the board's leadership structure

Post by **sine nomine** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 6:20 am

<b>Last Updated: 15/07/2006</b>
by Seradjernie
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Administrative Staff
On BUS there are three administrative levels of rule interpretation: deb, the admins, and the mods. Each of these have their own abilities and responsibilities.

deb
I'm deb. I take responsibility for the way the board is run, which means that although I take opinions and input from others into account, I make the final decisions on board policy. I value input though, because lots of times people think of stuff I hadn't considered and bring up valuable points. Still, if you're not happy with board policy, I'm the person you complain to. People who've been here a while will tell you that I can be reasoned with and that I try to hear both sides of things (some of them may also tell you that I'm a mean bitch, but oh, well).

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Board Administrators
The next level is the admins:

They have my full trust and authority and can be considered to speak for me in most instances. Very rarely, I will change my mind about something one of them has decided. They and I are the only people who can modify or move main board posts -- all complaints or concerns about posts on the main board should be brought to one of them. They can also help you with password changes, email address changes, reactivating your account if the link you are emailed doesn't work, changing your name, deleting threads, adding emoticons, and just about every aspect of using the board. They have full access to the administration area of the board; the only thing they can't do is go directly into the database. You can complain to them about board policy and they will bring it up with me.
Board admins typically also work as forum mods on various forums.

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Forum Moderators
The next level comprises the Forum Moderators:

BODIES UNDER SIEGE
coping - tips on how to cope: dealing with your feelings, dealing with the consequences of self-harm in your life. share your ideas and maybe pick up some new skills, too. you don't have to want to stop to learn something new here.

before and after - tools to help you assess your urges before you give in to them, and to help you understand and learn from slips after they happen. this forum is limited to people who are serious about exploring the feelings behind their self-harm, whether they're ready to stop or not. posting privileges are given by request only.

the workshop - a fluff-free zone for working on your issues. unlike before and after, this area is not focused on urges -- it's about identifying what you need to change and working to make those changes. please do not post here if you are not willing to listen to feedback and constructive criticism.

life after self-harm - how do we live without what was our main coping method? what is life like once you've stopped? this forum is for discussing the problems we face once the self-harm has ended. it's open to anyone who has made the commitment to stop self-injury, whether your last episode was 5 minutes or 5 years ago.

down the long day's arc - a forum primarily for people who are past college age, though all ages are welcome. here you can discuss how parenting, relationships, relating to your parents now that you're an adult, and making the transition to adulthood and similar concerns relate to your self-harm.

Mian

sourcebook - a place for useful posts so they don't get lost on the other boards.

balletomane

FAMILY AND FRIENDS
families and friends - support for families, partners, and friends of people who self-harm.

family and friends private space - an area limited only to friends and family of people who self-injure. what's said here stays here. visible only to members of the special families/friends usergroup.

AFTER HOURS
expressions - this is the place to put your poetry, prose, artwork, music -- whatever creative expressions you'd like. although it's a separate space, you still need to warn people properly about triggery content.

distractions - this area is for posting about cool distractions you've discovered. let it all hang out -- silliness, word games, polls, games, stories. this is where we kick back and relax.
- No mods

games - those long-running really-fun distractions games (continue the story, word games, stuff like that) have their own space now.
- No mods.

random weirdness - anything you say can and will be twisted into forms you'll never recognize. beware of threadjackers, anthropomorphic fruit, marmite, and, um, eccentric people.

MEMBERS ONLY
place - a place to create a thread about you. please read the first post in this forum before you start a topic here.

PassingCloud

spirit - no matter what you believe, your understanding of yourself as a spiritual being often affects how you feel about self-harm. ask for spiritual support, talk about your own experience of faith, and explore how your beliefs and actions work together in a safe space.

challenge me - discuss controversial questions and personal philosophies with others who are willing to examine their deepest beliefs. here you'll find religion, politics, current events, and how things should be -- all that stuff they say never to discuss at dinner.

please be healthy - a place to discuss healthy living. you must read the rules; they are a bit different to those for the rest of the board.

the nest - if you're feeling vulnerable and to be reassured that people care and you do matter, come here. you don't have to justify needing these things; just ask. this is also a good place for people who want to be supportive but aren't quite sure how.

The mods are trusted board members who can move, edit, lock, split, merge and delete posts within the forums they're responsible for. If you have a problem with a post on one of these boards, you should PM the forum moderators and whichever board admins are assigned to that forum. They can help you understand the special rules each forum has. Forum moderators don't have access to the administration panel and they can't do anything to posts outside their assigned forums, though they do report problem posts to the board admins when they see them.

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Member Advocates
BUS also has a system of ombudsmen. Ombudsmen are member advocates: if you think you are being treated unfairly by board staff or you think you won't get a fair hearing or you're just afraid to approach a mod or admin, you can go to them and they will bring it up for you. They'll report back to you on what happened. Their first priority is to look out for board members and make sure that concerns get heard. they represent you. More information on ombudsmen may be found here.
Ombudsmen are nominated by board members, and selected by the current ombudsmen. They serve a fixed term of two months.

The current BUS Ombudsmen/Member Advocates (and the dates of their entry into service) are:
DirtyMagicalAly April 2006

glass angel May 2006

PurpleGirl May 2006

SerenityProblematic April 2006

Strange_Panda April 2006

Whypie May 2006

xGirl_Anachronismx May 2006

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Jellybob is the resident code monkey. He's a php programmer and has access to the inner workings of the board. If you're having a technical problem, he most likely knows what's going on with it.

Twitter Mouse and Priceless are our avatar wranglers. They get custom avatars online for people to use. They can be reached at avatars@busmail.org If you have avatar questions, ask them, a board admin, or me.

Deskana takes care of the bus photo gallery at http://busmail.org/gallery .

xanemicroyaltyx is in charge of our program welcoming new users. Contact xanemicroyaltyx if you want to be part of the welcome wagon group or if you have problems with the welcome wagon board.

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I may add new moderators from time to time. It's usually not a good idea to ask me to make you a mod or an admin; if you do, you should ask once and leave it at that. Being a moderator is pretty hard work. Being an admin is harder work and most admins end up feeling a bit distanced from the rest of the board after a while. They're sacrificing a measure of support and comfort in order to make this board a better place, and they're great at it. I could not run this board without them. Also, please don't assume that not being asked to be a moderator or admin means there's something wrong with you. One of the joys of this board is that we have so so many qualified people for jobs like this.

If you have any questions at all, please ask.

Love,
deb

Post by **sine nomine** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 7:45 pm

skru dup kid · Post by **skru dup kid** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 10:47 pm

Fragileboy's also an expressions mod.

Love, trees.

Post by **sine nomine** » Sat Apr 26, 2003 12:46 am

thanks. i added him.

deb

Post by **sine nomine** » Sun May 25, 2003 10:29 am

updated

SecretiveGal · Post by **SecretiveGal** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 6:17 am

err you might want to check your bbcode.

Post by **sine nomine** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 8:52 am

thanks. amazing what a difference a closing tag makes...

deb

Post by **sine nomine** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 1:54 am

updated today

Slightly Crazy · Post by **Slightly Crazy** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 5:15 am

Forum moderators emeritus include MaryFlutterby, huffdad, Pamela, cloudflyer, Stellaria, Alias Grace and sassy koala.

wat does that mean?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 5:21 am

It means they are <s>thecoolest people on bus</s> retired moderators.

Slightly Crazy · Post by **Slightly Crazy** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 5:33 am

aaaaah wtf it doing in BUS forum lol, oh i see, thanks zero :0

guest11 · Post by **guest11** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 1:22 pm

Slightly Crazy wrote:
Forum moderators emeritus include MaryFlutterby, huffdad, Pamela, cloudflyer, Stellaria, Alias Grace and sassy koala.

wat does that mean?

I asked the same question once... apparantly emeritus means something like "Retired and allowed to keep title as an honourary member" or something.... that's why people who retire from the army can still retain their rank if they want....

That made no sense

sassy koala · Post by **sassy koala** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 2:26 pm

yes but... *sniff* some of us (ok, just one of us!) came out of retirment

*sniff*

and yess, emeritus leveled people are retired admins or mods....

Post by **sine nomine** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:58 pm

prox updated it a while back, and i need to update it again. will do that now.

deb

guest11 · Post by **guest11** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:19 pm

Isn't silent_scream a friends and family mod too?

Bathelina · Post by **Bathelina** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 8:41 am

Yeah she is

dreams · Post by **dreams** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 4:43 pm

Bens 'retired' now too hasn't he?

dreams

guest11 · Post by **guest11** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 4:18 pm

It's out of date again...

Proximity · Post by **Proximity** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:36 am

and now it's up to date again.
please pm me with errors/corrections/questions.

thanks.

prox.

Boogie Man · Post by **Boogie Man** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 12:05 pm

its out of date again...

the board's leadership structure

the board's leadership structure

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