2020 Moderator Election Chatroom

And I find it unfortunate that this line is blurred.

@quid Many problem statement questions are unequivocally clear, yet people close them simply because they are problem statements.

So yes, every "needs context" question could be closed for "needing details or clarity", but the "needs context" close dialog gives the asker more information about how they can improve their question.

To any candidate dropping by: When considering what is proper contextt, (how) do you take the level of the question into account?

> Homework questions can be on-topic when they are useful to a broader audience. If you intend to modify your question, please read the links above carefully before editing. Note that answers with complete solutions may be deleted!

@MattSamuel a main issue is that "the problem is clear" is not a binary notion. Clear to whom? To somebody? To everybody? Given what effort? (I mean effort on the part of the reader. )

But, we should be more careful (including yours truly) not to make calls on a person. Their posts on this site OTOH.

@user21820 Wow, that's weirdly impressive. From my perspective, if a user goes north of about 200 rep, I push a fair bit harder for context when I engage them in comments. Anyway, I'm off to bed.

@user21820 I don't think there's anything wrong with flagging something like that, if I notice a consistent trend that's suspicious. The nice thing is that this is not something the asker needs to know about. I trust the moderation team not to leap to unfounded conclusions about the asker and their motivation more than I trust the average user.

@amWhy It's not about what you said, it's about how these comments tend to be interpreted, by people other than me. I know you don't mean anything nasty or discouraging by them. It's just that profiling the motivations of users based on flawed measures, like posting PSQs and being unresponsive in comments, can cause miscommunications like this.

@user21820 I actually don't think it's far-fetched at all, and I'd rather err on the side of not crushing their spirits.

@amWhy This attitude is part of what concerns me, and it's shockingly common. How/why are we profiling users like this? You don't know, based on a PSQ or 3, whether a person is just looking for a ready-made solution; they could easily just be looking for help. We should be treating all users with a strong presumption that they're here to learn, even when they post a PSQ.

At that point, the asker has no incentive to improve their question, and the overall quality of the site declines.

@user21820 has repeatedly pointed out that they are quiet lenient towards askers who stick around to answer questions in the comments. I, also, try to help askers who respond. I think that most of the community is happy to help askers who make an effort.

@user1729 The merits of those claims depend on the folks making them. If a user comes here to have their homework done for them, I'm happy to know they go on to say that they won't ask questions here because users are "too harsh on them" (i.e., They wouldn't do my homework for me!!!)

As I see it, the ideal practice should be [Question posted] -> [Question closed, with comments] -> [Interaction] -> [Question edited] -> [Question reopened].

But once someone posts a full solution, all interaction from the asker is already tainted by the presence of the solution. In most cases, the asker just vanishes with the solution in hand and never bothers to respond to any comments.

@user21820 So your "clear evidence" is mostly surmise? Although I do not think PSQs are acceptable, I also do not think it is helpful to muddy the water with claims of "clear evidence" like this.

(Similarly, either my wife or I often help my mother-in-law to work out how to take in her knitting in the most even manner, which is essentially a modulo problem)

@JyrkiLahtonen I always had a hope that MSE would end up being a place where non-math people could ask math questions that come up in real life. I have on many occasions helped my dad with some simple geometry problems when he wanted to build something and needed to work out the correct measurements for example.

@FakeMod I'm not clear that the only other candidate as any better of a record in terms of flags and reviews.

@user1729 "it sound like a moderator's role is to be some sort of political leader" Indeed it is, that's why we are elected. If it was just about busywork why do that?

@user1729 Beyond the summarized "human exception handlers" (see here for more information), what precisely is a moderator's role is usually not so clear. Indeed, we as a team often have conflicting points of view about that. This is also true for most other teams as far as I'm aware. What makes the teams functional is the ability to reach some harmony and avoid gridlock even amidst conflicting opinions.

@user1729 That's a political statement in itself, regarding what you think a mod should be. No one in a position dealing with users and policies and negotiations is strictly outside the realm of politics. "Politics" is not a dirty word, though you imply it is beneath mods.

@Zacky Males are also sometimes anonymous, so it's not just women who choose anonymous usernames. In any case, one problem is our culture, and one's success on this site, is a huge motivation for women to remain anonymous. I still regret having declared I am a woman. I think my standing here would be much better had I not. How do we create a culture on this site, that does not, usually indirectly, undermine a woman's credibility, when she openly declares she is a woman??

There's an election going on. What's happening and how does it work?

2020 Moderator Election Q&A – Question Collection

A moderator from India would also enhance the cultural balance.

@Brahadeesh you are welcome! I think you would be a very good moderator. Bonus points for being in a timezone where we have no moderator; it's all Europe and the Americas.

On the time, since I commented on that one meta, it is desirable to be regularly active and to pay attention to what is happening and to get involved when needed. It is not needed to spend hours over hours every day. Even most of the more active moderators are much less active than the most active non-mod users.

SO MUCH TECHNOBABBLE.

I believe now i can call it a day and retard to bed, night users!

Congratulations to the winner Xander Henderson! You can view the results online via OpaVote.

The election page should have auto-refresh feature for the last few minutes upto final results

Is @AsafKaragila going to do us proud again with almost instantaneous results of this election? :D He's served us very well in past elections, even beats the most savvy of CMs to the punch!

@user400188 I likely would have asked for clarification regarding the meaning of $\oplus$, and voted to close for lack of clarity.

@XanderHenderson Election winners tend to be highly correlated with highest rep candidates, based on historical data. It hasn't been an absolute rule (actually I was one of the exceptions) but there's definitely a trend.

@SamuelLiew what abuse?

so that it won't be subject to abuse

@CalvinKhor If we merged our accounts, the score would be 36! Let's do it.

@StrangerForever Try "what is my candidate score"

@quid Well I don't see any problem with justified endorsements, but I'd think that just saying "I voted (or will vote) for XXX." without any reason whatsoever wouldn't contribute meaningfully to the election.

During the nomination phase it encouraged to run; now it says it is too late.

@hardmath Try "what is my candidate score". I actually don't see the bot here but maybe there are too many users

I can't confirm or deny that. I won't spoil the names of the nominees I voted for. :)

I've voted for @Asaf

This is a test to see (what is my candidate score) if extraneous data would be filtered out