Development of an automatic forum moderation tool
Abstract
In ensuring that only appropriate and relevant information is posted in online
discussion forums, some form ofmoderation have to be devised to monitor and control the
user generated content. A tool for moderation of a Kenyan online discussion forum will be
developed to provide control and monitoring of the Comphub online portal through
policing and enforcing offorum rules and policies. Comphub is a Kenyan discussion forum
where members register to discuss on the various Operating systems i.e. Linux and
Microsoft. Various problems such as disturbances, irrelevant comments, trolls and spam
have escalated in the online platform, To maintain these type of forum clean and relevant
moderation plays a major role in ensuring that discipline and tolerance is observed in online
discussion forums.
A structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from
the sample population which was analyzed in various categories using computer aided
software (e.g. SPSS). The research questions on the kind of moderation methods in use at
Comphub forum, the features within this methods and how it's implemented within the
forum. This study aimed to develop an automatic moderation tool that would assist in
monitoring user generated content in the Comphub discussion forum.