What is it
The Community Council is a group of authors and readers who help moderate the site in line with our community standards, as well as encourage interesting discussion. In short, helping make the community a constructive one.
How it operates
The Council consists of twenty authors and ten readers (at present – it’ll grow over time). A list of current members is below.
Authors have been in part selected for their expertise in particular areas. This expertise will help keep discussions on topic. They will also be moderating on other topics as well.
What we’re asking members to do
The role involves two things: moderation and modelling good behaviour.
Council members will be hiding posts that violate our community standards. Council members will be able to see a “hide” button at the end of each comment; clicking it will instantly hide the comment and submit it to us to review. We will then decide if it breaches our standards: if it does, it’ll be removed. If it doesn’t, we’ll “unhide” it and it’ll be made viewable to all. The final decision about a post remains with The Conversation. This is to help ensure editorial consistency.
Council members are reminded to read over our standards and trust your judgement. We’ll work with you to ensure you’re on the right path.
The second part of the role is to set a good example while contributing to comment threads. Ask questions, thank people for interesting posts and prompt people when posts are getting off topic.
There are no set expectations around time spent moderating. Council members are asked to just do what they can when they can.
Currently, the Community Council will operate for the AU edition of The Conversation.
Abuse
Council members may receive some abuse while moderating posts. As our community standards set out, we don’t tolerate abuse. If council members are on the receiving end, hide the post. If commenters question your judgement (and they may, from time to time), let me know or direct them to me.
Council members should get in touch with me whenever they feel necessary
Member list
Academics
Peter Fisher
Victoria Metcalf
Peter McPhee
Peter Christoff
Brad Farrant
Rod Lamberts
John Cook
Christine Nicholls
Rosemary Stanton
Sarah Joseph
Jonti Horner
John Rice
Sean Redmond
Craig Batty
Gavin Moodie
Patrick Stokes
Mark Beeson
Veronica Sheen
Nial Wheate
Readers
Amanda Barnes
Ron Bowden
Georgina Byrne
Suzy Gneist
Sue Ieraci
Edwina Laginestra
Ben Marshall
Susan Nolan
Peter Ormonde