Calling all night owls!

Samcro Thu 25-Feb-16 08:36:13
seems odd that you report to NW and nothing happens

Why? NW don't see reports. They don't have access to MNHQ. They get emails if enough reports are made, but that will only help if they have their email open the whole time as well. The NW threads need to be looked for, they're not stickied to the top of Active.

NW are users who are around, they're not avidly glued to their screens, searching the whole of MN for posts/ threads to hide!

What a shame you haven't chosen every one who volunteered.

Personally I think that posting on this thread should automatically deselect you from NW duty. People who want the power should obviously not be given it .

What a shame you haven't chosen every one who volunteered. I seem to have been reporting one spam or troll post a day (night!) for the last week or so and always get an email in the morning saying thanks and that the post has been removed.

I have just had an email saying that you have decided to go with posters who fit your 'slightly strange scheduling requirements'. I'm around pretty much every day from about midnight to 10am - so a little bit as to how that doesn't fit scheduling requirements?

I'd love to do it
Member of insomnia a anonymous here!

I agree with cote.

I moderate on a very small site (around 100 members) and so I have the skills and the experience but I won't be applying for nightwatch. MN is a vast, commercial enterprise and I don't think the task of moderating during peak troll periods should fall on volunteers.

The point is as Cote said above. The Samaritans would not exist if it weren't for volunteers. It is a charity which does not plaster adverts all over its website and make profit.

An overnight mod on MN and a Samaritan are completely different entities anyway.

There is no comparison between the service provided by MN and The Samaritans. The only similarity is that people in desperate need reach out to both.

The Samaritans get weeks of training, mentoring and ongoing monitoring of their performance. I don't think that's what MN had in mind for their NW team. Their is to ping threads, not to support individuals.

I think the training and vetting the Samaritans get might be a little bit different somehow....

..and tbh, the fact that "MN provides a similar service at times" is a scary thought indeed. Because it shouldn't. Ever.

The Samaritans are volunteers because the organization they work for is a non-profit charity, not a million-pound business like MN.

The Samaritans are volunteers. I think MN provides a similar service at times.

I can't see a problem with volunteers tbh, if people are here all day anyway & are happy to volunteer then what's the problem?

It's like getting volunteers to run Tesco customer service or something. It's a bit silly. No, it's nothing like that. Who spends all day hanging around tesco customer service?

Meee!

I'll do it! Give me something to do during the day!

I agree that most forums that use volunteers are tiny.

This isn't a specialist, niche forum for I dunno, quilters, mountain bikers or something. It's VAST. Many of the small forums struggle as it is without paid mods.

It's like getting volunteers to run Tesco customer service or something. It's a bit silly.

seems odd that you report to NW and nothing happens

"Justine has made it quite clear that paid overnight staff is NOT an option at the current time."

It is of course an option. One they don't want to take.

MNHQ - You know how you like to talk about stuff being "in the spirit of this site"? Paying MNers who work for you would very much be in the spirit of MN, supporting them as they are supporting you.

Please consider it.

I'd be happy to help. I'm Sydney based and have a bad mn habit during the day. I've seen a few situations get out of control during the UK's nighttime, and wished that I could have done something.

hat that varies. It's something I could do and something you couldn't (in terms of pay vs benefits etc). There's no right or wrong really, we are all different. Our abilities are all different. I won't do the role (and wouldn't be accepted if I applied) but if you look on purely an hours basis then I could do the job despite not being able to many other jobs. I would assume that I'm not alone in that and that others are suitable for this role and it would help them. I think paid is better overall.

Because, Kinky, for some of the number of hours we'd have to do to equal what we get in benefits isn't worth the payback we'd get in terms of fatigue or increased pain etc (or the risk of having a run of bad days and the impact that would have - possible loss of job etc)

I don't know where I stand on whether it should be paid or a volunteer role. I can see why they wouldn't want to pay if we're talking about very little work to be done. On the other hand, I've often seen trolls who don't start their own threads but comment on a fair number of sensitive threads and post one post of disablism/racism/sexism/rape apology, etc. and those threads don't all need hiding as that poster would just move to the next thread and was never planning on engaging with responses anyway. They just want maximum offence to be made over a short period of time.

MN obviously get less reports over night than in the day. There are less posters online overnight (UK time) as most posters are UK based and asleep. But report to post ratio must still be fairly high? Possibly higher than daytime hours?

And, finally, I'm always awake overnight but I won't be a volunteer. And I'm sure nobody wants me as night watch either. I'm hoping that reads as jokey as I mean it.

Or looking at it another way Hat, it could be the perfect paid position for someone disabled or ill who are perfectly capable of carrying out a role like that. Why shouldn't they earn a wage too?

Most forums use volunteers, fine. Are there any other forums as big and covering such sensitive subjects as MN? I can't think of one.

Sometimes volunteering is a better option for people than taking a paid role. Those with health problems/disabilities meaning they are unable to work can sometimes take on a volunteer role and feel they are making a difference and contribute to society.

Most big internet forums have volunteer mods. They usually have much more power than the Nightwatch (and are therefore much more like to become the centre of drama themselves).

I can totally understand why MN think that paying someone to sit around all night with, mostly, nothing to do but ban a couple of spammers is a waste of their money.

Why 'gullible' Anne?

It took longer for me to write an OP in Nightwatch (and report the thread and suggest on the thread that it was time to drop it) on Sunday morning than it would have taken for me to hit a 'hide' button.

I was there anyway and I'd rather not have had the experience of watching all that play out. It's quite a helpless feeling.

Lots more NWers solves the problem. Each NWer is unlikely to have to do anything at all more than once every couple of weeks at the most. There's no sensible way of paying a large force like that. You could do it on a piecework basis but that would be so sporadic it would be laughable.

If people feel strongly that night moderation should be paid, then maybe FT, full-range-of-powers moderation overnight is the answer.

Another one who believes this should be a paid position(s).

Charities need volunteers. Hospitals too, even emergency services sometimes. Not private companies with £££ in the bank. That's really cheeky imo.