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.