Dear National Library of Australia,

I am seeking copies of all feedback / complaints / information that has been received via email or the Trove enquiry portal since January 1, 2025 relating to Trove usernames yelnod, astatine, raymond1928, rayretired, and james.gandofini.

Specifically any feedback or complaints received in relation to the conduct of text correction by these users of Trove. If any complaints about conduct have been received, could you also provide copies of any documents outlining what actions have been taken by Trove team and management to investigate these complaints fully and what management processes are in place to review any adverse behaviours identified.

This request is made under the relevant Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

Yours faithfully,

Bob

Dear National Library of Australia,
The proscribed time for a response for my request has now passed and I have not received an update to my enquiry.

Please advise the progress of this FOA request.

Yours faithfully,

Bobby Trenwith

Dear Peter Hutchison,

Details of my original request follow.
Dear National Library of Australia,

I am seeking copies of all feedback / complaints / information that has been received via email or the Trove enquiry portal since January 1, 2025 relating to Trove usernames yelnod, astatine, raymond1928, rayretired, and james.gandofini.

Specifically any feedback or complaints received in relation to the conduct of text correction by these users of Trove. If any complaints about conduct have been received, could you also provide copies of any documents outlining what actions have been taken by Trove team and management to investigate these complaints fully and what management processes are in place to review any adverse behaviours identified.

This request is made under the relevant Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

Yours sincerely,

Bobby Trenwith

Dear FOI,
I look forward to seeing your response on October 7, 2025.

Yours sincerely,

Bobby Trenwith

Dear Trove,

Thanks for providing the above.
re: moderation policy. It's ok, I was able to find some details whilst I was waiting for the documents in the request to be furnished, via an internet search, so even though there may have been some updates, the general spirit of the policy I assume remains intact and gives me an idea of how it all operates.

Ciao for now.

Thank you for the following information
Trove user moderation process
Trove service Terms of use
https://trove.nla.gov.au/about/policies/...
Background
Trove is a space where any member of the public can contribute and enrich the service through the
creation of comments, tags or lists, or by correcting text. These postings are generally unmoderated
by Trove Support Team, as they are provided in good faith by patrons keen to share their own
insights gained from extensive research.
From time to time a user will abuse this privilege, using Trove’s annotation features to make other
users unwelcome in Trove. In the past this has taken the form of harassment of specific users,
defamation of public figures or agitation around politically sensitive issues. The changes to Trove in
2020 reduced the ability for users harass other users
Reporting by other patrons brings these incidents to the Trove’s attention. On investigation, some
postings will directly contravene the Trove Terms of Use. As Trove’s content, user base and brand
recognition grows, so too do incidents of malicious postings. Trove has a staged warnings approach
to dealing with these postings.
Other types of behaviour have also been reported by patrons including trivial edits with the purpose
of gaining notoriety, using other Trove functionality to add spam content/promote their own cause
and the use of profanity in usernames.
Moderation Procedure
Where the offending comments, tags, lists or text corrections are made by authenticated users, they
will be moderated as a ‘malicious’ offence or an ‘undetermined’ offence.
Characteristics of ‘malicious’ offences:
• The offence is explicitly unlawful.
• The offence may contain advertising, promotion or solicitation where the user has not
contributed to Trove in any other way.
• To exploit the hall of fame rankings
• Use of profanity in Trove username
Characteristics of ‘undetermined’ offences:
• It is likely that the user does not know they are contravening the Trove terms of use.
Undetermined offences
For ‘undetermined’ offences the following staged warnings approach will be taken. For example,
deleting whole lines and then adding new lines with the corrected text?
Warning 1 Offending content
is removed.
Warning is
provided to user.
Warning advises user of Trove's policy with the eventual
outcome of de-activating the user account. Advises that this is
the user's first warning, and include details about the offence,
and a link to the Terms of Use and which section they have
contravened.
Warning 2 Offending content
is removed.
Warning is
provided to user.
Warning reminds user of Trove's policy with the eventual
outcome of de-activating the user account. Advises that this is
the user's second warning. Includes details about the first
offence and the current offence, and a link to the Terms of
Use and which section they have contravened.
Notification 3 Offending content
is removed.
Final advice is
provided to user.
User account is deactivated.
Advise that this is the user's third warning and that their
account will now be revoked. Includes details about the first
two offences and the current offence, and a link to the Terms
of Use and which section they have contravened.

Malicious Offences
‘Malicious’ offences will not be given the first two warnings, but will immediately receive the final
notification, and the user account is to be deactivated.
Where the user has not logged in and the offending comments, tags or text corrections are from an
anonymous user, there is no method to get in contact with the creator. Without contact details, it is
not possible to implement the three-strikes procedure. Instead, the offending comments or tags will
be directly removed by Trove Support Team. Text corrections will be rolled back by Trove Support
Team, where possible, or by Digital. All moderation actions will be recorded in the user moderation
tracking document kept in HPRM.
Roles
• RefTracker monitor – Identify and investigate postings that contravene the Terms of Use and
report them to the Program Manager, Partner Liaison. Once authorisation has been
obtained, send standard communications to the user. Update the user moderation
document with the number of warnings the user has received and relevant details of each
offence. Record all correspondence in HPRM.
• Program Manager, Partner Liaison – investigates and authorise the sending of first warning
• Assistant-Director, Partnerships – authorise the sending of second warning messages. When
notification of a third action is received, obtain consent from the Director, Partnerships to
ban the user account.
• Director, Partnerships – approve the de-activation of a user account on the third warning.
Communication procedure
Communication will be through an email to the account’s associated email address if available. Use
of this generic contact method will ensure that Trove Support Team are not directly identified, and
that they are not made targets of abuse or harassment by disgruntled users.
For email messages
Use RefTracker to send the message.
• Record the RefTracker number in the user moderation document.
First warning
Dear Trove user [Trove username],
Trove Management has received a report that actions carried out on the Trove website attributed to
the username [Trove username] have contravened the Trove Terms of use. On investigation, Trove
Support Team have determined that these actions are in contravention of the Terms.
The actions in question are [summary of actions]
The Terms of use for the Trove service require that [summary of terms of Use section that has been
contravened]. The Terms of use are available in full here:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/general/termsofuse
[Summary of actions taken – e.g. “The offending content has been removed…”]
This is your first warning, if Trove receives another report of actions attributed to the username
[Trove username] that contravene the Trove Terms of Use, you will be issued a second warning. At
the third warning you will receive advice that the user account [Trove username] is being revoked,
and all content that you contributed that contravenes the Trove Terms of Use will be removed from
Trove; and the associated email address de-activated in Trove.
To avoid a second warning you should review and moderate past actions attributed to the username
[Trove username] to ensure they comply with the Trove Terms of use.
This incident is covered by Trove’s Terms of Use, which give us the right to withdraw or suspend the
use of Trove by any person who uses Trove in breach of these terms and conditions.
To contact Trove Management about this matter fill out the Contact form or use the Contact us
button at the top of all web pages on the Trove website. Please note this TroveSupport account is
not monitored.
Thank you for your compliance and cooperation with this matter.
Trove Management
Second warning
Dear Trove user [Trove username],
Trove Management has received a report that actions carried out on the Trove website attributed to
the username [Trove username] have contravened the Trove Terms of use. On investigation, Trove
Support Team have determined that these actions are in contravention of the Terms.
The actions in question are [summary of actions]
The Terms of use for the Trove service require that [summary of terms of Use section that has been
contravened]. The Terms of use are available in full here:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/general/termsofuse
[Summary of actions taken – e.g. “The offending content has been removed…”]
This is your second warning, you were contacted about your first warning on [date]. If Trove receives
another report of actions attributed to the username [Trove username] that contravene the Trove
Terms of use, you will be issued a third and final notification. At the third notification the user
account [Trove username] will be revoked, all content you contributed that contravenes the Trove
Terms of Use will be removed from Trove; and the associated email address de-activated in Trove.
To avoid a third notification you should review and moderate past actions attributed to the
username [Trove username] to ensure they comply with the Trove Terms of Use.
This incident is covered by Trove’s Terms of Use, which give us the right to withdraw or suspend the
use of Trove by any person who uses Trove in breach of these terms and conditions.
To contact Trove Management about this matter fill out the Contact form or use the Contact us
button at the top of all web pages on the Trove website. Please note this TroveSupport account is
not monitored.
Thank you for your compliance and cooperation with this matter.
Trove Management
Third de-activation advice message
Dear Trove user [Trove username],
Trove Management has received a report that actions carried out on the Trove website attributed to
the username [Trove username] have contravened the Trove Terms of use. On investigation, Trove
Support Team have determined that these actions are in contravention of the Terms.
The actions in question are [summary of actions]
The Terms of Use for the Trove service require that [summary of terms of Use section that has been
contravened]. The Terms of use are available in full here:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/general/termsofuse
[Summary of actions taken – e.g. “The offending content has been removed…”]
This incident is covered by Trove’s Terms of Use, which give us the right to withdraw or suspend the
use of Trove by any person who uses Trove in breach of these terms and conditions. This is your final
notification. You were contacted about your first warning on [date] and your second warning on
[date]. As this is the third notification the user account [Trove username] will be revoked in 7 days.
All content you contributed that contravenes the Trove Terms of Use will be removed from Trove;
and the associated email address de-activated in Trove.
To contact Trove Management about this matter fill out the Contact form or use the Contact us
button at the top of all web pages on the Trove website. Please note this TroveSupport account is
not monitored.
Trove Management
Other types of activities requiring moderation
Gaming the system (hall of fame ranking)
Multiple corrections
Users have been able to exploit the hall of fame rankings by creating a text correction with many
lines in one window, then making a completely different set of corrections with many lines in
another window, then, in a sequence clicking save on one, and then save on the other. Both register
as valid text corrections when saved in sequence.
To slow this down a rate limit on text corrections has been added. Users get the ability to perform 1
instantaneous text correction, each correction to the same page should then take 4 seconds to do. If
the user has 5 text corrections waiting to be submitted in the queue they will disregarded.
Email reports about text correction activity
Digital have implemented a report function in Trove where each Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Trove provides 2 reports identifying possible instances where user may have exploited saving
corrects on multiple screens or there may be been some dodge text corrections eg only added text.
This report is sent to [email address].
“White space” corrections
An old version of trove had different white space rules. It added nonbreaking spaces at the end of
each line (&nbsp). Users are exploiting the change of white space rules to get credit for more lines
than correct by entering (&nbsp) as the search term in the newspapers & gazettes advanced search
and selecting 1000+Words as the word count. Then locate an article where the last text correction
was older than 5 years. Make a single character correction in the article and view the result in the
corrections history.
Possible resolutions for consideration by the Business area are:
1. Change newspapers to disregard the nbsp lines when an article is edited
2. Bulk update all legacy text corrections to remove the unnecessary white spaces
3. Prevent users searching for non-breaking spaces, so they can’t find articles to correct. If it’s
done by Ops, in the way new trove works it will show up as broken searches in the discovery
user interface
Use of profanity in Usernames
When setting up new Trove accounts users are able to select their own usernames. Some users
have been using profanity. When identified the process is to request Digital to :
• Deactivate the user account
• Rollback any text corrections
• Issue a warning
Digital have implemented a report function in Trove where each Monday, Wednesday and Friday a
list of all new users in the previous 48 hours is sent to [email address] for Trove Support Team to
review and idenfity any usernames that cause concern.

Appendix 1
This list is non-exhaustive and many of the actions will be committed by the same user.
• We need a moderation tool that captures moderation deletions and writes out to a database table for reporting.
• Capability to see all user generated content for one account and flag content for action
User Behaviour Features Examples Current Resolution Suggested Resolution
Interpersonal abuse Corrections, tags,
comments, lists, flickr
Remove the text. Issue a warning. Remove the text.
Issue a warning.
User timeout for a specific period
Threats of violence Corrections, tags,
comments, lists, flickr
NIL Refer to legal for further advice and
legal obligations.
Defamatory posts Corrections, tags,
comments, lists, flickr
Remove the text.
Issue a warning.
Remove the text.
Issue a warning.
Suspend user access to specific
functions (tags, comments etc).
User timeout for a specific period
Deleting content Text correction https://trove.nla.gov.au/
newspaper/article/1424
16719
Rollback
Issue a warning
User timeout for a specific period
Ignore mass text deletions
(deleting characters without
replacements)
Remove anonymous corrections
(50/50)
Limiting functions for anonymous users
(change characters, cannot delete or
remove lines)
User Behaviour Features Examples Current Resolution Suggested Resolution
Stalking other users Corrections, tags,
comments, lists
https://trove.nla.gov.au/
newspaper/article/1424
16719
Issue a warning.
Remove text.
Remove the text.
Issue a warning.
Recommend make profile private
Vandalising text Corrections https://trove.nla.gov.au/
newspaper/article/1842
92530
Rollback
Issue a warning (known user)
Ignore mass text deletions
(deleting characters without
replacements)
See suspect corrections button (based
on list of words/ certain time)
Historical
Revisionism
Comments/Tags https://trove.nla.gov.au/
newspaper/article/6463
4025
Contextual analysis When this falls into other categories
take action (for example defamatory)
Breach of copyright Comment/tags Refer to takedown page Refer to takedown page
Spamming Corrections, tags,
comments, lists, flickr
Remove text.
Issue a warning.
Ban user.
Unsolicited contact Work emails Issue warning when evidence of
complaint Refer users to Trove contact us page
Recommend users think about safety
online (Outreach)
Irrelevant
comments
Comments, tags Inoffensive leave it Inoffensive leave it
Text correcting
outside of rules
Corrections Contact user to refer them to guidelines Contact user to refer them to
guidelines
User Behaviour Features Examples Current Resolution Suggested Resolution
Profanity Corrections, tags,
comments, lists,
flickr, usernames
Rollback
Delete text
Issue a warning (known user)
Rollback
Delete text
Issue a warning (known user)
Trolling user
generated content
Lists, comments https://trove.nla.gov.au/
list?id=62231
Delete text on request Give people the ability to remove
comments on lists
Get rid of all star ratings
Gaming the system
(whitespaces,
punctuation,
capitalization, single
letter edits)
Corrections NIL Further refinement of text correction
counts
Masking usernames
You have corrected this article in
search results

Yours sincerely,

Bobby Trenwith