The price of greatness is responsibility - Winston Churchill

Responsibility = Ability To Choose Your Response. (Read responsibility backwards)

You Are Responsible For Your Topic & Replies
Due to the realtime nature of the message board, the moderators and admin cannot moderate every message. I did this last year and was entirely burned out in the process that i disappeared for 8 months to get away from it. In the beginning when the board just started out in 2000 and with little messages i enjoyed reading people's opinions but soon i found myself getting overwhelmed as more and more messages poured in. I found myself doing my best to make sure the board is in order and other people have a good time discussing topics and ended up with little time for myself. I was very unhappy and frustrated.

8 Months Disappearance: Success Without Fulfillment is Failure

Initial setup of Discussion Board (2000)	It feels good!	Is good for me!	Is good for others!	It serves the greater good!
Why I feel absolutely phenomenal?	Awesome to read the insightful discussions and opinions of others when the posts are few!	Fantastic to see other knowledgeable & like minded Rtk & history enthusiasts!	Great to see other people interacting and learning!	Improving the lives of others.
Why I disappear for 8 months?	It doesn't feel good.	Is not good for me.	Is good for others!	It serves the greater good!
Why I feel disenchanted?	No time to learn and read the interesting posts with so many messages in the board to go through.	Moderating the board consumed so much of my time that I have little to no time for other things that matter in my life.	People still continue to interact and learn albeit a few troublemakers stirred up trouble during my absence.	Still improving the lives of others though some users are disturbed by the troublemakers during my absence.

No Moderator Gets Hurt
I have thought about having moderators to help keep the board in order but i have no intention to hurt other people's studies, social life, family, career even though i have never met any of you personally at this time of writing. Some users have criticized me for abandoning the site for 8 months and their needs are not taken care of with nobody to moderate the forums. It was a dilemma that bothered me for many months. On one hand i needed help in moderating the discussion board while on the other i don't want to hurt anybody's studies, family and social life.

Moderators	Peak Experience	Role & Responsibilities
Empress Zhang Shu-Han Zhao Lie Di Guan_Xing Edo Edo	It feels good! Is good for me! Is good for others! It serves the greater good!	Taking care of the forums they love to participate in. In an environment where they can grow and learn and have fun at the same time.

Moderator's Well-Being Come First & Foremost
The Light-hearted Discussion (perviously known as Tavern) is a forum with a very mixed variety of topics, some of which are useless topics which will be deleted once detected. It is also the forum where trouble tend to sprout out. I have received requests to appoint moderators for the tavern (old name) over these two years to see to your needs that you have a friendly Tavern.

However it is against my conscience to neglect the needs of the moderator/s. I understand your need to have moderator/s to keep things in check but it is not fair to the moderator to read the garbage topic and delete it. This will in turn have a negative impact on the moderator's studies, family and social life eventually. In time to come, the moderator will fall into the "It doesn't feel good and is not good for me" situation that i experienced. From day one of appointing the moderators, i have a responsibility to their well-being and i don't want that to happen to the moderators. Certainly i want the board to be a friendly place for everyone but i have no intention of affecting any aspect of the moderator's life.

User Capabilities
There is little difference between ordinary users and moderators. Having gone through the painful experience of moderating the board by myself, ordinary registered users have since possess many of the capabilities that a moderator have. Moderators need to learn and have fun as well and like you and me their studies, family and social life needs to be taken care of. If you still behave like a small kid and consistently expect the moderators and admin to help close, delete duplicate posts every now and then then please leave.

User Categories	Edit Posts	Edit Topic Title	Move Topics to Another Forum	Delete Own Topic	Delete Own Post (Replies)	Close Own Topic	Split/ Merge Topic	Sticky Topic
Guest (Unregistered)	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Palace Guest (<30 posts)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Palace Resident (=>30 posts)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Moderator	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

• Edit Posts:
Edit your post if you discover that you have made some mistake or typo in your message.
• Edit Topic Title:
Alter your Topic title to a more attention grabbing title if you are dissatisfied with your old title.
• Move Topics to Another Forum:
Posted in the wrong forum? Use this function to move your topic to the new forum. Don't leave a redirection or a copy of your topic at the old forum. Everybody deserves a space for their topic to be listed on the forum page. A redirection at the old forum denies someone else the space for their topic to be listed. Let's be fair to everybody okay? With so few forums on the board, users will not have much problem finding your topic in the new forum.
• Delete Own Topic (if you are topic creator):
Delete your topic if you discovered you posted some inappropriate message (usually in a bad mood).
• Delete Own Post (Replies):
Delete your reply if you discover that you have accidentally posted another duplicate message.
• Close Own Topic (if you are topic creator):
Everybody want to have lots of meaningful replies to their created topics but there are situations when one wants to close his/her topic. After closing the topic it would be considerate to edit the topic title to state you close the topic and the reason to keep the users who replied to your topic informed.
• Split/Merge Topic:
For moderators and admin, it is used to split off topic messages for the formation of a new topic or to merge two or more similar topics created within a short time period into one.
• Sticky Topic:
This ability is reserved for moderators and admin cause it is easily abused since everybody wants their topic to appear as important to everybody to gather attention.

When to Close & when to Delete?

When to Delete Topic?	When to Close topic & Follow-up Actions?
If you posted some very inappropriate message AND there are 3 or less replies to your topic.	Close Topics When you find your topic straying off to a totally different area of discussion. If you don't want anymore replies to your topic. Follow-up Actions Edit your topic title to indicate your reason and name for closing it (feedback to others cause if you leave them confused they may not reply to you in the future!)

Main Difference Between Moderators and Registered Users

	Moderator	Registered Users
Sticky Topic	Yes	No
Split/Merge Topic	Yes	No

If you feel your topic is good enough or important to deserve being stick to the top of the topics, inform the moderator or administrator.

Moderator & Admin Decisions Are Final
Moderator and Admin decisions are final. Anyone posting publicly on the forum contesting the decision and making a fuss will have the topic deleted as well.