So, yeah

Basically, in the formative stages, you'll be a bit more active on meta than most

The rest of the community slowly loses interest in meta, so it's better to be active in answering any issues brought up there

(sorry, broken connection)

Another thing is that you may get to have the pleasure (I'm serious, it is a pleasure during beta) to go through every post that comes in, and give personal love to it

So, initially, it's just comments, edits, and metapost.

@ManishEarth and how many positions are there for the site like SEx.SE?

and cheers, I appreciate taking your time for this :)

Blender got 4

Space Ex is pretty active

So you may even skip the initial super-inactivity period

@ManishEarth So in your opinion, should I accept the nomination, or think about it more?

@TildalWave Later on, it will just be reviewing in the queues. Near the end, you probably will get to hand off a lot of that to the community (don't count on it, Physics only managed to do that after December's election where I started pushing the community)

@TildalWave Accept. Beta sites are quite chilled out for moderation. It's very fun, there aren't any stress-inducing problems, and you'll grow to love the community

@ManishEarth This is what I already do anyway,... how about meta discussions, would I have support in the mods chat (forgot the name) and maybe guidance, if required? Or is that something mods of a particular site agree between themselves?

@TildalWave Yep

The mod chat is a regular bar

One sec

connection hiccup

@ManishEarth Yup that one :) OK, then I think you've helped me cover all the angles, thanks a bunch :) I'll prolly decide by tonight... would be nice to hear from @RoryAlsop also tho, as he's running for the position there.

@TildalWave About meta discussions, they usually go on as normal. Sometimes mods pre-discuss before opening a new (or addressing an existing) meta post. Or in the case of an iffy main site close.

Close discussions can be (should be preferably) held in the main chat

@TildalWave Happy to help!

@ManishEarth How about handling disputes? I try to be impartial so far, but being a mod means you have to take sides, and know what each side is exactly. It will be a site that I imagine will have a great deal of non-experienced members... I guess what I'm asking is, do you ever get in a position you have doubts who to side with? (I'm not asking about trolls e.t.c., more with disputes regarding policy of the site, and established routine of moderating it)

@TildalWave /takes off Chem hat. /puts on Phy hatYep. In that case you can discuss with other mods. If still unsure, think it over yourself, or say you're unsure

Once you look into it

Usually person vs person disputes are pretty clear

We've had a couple (2 to be exact) on Chem.

Policy disputes can get icky

In my experience

In that case, just give good arguments

As a mod you're not supposed to "take sides", you apply the rules. If you're unsure how, ask for help

@ManishEarth no no, I didn't mean personal disputes, those are always way out of line and should be stopped ASAP by any means necessary, preferably putting both involved parties on hold until they cool down their passions. That's not an issue, it's just some agreed on procedure to follow. What I meant is when somebody is also right, but stands in the opposite corner of the established practice... "the fight club" type ones and you as a mod are by necessity the bad guy for being "the establishment"

@TildalWave Ah. As a Physics mod, I have good experience with that

@ManishEarth How do you handle it? You ignore it as much as you can, or do you interfere with the usual "it's a community driven website, you're one member of this community"...?

@TildalWave Sort of. Try to stay away from making similar accusations, and handle each case as if it was asked by a different person.

I mean, when do you tell someone they should hold their horses and appeal to their sense of self-moderation?

@TildalWave When they start breaking the rules

@ManishEarth The rule #1? (be nice) ...

Yeah

You can also leave "friendly advice" comments

"Please try to avoid being aggressive and political in your meta posts [...]"

OK thanks.... I think I'm starting to appreciate it a lot better what means being a mod. I had some questions now I've never had before. Still, it's not a lone gunman type of a job, so I might be making too much of it

damn, missed it :( now only mods can read it LOL

@TildalWave it got double-posted. Same as last one

@TildalWave Note: as a SEx mod, these problems shouldn't appear until maybe after beta. Then again, ELL has some such problems.

@TildalWave It's good that you're unsure about it though -- if you just want the diamond, you may not be suited for it. I was pretty unsure about Chem, and very unsure about Physics.

@ManishEarth Right... OK, I guess I won't really know unless I try. Thanks Manish! :)

yw :D

Happy to help out here

Hope to see your username turn blue

@ManishEarth Yes, that's too true sometimes, glad I'm not really hanging out on sites that would have such mods :) but I did see a few like you describe around, tho

@ManishEarth Cheers! :) OK... back to dee-em-zeee na-na-na-naa na-na-naaaa :))

@TildalWave Not really seen any myself, really. I've seen bad mods, and people who wantwantwant the diamond (but don't get it), but not any wantwantwants who are currently diamonds

But I certainly can't claim to know all mods

@ManishEarth Well I got an impression there's at least one like that on the Android Enthusiasts ... but I could be wrong, I'm really not that frequently there to form a complete opinion. But I understand what you meant, in a nutshell the e-pen extension ones, to put it bluntly.

e-pen? O_0

@ManishEarth slang for virtual manhood ;)

Oooh :P