Figuring out how to use new modmail with your modteam.

So in the now infamous dm slack we were talking about new modmail. I mentioned that in r/history we discussed how to use new modmail as a team. Some people displayed an interest as it seems not all mod teams did consider they should rework/rethink their workflow.

So here is basically what we discussed in r/history as far groundrules go:

to make sure we all are talking about the same thing this is what I mean by "private moderator reply", these are replies not visible for the user and only for us.

Ok, this is what I roughly have in mind:

• When muting someone always try to leave a mod note. Maybe a bit much, though feel free to leave a mod only reply ;)
• Never archive something that hasn't been replied to or handled in some other way. If you handled it without replying also leave a modnote private moderator reply so fellow mods know what's up.
• Don't archive something to get it out of the way, if you don't feel like handling it let other mods handle it.
• If you feel that a modmail has been handled archive it.
• When replying to a mail and you can reasonably expect an answer soon hold off with archiving for a bit so you don't get a clutter of "archived" and "unarchived" in the conversation.

So far with these groundrules things are going pretty well in r/history.

I also made a quick guide pointing out all the main features of new modmail:

It isn't all that difficult. It is basically a ticketing system.

1. Regular mail comes in and arrives in the "new" directory.
2. As soon as someone replies to a mail it moves to the "in progress" directory.
3. You then have the option to move the mail to the "archive" directory once you are done with the mail.

Other directories are:

• Highlighted, which is exactly that. A mod can highlight a mail and it will appear here.
• Mod discussions: basically discussions just for us mods.
• Notifications: Things send from automoderator and ban messages.

Then when opening a conversation you will basically get a flat conversation view with on the right side a bar that shows things like:

• Recent posts
• Recent comments
• Account age
• If the user is banned the ban status and reason.
• Option to mute and mute status.
• (if you use toolbox you also will find the mod button, history button and usernotes here ;))

Within a conversation you have the option to reply as:

• Yourself which is basically how old modmail also worked.
• The subreddit which will not show your name but just the subreddit as sender.
• Create a private moderator note which makes it so your reply is only visible to your fellow mods.

In addition to this, many people seem to get a bit daunted by the amount of folders/directories/channels (whatever you want to call them). The thing is that you do not need to use them all:

• You don't need to actively watch the archived folder and highlighted folder.
• Many teams have a backroom sub, so you can choose to not use "Mod discussions"
• This means that (assuming people archive messages nicely) you can basically get by through using "all modmail" and "notifications" only. Of course if you want a more fine grained picture you can still use the "new" and in "in progress" folders as well but they aren't a requirement. This means you can be on top of everything needing attention by actively watching two directories.