Host Guide

Our core rules about room hosting aren't really a good guide for how to host a room. Being a good room host is part science, part art. While this page can't address every eventuality or situation, it will attempt to give some pointers on where to start.

###Host Tools

To access the host toolbox, click host next to the room name on the top of the page. This will enter host mode. From here, you can select messages you want to take action on. You can select multiple messages at a time, or select usernames from the nicklist on the right sidebar. The toolbox is located at the top of the left side panel. Once expanded, you can select whether to delete the message, ban the user, or private message the user.

⚠️ Caution: deleting a message will also delete all child replies. Unbanning is currently difficult, so ban with care!

A prototype of private messaging was released specifically for hosts, as detailed here:

This was an important feature for us to make available to hosts because it allows folks to privately contact users about an issue, rather that potentially escalating a minor situation or misunderstanding by having a public confrontation. Additionally, if a user has an issue they would like to bring to a host’s attention, they can ask the host to private message them, rather than having to do it publicly.

###Room Policies & Culture

We strongly recommend putting together a set of hosting guidelines specific to your room. What your guidelines look like depends on the culture of the specific community, and what their values are.

As examples, the hosting guidelines for the &queer room can be found here and the guidelines for &xkcd are here. They are very different documents, because the culture and styles of the two rooms are quite different and unique.

Some questions to consider when drafting your guidelines:

• What does your community value?
• How does it believe hosts should interact with users?
• Should hosts try to private message individuals about issues in the room so as to avoid public callouts and potential embarrassment, or should such conversations happen publicly because transparency is important to your community?
• Does your community want hosts to always comment publicly to inform users that a message has been removed? Or are people okay with it being done quietly in some circumstances?

###Contacting Staff & Further Help

If you need any assistance or have questions, please feel free to contact us by email, pinging @greenie in &townhall, or private messaging @greenie. General discussion regarding room hosting can also be done in &townhall.