Hi all.... we were all rocked a couple of months ago with the sudden passing of our friend Rodney (RLC), and continue to miss him so much.  Betty and I wanted to add another moderator to the mix early in the New Year, and the time now seems right....

Really pleased to announce that we have a new Board Moderator, effective immediately.....   Glad Lee (Debbie)  has agreed to become a Moderator, and we are thrilled to have the help.  She has been a valuable member of our family for a long time on MIP, and will be a valuable addition to our group. When I look at the three qualities (listed below), I definitely think Glad Lee is an excellent choice.  She will be paid the same lofty salary as all of us for this position ($0), so her accepting this role is greatly appreciated.

Please welcome Debbie and involve her as you would me or any of the other Moderators.

Tom

p.s. For those wondering, I put together what I believe to be the primary functions of the position.

Duties of a Board Moderator:

1. Edit/Delete posts as required - Most of my edits would be for aggressive language - i.e. swearing, etc - this is important as we need to maintain MIP as a "safe place" for so many who are scared and possibly timid when they arrive here... Other reasons for edits would be content, if they are 'over the top' with advice giving, religious content, copyright concerns, or inappropriate or stuff not applicable to recovery in any way... This one is a hangup for some, as perhaps it would be easier with formal 'black and white' rules around this, but our reality is that very little of our world is truly black & white only, and we have to use our common sense and discretion. Note that I get at least as many PM's from others advising me of posts to "take a look at", as I find myself, as I am a fairly regular reader, but find that it is almost impossible to read every post, per se.... Normal practice is for me to advise people when/if I have deleted and/or edited their posts, and 99% of the time people understand and are completely reasonable about it... I don't extend the same courtesy for the very occasional time where somebody is just on here trying to give others grief, but I can literally count the number of those incidents on one hand, in the five or so years I have been doing this...

1a. Communicate with other Moderators - this one is sort of a natural add-on to #1 above, but in order to maintain some sort of consistency, it really helps when the Mods talk to each other, and keep each other abreast of any incidents and/or folks to be aware of on the board, etc.

2. Liase with John - this role is less relevant, but as a moderator I am often times the first person that members ask site related questions, re: security, chat room, etc... I don't tend to know many answers to these questions, and typically don't have the "power" (knowledge OR technical approval) to change things for them, but I do often PM with John and he can resolve most of the issues.

Qualities of a Board Moderator

1. Consistent & Positive - Morally sound, recovery-based, non-judgmental

2. Good & Fair Common Sense Approach

3. Strong Proponent of Recovery in General, and Al-Anon related recovery, MIP, etc.