Moderation Board Guidelines

WPA-L Moderation Board Responsibilities and Procedures

The WPA-L Reimagining Working Group collectively developed community participation guidelines, including a moderation board that shares a set of expectations for membership (and consequences for violations of those expectations). This moderation board and its processes were adopted through a voting mechanism in July of 2019 in response to the WPA-L and its related online rhetorical “events” that led to a catastrophic alteration of how Comp/Rhet professionals came to view the most popular online space for networking and communication, namely, the Writing Program Administration Listserv (WPA-L). The moderation board responsibilities and procedures are outlined as follows.

The Moderation Board for WPA-L, offers a democratic and community-responsive process for administering the list by distributing administrative responsibilities among a larger group of subscribers. This established process for community guidelines will be upheld and updated over time. By “moderation,” we do not mean that every post needs to be "approved" by a moderator, but that a greater number of individuals will have the capability to uphold community guidelines.

Staffing the Moderation Board

The WPA community supported this option for a moderation board. There are currently about 50 volunteers available to serve on the moderation board. Moderators will be elected for staggered terms of two years. Initially, a pool of eight moderators will be elected from the current list, half will serve for two years and the other half for one year, rotating off the board. After the first year, a new pool of four moderators will be elected from the list to serve for two years, and the following year the inaugural four moderators will be replaced by four new volunteer moderators allowing for experienced and new board members at all times (except in the first year). Each year the WPA will elect four new moderators to serve on the board. New volunteers can add their names to the list of volunteers to be rotated into the pool of moderators as we move forward with the new WPA-L.

The responsibility of the board members is remaining responsive to community concerns about particular posts. Posted with the community guidelines is a google form where subscribers could submit concerns or identify problematic posts. The goal is to maintain a community-based problem solving approach. Moderators would be expected to subscribe to the list in full (not digest) and keep up with the conversations as well as respond promptly to concerns submitted to the board.

Board Member Responsibilities

1. Assist the list owner/administrator with subscription management.
2. Respond to emails from the owner/administrator, board members, and subscribers regarding potential violations of community guidelines.
3. Participate in discussions with other board members to determine the nature of such violations and follow the procedures spelled out below.
4. Maintain community guidelines in a location accessible to all community members.
5. Hold elections for the replacement of board members and adoption of amendments to community guidelines.
6. Engage in additional responsibilities as they emerge with the primary goal of ensuring the participation guidelines of the WPA-L are upheld.

Upholding Community Guidelines

In the case that a list subscriber violates community guidelines, the moderation board will take the following steps:

1. Consult as a group of at least 8 members, at least 4 of whom must make a determination of whether a subscriber has violated community guidelines.
2. Reach out to the subscriber by email, indicating that they have violated community guidelines, and clearly but courteously identifying the nature of the violation
3. Maintain a document shared among board members that identifies subscribers who violate community guidelines, the nature of the violation, and the number of violations per subscriber
4. Following the determination of 3 violations by a subscriber, moderate the subscriber’s posts for a period up to 1 year.
5. Review moderated subscribers list annually to identify subscribers to whom full privileges should be restored, given no new violations for a period of 1 year.
6. Unsubscribe the individual if additional violations are committed within or after the initial period of moderation. Suspension will last one year.

The WPA-L Moderation Board (2019-2020)

• Brenda Glascott, Portland State University, bglascott@gmail.com,
• David Green, Howard University, david.f.green@howard.edu,
• Garrett Nichols, Bridgewater State University; garrett@gwnichols.com,
• Holly Hassel, North Dakota State University, holly.hassel@gmail.com,
• Iris Ruiz, UC-Merced, ruizirisd@gmail.com,
• Jenn Fishman, Marquette University, jennfishman.phd@gmail.com
• Karin Evans, College of DuPage, drkarinevans@gmail.com
• Michael Palmquist, Colordao State University, Mike.Palmquist@colostate.edu,
• Regina McManigell Grijalva, Oklahoma City University, drreginagrijalva@gmail.com