Moderator

Moderators are the lower rank of the administrative branch. Their responsibilities lie in the straight-forward elements of server administration, and their role is primarily to collect information and correct player misbehaviour, rather than explicitly punishing the players.

Letter of the Law

Moderators enforce the rules as written, however they are only empowered to take minor actions against denizens. As such, in the pursuit of enforcement, their role is more informative: they investigate and produce a complete summary of the situation, then present it to Administrators alongside a recommendation of what action should be taken.

Player Guidance

When players aren't acting with impunity, the moderator is also responsible for guiding and correcting their mistakes. In the simplest situations, that means messaging them to inform them of the error. Usually, however, the moderator should undertake questioning before attempting to judge whether an activity is against the rules. Patience is a virtue here: unless the situation is truly urgent, moderators should allow the player to play through whatever situation they're currently in before initiating the conversation.

Whitelist Applications

It is also the responsibility of the moderator to approve whitelists. The most important element of the whitelist to verify is age: absolutely no players under the age of 18 should be permitted to play on Sojourn. Beyond that, other points to consider are applicants' skill in writing English within a fast-paced roleplay environment, their understanding of what high roleplay means, and their understanding of consequences. While a ban history outside Sojourn is not usually a sufficient reason to deny an application, moderators have discretion in how to interpret such records. For example, someone with a long sequence of recent bans may be on the hunt for another server to misbehave on, whereas someone with many older bans may be given the benefit of the doubt and allowed the opportunity to demonstrate their reform.

Granting Permission

Occasionally, a player will have an idea that, while nominally against the rules, will provide an interesting round or situation. Moderators may, if they trust the player to execute the plan in an engaging and worthwhile manner, permit one-time breaches of the rules. These permissions are expressly singular, and only usable within the round in which said permission was granted. The permission comes with no further benefits: the player must still be able to execute their idea within the other rules, and/or self-antag guidelines.

Logging

While the burden of ensuring all faxes (and any relevant tickets or ahelps) are appropriately logged falls to all staff with access to view them, moderators are explicitly tasked with recording them.