Moderation Strategy

Supremacy Clause

The Network Rules are the highest authority in the CatShark TreeHouse network. They apply in every chat, channel and server that belongs to the network, on every platform, and they override anything that conflicts with them.

In practice:

1. Network over chat. Any individual chat may add its own rules, but only to be stricter or more specific. A chat rule that contradicts a network rule is void, and the network rule applies.
2. Later over earlier. The rules are written in amendment style. When two network rules conflict, the later rule prevails, and it must say which earlier rule it overrides or extends.
3. Rules over staff. Staff act under the rules, not above them. A moderation action that has no basis in the rules can be appealed to the owners and undone.
4. Owners over the rest. Where the rules are silent or unclear, the owners decide. Their decision stands until it is written into the rules as an amendment.
5. Higher role over lower role. Within the staff, authority follows the hierarchy: Owner over Head Admin, Head Admin over Admin, Admin over Moderator. A higher role may overrule, pause or reverse a decision made by a lower one, and a lower role may not overrule a higher one. Disagreements go up the chain, never into the member chat.

Separation of Powers

The Legislative branch owns the rules, the Executive applies them, the Judicial reviews both.

The staff is organized in three branches, loosely modelled on a government:

Branch	Who	What they do
Legislative	Owners, every Head Admin, and the Admins of the Moderation teams	Write, amend and repeal the rules. No rule change is valid unless it comes out of this body.
Executive	The Moderators of the Moderation teams	Apply the rules in the chats day to day: warnings, mutes, removals, and the live handling of incidents.
Judicial	Owners, when needed	Hear appeals, settle disputes over what a rule means, and review executive actions. Their reading of a rule is final.

The branches are kept apart on purpose. The people who write a rule are not the ones who enforce it in the moment, and the people who enforce it are not the ones who judge whether it was enforced correctly.

Limited Ex Post Facto

Rules are never applied backwards, and closed cases stay closed; only offenses discovered after the fact can open a new case, and rarely. This is written into the rules as § 17, so that members and staff can hold the team to it.

Telegram Chat Moderation

Moderation of a Telegram chat is divided into roles. Each role is accountable to the one above it, so every person knows exactly who they coordinate with.

Roles

Role	Scope
Owner	The network as a whole.
Head Admin	Leads one coordination team (for example Telegram Moderation) and answers to the owners.
Admin	Runs part of a coordination team under its Head Admin.
Moderator	Day-to-day moderation within the scope of their Admin.

Structure

Owners
└── Head Admin (one per coordination team)
    └── Admins
        └── Moderators

Handling a Ticket

Every report, complaint or incident is a ticket, whether it arrives by direct message, in the chat, or is spotted by staff. This is the other half of § 4.2: members are asked not to fight it out in public, and in return the team promises to handle things quietly and in order.

1. One admin is assigned. A ticket is picked up by exactly one admin, who owns it from start to finish. They are the only staff member who acts on it in the member chat.
2. Supporting admins, if necessary. The assigned admin may bring in others for a second opinion, for context, or because the situation is bigger than one person. Supporting admins work through the assigned admin, in the staff chat, and do not step into the member chat on that ticket unless asked to.
3. Nobody else joins in. Staff who are not assigned stay out of the situation in the member chat, even if they have an opinion about it. If they disagree with how it is being handled, that goes up the hierarchy, not into the chat.
4. Topics that have died stay dead. If a situation has already calmed down on its own, the ticket is handled in private, not by reopening it in the chat.
5. Private matters stay private. Warnings, deletion requests and anything about a specific member are handled in direct messages.
6. No rule changes mid-ticket. If a ticket shows that a rule is missing or unclear, that is noted and taken to the legislative body afterwards. The ticket itself is handled under the rules as they stand.
7. Close and record. The ticket is closed by the assigned admin. Anything significant enough becomes an incident record.