How Do We Know When To Approve/Reject A New Member?

1

At a certain point, your community will start to grow quickly. This will attract the attention of spammers and marketers.

How do you know who is a real patient and who is a spammer/marketer?

We try to keep things informal. All moderators have authority to approve/reject any new members. Most profile questions are required, so you'll usually have enough information to make a decision.

Some guidelines for new moderators:

1. If a new member is very vague/suspicious in their profile, you can feel free to reject. A spammer will move on. A real patient will email us asking why we rejected and then it's 99% they really want some support.

2. If a new member is specific about symptoms, then okay to approve.

3. If a new member is on the borderline, you can wait and ask another moderator what they think, then together either approve or reject.

Bottom line: use your best judgement. Ask another moderator if you are not sure.

Thoughts? Questions? Comments?

2

This strikes me as valid and succinct guidance, Ben. I think we're pretty much already doing as you suggest, and the Moderator's Forum is excellent as a place to privately resolve uncertainties if we have them.

Thanks for the nudge,

Red