10:03 AM
@Shog9 I sort of gravitated to Ask Different because I found that on a lot of other support forums, like the official Apple Discussion pages there was far too much competition to "win" the question. Over here, people support other peoples input, and don't try to go toe to toe with it. I like that, because I dislike online ego.
@Shog9 I have used those tools which are available to me by reputation, and have edited questions and answers belonging to other users where appropriate. I've used the flag tools, but relatively sparingly as I believe in allowing the OP opportunity to make changes their own way. Without being able to see a list of flagged messages It's hard to do much more, but I have by chance come across the odd post with an edit waiting for approval which I have acted on.
@RebeccaChernoff First thing I would do if elected, would be to investigate exactly what extra capabilities are available to me, and make it a point of learning to use each one appropriately as soon as possible, without going on a massive power splurge - there will be 3 new Mods all vying to make their mark, and we shouldn't be racing to the flags to prove a point
@MichaelMrozek I see flagging as a last resort. It's not fair to produce a huge pile of work for the Mods when you are able to attempt to effect the change you think is required without the mod tools. The mods have the power, but we should all share the responsibility to an extent, and I believe that a comment here and there directed at the OP suggesting improvements is often better than pointing a mod at the question...
@MichaelMrozek (cont) ... who may well just do the same initially, as well as having the fringe benefits of fostering a peer to peer attitude of mutual respect rather than a tiered system of importance.
@kiamlaluno I don't think that Ask Different has many active "problems", just a steady stream of occasional inappropriate usage that are nothing more than minor business as usual cleanup tasks. I see very little Spam, abusive content or vindictive voting, but this may be because the current mods are doing such a great job
@kiamlaluno (cont) ... One of the things I would like to see change is the relatively low voting ration that we seem to have, but I don't see that as a problem as such
@RebeccaChernoff Cleaning the toilets, polishing the mirrors - in short leaving the place as you would wish to find it ;)
@MichaelMrozek Mods are will act like a giant gravitational force attracting the worst that the community has. You can't please all of the people, all of the time, and I would expect to get some spikes of problem users. As per the blog we found only yesterday abusing Nathan and Kyle. Best you can do is be consistent, and never get personal. You've a role to fulfil, not a name to make.
@kiamlaluno I think it's key, because the Meta community is by it's very nature populated with people who want more than just to ask a question and get some help. It's filled by people who want to help more than ask. The key to moderation I feel is consistency, and this means being consistent in your own actions, but also aligning your methods and approach with the other mods.
@kiamlaluno The mods do not (or should not) set the tone, they gauge the tone from people in Meta, and work to make changes in a way that has community support. I've asked and answered a number of Meta questions, some practical (CSS bugs) some hypothetical (Non bumping edits a good idea?)
@WheatWilliams I have posted and earned a sliver of reputation in (in order of appearance!) Wordpress Answers, Gaming, Parenting and Science Fiction/Fantasy. Mainly as a bottom feeding question asker without giving much back yet.
@Daniel It's easy to count flags and create a formula to score candidates, but I think that the most important activity is interaction with users, and the attitude you show when you do it. A bazillion answers is wonderful, but it mainly shows how clever you are, and knowing a shedload about every Apple product ever doesn't mean that you are able to communicate well with people who may be upset or offended with something you or someone else has done
@GeorgeEdison I would avoid getting personal, and entering into a tit for tat edit/delete cycle with the user. The moment I see it as being directed at me, I would step back and request another mod to deal with the user and to amend any inappropriate comments etc.
@RebeccaChernoff I see this place as a learning experience, the users are sort of in class, nor on parole, and so if need be you direct them time and time again to improve their answers, providing suggestions, or making edits and commenting on why you changed the answer. Downvoting should be used, but as a carrot not a stick.
@RebeccaChernoff (cont) ... If this was consistently happening, I would invite the user into chat and engage in conversation about the site, and how best they can integrate into it. If they are doing it a lot it proves their enthusiasm to contribute, so they need encouragement to improve.
@MichaelMrozek The key to the soft questions like the Community Wikis is allowing them to run their course. It's no good allowing a bad one to start, then stopping it after 2 days. Some are great (Tiny things), others straight up wrong (Making safari perfect). I would (and have) propose that this sort of thing could be taken on by the mods, canvassing opinion on topics via meta/chat etc...
@MichaelMrozek (cont) ... And only allowing them to start after they have been pre-vetted, thus allowing the enforcement of strict rules of formatting and language etc. Allowing anyone to make one, which is then turned into a CW results on patchy questions.
@kiamlaluno I am not sure that I would ever "see" this, and would hope that automated system would pick on this sort of issue far faster than expecting a mod to be on top of the activity of every user. I wouldn't look at every question and might easily miss such behaviour as I don't intend to change my question surfing habits other than as directed by relevant flagging et. I can even foresee a time when this might be reasonable, if the questions in, er, question, are all on an obscure tag
@RebeccaChernoff I've asked 7 questions, and to be brutally honest, haven't got the answers I wanted on most of them. But that's not why I come on here, I use this site in the same way other might sit and do a crossword of an evening, it's a minor challenge that allows me some focussed time to dabble in things which usually results in learning something I didn't previously know. I don't know half the things I answer with until I research them because the question interests me.
@Shog9 I have spent my entire working life baiting users of other computing infrastructures in a light hearted way. Unix guys hate windows. Windows guys hate Apple. Everyone hates Mainframes. It's part of the fabric of identity to be able to have a bit of fun. They key to me, is that you can't really take part unless you know both sides of the story. And as per my candidacy bio, I have used more OS's than I have fingers and toes, in the last year alone!
@Shog9 (cont) ... In short, it's not an Issue for me. Mac OS X isn't even my favourite OS, I'm not precious about it, there is good and bad in every OS, some things in Windows I love, some things in OS X I hate, I can even find things to like about Ubuntu although I am largely anti-Linux given that my professional life includes 13 years of "proper" Unix like Solaris and HPUX etc.
