2016 Physics Stack Exchange Election

Welcome all! This room is intended as a place to converse with candidates, discuss moderator traits, etc. For general discussion related to Physics, go here: chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/71/the-h-bar

Please read the FAQ on what it means to be a moderator

@heather ooh, cool. Sure, you are relatively new to the site and that does have an impact on your suitability as a moderator, but in the way you participate, you demonstrate a lot of the qualities I think a good moderator should have. So what I'm saying is, we could do a lot worse ;-)

@AlfredCentauri I hope you and yours will ride safely through this storm.

While moderators don't get to set site policy, it's good to know where you stand since mods often drive discussion of it. If you had the power to reshape the homework policy, what changes would you make, if any?

What, in your opinion, is the purpose of closing, as opposed to protection, locking, and deletion, or simple downvoting?

@tpg2114 Given that, how likely are you to unilaterally close a question that you judge as purely check-my-work?

If you could choose one competitor to be elected, not yourself, who would it be and why?

@Danu Most of the objections appear to me to be a) widly hyperbolic and b) not related to my ability to moderate at all. I've clearly said that I will not use my unilateral close votes as liberally as I use my ordinary close votes right now in my questionnaire answers. What I do with my up- and downvotes is entirely my personal choice since no one will ever know whether a vote on their post was cast by a moderator or not.

@user104372 I think three candidates removed involuntarily and one withdrew voluntarily.

@barrycarter Moderators should not make policy. That's not their job description. It sounds to me as if you are solely running to change policy, but policy-making is the job of the general community. The mods are supposed to assist and guide that process, but they are not supposed to make actual decisions about policy.

@AlfredCentauri Be safe, good luck

It's better to not vote than to elect somebody who will do damage

This year the voting is already twice the other elections combined.

Tip: To get the current number of cast votes, see how many constituent badges have been awarded, and subtract 255 votes from previous elections...Update Oct 10th, 2016: Oh, that info is also available on the election page.

Do you have any experience moderating other internet (or real-life) forums or platforms?

@Jim It seemed that your answer to that meta post sort of ignored the question and was more of general description of your opinions. I think a one way in which this site can improve is with better, more focused meta questions and answers. Do you think you can contribute to that area specifically?

OK, since we're on homework, maybe (I hope) this can help provide useful insights. From the list of homework-like questions voted on earlier this year, are there specific examples that were heavily downvoted that you think shouldn't be, or vice-versa?

@AlfredCentauri So you don't see a problem with not being active in meta, if I read that correctly. Do you feel that it's important to contribute to policy decisions? Do you want to be active in this respect? If not, how will you react if policies are implemented that you think are very bad... Implement them anyways?

@Jim How would you react to a user that got offended at one of said bad puns?

and, if so, will you be able to leave those views aside, or to clearly differentiate between your moderator-hat persona and your personal views? As a harder expansion, Can you point to instances in the past where you have already done this?

Kicking off of this one: Are there specific site policies that you disagree with personally, or that you're uncomfortable with?

@AlfredCentauri With respect, that's not a particularly useful answer. To be clear: What is your view of the duties and responsibilities of a moderator? What role do they play on the site (and what roles don't they play), and what actions do they typically take?

In your opinion, what do moderators do?

As a moderator, you will see some... questionable stuff. Is this compatible with you and your workplace?

Please post questions in bold, and candidates, when you are answering a question, reply to the message in which the question was asked.

I can understand his cause. He's trying to make the site more available to an underrepresented majority that is only loosely participating due to some strict moderation policies. That majority might as well be part of a more broader community if moderation policies changed, which in turn can lead to meta post that change the overall orientation of this site.

That's like kicking someone out of a house so that others can move in

ACM won?? I think I'll leave this site till next elections

... so where's the results?

I guess I should probably get all those unrelated messages out of this room, huh

Has anybody here discussed the ratio of down- to up-votes cast by the candidates? Notably three of the candidates have cast more than 1 downvote for every 2 upvotes. I think this is a sign of poor support for both good and bad post. IMHO, a downvote is not constructive and does not necessarily encourage better posts and should be used with great care.

@user104372 that would be the sort of thing we consider inappropriate, unfounded speculation

But see how it changes with time. Like, did the chat session result in more voting or changed voting?

The election period is 7 days, but was the election decided by the 3rd?

I wouldn't have been surprised if JohnRennie did, although with the amount of rep he has, he pretty much has access to most of the tools anyway

@Danu Yeah, and Emilio

@Danu Even better -- I was the first to vote and you were the second ;)

@Danu Here it's worth clarifying: I am relatively active in the policy discussions (as a reader, if not as a poster).

@EmilioPisanty Ideally, a moderator's job is to do as little as possible to keep the site running. There's a role to be played in keeping the patently undesirable stuff (spam etc) cleaned up, but mostly those things are identified by the community. The more nuanced role is to try to de-escalate conflicts and heated discussions, but a lot of that de-escalation is well-done by the users as well.

@Danu As I watched the nominations come in, one candidate seemed to be controversial and some other candidates didn't really seem to take the idea seriously. I figured that I could offer myself as another uncontroversial and level headed community member..

I don't know if it showed everyone but I bookmarked the chat session transcript in case you want to come back to it

@ManishEarth I think the lack of consensus on it is a sign there is no clear answer. I think questions should do prior research, be very specific and clear about what conceptual problem exists, and then it should be okay. In many ways, I miss the old "too localized" close reason -- many of the "homework" like questions we don't like are just not likely to help anybody other than the OP and shouldn't be kept around in that form

A question for all: How do you feel about the role moderators have to play in the chat room? The "h bar" is one of the most active chat rooms on the network, and a lot of things go down there. That includes a lot of fun, but also a lot of bad stuff. Do you think you need to actively participate/moderate the chat room, or will you refrain from doing so whenever possible (I can guess @ACuriousMind's answer already, of course :P).

@AlfredCentauri (also @rob) You don't seem to have been very active on the meta site. Do you think this needs to change for you to make a good moderator, or will you remain largely inactive on meta?

@ACuriousMind We've all seen over the past week that your nomination has had a strong polarizing effect: There are some people very loudly voicing objections against you. Do you think this poses a problem for you being a moderator? Do you think it's important for you to represent everybody on the site, or not?

@Jim, @AlfredCentauri What do you specifically have to add, as a moderator, over what the other candidates have to offer? (I'd also ask @rob but he's not here)

@Danu I would strongly suggest avoiding any discussion that doesn't involve the candidates

I find the site is top heavy with the first set of people, both answering and questioning. As an experimentalist I belong to the second set, which finds mathematical models as beautiful and enlightening, but still models of reality and not molds for reality.