I Recently Became A Mod For A Game And I Need Advice
2 years ago
Iowa, USA

What is some advice for being a mod.

Gaming_64 and YUMmy_Bacon5 like this
Japan

Do your job right.

Very helpful, I know.

Edited by the author 2 years ago
Naegi, Cosmos_, and Act_ like this
European Union

Verify runs and don't piggyback off of the other mods.

Act_ likes this
United States

Retime every run unless there's a good reason not to (such as the game has a timer already)

Gaming_64, MrMonsh and 6 others like this
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Being nice to the community is a good start (that doesn't mean the rules shouldn't be reinforced or respected).

I'll tell you one thing, one of the worst things in a speedrun community is when mods think they are some kind of a superstar and can just disrespect others because of that.

O.D.W. and Act_ like this
Michigan, USA

Speedrun.com's "Knowledge Base" (available in the "More..." menu), has a section on "Moderating a Game" that has some good information on how this is to be done. Since the OP has already become a moderator, I will list the links to each page in the KB about how to moderate properly:

Creating the Leaderboard https://www.speedrun.com/knowledgebase/creating-a-leaderboard

Editing a Leaderboard https://www.speedrun.com/knowledgebase/editing-a-leaderboard

Moderation Rules https://www.speedrun.com/knowledgebase/moderation-rules

I don't moderate any games myself, though I have read the moderation rules to get a better idea how to get games added to the site, since if you request a game and it's accepted, you generally moderate it. So here are a few pointers for the moderation itself, which I quote from the "Moderation Rules" page:

  • "Leaderboards should be viewed as owned by the community and curated by the moderators. A user who requests a leaderboard does not own the leaderboard."
  • "The users moderating a game should represent the consensus of the players of the game. If it is evident that moderators are not representing consensus among runners, site staff may change moderation."
  • "Moderators should typically speedrun the game, or at a minimum be heavily involved with the community." (For me pioneering a game not yet on the site such as Stack Columns or Super Columns, that would mean me speedrunning the game, knowing how the run worked for me, and knowing any easy ways to cheat so I can catch it.)
  • "Moderators must remain impartial in their treatment of community members."
  • "Although game rules may reference additional community sites and suggest submitting to multiple, game rules cannot require runners to use those sites instead of SR.C, nor require runners to submit to external sites in order to be listed on SR.C"

I will give you the entirety of the "strictly enforced" rules:

"The following rules will be strictly enforced:

Do not list a player's runs on a leaderboard if they explicitly do not want it listed. Do not copy or reupload a player's video without permission from the user. Do not list a player's username on a leaderboard if they explicitly do not want it listed. If a player does not want their top time listed, it is acceptable to just not list the top time. It is also acceptable to list a top time with the username "Anonymous" and no video linked. An anonymized reuploaded video may be used only with the explicit permission of the player. It is generally acceptable to document a top time without contacting the player, unless the individual explicitly requests it not be listed, as described above. Do not copy other online leaderboards without permission from the owners of those leaderboards. If moderating a board and in need of advice on handling a controversial situation, feel free to reach out to site staff."

Some other pointers from other categories I'd like to point out:

Rules

  • "Do not require a timer on a video unless there is a good reason to do so. A good reason might be a game that uses an auto-splitter to track time without loads."
  • "Turbo is by default disallowed for runs unless otherwise specified in the game rules. If a game chooses to allow turbo, it should typically be tracked with a variable for the runs."

Run Requirements

  • "A minimum effort requirement is reasonable. It is recommended to at a minimum accept a first playthrough done in one sitting with an intention of playing the category quickly."
  • "It is reasonable to expect that the video must be of a reasonable enough viewing quality and stable framerate to clearly see everything going on in the game. It is not recommended to set a strict threshold such as 720p."

For verification, I will list them all: "- It is generally left to the moderators to determine a necessary level of scrutiny for a run.

  • For the top time in a category, it is generally expected that the entire run be watched.
  • For times that are not particularly notable, reviewing small portions of the video may be sufficient.
  • A run should be added it meets the burden of proof the game's community expects for the legitimacy of the run. It is neither "innocent until proven guilty" nor "guilty until proven innocent" With the information provided, does the community of the game feel that the run is legitimate, or does the community feel they need further proof? A run does not have to be proved to be cheated to not meet the burden of proof.
  • The time of the run is the time in the video from starting condition to ending condition. It is not the time shown on the timer program, which is started and ended with human error. Be aware that post-processing video can have minor effects on video framerates.
  • Please do not reject runs just because they are obsoleted by a newer submission. They still go into the database to show history over time.
  • Moderators may generally self-verify their own runs. Some boards choose to disallow moderators from self-verifying.
  • It is left to the game moderators to decide whether they want to track runs played by users banned from the site or not."

Finally, the page lists guidelines for community consensus, but my post is getting long, so I'm just going to leave users to click the link to learn the rest of it. I thought I would give some other important pointers I found in there, looking for how to add a game to the site.

Merl_ and Ivory like this