Moderating

What a moderator does here, and how to do it fast on a busy night. Everything you do is logged and listed on the moderation page, and a hunter can always see why.

The one job: decide. Hunters post with proof; you confirm the egg is real and described right. Nothing waits on you to be published. It waits on you to be verified, which is the stamp hunters, journalists and the leaderboards trust. We aim to decide within 3 days; on a launch night, within the hour.

Working the queue

• Open /mod and tap the game. The unverified list shows the oldest 50 across every game, ten at a time; the chips under the heading narrow it to one game, oldest first, so a new game's finds never wait behind old eggs. "Oldest" tells you how long the first in line has waited, and Start with the oldest opens the first egg nobody else is on.
• Open the egg, check the proof, decide. Watch the clip or look at the screenshot. Is the thing there, and does the title say what it is? Then Verify.
• Verify and open the next. On an egg page that button sits right under the stamps, does both in one tap and hands you the next egg waiting in the same game; the next page says "Verified" so you know it went through. It skips eggs another moderator took in the last ten minutes, and the queue says @name is on it, so three of you never read the same egg. Skip to the next moves on without verifying. On the last egg in a game it says Verify and back to the queue. On a keyboard, V verifies and N skips (never while you're typing in a box). Your own eggs wait for another moderator.
• Looks like. When a card says "Looks like: another egg", the site found a near match in the same game. If it is the same find, tap Merge as duplicate, then Yes, merge: the later post always merges into the earlier, whichever card you tap, and the earlier keeps the page. Nothing undoes a merge, so check both eggs first. If it's a different egg, ignore the line.

What verified means

Verified says the egg is real and the description is right. It says nothing about who found it first. That is a separate credit, checked separately (below). Two moderators can't both verify an egg: the second gets "Already verified", and the first stamp stays.

When not to verify

• No proof, or proof that doesn't show it: leave it in the queue, or Dispute with a public note saying what's missing. The hunter gets 14 days to add better evidence. The queue says what each egg rests on (Video, Screenshot only, No evidence) and can show one kind at a time; on a screenshot-only or empty egg, Ask for a clip or Ask for proof is that dispute with a standard note, in one tap. The note reaches the hunter's inbox.
• Right egg, wrong game: Move to basket.
• Same egg, posted before: Merge as duplicate (see above).
• A story spoiler in the title: mark it as a spoiler. Accepting a "story spoiler, not marked" report does that for you.
• Not an easter egg, spam, stolen evidence, anything harmful: Remove, with a reason. The reason goes to the hunter (their inbox and, when email is on, their mail); the law requires it, and it is how they fix it or ask for another look. Removing takes back the posting points and any feature.

Reports, claims and credits

• Reported eggs. Three reports from different hunters, or one from a moderator, put an egg at the front. Three reports of harmful content also take it out of feeds and search until you decide; nothing else is ever automatic. Reporters were right pays each of them +3 and marks a reported spoiler. Settling the last report also lifts a hold, so remove, dispute or move the egg first, with the buttons above the report buttons. Reject costs each reporter 1. Nobody decides reports on their own egg, and nobody decides a report they filed themselves: yours waits for another moderator.
• "This was me" claims. A hunter says an outside credit is theirs. Check the dated source the site shows (it reads the date off the video or post, not off the form). Approve or reject with a note; the hunter hears back in their inbox.
• Discovery credits. "Discovered by" becomes a badge, and pays +100, only when you Verify discovery credit after checking the source and its date. Reject credit with a note when it doesn't hold up. The site won't let you verify a credit that names you.
• Contested credits. Someone says a verified find was found earlier. Both sources are dated for you; the earliest dated source wins. Decide with a note.
• Feature sparingly: it is for the best write-ups, pays the hunter +25, and shows the egg as an example of how it's done.
• Developer confirmed needs a source URL (a tweet, an interview) and adds the badge.

The Wanted board

Moderators post cases: a rumor plus the link where people talk about it, so the board never spreads a hoax nobody can trace. Anyone can log clues on a case's page; you can take a clue down with a note. A case closes by itself when one of its eggs is verified.

Looking after yourself

• Take a break. The moderation page has "Need a breather? Take a break for…". A declared break is never counted against you.
• Going quiet. After 60 days without a decision the team list says so; 90 is when we talk about stepping down, with a heads-up at 45 and 75. Nothing here suspends anyone; a person decides.
• When eggs pile up, the site can ping the moderators' Discord channel with how many are waiting, if the founder has connected it.

Posting locks (site moderators)

The days before a game unlocks, lock its basket from the moderation page: Posting locks, the basket's slug, a note saying when posting opens. Nobody but site moderators can post there until someone taps Unlock (site moderators keep the post button, with a "locked for hunters" note); the basket, hunt and post pages show the note instead of the post button. It is a flag, not a timer: unlock it at the real release moment, which for a midnight-local release is New Zealand's midnight, hours before America's.

The short version for launch night

1. /mod, tap the game, Start with the oldest.
2. Proof shows it? Verify and open the next, right under the stamps.
3. Same find twice? Merge as duplicate. Spoiler in the title? Mark it.
4. No proof? Dispute with a note. Not an egg? Remove with a reason.
5. Credit claims later, with the dated source in front of you.