Moderators now have a support system to automate most of the manual work that has taken place behind the scenes.   The new system will be largely transparent to members - especially if one is never suspended.   Most of the new functionality will only be seen (and used) by the moderators.

The most visible change to members will be the flagging icons (and behavior) and the new moderation area.

Flagging

The flagging icons and behavior are as follows:

	Available .   Flagging is available.   A red flag indicates that you can flag the associated item.   Clicking on this flag offers the usual menu where you can indicate the reason for the flag.   Once a flag is issued for an item it is considered flagged .
	Flagged .   Flag has been issued.   A lowered green flag indicates that you have flagged the associated item.   Now it is up to the moderators to rule on the flag.   They will either accept the flag and issue a ticket to the author (rule in favor of the flag) or they will accept the item as is (rule against the flag).   In either case, no further flagging will be available for this item.   When a moderator has ruled, the flagging for this item (site-wide) will be disabled .
	Disabled .   Flagging is no longer possible.   A lowered grey flag indicates that you can no longer flag this item.

Note that a flag icon may not even appear on some items.   For example, you will never see a flag on any of the articles ( i.e. the article itself, not its comments ) or comments you have authored.    Also, items that have grown stale (from prior months) will no longer have a flag icon.

Moderation

In the past, moderation comments were accomplished by moderators editing the offending comment and inserting 'purple ink' along with the initials of the moderator.   With the new system, moderators are still free to edit comments and insert notes as they see fit.   However, there is a special area (where the flags reside) that holds the ruling of the moderator and the name of the moderator who has acted.   Thus when a moderator acts on a comment, the ruling and moderator name will appear in purple on the lower right corner of the comment.   Purple ink in the body of the comment will be on an exception basis.

There are two symbols indicating the nature of the ruling:

	Violation .   This symbol notes that the associated item has violated the CoC.   In result, points have been added towards a potential suspension.
	Warning .   This indicates that the item has a problem as noted, but this has no points associated with it and thus does not lead to a suspension.

Suspension

Suspensions will work the same as always.   That is, the decision to suspend will be made explicitly by a moderator.   The key difference is that all record keeping and administrative tasks are now automated.   Suspension email messages are automatically generated and will include a list of all outstanding tickets that contributed to the suspension.   In addition, suspension (and expiration of same) are handled automatically including the email message informing the member that the suspension is now over.