Support Documents

Congratulations on being selected to serve as a POSCON Moderator! This role comes with a lot of responsibility and you have proven that you are up for the task.

The POSCON Moderator Policy Manual is in place to assist Moderators of the Positive Control Network in regards to Feedback and Reporting policies. These policies and procedures should be adhered to at all times unless an exception has been made by the Director of Support.

Moderators are by far the most important staff members on this network because they have the ability to enhance the culture on POSCON. Because of this crucial responsibility, it is extremely important that Moderators embrace the following guiding principles for network operations and member conduct:

• Reinforcement of learning
• Standardization and consistency
• Mutual respect
• Responsibility and accountability
• Empathy and courtesy
• Honesty

If we were to summarize these guiding principles into one word, it would be: professionalism.

In the section below, we will give examples of how we expect our Moderators to maintain professionalism on POSCON.

By definition, professionalism is the competence or skill expected of a professional. At all times, POSCON Moderators must keep up-to-date with both POSCON procedural changes as well as real-world regulatory changes.

To be a professional requires that Moderators maintain a healthy level of confidence in their own knowledge and ability. We say "healthy" because having too much confidence can result in egotism and narcissism - two traits that are completely contrary to the culture we are attempting to create at POSCON. As we encourage our pilots to ask questions, the same goes for our Moderators. If you are not sure about something, please ask before making false assumptions.

Being a Moderator requires a thick skin. Often times many of the tickets we receive are full of emotion as they were submitted either in the heat of the moment, or shortly thereafter. Sometimes, Moderators will become directly involved in a back and forth exchange between a user. In these cases, it is absolutely paramount that logic becomes the driving force and that every emotion, except for empathy, is eliminated from the equation.

Finally, Moderators need to remain tactful at all times. This means ensuring your language remains neutral and non-confrontational. Successful communication over the internet is challenging and certain things that you wouldn't image to be perceived as confrontational often are interpreted that way by users. When you approach a user about something they did wrong, it is likely they will have their guard up and will be easily triggered at the first sign of any perceived attack. At all times, you should attempt to disarm the user by compliments or other positive language. When appropriate, use the sandwich method:

1. Your first introduction should be disarming and even complimentary if applicable. Ask questions to make it seem like you are getting their side of the story, even if their side of the story is completely irrelevant.
2. Now state why you are involved, keep it direct and not overly wordy. Issue the punishment.
3. Exit with the same way you started, by disarming the individual.

All members of POSCON are able to file feedback, report users, and communicate with Moderators. Filing feedback and reporting users is accomplished through the Live Map user-interface. Moderator messaging is accomplished through the Pilot Client Web UI (for normal users) and a dedicated web-based user-interface (for Moderators only). For now, we will be discussing the functions available via the Live Map.

Here is an example of the user details panel:

Users have the ability to report other users that are causing significant disruption on the network. They do this by clicking the "Report Issue" button on the user details panel (see the example above). This will bring the user to a form that they are required to fill out. Once submitted, all Moderators will receive an email alert stating that a report has been filed.

POLICY STATEMENT: Reports often require immediate intervention, thus Moderators shall respond to any Reports received as soon as possible. The first Moderator to assign the ticket to themselves effectively claims responsibility for the Report and releases all other Moderators from the obligation.

When a user files a feedback about another user, they are required to give the user a rating and fill out a comments section. The user can choose from five different ratings:

• Terrible - Defaults to -100 points
• Poor - Defaults to -50 points
• OK - No specific value associated with this rating
• Good - Defaults to +50 points
• Excellent - Defaults to +100 points

The comments and rating are required to be completed prior to submission. Users have the option of saving the feedback as a draft for up to 24 hours and then the draft will deleted unless submitted. Submitted feedback is required to contain at least 25 characters. 

POLICY STATEMENT: Each Moderator shall check the Feedback page at least once per day. The Moderator must claim any unassigned Feedback unless they feel that the subject of the Feedback is either outside of their knowledge or presents a conflict of interest (see section below Conflict of Interest).

Moderators can access all Feedbacks and Reports in the same place that normal users can find them: https://hq.poscon.net/support/departures (More Menu > General > Feedback). The difference is that Moderators have special permission to see all of the reported tickets, and not just those specific to a single user.

All the open and active tickets will display from most recent to oldest. Moderators will see the TYPE of ticket that has been filed indicated as follows:

     Reports

     Feedbacks

Additionally, SUBJECT, STATUS, REPORTER, ASSIGNED TO, and LAST UPDATED are all columns in the table as well.

POLICY STATEMENT: Ideally, all Feedback and Reports are closed within 48 hours of the time that they are submitted, including any required follow-up actions. This timeframe is sometimes not achievable though due to the fact that the user may delay in their follow-up responses. Under no circumstances should a Moderator take more than 24 hours to respond to any updated ticket.

Voice recordings

Mosaic Radar Logs.

Reserved.

Reserved.

Reserved.

Reserved.

The General Feedback Process that members expect to happen is below

Draft saving coming soon as in within the next week or so.

The software automatically deidentifies.

Users are not automatically prevented from connecting in the live mode and I am not sure that is planned at this point.

Every Moderator has their own unique aviation knowledge and specialty. For example, a Moderator may have more familiarity with FAA regulations than ICAO regulations. If a Moderator is tasked with a case that they are not comfortable with due to lack of knowledge in the subject area that the Feedback pertains to, then follow this procedure:

1. Post a link to the Feedback/Report ticket in question in the POSCON Moderator Chat channel (https://discord.gg/wt7QCDvy).
2. Ask if anyone has experience dealing with the subject in question.
3. If another Moderator volunteers to take over the ticket, then reassign the ticket but do not close it.
4. If another Moderator does not volunteer, advise the Director of Support for disposition.

POLICY STATEMENT: Moderators cannot perform moderation duties during the following conditions:

• Controlling as ATC on the POSCON network.
• Flying on the network while in the terminal environment (see Pilot Policies for definition).
• Moderators cannot work on a ticket they are directly involved in including Feedback/Reports filed by them, unless the ticket was filed by the Moderator during the course of handling a case.
  • Moderators must inform the Director of Support if they see a ticket that involved themselves or a fellow Moderator. If Feedback is filed by or about the Director of Support, another Network Director must be assigned to the ticket.

Without a doubt as a Moderator, you will be questioned about your decisions by pilots and at times receive complaints that are not directed through the feedback system. In these cases you will need to handle these situations as follows

1. All your communication with the member should be via an official POSCON communication method. This includes a POSCON Domain email (if you have one), the POSCON Forums, POSCON Public Discord or Divisional Discords and the POSCON Feedback/Pilot Client. You should NEVER communicate via private message off of the POSCON branded platform as you are not covered by the POSCON Liability policy in our Terms of Use.

2. Direct the member to file a report via the feedback portal in regards to the issue if it is about another member

   1. If the issue is not about a member but a policy, they should email Support@POSCON.net

Deidentification

POSCON has a protection system in place for its moderators. We made sure that when you rule on feedback and point values, your name as a moderator is removed when it is submitted back to the member. That being said, the only people who can see who ruled upon the feedback are POSCON Directors and other moderation staff.

95% of all cases can and should be addressed in a post-factum manner, in other words, after the event has occurred and Feedback has been filed. The only cases where a Moderator may need to directly intervene are:

• A conflict that occurs between two pilots at an uncontrolled field (Uncontrolled meaning non-atc staffed).
• Event Level based traffic where a pilot is challenging a controller not allowing him or her to unghost

If direct intervention is required the following procedure should be followed:

1. Open the POSCON Moderator Audio Application and Authenticate
2. Set your audio devices.
3. Click the subject aircraft. This will automatically tune the frequencies they are on.
4. Contact the complainant via direct message to their pilot client to get more information (Feature in Development - Reach out via Discord Messages via an Official POSCON Channel - Not a Private Message)
5. If the frequency is staffed by ATC, Inform the ATC you are on their frequency and explain why you are on the frequency. Do not transmit on the frequency without informing the controller prior and coordinating with them.
6. If needed, communicate on frequency that you are POSCON Moderator along with the instruction you want to be made clear to a pilot or pilots in question
7. Resolve the issue, Assign CBTs and point values if necessary to any offending parties.

When you open a Feedback Ticket that you were assigned, you will be presented with the following interface

You will already be assigned to the ticket and will need to verify the authenticity of the ticket. The ticket above may seem pretty clear cut but your job as a moderator is to determinate if a reward of 100 points is warranted for the feedback.

If you choose the rating drop down, you can adjust the rating if you feel the original rating was not accurate for the feedback that was submitted

The Status Drop down will set the status of the ticket.

• Open: The Ticket is active and not resolved
• Closed: The Rating and Feedback has been updated and is ready to be posted to the user's account
• Feedback Requested: This will generate an email to the user the Feedback is about.
  • The user WILL SEE the original feedback as written, UNLESS IT IS MODIFIED BY YOU by clicking EDIT
    • Moderators must edit the feedback FIRST before they choose feedback requested to DEIDENTIFY the feedback, and rephase to ensure it is displayed in a positive light.
      •   'He really botched the approach and didn't turn like I told him to, he went into other airspace and almost went head on to another pilot, he sucked.'  MODIFY THIS TO SAY THE BELOW FOR EXAMPLE BEFORE YOU CLICK FEEDBACK REQUESTED
      • 'The pilot made a late turn onto the localizer and it caused him to violate nearby airspace causing potential conflicts and close calls in the airspace'

When you need to add a note to a ticket that cannot be displayed to the user on the ticket, you should switch to the internal notes tab which can only be viewed by staff for coordination and progress on tickets, as shown below

Whenever it is required to reach out directly to a user, you will use the Moderator Message Feature located on the live map shown below. Note: it will take a few moments for the message button to appear as it needs to authenticate the connection.

Once you click the message button you will be redirected to the Moderator Message Center and you will see all of the moderator conversations that have occurred, your new session will be the one that is open on default

Once you submit a message to a user, their pilot client will alert them in the WEB UI and in their browser audibly and visually of the alert

The user will need to click the message to view and respond to it. Note: You will be identified as MODERATOR, not by your real name

When the user presses the reply button the following dialogue will appear

Once the user presses the send command you will receive the message in the message center and continue to communicate with the pilot until the issue at hand is resolved

As Moderators, one of the most common tasks you will have is to review Feedback and assign point values to the feedback. The most important thing to note is that just because a user files feedback that has a +100 point value does NOT mean you must assign +100. It is your final discretion whether that feedback is truly worth the value the user submitted.

As a guide, not a hard and fast rule use the below when processing feedbacks: