Keeping the Peace
A Guide to Being a Sphinx During Writers CONduit
Hello, and thank you for volunteering to be a Sphinx on Twitch and/or Discord chat for CONduit! We really appreciate your help! The following guide should give you a list of resources and information that you might find helpful.
Your Role
Your job is to make sure that the chat runs smoothly for the events you have volunteered to moderate. There are two main aspects to this job.
One is to keep the peace in the chat. That means that if a conversation is getting heated, it is your job to try to cool things down. Building a friendly atmosphere can help prevent things getting heated in the first place. If someone is making trouble, it will be your responsibility to discipline them, either through timeouts or blocking, and possibly reporting and banning. This will help protect the Streamer and the chat participants from trolling, bots, or abuse.
We abide by the Twitch Community Guidelines. Our additional policies for CONduit and expectations of behaviour are posted here. Also, please communicate with your Unicorn to learn about any personal rules they maintain for their own channel, which should also be abided by.
The second part of your job is to help the chatters communicate with the Unicorn and Chimera. The Unicorn will designate a method of asking a question. This might take the form of typing “QUESTION:” in ALL CAPS and then the question, or it might take the form of a Channel Point Reward option (we suggest configuring it to be worth a single channel point, so that everyone can take part). This is up to the Unicorn, so you will have to work with them and the system they have established. If the Streamer has Featured.Chat installed, you may be able to pull out text marked QUESTION: directly. Even if they do, the Mod View on the channel you are moderating should make it easier to access your tools and check the chat, so you can make a list of anything you might need and get the information to the Panel Host.
A Suggested System
The following system is one that is used by one of the busiest Twitch Streamers engaged in the convention. It is being provided as an example so that maybe you can make use of their experience:
It may be helpful to have Discord channels set up, either on the CONduit Discord or the Unicorn’s Discord: a production channel (keeping an eye on the stream itself) a questions channel (to keep an eye on the questions) and a thanks channel (to take note of things like bits, subs, and follows). Your Unicorn may wish to maintain control over some of this themselves, so again, communication is important. Either way, be sure to provide a shared method of communication that both Unicorn and Chimera can see.
If there are multiple Sphinx, it may help for each of you to take on set duties, like one grabs and formats/reformats questions, one handles thanks for SUBS/BITS in the chat and a few other rote roles.
If you see a question that might alarm or upset the Unicorn, Chimera, or Griffins, wrap it in emotes that indicate that it might be questionable, or multiple question marks, or any other system that you and the Streamer have agreed upon:
Ie. ???QUESTION: What do you use for your lipstick? It’s sexy :D???
This will give the Chimera, Griffins, or Unicorn a heads-up that they should read the question through in their heads before reading it aloud.
They can then decide if they want to skip it and refuse to answer, or if they wish to take a breath and think their answer through. Ask them to add an X emote, or other negative indicator, beside it, if they choose to reject it. You and the other Sphinx will then know to reject similar questions in the future.
The Backstage channels in the CONduit Discord may be used for this purpose, or you may use channels in the Unicorn’s Discord, or your own; or, you might use a Google Doc or other commonly-viewable resource.
In the Event of a Troll or Bot “Flooding”
If you are unlucky enough to be moderating when a stream is hit with a “flooding” attack by bots or trolls, first, notify the Unicorn and/or the Chimera. Next, go into the channel settings and shut down chat, or limit it to Subscriber Only, to prevent further mischief. After that, let people know that we will be moving the questions and chat into the Discord panel room that has been designated for that panel, which will be on your Personal Schedule email. Continue to monitor the chat in Discord from there.
Communication
It will be necessary for you to communicate with the Unicorn and the Chimera (in some cases, these might be the same person). All of this information should be available on the website, or in your Personal Schedule email. Establish a method of how you want to communicate. DMS and the Backstage channels on Discord are our recommended method, as it keeps everything on one straightforward platform. You might also want to consider Twitch whispers, if the Unicorn does not use Discord.
As a reminder, keep in mind that the Planning Committee has the final authority in any decision made. Also keep in mind that we are guests in your Unicorn’s house, and their rules and decisions trump everyone’s but the Dragon’s.
Questions?
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us and ask! CoffeeQuills, SableAradia, and Mezz09 are all experienced moderators on various platforms and should be able to advise.
Thank you once again for being an important part of CONduit!
Â
Note: Originally posted by Sable Aradia on June 24, 2021.
Comments