@R.M Thank you very much for your answers.

okay, one plane travel and three landing attempts later, I am back to normal… I'll be going through the questions, replying to each…

it feels a bit weird to do that in an empty room :)

there is some echo… echo… echo… echo…

@SjoerdC.deVries if the community feels it is an issue, or if we get actual feedback from newcomers (in chat, in comments or on meta) that this is an issue, I think discussion on chat or on meta would be appropriate

@TimStone a comment first… then, if the discussion is heated, the next step might be a super-ping to ask them to come to the chat and discuss it (if the discussion is ongoing, there are around to respond to the super-ping)

@TimStone if they don't respond to comment nor come to chat, they I would migrate the comment thread into chat… it's actually a nice item of the mod toolbox

@SjoerdC.deVries My personnal opinion is that my real-life ID is no more useful to people who interact with me than my SE ID. I am defined by what I do here, and all I do here is recorded under my account (well, technically, it's various interlinked accounts with the same name). That's all people should care about.

@SjoerdC.deVries I would personally object to a policy of requiring mods to use their real ID (doing it site-wide, with mods and users alike, would be a different matter)

@SjoerdC.deVries I have an anecdote relating to this issue, showing that real ID can sometimes be detrimental: my IRL id is not so much a secret, and I have given it out in Chemistry chat sometimes… then, one user on the site who is a student, started to call me "professor" and use a much more formal language, as if I were his university professor… I found it somewhat detrimental to the "easy going" chat talk we usually have

regarding time commitment: I am Paris-based, which is UTC+2 (in summer)… I will moderate in two bursts: one part of my morning routine, which is around 30 minutes (might be less depending on needs, but can hardly be more); the second part of my evening routine, after kids are in bed: that is usually unlimited

I travel for work a few weeks a year, and then my pattern can be more erratic…

@GraceNote moderation chat room is the tool for that… it's very useful. Also, I think when mod don't really agree to a decision (or when there is a strong dissent), it's very useful to take input from the community: see what people commented on the question, if they voted to close/reopen (after all, the community will in time be the primary mean of questions closing), maybe even ask in chat (or in meta, if the issue is general enough)

@GraceNote it would strongly depend on the nature of the flag… but overall, a post getting a single flag and noöne feeling strongly enough about it to take action would seem to me like a situation where no action might be the best course of action… I would then clear the flag, and drop a note about it on the mod chatroom

@GraceNote on the other hand, if noöne's taken action because it's hotly debated, I would fall back on my previous answer… look for feedback from the community

@GraceNote mod tools for non-moderators are a crucial part of building the community… not only because it spreads the load, but even more so because it gets other people involved in policy matters, which need to be discussed and decided by more than three people

I've tried to answer starred questions on all topics (some are really close to one another)… if you feel I forgot a few things, please tell me. I'll now go read the full transcript to get a better idea of how the whole event went.

Hey F'x

@GraceNote hi

~

Thanks for taking the time to answer @F'x, I'll pull your answers into the digest in just a bit :)

@TimStone well, thank you for taking time to write that