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The vast majority of time in my room - everything is fine and no action is required. However, occasionally there's a bad apple that disrupts my room in one way or another.

What can I do about this?

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  • 13
    Great initiative. I think it's important to note that kicks are not a suspension, the initial kick is very short and its goal is to encourage the user to cool off. Speaking to the kicked user in a separate chat (and in private) is something I've found to be very helpful. In general, resolving conflicts in 1 on 1 settings works a lot better. It's always better to talk to people then take "disciplinary" action if possible - a one on one chat is very effective". Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 14:26
  • Given the broadness of the answers, should "my own" be removed from the title?
    – Bergi
    Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 15:25
  • 1
    @Bergi - I think it fits, because "my own" basically implies room ownership. Asking how to moderate a chatroom in general may be a slightly different subject because it would include users who were not owners, or perhaps even perspectives from non regulars.
    – Travis J
    Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 17:41
  • 1
    @TravisJ I personally think your answer is better than mine so feel free to edit the Q into shape if you think it needs it :) Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 17:43
  • @JonClements - Brevity is a skill, and you definitely did a good job quickly framing the issue in the question in my opinion. I think Benjamin was right here, this was a good idea that you had.
    – Travis J
    Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 17:44
  • 1
    @TravisJ: Right, that's what I thought, yet the top-voted answer distinguishes between room owners and others. I'm OK with either…
    – Bergi
    Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 18:31
  • @Bergi I'm sure we can pick bits from each to get something even better :) Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 18:35
  • @JonClements: Maybe one answer for room owners (Travis' very detailed one) and one answer for normal participants?
    – Bergi
    Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 18:44
  • @Bergi fantastic idea... I'll see if I have a moment later to work on a non-RO one (unless anyone else wants to have a go - use my answer as a base maybe?) Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 18:46

2 Answers 2

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So what can I do about the bad apples?

There's a general (although not strict - and depending on severity) scale of things that can be done.

  • Inform the user - as politely as possible (but in no uncertain terms) - their message/behaviour is not acceptable - hopefully this will be enough and all can continue amicably.
  • If the user is cross-posting blatant spam/offensive messages to multiple rooms (that you notice) - flag a message by that user as spam/offensive.

If you ARE an owner of that room:

  • Move any unsuitable messages to the bin if not wanted in the transcript
  • If the user persists or has crossed a certain limit (as per your room rules/culture) then kick the user (this gives them a little cool off period to contemplate) - this will remove the user from your room and suspend from chat for 1 minute (1st kick), 5 minutes (2nd kick) and 30mins (third kick); note that three kicks in 24 hours will raise a moderator flag to prevent abuse of the feature/alert mods of a potentially deeper issue.
  • If they still haven't taken this on board and keep returning as a bad apple - then flag one of their posts for a moderator who will be able to look into the bigger picture and take appropriate action.

If you're NOT an owner of that room:

  • Allow a few moments for a room owner to take action - they're the people that shape a room's policy and culture - so give them a moment to decide what action they wish to take (if any - what you might be uncomfortable with could well be "fine" for that room).
  • If nothing happens after a reasonable time and you still see spam/offensive messages - then raise a spam/offensive flag - this allows 10k+ users across the chat network to see potential issues.
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  • If they return after three kicks, why not just keep kicking? Mods have already been alerted, haven't they? Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 14:30
  • 2
    @JanDvorak if you find you keep having to kick and kick and kick - there's probably an underlying problem and that user may need a larger timeout than kicking provides. Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 14:33
  • so, keep kicking and flagging? I feel like these mod flags would be redundant. Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 14:35
  • 3
    In the Android room (and others) we encourage users not to flag if possible. Instead, we ask them to mention a potential issue to one of the room owners in case we aren't aware and allow us to handle it. Usually this involves us removing a potentially offensive post and mentioning something to the user. This seems to work well for us. I would suggest a bullet in between your last two as an option
    – codeMagic
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 14:35
  • @codeMagic that's the ideal way for it to happen... but at the same time, if not a lot is happening except abuse and no RO's in sight/available... leaving those messages around in the mean time for any new visitors does make a room look err... not good Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 14:48
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    @codeMagic all rooms are of course entitled to handy whatever they want how they want... this is more a skeleton of: "If you haven't thought about it - this is how the system works, and ways you can use it to the best effect" Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 14:49
  • Agreed! It was implied if a RO is available or even asking them in a private chat (depending on the room and the particular owner). For example, one of our regulars was flagged by another regular and the flagged user got a 30 minute time out. Fortunately, the flagger wasn't scared to announce himself and I made this same suggestion to him to keep this from happening again. We discussed it and everyone simmered down. Just a suggestion to avoid unnecessary flags when possible.
    – codeMagic
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 14:52
  • Ok, as I said, just a suggestion because I know that's how we want to approach things initially in the Android room and I'm pretty sure some others are the same way
    – codeMagic
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 14:53
  • 4
    If regulars are in danger of getting flagged by others, perhaps they should reread the chat FAQ: chat.stackoverflow.com/faq#about - "Do have fun, but please keep it professional and always be respectful of your fellow community members." and "Do I have to be nice?" - "Yes. We expect community members to treat each other with respect … even when they don't deserve it." - And let's remember we're all guests of Stack Exchange.
    – Aaron Hall Mod
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 16:50
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Moderation inside of chat is very important to keeping the room "livable". This can kind of go both ways though, as chat rooms are very open to interpretation. So long as nothing too egregious is taking place, and the room is active and somewhat related to the exchange, the room will remain.

If the goal is to have an anything goes room then moderation is probably not of much concern. However, if the goal is to have a nice on topic room then there are some simple steps that can be taken to sort of cultivate the culture there.

Keep in mind that this is all still up to the room's discretion, and that depending on that room enforcement or formality will vary greatly.

These steps are basically in order of importance.

  • Have an easily accessible set of rules
    This is very important. Having a set of rules for the room allows users (new or not) to be aware of what is expected inside of the chat room. It also provides some documentation to point to when actual action needs to be taken be it a friendly reminder or something more elevated. For example, I maintain this site: csharpchat.com and am one of the room "owners" of the c# room (feel free to stop by).

  • Assume good faith
    The chat feature is not widely understood by new users, especially users who are also new to Stack Overflow itself. They tend to wander in and expect that it is just some sort of feed or place to post and then move on. This is because they are often unfamiliar with how immediate the system here works. Often their first interactions seem brash or callous and it is important to at least give them a chance to remedy their behavior before taking action against them. However, as each room is different, your mileage may very here. For example, the JavaScript room gets so much traffic that they often do not have enough time to allow a constant stream of brash or callous users to get accustomed to the room.

  • Give direct warnings
    Once the rules are expected to be read and are available, and good faith has been exhausted, then the user needs to be made aware of the situation. A direct message to them is usually all that is required requesting that they stop whatever undesirable behavior their are doing - even if it is once depending on the type of behavior. For example
    @user - Do not direct profanity at other users.
    @user - Avoid posting NSFW content.
    @user - You will be removed from the room if you continue your behavior.

  • Migrate content
    "binning" content is common in chat rooms. It has no negative consequence towards the user who had their content binned. This is a feature only available to room owners, and can be used by clicking the popout menu under room↓ and then selecting "move messages".
    enter image description here
    At which point another popout appears with a "move messages" button.
    enter image description here
    Hovering any message will show a large plus as the cursor which indicates that this message will be added to the migration list. Selecting a message (you can hold down ctrl and click to select multiple messages at once) will highlight it blue and once all of the messages are selected you may choose "move messages". This will allow you search for a room to migrate the content to (please do not send it to other legitimate rooms). Select the trash can or bin and the undesirable messages will be removed and you will automatically send a message to the room indicating the migration.
    enter image description here
    The moved messages won't be found in the transcript either.

  • Kick-mute the user
    If the rules are in place, and a warning was issued, and they press on, then it is time to remove them from the room. They are removed for 1 minute, then 5 minutes, then 30 minutes, and if it gets past the 30 minute point a moderator gets involved. More on kick-muting from @balpha. This avenue should be semi last resort, but it is a useful tool to use. I have found it useful to also send a message to the room indicating that I removed the user for the explicit reason so that it is obvious what happened from their perspective and as a courtesy to other users in the room.

  • Flag for a moderator
    This is the last resort. This is for a user who is so egregious that simply kicking them is not enough. I have only found this useful in one occasion in 3 years which is to say that it doesn't get much use. Selecting the drop down arrow near a user's message ("message actions") will give the option at the bottom "flag for moderator" which opens a small dialogue that a custom message can be described in. This should not be used often at all, and the kick-mute feature does a very good job of making the moderation flag obsolete.

  • Flag a message as "spam, inappropriate, or offensive"
    Don't do this. It is in my opinion a mostly broken feature. This will send a popup alert to every 10k user across chat to review the message flagged. However, as each room has its own topicality and culture, most of these users do not need to see this content. It is often dismissed without action and used for comments which could have been dealt with in the other steps already listed. Please avoid flagging content.

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