Group Support Chat Room Schedule Moving Forward
Starting today, we will keep the following rooms open 24/7:
1) Waiting Room
2) Compassion Corner
You can expect these to be openall week. We will continue to learn and grow as to make the group support rooms the most helpful and supportive they can be to all members/guests who come through.
Great job to all the listeners and mods out there! You are all doing a wonderful job!
That's great to hear!
That's great to hear, Laura :) However, is there a way to ensure there's at least one group mod there at all times?
I am a bit concerned about that as well. I personally think that there should always be a group mod online. I like that the chats are open 24/7 but I wonder if we shouldn't have waited until coverage is solved.
At present, we have had trouble getting mods to sign up for a schedule. Many come and go at their own pace and speed. We'd happily have a schedule, but it would need to be used to ensure full coverage.
Many mods & listeners are around, but simply do not like the structure of a full schedule. Can we think of other ways to ensure morecoverage?
Honestly, I think that if the schedule was somewhat more official people would be okay with it. Right now, nothing happens if you don't put your name down in the sheet, so why would anyone bother. Also, does that mean no cheers will be given out for an hour shift etc.? Because I know some people still think they are going to get 12 cheers for one"mod shift". Despite, as far as I know, no one getting anything for moderating the chatroom. Except for 1 cheer for every 50 messages.(As I said somewhere else, I'm okay with not getting any extra cheers, it's just that I like knowing what to expect.)
Then again, I am somewhat obsessed with specific rules and guidelines (it's probably my OCD), so my opinion might very well be in a vast minority :P Thanks for reading this anyway :)@LauraS
@Barush what about building it like a reverse schedule (in addition to a sign up process). You'd have the ability to go back and write the hour you moderated, as opposed to planning ahead. Planning ahead is preferable, but if mod's know they could let us know after the fact as well - do you think that would help?
Thank you for your answers, @LauraS :) I think that the retroactive schedule would be good for keeping track of who spent how much time in the chatroom, if it's useful for something. Maybe for giving out the cheers? But I was more concerned about the chatrooms being covered at all times, because it has happened that I had a peek in there and there were only members, maybe one listener, but no group moderator. Especially in the morning my time, which is night in the US.
Mod will still get cheers for the shifts that they work! @Heather and I need to think through this process a bit more to make sure it is fair and efficient.
We're also in the process thinking through other ways of highlighting, rewarding the mods for their work in the group support rooms. I know I was in there yesterday morning for 20 minutes, worked really hard and earned no cheers or chats #s. :(
Stay tuned!
*going to take this space to casually mention that I signed up to mod waiting room last night and was studying and completely forgot and I'm really sorry!!!*
Anywho, I have similar concerns as Barush about making sure someone's there at all times. I think it's really great to have them open 24/7, but some of the initial criteria seemed to be that they would only be open if a listener was there to moderate to prevent hateful speech, or triggering conversations or generally unsupportive members. How is this being accounted for in this new 24/7 system? Also, is a teen chatroom something that's being considered?
Thanks for all of your hard work @LauraS and @heather and the rest of the team, it's great to have all of these new additions to the site :)
Can we join them ? :)
How does one become a mod? It's something I'd really enjoy doing and would have no problem signing up for shifts.
You can check out this post for info on that!
I think if it's not possible to ensure full coverage, you should consider to open them in specific times only and not 24/7. I have seen some alarming stuff in times with no Moderator coverage. Initially I was happy when the rooms opened 24/7. But now I'm worried about the quality of this service if there are not enough Moderators.
Another thought: Being Moderator in those public chat rooms can be challengingI guess - and I've seen some impressive performances of Moderators handling difficult situations. So I think it would be great if you would ensure that those Mods get the appreciation they deserve, if such is not the case yet... just wanted to add this thought...
