My first choice goes to David Stratton. My second choice goes to Dan. My third choice goes to no one.

well we had the same first choice

I would be pretty surprised if David doesn't get it, and really, of all the candidates, he is the most deserving

about the only reason not to go to him would be from his own argument about the fact that it would be helpful to have more high rep users (which is a large part of the reason I left my name in at all)

@AJHenderson I was actually kinda relieved that Flimzy and fredsbend joined the race at the last hour, even though they made my choices harder, because it meant I didn't feel like I had to vote for David Stratton. I think he's right that his role as a high-rep user is in a way more valuable than than it otherwise would be if he was a mod.

You all talk as if I'm a shoe-in. Honestly, it makes me uncomfortable. For the record, all three of my votes are cast and not one of them was for me. I wouldn't be surprised if someone else got it precisely because I'm insistent that it'd be better for the site for someone of lower rep who "gets it" were to get the open slot. My feelings wouldn't be hurt if that happened. That said, for purely selfish reasons, I do want the slot.

@DavidStratton Actually, I prefer a high-rep user to a low-rep user. It is quite difficult to accumulate points on this SE (for me, since religion is generally not my field of expertise, plus I've never had a formal training/education in it or philosophy). I see being a moderator is just one level above being a highest-rep user.

The high rep shows your dedication to the project.

Well.. Either way, what's meant to be is what will happen. It was a lot easier to gain rep earlier on in the site's history. Sometimes I worry that we'll run out of good, on-topic questions. Truly good new questions are rare these days. I mean, some are good, but REALLY good ones that haven't been asked already are few and far between.

→ 3 messages moved to The Upper Room

@DavidStratton much of the time, votes come from people that don't really look at many of the details, they see high rep and maybe high review count and vote accordingly

it isn't always the case, but it is commonly the case

especially when there is only one spot open

@DavidStratton that's the way it is on most SE sites, but good questions do always continue to come in, the rate is just reduced from what it once was

the big problem for me is that the questions that come in now that are good really need a lot more research effort to be good and I don't have the time to do a lot of research on answers these days

besides, while I do enjoy answering, I much prefer curating

I prefer making sure that questions are good and get good answers to trying to get the first answer that takes an early lead and gets too quickly marked as solutoin

that said, if I know an answer off the top of my head I'll still provide it, but I prefer helping keep overall quality up

@AJHenderson Same here. I don't know how much of my activity is visible, but if you look at the weeks heading up to the launch from BETA to a fully graduated site, you'll see a huge jump in my activity and reputation. I had one overriding goals, which was "Don't lose access to the 20K+ tools!". I think I posted more questions and answers then than I ever would have normally, just because I knew I was about to lose privileges, and that meant not being able to have the same access/influence.

@DavidStratton hehe, I know that feeling. That was why I was farming way too hard on video AVP, but then I was able to back off some once I got mod there and it was actually helpful for the site

because I was past the 4k point, but not yet to 20k

at the peak there, I had like 5 or 6 times the next highest rep gain

AVP was very nearly a one man circus

It's funny what motivates us, isn't it?

the other flipside with Dan, Flimsy and I is that we are all already mods, so it doesn't give another blue voice

it's always nice to have another diamond around to bounce ideas off of when you aren't sure what to do with something

So, out of curiosity... (Preface this with I think you'd make a fine moderator here) what's your main motivation for throwing your hat in the ring?

primarily that at the time I signed up, I didn't see a lot of options that I thought would work well and I wanted an experienced mod in the ring. I stayed in after what I saw as other good options come thanks to your reasoning actually

that it might be good to have a low rep user get higher rep powers to help out

and I know I don't have time to get there from answers in any kind of timely fashion, but I hang around enough to know how the site operates

a lot of it is behind the scenes, but I hang out in mod chat with the religious site mods and peruse the meta

in addition to reading the site itself reasonably often

that and I do love the subject matter of the site. I'm a very devout Christian, but also a very big proponent of understanding not just your beliefs, but the beliefs of others as well

so the site has always resonated well with me

@AJHenderson It's resonated with me as well. I can't express how refreshing it is to find a place where the various viewpoints can be explained without the cries of "heretic!". I don't buy into ecumenicism, but I do buy into letting all views being expressed, and allowing the hearer to determine which makes the most sense.

The C.SE site allows that in a way that no other site I've run across does. My goal in running for a mod position is to protect that. It's precious to me.

@DavidStratton exactly, there is a false sense of worry about the idea that something that isn't true will somehow replace whatever is actually true and the fear of the views of others makes it harder to figure out where our own views are wrong

I absolutely believe there is something that is True, but I don't believe I know it exactly

and I don't think that hearing things that aren't True is going to impact someone's ability to hear what is True, other than perhaps to help it

and I know of no other site that is able to have such high quality dialog between people from different viewpoints without degrading in to name calling and talking circles around each other

Less than half a day in and we've already had more voters than in last years elections.

that's why you'll see me in The Upper Room alot, because there we can be a little more discussion oriented but still keep that same civility

@AJHenderson I think name recognition is likely to be a big factor here, maybe more than just the rep numbers. Except the folks that hang out in chat, most site users are not even have going to run across your name before they see in on the ballot. An the other hand David's voice in comments is so ubiquitous that most folks assume he already is a mod and voting for him will the incumbent vote.

I've been shocked how many of even our high rep users don't know that he and Affable are not mods. It's come up dozens of times.

If you count comments on deleted posts I think he laps you 100 to 1 in comments on main :)

Not to say I don't think you'd make a good mod, just observing why I think D is likely to land the bling in this round.

What I'll be interested in in re-running the STV numbers from this election with 2 or 3 slots open to see who the runner(s) up would be.

Yeah. That's true too. The vote data will be interesting. And I would be highly surprised if I placed in the top three at this point. I'd guess David then Dan then flimsy if there were three.

@Caleb Hang on. Affable Geek isn't a mod?

I think I did know that, really, but it's very easy to forget.

Am I the only person here who lives in a country which uses STV voting?

@TRiG Yes, probably.

Do folks there actually understand it? It seems to be a complete mystery and constant source of confusion for folks around the SE network, even though it's conceptually simple.

@Caleb It's very easy to use, because you really don't need to worry about tactical voting. Understanding how it actually works is trickier.

It is actually covered in school these days. CSPE: Civic, Social, and Political Education. It came in as an exam subject just after I did my Junior Cert, so I wasn't examined on it, but I was taught it for a year (as practise for the teachers, mainly, I think, in preparation for it becoming an exam subject the following year). We covered a fair amount in that class, but all I really remember from it is the mechanics of PR-STV voting.

@AJHenderson This is one of the reasons why I always insist that SE is capable of handling tough issues in a way that many other platforms fail to do. The experience here has shown us that it's possible

@flimzy, @thedukeofmarshall, @elberichschneider, @warren, @malachi This is a public service reminder that the Election Questionnaire is awaiting your answers. I know composing a response takes time, but be aware these are issues on which the community has specifically voted their desire to hear candidate positions on.

@AJHenderson Because we have the very strict no pastoral advice questions. Other sites are simply a free for all. Well, said.

@Anonymous Why the decision for inaction on your third vote?

→ 32 messages moved to General Election Discussion

@El'endiaStarman Welp. I ended up changing all of my votes. This is not an easy one.

I guess Anonymous withdrew from the running?

@Flimzy Aye.

@fredsbend I only like the chosen two.

I am aware of their personalities.

@Anonymous So you would say then that you do not have faith that any of the other candidates than the two you have selected for your first and second choices can adequately perform the moderator duties?

@Anonymous Or is it because you feel like you just do not know them well enough to make that decision?

Sometimes I wish I could vote for 1st choice, second choice, and last choice... heh... I know of a candidate who is particularly un-qualified, but don't know about the others

usually when that happens, I select a 3rd choice candidate based on statistics, mainly as a vote against my would-be-last-choice

I didn't have that situation this time... I know the participants on this site well enough to make a well-informed decision, I think :)