options page are described fully in the following sections.
Mod Home - Takes you to a list of the group(s) you moderate
MyF Home – Takes you out of Moderator Tools and to the Freecycle.org group you have selected as your "home" group
Preferences – This is where you set your preferences to receive notifications on pending members and pending posts. You can also set your preferences on how many posts you would like to see at a time.
Note: If you have more than one moderator in your group, each moderator has to set these preferences individually.
GROUP OPTIONS
Click on Group Options in Mod Tools. This is where you will start to make Moderator decisions that will affect the entire group.
Options:
- Does this group have to approve all members? Default setting is No.
- Note: It is not recommended to restrict membership. Freecycle offers moderators Hot Words management (more information here) so that moderating individual members is not needed. Some moderators may still choose to approve members, though members must be removed from moderation in a timely manner.
- If you still feel you must restrict membership, you should also set up an auto-send email requesting zip/postal code or local cross streets as membership criteria. When the pending member replies, you will either approve/disapprove the membership. If you disapprove, you should reply to them with an explanation why you took that action. For information on how to approve new members, please click here.
- Are all new members automatically moderated? Default setting is No.
- Moderating new members can help you by being able to look and approve/edit/reject each new member's first post. As they post in compliance with your group rules and guidelines, you can immediately decide if you want to release the member from moderation. Note: Full moderation of members is not allowed per Freecycle guidelines. This guideline is found here. If you choose to moderate new members, you must be prepared to change manually the moderated status for each new member. For information about how to unmoderate a member, please click here.
- Default email delivery option for new Members. Choose one of the three options from the drop-down menu: No emails, Individual emails, or Digest. Default setting is Digest.
- "No emails" is just that. A member will need to check the site manually to read posts. "All emails" means a member will get a copy of every post made to the group. The emails will have links back to the site so they can respond to the post. The member MUST be logged in to link to the post. "Digest" is a compilation of 25 posts per email. For every 25 messages posted in a day, one email will be sent. For very busy groups, a member may receive 2 or 3 digest emails per day. Each post on the list has a link back to the original post. Again, the member must be logged in to click through. After you have made changes, click SAVE THESE OPTIONS.
- To change email settings for an individual member, use the drop-down menu in member search results.
MANAGE ZIP CODES
Click on Manage Zip Codes in Mod tools.
The zip code list is for the search feature so that members using zip codes to find their local group can find you. It is also a good idea to list the cities you cover in your description -- that way if they search by city, they will find your group.
Simply type in the zip/postal codes for your service area. With metro groups the city is usually split between many groups, like East XYZ Freecycle, Southwest XYZ Freecycle. There may also be XYZ County Freecycle which would encompass all zip/postal codes in the county or geographic division.
We never know where people will be vacationing, visiting family cross country or living part time. For these reasons, we ask that you please do not use Postal Codes to keep people out of the group. This feature is to help members to find find local groups.
CHANGE TIMEZONE
Click on Change Timezone in Mod tools.
Select the correct time zone from the drop-down menu.
EDIT DESCRIPTION
Click on “Edit Description” in Mod tools. You will see a big entry box where your description goes. This is the description that shows up under “Group Info” on your group’s MyFreecycle homepage.
There is a pre-set description, but you can change it somewhat. All the legal stuff needs to be there, but you can personalize some of the group description.
At the bottom of the page is a list of codes and the meaning for those codes, which can be inserted into your HTML code box. When you use these codes in your description they will be replaced with computer generated/updated information specific to your group.
Example: If you want the current membership count to be shown, you add %%nummembers in the description and the latest figures will be updated to the screen.
MESSAGE MAKER PREFS
You will not normally need to change anything in this area. Feel free to ignore this area. Whether a post has 50 or 70 characters really doesn't matter and feel free to have larger options chosen to be more flexible. Message Maker will be preset and phased out on a future Mod Tools redesign.
--- HOTWORD MANAGEMENT ---
Click on Hotword Management in Mod tools.
Hotwords trigger moderation of a post even if the member is unmoderated. Commonly used hotwords include buy, sell, curb alert, exchange, medicine, trade, lend, loan, pay. Add new hotwords in the box at the bottom right side of the page.
A post that contains a hotword will trigger moderation of that post, but it will not reset the user to moderated. The system itself has some hotwords built in. For example, any post with a weblink will trigger moderation.
The wildcard characters (* and ?) help you match different forms of a word. Use of wildcards is explained at the bottom of the hotwords page. More details are available here.
MEMBERS
Clicking the Members link in Mod tools opens the Member Information page with statistics on the membership, including numbers of members in each category and percentage of members who are moderated.
SEARCH MEMBERS
This is the section of Moderator Tools that you use to find a specific member’s membership record. Often you will receive email from members asking questions about their membership, asking to change their email delivery options, or sometimes to remove them from the group. Here's where you would start.
From the Member Information page, copy and paste the member's email address or username in the search box and the system will bring up the membership record for that person. You can broaden or narrow your search using the Membership Levels checkboxes.
You have the option of displaying a list of members sorted (ascending or descending) by User name, Email address, Invitation/Join date, and Membership level.
MEMBERSHIP ACTIONS
The member search results bring up the membership record with an ACTIONS drop-down box. Actions you can take include moderate/unmoderate member for posting, setting email preferences, removing member from the group, promoting/demoting to moderator, and sending an email or a file. See below for more detail.
HOW TO CHANGE A MEMBER’S EMAIL PREFERENCE
Use the drop-down menu to set a member’s email preference to “All mails,” “Digest” or “None” and press GO. Members can also change their own email preferences on their MyFreecycle homepage. Click here for more information.
HOW TO CHANGE A MEMBER’S MODERATED STATUS
Use the drop-down menu to select “Moderate member for posting” or “Unmoderate member for posting” and press GO.
Other ways to moderate/unmoderate members:
- When you approve a pending post choose the option “Approve post and unmoderate member.”
- Change your group settings to moderate/unmoderate all new members.
- Use the “Unmoderate Entire Group” button on the Member Information page. Careful – this can’t be reversed.
- Use the “Enable emergency full moderation” button on the Info and Options page to temporarily moderate the entire group. Please note: Full moderation of all members on an ongoing basis is not allowed per Freecycle guidelines.
If you are searching for posts by a specific member, you need to do that under “Posts” rather than under “Members.”
APPROVING MEMBERSHIP
If new members are automatically approved to your group you will not have go through the steps for approving any members. For information on how to set your group’s options, please click here.
If any members are waiting for approval, you will see a notification on the Info and Options page.
Click “Pending” to see a list of pending members.
ACTIONS. Select one of the following actions on the drop-down menu on the right side: Approve member, Reject member, Send file. Click GO to finish. If more than one pending member appears on the list, you can approve them all at once by clicking “Approve all pending Members.”
Moderator actions such as approving/rejecting members show up on the Group Activity page.
INVITING MEMBERS
You can invite members to join your group. However, they must either sign up with Freecycle.org or already be signed up in order to join The invitation will go to either Freecycle users or non-Freecycle users. Click on the “Invite Members” link on the left side of the Member Information page. Please enter user IDs or email addresses, one per line, in the box below and press “Prepare invitations.” These user IDs and email addresses will be checked and you will be able to confirm them on the next page.
Once you have prepared the invitations and clicked on the action button, you will see a new screen which confirms your invitations and when you click the action button, the invitations will be actually sent.
MyFreecycle users will be sent an email inviting them to join the Group, and the invitation will be shown on their “My Groups” page.
Prospective members who haven’t yet joined a Freecycle group will be sent a generic email inviting them to create a Freecycle.org account and join the Group.
MANAGING OPEN INVITATIONS
Click on “Open invitations” on the left side of the Member Information page to see the status of invitations you have generated. You have the option of deleting and/or resending invitations older than [ ] days. Deletions happen before resends, so be careful when putting in the numbers. If in doubt, delete first and then resend.
TYPES OF MEMBERS
On the left side of the Member Information page are links that allow you to open lists of members by category.
“All Types” includes Moderators and Lead Moderators as well as regular Members. Clicking on “Members” opens a list that excludes Moderators and Lead Moderators.
Clicking on “Moderators” or “Lead Moderators” opens a list of members who fall under those categories. Membership actions are the same as those described under Members. Lead Moderator is the highest level you can reach on Freecycle.org groups. With Freecycle there are no group owners as there are in Yahoo Groups.
Moderators are the initial contact for each group when there is communication between the various levels of leadership in the organization. Locally, you can discuss and decide if the Lead Moderator will take on certain responsibilities in addition to moderating. This is generally based on the size of your group and the number of co-mods on the group.
POSTS
Clicking on “Posts” on Mod Tools in the Info and Options page opens the Posting History page.
