I wanted to take a minute to go over your moderation options on the forum because there is a lot that individual members can do to help keep things running smoothly and improve their own experience here. I also have a request.

First, your three moderation tools.

1. Report a post: Please report a post if it offends or worries you in any way. At the bottom of every post (including replies) there is a little “gear” icon. Hovering over (or tapping) that will pop up a menu with the option to (kong other things) “Report Post”. Clicking this will take you to a page where you can explain your reasons for reporting the post and then send it to us. We probably won’t reply to your report, but we do look at each of them and decide how to handle the situation.
2. Remove spam: If you are an active member or higher you will also see a “Remove Spam” option. Clicking this will take you to a page where you can confirm and submit. In this case the post you are reporting will be removed immediately and we will get a notification. Please only use this option when the post is spam, that is, it is trying to use the forum to promote something. Most often this is commercial, but sometimes not.
3. Contact us: If you feel something needs urgent attention, or if you want us to reply, or if you just want to talk, feel free to contact myself, Greg or Inge. You can send us a private message, or use the contact forum. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

It is an enormous help to us when people use these tools. We’re very grateful to the members who are continually weeding out the spam and keeping the forum shipshape.

Then, my request. It is inevitable that from time to time things will get a little emotional. Not only are the topics here quite sensitive, but it is also so easy to misinterpret tone and intent in the written word. Especially so for people who are not using their first language. But when it does happen, and you feel offended or insulted, please try to defuse rather than escalate. A little kindness and empathy can go a long way towards turning things around.

This is NOT to say that you shouldn’t say what you think in a constructive and respectful way. Please be honest and direct. This forum has an incredibly good record of having tricky discussions and figuring things out. We moderators very seldom have to get involved. But even when someone seems to be really crossing the line, it never helps to drop to their level and spar with them, talk about them as if they aren’t present, or call them names. It actually makes our moderation task much more difficult, because the water gets muddied and everyone is at fault. If you feel the need to vent, please vent to us and we’ll do what we can.

I’m far from perfect when it comes these things. I still sometimes misinterpret tone and feel my emotions getting the better of me. I have regretted my own tone from time to time, and I've sent my share of apologies. So please don’t fret about things you may have said in the past. They are bygones. But I’d really appreciate it if you kept this in mind in future.

Finally, I just want to note that moderation often involves a private discussion, so often the action we take will not be visible to you. Even if you reported something or reached out to us, we might not be able to explain exactly how we handled any particular situation because there are privacy issues involved. But rest assured that we take moderation seriously and supporting the wonderful community on YLF is extremely important to us.