BUS leadership structure: who we are & what we do

[Proximity]

Last updated: April 2015 by amerylis

Administrative Staff
On BUS there are three administrative levels of rule interpretation: Deb, the admins, and the mods. Each of these have their own capabilities and responsibilities.

Deb
Deb (sine nomine) takes responsibility for how the board is run. More recently Deb is not as active as the founder, but she remains a consultant and technical expert on this board.

Board Administrators
Next, responsibility belongs to the admins:

• splitimage
• Cimmerian
• swirlish
• Milvus
• kiwi33
• roly
• amerylis

They have Deb's full trust and authority and can be considered to speak for her. They have full access to the administrative panel; the only thing they can't do is go directly into the database. They act as moderators on the main board and a few others; answer policy questions; change usernames and passwords; deactivate, re-activate, and delete accounts; and delete, lock, move, split, merge, or edit posts in any forum.


Forum Moderators and their forums
The mods make up the third level of rule interpretation/enforcement on BUS. They are each assigned to a forum:

bodies under siege

• Moderated by the admins

coping - This forum is about dealing with your feelings in constructive ways and managing the consequences of self-harm in your life. Here you can share ideas and learn new skills. Even if you're not ready to stop hurting yourself, you can find something helpful here.

• herebedragons
• disastercake

before and after - A place for managing self-harm urges, this forum has tools for assessing them before you give in and for understanding and learning from lapses after they happen. Posting access to this forum is by request (under usergroups in the user control panel). By posting here, you're saying that you are serious about exploring the feelings behind your self-harm in depth, whether you're ready to stop hurting yourself or not.

• treasure

the workshop - This forum focuses on working on specific issues in your life. Unlike before and after, this area is not about urges; it's about identifying what you want to change in your life and working to make those changes happen. Posting here is a request for feedback and constructive criticism.

• bearcat
• treasure
• just me

life after self-harm - Explore how to live without what used to be your main coping method and talk about what life is like once you've stopped. This forum is for discussing the problems we face once self-harm has ended and is open to anyone who has made the commitment to stop self-injury, whether you last hurt yourself 5 minutes or 5 years ago.

• mande

down the long day's arc - This forum was created primarily for people who are past university age. All ages are welcome, though. Topics include parenting, relationships, relating to your parents now that you're an adult, and the unique problems faced by people in their mid 20s and older who self-harm.

• bearcat
• Glokenspiel

sourcebook A collection of useful posts and frequently-asked questions moved here so they don't get lost on the other forums.

• Moderated by the admins

family and friends

families and friends - Families, partners, and friends of people who self-harm come here for help, understanding and coping with someone important to them who self-harms.

• radmom

family and friends private space - A members-only forum limited solely to friends and family of people who self-injure. Only members of the families/friends usergroup can see this forum. For details on joining, see this post in the families and friends forum.

• radmom

after hours

expressions - Poetry, prose, artwork, music and other expressions of creativity. Please remember to tag posts in this forum appropriately.

• Fragileboy
• butterflydust

distractions - Ways to distract yourself when you feel restless or unhappy

• strmdncr

games - This forum has many posts but few topics. It's for games, with long-running threads on what you are for breakfast, counting backward from 1000, continuing stories, etc.

• wabbit
• Just Pomegranates

random weirdness - This may be the strangest bit of the board, and anything you say can and will be twisted into forms you'll never recognize. Beware of threadjackers, running jokes, marmite, and, um, eccentric people.

• strmdncr
• wabbit

members only
events - information about meets and other special events. for safety reasons, this forum can only be read by registered users.

• Moderated by the admins

going away for a bit - post here to let people know if you're going ip, on vacation, or just away from the board for a few days.

• Moderated by the admins

place - All about you. In place, you can create our own spot on the board. In addition to having picture threads and a collection of quotes, this forum is where people own threads about themselves. Please read the first post in this forum before you start a topic here.

• strmdncr
• mande
• marshmallowfluff
• sixtyfoothigh
• Nils
• Poppies
• kicks
• Just Pomegranates
• HollyGolightly
• roseleaf
• Paws

spirit - No matter what you believe, your understanding of yourself as a spiritual being often affects how you feel about self-harm.

• butterflydust
• Poppies
• kicks

challenge me! - A forum for controversial questions and personal philosophies -- here you will find others interested in examining beliefs and opinions on religion, politics, current events, and how the world should operate - everything you're not meant to discuss at dinner.

• emark

please be healthy - Is a place to discuss healthy living, medical concerns, and regaining balance in your daily life. Read the rules before posting as they are a bit different to those for the rest of the board. To join, use the usergroups link.

• Arcana
• herebedragons
• SariStar

the nest - If you feel vulnerable and want to be reassured that people care and you do matter, come here. You don't have to justify wanting this; just ask. This is also a good place for people who want to be supportive but aren't quite sure how.

• Jem.
• roseleaf

suggestion box - Help build a better bus.

• Moderated by the admins

welcome wagon - An ongoing project to help new members navigate the board and feel at home. To join, use the usergroups link above.

• Jem.

The mods are trusted board members who oversee the forums to which they are assigned and help members understand any special rules a forum has. If you have a problem with anything on one of these forums, PM the assigned moderators. 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 and can view reported posts. Within their forums, mods can edit, lock, delete, move, split, and merge posts.


Non-Administrative Staff & Former Staff
Not everyone who works as part of the BUS staff is involved with the rules; these are the other people who keep BUS ticking. Avatar Wrangler get custom avatars online for people to use. They can be reached at bus.avatars@gmail.com If you would like to have a reserved personal avatar, please follow the instructions here. Sadly this is unavailable at the moment, we apologise for the inconvenience.


Former Staff
You might notice people around BUS with ranks like "board admin emeritus" or "forum moderator emeritus". These are BUS staff members who have retired. We recognize their hard work with the 'emeritus' title which means "honourably discharged from service, or retired from office."

Look here for more information about what is done by admins and mods. You can also read staff bios.

If for some reason you cannot log into BUS and you need to contact the admins, please use this address: bodiesundersiege@gmail.com. Emails sent to this address can be read by BUS admins.


If you have any questions or are concerned about something, feel free to contact any staff member.