Nominate temporary moderators for this site here

Question

The provisional moderators were appointed. For more information, see here: Pro Tem Moderators... Activate

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How do you become a provisional moderator for this site?

Soon after the site launches into "public beta," the Community Team will appoint provisional moderators from this community until the community is ready to hold its own elections (once it graduates from beta).

Deep engagement in the community's development is required for all temporary moderator candidates. All potential candidates must:

• Have a reasonably high reputation score to indicate active, consistent participation.
• Show an interest in their meta’s community-building activities.
• Lead by example, showing patience and respect for their fellow community members in everything they write.
• Exhibit those intangible traits discussed in A Theory of Moderation.

Bonus points for:

• Members with participation in both meta and the parent site (i.e. interest in both community building and expertise in the field).
• Area 51 participation, social network referrals, or blogging about the site.
• Members who have already shown an interest or ability to promote their community.

Candidates will be contacted and three of them will be selected to act as provisional Moderators until the community holds formal elections after the Beta period. Besides the normal abilities of a Moderator, they will:

1. Have access to a special chat room where we will collectively work through the challenges of moderation and community self-policing.
2. Organize the process of selecting the site’s attributes (domain names, design issues, the [help center], etc.).
3. Rally community support and drive the mission of getting publicity for the site.

Essentially, they will have the ear of the Stack Exchange team for anything we can do to help their sites succeed!

Nominating users to serve as moderators for the beta

For each user that you would like to nominate,

• post an answer containing the URLs to both of the user's main and meta profiles on this site
• optionally, link to the user's Area 51 profile or a profile from another site, or add a reason why you'd like him/her to moderate during beta
• self-nominations (i.e. posting your own profiles) are allowed and even encouraged
• post each user as a separate answer, and add multiple answers if you wish to nominate multiple users

Additionally, if someone nominates you, please edit the answer to indicate your approval (or declination). Optionally, add a paragraph or two about yourself.

If you downvote a particular nomination, you are encouraged to share why you did so in the comments, though you are not required to do so. Optionally, you may do the same for upvotes.

For more information, see this blog post.

Answer 1

I'm going to nominate myself

profile for Nick Wilde on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/454046.png?theme=dark During the private beta I ended up as the 8th most active member and the 7th highest rep; so I should be fairly recognizable to any who were in the private beta and any of all our new members who read back through answers and questions. I have been a member of SO for a bit over 2 1/2 years; mostly I have been a lurker getting the information I need although if I see an question that I can answer with fairly high quality then I'll definitely answer. As well as a reasonable number of answers I have asked a couple questions in the SE network (not counting here).

I also have experience moderating in a few different (relatively small) forums for PyFFI/Niftools for example and as a respected programmer/modder/community member of the Bethesda ElderScrolls modding community.

I will always try to improve posts before closing but I do not have any problem with taking solid action if the situation warrants.

(Comments are always appreciated even if negative for any of my posts - I will truly appreciate it and take it as a lesson/an area that I need to improve on/whatever is appropriate).

Nick

Answer 2

profile for Undo on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/1703573.png

I would like to nominate Undo, as he seems very helpful and not obnoxious even though he has a lot of reputation.

Main: https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/users/46/undo
Meta: https://softwarerecs.meta.stackexchange.com/users/46/undo

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Accept

First: I'm quite honored that you would choose me as a not obnoxious, helpful user. Thanks! I shall strive to continue being not obnoxious and helpful.

This site is special. It needs and is going to need quite a bit more guidance than most sites. I don't have much experience moderating at all - I would need to learn on the job. I'm confident that I can figure it out with the help of the Community team and other mods, but it might take a few weeks.

I'm decently versed in the standard SE network, so I know a bit about how things work. Much of my knowledge about policy (mostly around close reasons), though, doesn't apply very well to this site. It's a learning experience for everyone. Especially me. Again, much learning required.

I was somewhat unsure as to whether to accept this at first. I really want to see this site succeed, for a number of different reasons, and I don't really know if I'm the best person to do it. I see it as a challenge, though, and I'll do my absolute best for the site if chosen, and my absolute best if not.

Answer 3

I'd like to nominate Gilles.

profile for Gilles on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/164368.png

He's been very active on Meta, and all his answers are quite well thought out. He's also quite experienced on the network, and already a moderator on several sites (which is quite important on a site like this)

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Conditional accept

I was a moderator on Science Fiction and Fantasy for its first two years. Recommendations is a topic we struggled with. I'm also active on several computer tech sites (Stack Overflow, formerly on Super User, Unix & Linux and a few more). So yes, I can contribute experience.

I'm undecided whether to accept. I think this site can only succeed if it has serious quality control. Ideally, the community will naturally apply this quality control. As a user, I intend to vote to close questions that I consider too broad and flag answers that I consider too uninformative for deletion. If I become a moderator, I will apply this quality control, binding vote or not — I'd be heavier-handed than I've been on other sites.

I'm willing to spend the time and effort, but only if this site is going in (what I consider to be) the right direction, and only if I'm not doing it alone. We probably need 5 mods rather than the usual 3, and with an agreement to enforce quality controls.

Answer 4

profile for Journeyman Geek on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/343080.png

I'm self nominating myself, primarily cause I suspect the SU/Root Access crowd would do it anyway (or will nag me till I do). I'm just starting to get warmed up on obtaining mad reputation getting into things here, but I have significant reputation on Superuser, as well as a good working relationship with the mods there, on SF as well as AU. Considering that there's overlap, and we're going to have people telling people 'ask this at SR.SE, thats a pretty useful thing.

I'll leave it to others to describe how I meta moderate, simply cause they would see things I won't. I do try my best to be polite, and steer people in the right direction even if they're horribly wrong.

I've helped shape the current policy on software recommendations on superuser, amongst other things, and try to be active on meta. I've a decent idea how things work on stackexchange, and a very good grasp on the sites we're likely going to end up talking to when cross site moderation issues occur.

Here are my main SR.SE, meta.SR.SE and SE network profiles

Answer 5

I'd like to nominate Seth

profile for Seth on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/1208323.png

He's been a huge part of helping shape the community so far. He's said before that he would really need to think about it before accepting a nomination here, and I believe that the best mods are those that need to be (ever so gently) arm-twisted into it.

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Decline

I'd love to be a moderator here and help define our policies, but I feel I don't have the time that it is going to take to moderate this site well.

I am grateful for all the support that has been shown on my nomination.

Answer 6

profile for Caleb on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/120635.png

I first encountered Caleb on Unix & Linux where he impressed me by the quality of his answers. He also has an impressive record of editing, flagging, leaving helpful comments and other positive contributions. He is very level-headed, and has amply demonstrated his ability to moderate a difficult site (starting as a nominated moderator during the beta phase, then going on to be elected). Caleb has already visibly contributed good answers and guidance on this site. If he is willing, he would be a great participant in the moderator team.

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Edit, Caleb Speaking...

Thanks for the kind words and vote of confidence. I would consider accepting this post if –and only if– SE's vision for how this site should be moderated jives with my own. Obviously it is at their discretion to appoint pro-tempore moderators, so this is easy.

I foresee that this site is going to be a bug-bear to moderate. Frankly I'm not even 100% sold on the idea working, but it's worth a try. You can get a sense of what I think questions and answers should look like from my comments. I was traveling and missed most of the private beta, so I am late to the meta party, but still not afraid to disagree. If a heavy hand is not kept on this site, I think it will get out of hand quickly. That means setting the minimum quality bar higher than most sites and enforcing it.

I have also been acting as a pro-tem on Biblical Hermeneutics where our main challenge has been attracting enough attention that real experts got interested. To do this we have been babying along even low quality posters, helping them rewrite each individual question and answer. This has finally started to pay off as real experts have started participating, but it's been a long road. I'm not interested in that kind of time investment here as the subject matter is not of that much interest to me. I did the vision casting thing on Christianity (count my meta posts) and it takes a lot of time and brain cells to see clearly where things should go and then educate people into getting on board with going there. For this topic I would me more interested in playing bouncer.

I would be willing to take a post here if:

• There are to be more than the usual 3 mods.
• There are one or two others on the crew that are vision casters.¹
• The need is for extra experienced hands to help enforce minimum standards.
• We are going to play hard ball with low quality stuff by…
  • …quickly closing questions that aren't up to snuff and leaving the impetus on OP's to fix them.
  • …outright deleting answers early rather that late that don't do what answers are supposed to do.

We joke around about mods being power hungry overlords. In this case I think it should be true in a sense. This isn't a time to play too nice. One can still be respectful and professional of course, but if you are looking for a mod to comment on all posts and say "Aww, there there now, you'll put more effort into following our guidelines next time right?" then I'm not your man.

_{¹ Basically this needs to be a good-cop bad-cop routine and I'm mostly going to be into the latter. I suggest we need at least two of each.}

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Answer 7

I'd like to nominate Izzy (meta profile). He has been one of the most helpful and active users on this site since it started private beta, both in meta and on main. I think he would make a great moderator for this site.

http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/1540386.png

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Accept

Eying the nominations since they've been brought to my attention approximately 2 weeks ago, I was tempted to go for it and not to go for it at the same time, so I don't take this easily. For one, being a mod, my votes to close/delete postings are binding as soon as I hit the button – and I'm rather the "community guy" who loves the peer principle used at SE for "normal users". Thankfully, there are always multiple mods, so not all of them must share the same strong points (as long as they complement each other to do so "in concert").

As pointed out in Gilles' nomination post (and the comments to it), I agree this site requires a "strong hand". That's probably not me. But a strong hand is not the only thing needed. Picking up Caleb's cop example, as moderator I will rather play the "good cop". I was asked to candidate on the 2013 mod election at Android.SE for a.o. exactly that reason: being an intermediator, conciliate when two members collide, finding a consensus. Having Gilles, Caleb, or both (preferred!) on one side (and Undo on the other), I'm quite confident I can contribute my gifts.

I feel honored being nominated by you, and hope to live up to your expectations (should I be put on the post). I definitely want this site to succeed, which is why I put all my weight in here from the day I joined (and even set my "regular site" back a little). Whether becoming a mod or (a) not, that goal stays, and I will do my very best to help reaching it.

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^{Just minutes after I added my "conditional accept", Gilles and Undo have been placed into charge. So I feel I have to remove the "conditional" from my end :)}

Answer 8

I'd like to nominate myself.

profile for Angelo Neuschitzer on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/472669.png

I came to SO 2 1/2 years ago and after learning the rules there I soon started to read the questions and answers on meta to get a feeling on how such communities organize themselves. When I read about the SW-Rec proposal I instantly committed myself because I thought this part to be missing on SO. Now here I flocked to meta more than to the main site at first and want to continue my active participation in the community building process (which I will, being moderator or not :))

My communication style is (usually) geared toward finding a consent or at least really trying to understand what the position of the participants are even if this takes its time.

Answer 9

profile for juergen d on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/279943.png

I'd like to nominate juergen d, the original proposer of this site. In my eyes, he knows the best on how to moderate the site; otherwise, how would he have the audacity to propose it in the first place?

• https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/users/135/juergen-d
• https://softwarerecs.meta.stackexchange.com/users/135/juergen-d

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Decline

I would love to moderate this site, but I think we really need an experienced moderator who also has a lot of time to moderate it, which I currently don't have. Thank you very much for the nomination.