This begins the Website Moderation Team, in June 2017.  Updated November 2019.

Introduction

Website moderators' job is to keep watch over the contents in the gallery, specifically resources (mostly images), image info (including description, tags, category), and comments, as well as to approve new messages in the forum, delete spam and block spammers.  Using the Inkscape Project's Code of Conduct as a guide, they work together to help keep the website a beautiful and safe place for members to share their Inkscape work and interact.  

Abilities and Responsibilities

When a member who has requested to join the Moderation Team is approved, they gain both new abilities and responsibilities.  They will be able to help make decisions about reported contents and members.  And they will also be able to edit certain information about uploaded contents, whether they have been reported or not.

Along with the trust which the project has placed in moderators, to exercise those abilities, come some new responsibilities.  Moderators are asked to subscribe to the Docs mailing list.  Moderation issues are discussed there, when they come up.  And it would be a good introduction for new moderators, who may be thinking of moderation, as a stepping stone to the development side of the Inkscape project.  Since the forum has opened, there is also a special board where moderators can discuss issues in private.  (And at the time of this writing, the mailing lists are offline anyway.)

Moderators are asked to spend as much time moderating as they comfortably can and to manage that time on their own.  They should follow the CoC to the best of their ability, and not hesitate to ask questions, if they are unsure about anything.  Perhaps most importantly, if a complaint is brought about website moderation in general, or if a moderator makes a mistake, they should be honest, and be willing to correct it.  Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and in an open community, the most important part is acknowledging it, apologizing, and making it right.

There are four major ways in which moderators do their job.

1. Whenever moderators see something questionable in the gallery, they should click the flag icon, to report it.  Actually, any member can do that.  But since moderators are visiting more often, they will often be the first to see and report problematic content.  Comments, images, and members can be flagged separately, as needed.
   
   If an image is reported because of spam or pornography, moderators should also visit that member's profile, and flag the user as well.  If something is reported for any other reason, the member should not be flagged.
    
2. Moderators use the Moderators' Area page, to manage reported contents.  After being notified of their new moderator status, they can find this page from the drop-down menu under their username, in the top-right area of any page of the website. (Must be logged in to see username.) There will be found a new item, "Moderation", which opens the Moderators' Area page.
   
   At the top of that page is link to instructions for the page. Please read it before you start.  If new moderators have any questions, please feel free to ask the team leader, or any more experienced moderator.
    
   • When considering how to vote on reported images, moderators must pay attention specifically to the CoC section titled "Guidelines for user-submitted content".  Most of the time, aside from spam, the reasons images are deleted, are because (1) they aren't related to Inkscape in any way, or (2) because they clearly aren't made with Inkscape. It's impossible to show an example of every possible thing a moderator will see, here.  So it's important for moderators to communicate on almost every reported image.
   • When considering how to vote on reported comments, moderators must pay attention to the "Unacceptable behaviour" section, along with the previously mentioned "Guidelines for user-submitted content" section of the CoC.  Reported comments are rare, but most of the time, they are deleted because they aren't related to Inkscape (spam or otherwise).
3. The third way moderators do their job is by curating in the gallery.  At the time you're given the ability to moderate, you're also given the ability to edit anyone's and everyone's image info pages.  The reason for this is that often new members will not mark the proper fields when they upload their resource.  Specifically, putting things in the wrong category is common.
   
   The next most common problem is not tagging resources for which tags are very important.  For any resource except for the Artwork category, it's important that visitors can find what they're looking for, by searching.  For example, extensions, filters, templates or icon sets, tutorials, pattern files, palettes, etc.
   
   So moderators can fix these things, and help to insure that the gallery is as useful a resource as possible, for website visitors.  Look for the "Curate" button on the image info page, just under the area where the license is displayed.

Because there are so many different circumstances and nuances affecting whether an image is appropriate for the gallery or not, it would be impossible to explain them all, one by one.  That knowledge is best gained by "on-the-job" experience.  Fortunately, our gallery moderation system works best when everyone is communicating, so it will not be hard to learn from each other, as you will see how the system works.  Please don't hesitate to reach out to each other, if you have any questions or uncertainty.

However, there is one circumstance worth noting from the start.  Often, developers will upload items which don't appear to be appropriate.  For example, they may even upload code in a text file, or using the pastebin.  From an unknown new member, that should be flagged.  But from a developer, it would be ok.  So until you are more familiar with the community, you can refer to the Developer Team list, to double-check names.

4.  Last but certainly not least, moderators approve new messages in the forum, delete spam and block spammers.  They also move messages that were posted in the wrong place, lock message threads when needed, and occassionally need to edit other members' messages, if necessary.  For the most part, these are all the moderation actions that are needed in the forum.  Moderation regarding behavior is rarely needed. 

Moderators should read the entire Forum Rules and Guidelines, which are found in this message in the forum.  Once a new moderator is approved, they will be able to see a new board in the forum, Moderators.  This is where moderators can share information and discuss issues privately.  Instructions for moderating in the forum are given in 2 sticky messages in that board.

Workflow, Routine, Length of Service

New moderators may wish to simply observe how other moderators use the system, before they start taking actions on their own.  It's entirely the choice of the new moderator, how soon and how completely they become active.  And they're welcome to develop whatever kind of workflow they individually find best for themselves, as they fulfill their duties.

For example, some moderators will be more comfortable recieving email (or other) notifications about some things, or about everything that happens, and working entirely from their inbox; while others will be more comfortable visiting the forum and moderation page in their browser, to do their work.  Or they may find that some combination of those suits them best.  To set up notifications, mouse over the envelope icon (the one which blinks when there's a new personal message) and choose Notification Settings.

Moderators may hold their position for as long as they feel the time they spend and the duties they perform are benefitting the community.  They should notify the team leader, should the time come when they no longer wish to be a moderator.

Conclusion

The whole purpose of a moderation system such as this, is to allow moderators to collaborate as much as possible.  Aside from the features on the moderation page, communication among moderators might happen via website personal messages, or possibly via email, if moderators are willing to share their address.

For any problems which may need to be escalated, please first contact the team leader.  If  the team leader can't settle it, next contact the Inkscape Board mailing list and refer to the the Code of Conduct (CoC).

Thanks again for your interest in helping to improve the Inkscape gallery, and making the website more awesome.  And most of all, thanks for all the time you spend doing it.