Mathematica Moderator Town Hall Chat

@image_doctor A related question I had ready on my clipboard: We have a set of hardcore users who jump in to answer every question, however easy. Shouldn't we have a policy that the easy ones should be left for less experienced users to gain some rep?

I wonder what the candidates' strategy will be to maintain that quality as the site grows and we attract more questions at the novice level, which may seem trivial, perhaps annoyingly so, to experienced users, whilst still making the site a welcoming and friendly place to come for new members?

Two highly respected members of the community get in a comment war on a question. They both flag each other's comments and are cussing and it is clear that this is beyond a heated argument. What do you do, what don't you do?

Previously, some users voiced their concern about having anonymous moderators. What do you think?

Is there anything about the way the site is currently run that you would like to change? If so, what would you try to change if you were to become a moderator, and why?

@J.M. A very good happy user :) But I think the point here is that with such an active body of experts, others feel there is a reduced chance for them to contribute effectively, do you have a defined approach to encouraging wider participation and perhaps suppressing the wonderful enthusiasm of leading figures?

How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?

This marks the end of our Town Hall. Thank you to all of the candidates for their time, and to all others who came here to ask questions and to support the candidates. Good luck to everyone as this election approaches its close!

A post is flagged. All moderators have looked at it. No one's taken action/cleared it because you're all unsure what to do with it. What do you do now when there is no consensus?

@J.M. I was trying to be funny there, but the issue is serious. If the good questions are diluted by many unreadable questions the site will go down the drain. What do the other moderator candidates think about this?

Reviewing, acting upon flags, voting to close - all gets repetitive more so as a Mod because you essentially don't have vote limits. What steps do plan to take to keep from getting burned out? If you do get burned out, how will you handle this?

@J.M. On non-English posting: Wouldn't allowing that lead to a mish-mash of unanswered and untranslated questions in old-Mongolian and Iroquois etc?

Moderating is a lot of work. Do you expect to be able to keep answering questions or will you spend all your time here moderating?

Well, it really took me some time to understand what's this room for since my English is poor. OK, I have a relaxed question: What will you do if one day someone posts a question that isn't written in English?

An unknown user engages in voting behaviour that, while not strictly against the rules, is something several of the members of the community find troubling. Since voting is at the discretion of the user and the system has automated controls in place to handle most suspicious behaviour, what role (if any) do you feel a moderator should play in this scenario?

How comfortable are you with using the tools for moderation made available to normal (non-diamond-moderator) users? (such as editing, closing, re-opening, flagging, etc)

When you see a question with major issues (poorly-written, argumentative, etc.), what tool do you reach for first?

Do you feel like a representative percentage of the community participates in your site's meta? Based on that, how strongly do you think feedback presented on meta should factor into your decision making as a moderator?

What is one contribution you feel demonstrates that you can be a good moderator?

What do you think your time budget should be for moderating this site as it continues to grow, and what is your core time period each day?

How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

We're nearing the end of the hour, so to that end, final thoughts from the candidates?

At the moment, we have @J.M. and @Verbeia among us. Keep in mind that the other candidates who cannot make it at this hour, will be able to answer all the questions you ask after the event, so please do not hold back.

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