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RecordSetter Moderation Guide

The Guide to Moderating RecordSetter World Records by Ma-ann R. Balute

RecordSetter Moderation Guide Updated April 29, 2012

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Goal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Indecision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Approved Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Edit Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Rejected Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Writing Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Helpful Tips, Reminders and Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

RecordSetter Moderation Guide Updated April 29, 2012

Introduction
Welcome to this guide to managing RecordSetters Moderation Page. The page contains existing records that are in need of approval by a moderator. This guide covers steps on how to preside over pending records and pushing them live to the site.

Goal
The main goal is to count, time, and approve records. If someone claims to have broken a record, then the moderator would have to watch the video or examine a photo, time and/or count, depending on what is necessary, and verify that it beats the previous record.

Guidelines
The general guidelines are simple: every record in the database must be a) quantifiable, b) breakable and c) include indisputable media evidence. If you want to set a record for, say, "Fastest Time Eating a Banana While Standing on the Great Wall of China and Wearing a Purple T-Shirt," go for it. Creativity is highly encouraged. While not mandatory, achievements that positively impact mankind are encouraged. For example, think "Most Soda Cans Recycled in 24 Hours" instead of "Most Oil Spilled into a Lake". Let's build a site we'll all feel good about.

Tools
Before starting to moderate, it would be very helpful to install the following tools: Mozilla Firefox DownloadHelper extension and VLC media player. You can download the DownloadHelper extension here: http://www.downloadhelper.net/. DownloadHelper is a free Firefox extension for downloading videos from sites. It gives easier access to available content from your browser (See Image 1.01).

RecordSetter Moderation Guide Updated April 29, 2012

Image 1.01. Once the DownloadHelper extension is installed, you can now extract videos from the browser. Click on the drop down button and choose Download.

VLC media player, on the other hand, can be downloaded here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/. It is a free and open source, portable media player and multimedia framework. It supports many audio and video codecs and file formats. There are a lot of records of people doing stuff really fast, hence, the video needs to be slowed down to make sure the count is accurate; this is where VLC comes in handy. The following image shows how to slow down a video using the VLC media player.

Image 1.02. To play the video slower, go to Playback and choose option Slower. Counting needs to be precise and accurate that is why slowing things down to be certain is essential.

RecordSetter Moderation Guide Updated April 29, 2012

Getting Started
1. All records in need of moderation can be found at www.recordsetter.com/moderate. The moderation homepage consists of four options: Pending Records, Rejected Records, Approved Records, and Recent Activity. All records in need of approval can be found on the Pending Records (See Image 2.01). They are arranged chronologically, so it is generally best to start from the bottom.

Image 2.01. The Moderation Homepage.

2. Choose a record that you want to approve and click the Moderate button. This is where the moderating job begins. It will direct you to a page where you will need to fill up various text boxes (See Image 2.02). It is good to familiarize yourself first with an existing category. This can be done by clicking the link provided in the Existing Record Link.

Image 2.02. The moderator needs to carefully check and fill up the correct value and description in various text boxes provided in the page.

RecordSetter Moderation Guide Updated April 29, 2012

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3. Once you have familiarized yourself with an existing record, you are now ready to moderate the video/photo available in the page. Usually, the user provides a value. It is your duty to double check if the value is true and correct. Watch the videos more than once if necessary. Keep in mind that it should always meet the guidelines and the criteria.

4. Fill up the correct value in the Moderators Value text box and write a short Blurb in the Moderators Description. Blurb is the description found underneath the videos/photos on record pages. You can copy and paste the blurb of an existing record and just replace the name and value. This way, we have a standardized description for a record category.

5. If you have confirmed that the pending record you are moderating beats the current record holder, fill up the right value, include a Blurb, and hit Approve; however, if you are certain that it does not beat the current record or if it breaks the guideline or criteria of a category, write a direct explanation or reason for denying the pending record and hit the Reject button.

Indecision
As a general philosophy, RecordSetter President and Founder Dan Rollman says, When in doubt, keep it a record. If you are doubtful, push the record live and then make notes in the comment fields about anything questionable (type in the main record page Comment field). The reason being: The submission may raise question marks, but we need to let the community join that dialogue. In those instances, we approve record but flag it via the Comments section. If you really think a record should be denied, lead moderator Ma-ann Balute should have already looked at the submission and given it a status of Denied, but if you find one that definitively needs such a mark, write something like this in the Blurb: Submission denied: Did not follow rules regarding each layer must be and each layer must be square Here is an example of a clear fail: http://recordsetter.com/world-record/mouse-clicks-10/3204 follow existing criteria rule that video evidence is needed). (No media, plus does not

RecordSetter Moderation Guide Updated April 29, 2012

Approved Records
The Approved Records page contains all the records that have been approved. They are live but somewhat hidden on the site as they need furthermore verification. You can also found them listed here at http://recordsetter.com/list?rating=2. If you want to check out a record that has been approved, just click on the record title and it will send you to the record page. You will see three tabs above the video/photo: Current, Original and Edit. On the right hand corner is a box with the value of the current record holder and underneath it is the list of past record holders. Below the video or photo are the Blurb and the Comments section where the RecordSetter community can discuss and argue their thoughts regarding the record (See Image 3.01).

Image 3.01. The Approved Records section and the Record Page.

Now, if you notice any inconsistency or error with the data (the value and/or the blurb) on the record page and want to correct it, you can always do so by clicking the Edit tab.

RecordSetter Moderation Guide Updated April 29, 2012

Edit Tab
The Edit tab is made to correct errors that are displayed on the record page, i.e. wrong value, misspellings, wrong name, etc. and to add texts on Blurb or suggest more tags. On the Edit page, you can change the data by double-clicking the existing text (See Image 4.01). If you are satisfied with everything, hit Save and it will automatically update.

Image 4.01. A view of the Edit page. Once done editing a data, hit Save. A notification will appear if it has been updated successfully.

Rejected Records
The Rejected Records page contains all the records that have been refused to accept by the moderator, mostly because they did not break the current record (See Image 5.01). Other reasons may include failure to meet guidelines or criteria and/or deception.

Image 5.01. The Rejected Records page.

RecordSetter Moderation Guide Updated April 29, 2012

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When rejecting a record, always provide the reason being, so it is clear from all suspicions and doubts. The following image is an example of a rejected record.

Image 5.02. Rejected record. User does not break the current record value.

The above image is a clear example of a rejected record. On the Tallest Banana Tower record, you can see that the current record holders value is seven bananas while the submission shows only five. You would also observe in the blurb a description that it does not break the current record. When you encounter something like this when you are moderating, always double check, have a keen eye, ask for a second opinion if possible and when you are sure, reject the submission and include a description.

Writing Guide
Most of the times, blurbs are available for you from the original record to copy and paste; however, it is always good to be guided with the approved and standardized writing guideline. Use the following references: http://www.apstylebook.com/ and RecordSetter Official Style Guide, Writing Guide Section. Provide a Wikipedia link for uncommon words or proper nouns. Evolving records such as records from social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr need to include notes that expresses that it is an evolving one and should have a provided live link of a post for viewing. Warnings should also be included in the blurb if you judge the record could be dangerous to attempt.

RecordSetter Moderation Guide Updated April 29, 2012

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Helpful Tips, Reminders, and Information

Use the DownloadHelper extension to extract videos and play it through VLC media player if in need of slowing it down to get the accurate count.

It is always recommended to watch the original or current record first before attempting to approve or reject a pending submission. Have a handy stopwatch and clicker or go to http://www.online-stopwatch.com/. Time twice or thrice depending on your judgment and assurance.

One way of counting is by using Microsoft Word, recommended if you are counting high numbers. Press a letter/number on a page every time you would need to count something and at the end, you can do a character count. You can found this by going to the Review tab and click on the Word Count option.

There are two rules for tagging: Use the singular form of the noun and use ing at the end for verbs.

o o o o

apple NOT apples ball NOT balls running NOT run bouncing NOT bounce

Use lower case when writing units, but initial capitalization for units referencing proper nouns.

o o o o

12 pieces 03:12.10 min/sec 500 Smarties 30 Staccabees

Explore the RecordSetter website. Familiarize yourself with popular and most viewed records, records that have the most discussions, and random ones. Take note of any questions and concerns.

RecordSetter Moderation Guide Updated April 29, 2012