ModTools

THIS PAGE IS BEING UPDATED.

Starting with Modtools

You can use ModTools from any browser, e.g. Chrome, Edge or Firefox. If you don't have a preference, use Chrome. https://modtools.org/modtools

If you're using a phone/tablet, then you should get the ModTools app from the Play Store or iTunes. That will work best, and you'll get notifications when there's stuff to do.

Or do both.

Getting Set Up

First things first - set up ModTools for you and your community. Select Settings from the left hand menu bar.

You will see 4 tabs/sections for this:

• Personal - these are ModTools settings just for you.
• Community - choose ModTools settings for each community you are moderating, either as an active moderator or a backup.
  For more information on shortlinks, have a look at Shortlinks.
• Standard Messages - these are a range of template messages that you can use for moderating posts and members on your community.

Substitution strings are used on lots of messages; they are a special terminology you can put in standard messages, which ModTools expands more fully before it sends a message. For a full explanation of these, have a look at Substitution Strings.

• Bulk Operations - this section will have some actions that you can use - watch this space!

You may like to get going with the basic features offered and once you are confident, come back and edit as you gain confidence or things change. It is also a good idea to review these, say, annually to check that everything is still fit for purpose.

Now your Settings are sorted, you are ready to go. ModTools should be self explanatory on each of the sections/pages, but for some more information and ideas, there are other sources/pages that might help - see below.

Dashboard

For more information on stats, have a look at Statistics

Messages

If you need extra message templates to deal with any member messages, see Sample Messages for ideas.

Pending

This is where the messages that need moderating arrive, whether generated on the website, email or via Trash Nothing. The red number shows those for groups where you are lead moderator, the blue for those on which you are back-up moderator.

Approved

The list of all messages on your community/communities.

Review

Messages that are not subject to moderation might have worry words involved, so these are flagged up here for you to review.

Edits

When members edit their approved posts, you can see the edits in this section.

Members

Member Notes gives more information about moderator and system notes on a member's account.

Approved

List of all members in your community/communities.

Member Review

This section flags up members who have unusual freegling behaviour. Information about possible spammer behaviours and present measures can be found here - Spammers.

Chat Review

Chats between members which include worry words or might be spam or scams are diverted for moderation. This allows you to review the messages and catch anything that might be a concern. Spammers gives more information about spam detection.

Related

These are members who have used the same device for different member accounts. You can merge members who you know have ended up with more than one account within Members>Approved section, but this section automatically detects possibles and lets you send an auto message asking if they wish to merge.

We can't merge TN memberships with Freegle ones.

Stories

Members are encouraged to submit a story of their freegling experiences. A selection are then sent out in a newsletter to members and as a post on Discourse for volunteers to read.

Stories submitted in your community are subject to your review in Modtools, so inappropriate ones can be declined at this point. They are then put in a pending list to be voted upon at https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/fornewsletter for selection for publication.

Feedback

See Feedback for more information about this. Member Ratings also has some information.

Misc Moderation

Events

Community event posts for your community can be reviewed here before publication.

Admins

See Admins for some templates you can use for Admin messages for your community.

Spammers

See Spammers for a full explanation of how the spam system works.

Misc Admin

Settings

See Getting Set Up above for basic information. It is good practice to have a quick look through these on a regular basis to check they are all still fit for purpose.

• Guidelines for deciding on community geographical areas Group Mapping.

Teams

There are various teams and groups of people working nationally to deal with a variety of tasks. You can see who they are and a brief description of what they do this section. If you are interested in volunteering to help with any of these, find out more information about them via the links on [[Getting Involved]. If you wish to volunteer to do any specific piece of work or want to know what you could do, please don't hesitate to email volunteers@ilovefreegle.org. It will be great to hear from you!

Help

This takes you to the same place as the 'Us' button. See below here for explanation.

Top Menu

Red/Orange/Green Dot

You will notice that there are different colour 'dots' that appear over the blue home icon at the top left of each page. These dots denote the platform status - just click to see what is happening.

Us

This button on the top menu bar takes you to the Discourse website, where you will find all the national discussion groups. See Central Groups for more detail. All volunteers that are registered on Modtools are given automatic access to Discourse.

Chats

This button will take you to the Chats section. This is where all the emails can be accessed between you and your members, along with other emails from volunteers who work with you on your communities. Each of these chats (other than those you initiated) can be hidden from your view by clicking the downwards chevron on the top right of the chat screen.

If you see a green tick at the bottom of the chat, it means the message has been read on the site. If you see a small envelope it means the message has been sent out via email. There is a deliberate small delay in sending out a chat message via email, as obviously it would be really irritating if you are reading the message on site and also getting emails at the same time with the same message.

Your list of chats is pre-populated with the communities you are on, so you can use those to chat to the other members of your team in each of them if you wish.

Help and other links

• Questions and help with using ModTools, contact support@ilovefreegle.org
• Questions, suggestions and observations about ModTools, post on https://freegle.in/tech

Other pages that might help:

• Add a Member using Mod Tools
• ChitChat
• Member Chat
• ModTools History