Ask Ubuntu Town Hall Chat

jokerdino

00:00

@Shog9 Yellow and then blue.

Grace Note

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!

3

Amith KK

@jokerdino I beat you by about 25 minutes

Grace Note

As mentioned, @TimStone will be making a digest of this that will be available after this at some point. Candidates who haven't finished, you are free to continue answering in here until you reach the end (and anyone who couldn't make it is also allowed to answer post-fact) - this end only signifies the end of new questions, not the time you have to answer.

Amith KK

@Shog9 Blue

ObsessiveSSOℲ

@Shog9 Transparent.

Luis Alvarado

00:00

@Gilles I tend to go to IRC to help. I also try to help in my country (I teach Linux using Ubuntu).

Seth

ah missed it all :(

fossfreedom

Just to say to all the candidates - extremely well done ... you all answered brilliantly especially under this pressure. Good luck with the election itself.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

Thanks, and good luck, to everyone.

RolandiXor

@Gilles As previously mentioned, I run a group blog about Ubuntu (2buntu.com), I'm active on launchpad, have at one time been on the Ayatana mailing list (I stopped because of the swarm of emails :P), I'm the local Ubuntu "go to guy" ;), and I was at one time relatively acting on the Ubuntu forums. In most of these I've not been a "leader", but I am such on 2buntu, and in my local community, as I'm the one who has introduced many people to Ubuntu in Barbados :).

mateo_salta

@Shog9 somewhere between teal and turquoise

Amith KK

00:00

@GraceNote Well. It was an interesting session, To say the least.

Good Luck to all of you

Luis Alvarado

@ObsessiveSSOℲ Yes, sites like launchpad are actually part of what I call the Ubuntu ecosystem. Sites and tools like that are what helps promote, develop and share Ubuntu to others.

RolandiXor

@ObsessiveSSOℲ Always have been, always will be. If its related to the Ubuntu experience, bring it!

ObsessiveSSOℲ

Anyone up for some tea?

jokerdino

@ObsessiveSSOℲ Surely. Grey earl tea with some sugar please.

FEichinger

@Shog9 #dd4814

ObsessiveSSOℲ

00:02

@jokerdino Sorry, I can't ship it express at this hour.

Amith KK

@ObsessiveSSOℲ Green tea with sugar please

Luis Alvarado

@AmithKK I think apart from Chat (Or some evil chat room for mods only), via Gmail, Skype, G+ or any easy way of communicating to each other. There are way too many forms of communicating right now. So that would not be a problem.

mateo_salta

@FEichinger (Ubuntu orange) nice

ObsessiveSSOℲ

Well, the good news is that the election doesn't have to be done with an arm wrestle. You really can't do well with a broken wrist.

jokerdino

@ObsessiveSSOℲ Just email it over. :)

Luis Alvarado

00:02

@GraceNote 42

Amith KK

Can suspended users give bounties?

RolandiXor

@AmithKK I believe the moderators have their own secret room and are sworn to secrecy about its contents, but otherwise, I believe in making decisions with the participation of the community as often as possible, and as such I will make extensive use of the general chat room and sometimes meta to reel in "regular" users as a whole.

FEichinger

@mateo_salta That was way too easy a question, though. :(

mateo_salta

@ObsessiveSSOℲ Strawberry Tea!

Luis Alvarado

@Shog9 Rainbow like unicorns with chocolate chip fire breathing laser ponies

ObsessiveSSOℲ

00:03

Sorry, but I cannot send real tea.

Gilles

@ObsessiveSSOℲ sure, an x86 wrestle is also acceptable

Seth

@AmithKK suspended users only have 1 rep during their suspension.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

But, I will be able to send: T

Seth

it is recounted at the end.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

@Gilles What is an x86 wrestle?

jokerdino

00:04

@GraceNote or anyone else. How many questions are out there?

ObsessiveSSOℲ

(At least, my left wrist is broken. My right arm is my dominant.

Gilles

@ObsessiveSSOℲ it's like an arm wrestle, but faster, hotter, and more energy-consuming

Shog9

@jokerdino chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/info/268/ask-ubuntu-town-hall-chat/…

ObsessiveSSOℲ

Ah, good pun.

RolandiXor

@AmithKK if need be, I would drop them a note about it (usually in a less prominent place such as in a one one on chat), and delete the offending comment (if its crossing the line). Otherwise, I would not come down hard on them. If a person makes a habit of this, I would be a bit more firm, but I don't think I'd be wielding the ban hammer any time soon. As a moderator on a game once told me - such people help the community in their own way, and we need them too.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

00:05

I'll prefer the classic style, but only with the right arm.

Caleb

@Gilles OW! My sides hurt.

jokerdino

@Shog9 Thanks!

ObsessiveSSOℲ

@Caleb FSB clock too high?

jokerdino

I have another 23 questions to tackle. See you in an hour.

RolandiXor

This place is scary. _mommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

On a serious note:
I entered this election because numerous people asked me to even when I decided not to run again after the previous election. It tells me that at least people trust me to help them as moderator, and I respect that greatly. Either way the election turns out, I come away with a greater sense of responsibility and respect, and yes, love, for the community...

_...stop crying, please. No really :'(... aww who's cutting the onions?!_

2

@Shog9 blue. ~~It is the colour of my death ray~~

Amith KK

00:08

@jokerdino cya

Caleb

@ObsessiveSSOℲ Yes probably. It is overclocked 2 full steps into tomorrow. I should do something about that. root@self# echo mem > /sys/power/state

jokerdino

@GraceNote IMO, Moderators act as the human exception handler, handling flags and doing janitorial work.

RolandiXor

I'm hungry.

cya folks :)

Don't cry for me Argentina, I'm all out of tissues anyway!

jokerdino

@fossfreedom I'll spend an hour maximum every day on Ask Ubuntu. That time allocation may vary depending on my schedule though.

Amith KK

Check out the new chrome

Luis Alvarado

00:16

I could point everyone to Exhibit A from @RolandiXor muhahaha

jokerdino

@TimStone No. The percentage of people participating in meta is really inadequate. But, considering how that is the only feedback we get, I would pretty much have discussions held in meta in the back of my mind before undertaking any decisions.

@jrg If the closing of his question was indeed unwarranted, I would reopen his question. If I don't feel like that was the case, I'll get someone else for a second opinion.

@fossfreedom I think I am pleasant to work with and also have a geographical advantage. Living in the other side of the world to the current mod team. :)

ObsessiveSSOℲ

I actually almost missed this town hall. I only happened upon it by chance, and realized how lucky I was.

Shog9

→ 5 messages moved to Root Access

→ 1 message moved to Root Access

jokerdino

@jrg I don't think competency and age are correlated. And I'll strive hard to make sure no such posts come up in meta in the first place. If anything comes up and I'm not in the wrong, I am sure someone else will back me up.

@GraceNote It is my opinion that I can handle issues straightaway if I am a mod. Compared to sitting back and waiting for a mod to come and clean up the matter, I can get to work as I run into them. It can be as simple as deleting spam posts to providing a more authoritarian opinion on meta.

@AmithKK No difference. I have always be mindful of everything I say and this added diamond will have little to no effect on my future verbiage.

@Caleb The first line of action would be to check if the questions are valid enough for our site. If they fit well in, I would be happy to have the questions on our site. If they aren't on topic, I'll check with U&L mods and proceed accordingly.

@jrg More often than not, such posts tend to be speculative and rarely useful. I would either close such questions or act on the merit of the post.

@fossfreedom IMO, being valuable doesn't give you the pass to be mischievous. I wouldn't let the status of the user spoil the decision making. If necessary, I would have a talk with the user to settle issues.

@AmithKK Nothing. It will tug along like it does right now.

@MarcoCeppi I'll use it just as often as I am using my normal vote right now.

Seth

00:32

@GraceNote Mine was: When casting your votes, what do you look for in a candidate?

It was the last question on the list when I said that ;)

jokerdino

@Caleb IMO, closing questions is a way to indicate such questions are not a suitable fit for the site and the community. Positively, it enforces the standards of the community. On the negative side, the user posting question might feel left out. And I have no problem with the current status-quo.

RolandiXor

@Seth small bones. Easier to swallow.

jokerdino

@Shog9 I partake in all of the things you mention. And also promote the site on Planet Ubuntu. :)

Oliver Salzburg

What the...

I missed the thing!

Who won? :D

jokerdino

@GraceNote Arqade.

@OliverSalzburg It was a tie.

@fossfreedom Being a part of this community is proud enough. I haven't found that many communities that is as helpful as this one and most of the time, the people around here are respectful.

@MarcoCeppi I actually am running because I think I can do a good job as a moderator. It doesn't have anything to do with me using Ubuntu for a couple of years. Though, however, prior good experience with the OS would give you a good idea of the value of posts in the site and determining if a post ought to stay or go.

FEichinger

00:38

1 hour ago, by FEichinger

@fossfreedom I disagree with the very notion of judging myself or other candidates. I do have an opinion, but I do not think this should be voiced publicly.

Same answer to that.

jokerdino

@Shog9 Comments are supposedly for additional brandishing. So, I would go with footnotes.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

I'm off for tonight, bye!

jokerdino

@AmithKK I spend a significant amount of time in the chat and I abhor handling those chat flags.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

Hello!

jokerdino

@GraceNote Ask Ubuntu is working on making the experience of users using Ubuntu a much pleasant one. It has more to do with the users than sites that unfortunately happen to share some scope.

@bcbc I am currently a leader of a development team focused on making apps for Ubuntu environment. I also have held leadership positions in my school / junior college level.

I think I have gotten to all of the questions so far. If I missed any, it wasn't intentional. Thanks everyone!

Seth

00:46

@FEichinger How are you going to vote then? You have to judge them or your votes are worthless.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

@jokerdino I think you missed the favorite color one.

jokerdino

@ObsessiveSSOℲ I did answer that one. Right when it was put across.

ObsessiveSSOℲ

Ah, I must have missed it.

FEichinger

@Seth "I do have an opinion, but I do not think this should be voiced publicly." ;)

Seth

@FEichinger One more point: I didn't ask you too compare candidates, I asked you what makes a good moderator in your opinion. just saying.

RolandiXor

00:50

@Seth Soft hands and a soft heart.

Anyway, the townhall is over...

Seth

I know :/

Journeyman Geek

01:01

ugh, overslept

@fossfreedom at the moment, a good chunk of the day. I find that 3-4 20 minute periods, even with no mod tools works well

@GraceNote Pretty much the same as high rep users. To some extent, flags are a way to speed up the process, but they guide the community, preferably through gentle nudging. I'm a firm believer in soft power over hard power

@AnnaLear to an extent, Not an answers, spam, and so on. I believe moderators are an extention of the community, so in general, to me, there's suprisingly few situations I consider an exception. One situation I can think of, and have encountered before, is a user who had just gotten, say editing powers, and goes overboard removing a pet peeve of his. Another might be an intentionally abusive or disruptive user

@TimStone I believe people who care enough to try to steer the community a certain way would end up on meta. In most cases its a small percentage (and more would be nice), but these are folk who are likely to stick around for the long run. Except where common sense dictates otherwise, I would read and consider their viewpoints, and try to make the right choice. As I've said before, moderators are an extention of the community, and their views matter

Journeyman Geek

01:26

@fossfreedom As I said in my election pitch, wide experience on how SE as a whole works, and a presense on most of the site. There're candidates who've done a lot more than me on AU, but I can help faciliatate things like better migrations between sites - something I feel AU can do better. We hardly migrate anything

Journeyman Geek

07:54

@GraceNote amongst other things, more soft power. I've been 20K elsewhere and I've been reasonably satisfied with what I could do, with the help of others in the community. It simply means I can do those things faster. I'd love to be able to fix not an answers for one. I'd note that apparently merging accounts is something devs are supposed to do now @RolandiXor

@AmithKK With power comes responsibility. I certainly will try to keep a eye on what I do, but I'd rather not do historical revisionism. If I say something, it should be something I should stand by, or apologise for. I don't think I'd change the way I do things at all.

@Caleb I'd look at them on their own merits, and the quality of the answers and questions. If it was clearly off topic, I would probably ask the U&L mods if they wanted it. Generally though, I think it would be better if the question was closed off topic and flagged by more than one user.

@jrg I'd look at the current site policy. If its a question that can't be reasonably answered, I'd lean towards closing it on the short term.

@fossfreedom First and formost, I'd have a quiet word and a warning (but that's my preferred way of dealing with things), unless there was a serious amount of obvious misconduct that had to be handled. I'd also let the other mods know. If necessary to escalate things to a suspension, I would.

@AmithKK not very much on my own. I'd like to see more migrations, and small adjustments in certain things, like the burden of proof on self promotion, but I think i'd adjust my way of doing things more than try to change things here

@MarcoCeppi not excessively. If its an obvious case where something needs to be closed, I will.

@Caleb Closed questions need a little love in many cases. It needs to be fixed, and improved. Ideally the OP should. I consider closing a sort of pergatory, rather than the equivilent of shoving something in /dev/null. The question often can be saved

@Shog9 less metamoderation than I'd like, since I'm a low rep user. Where I can, a fair bit. Most of what I do now is commenting and editing, though I've been flagging more lately

@GraceNote I'd unite them, get SF on my side, and attack SO.

Journeyman Geek

08:22

@AmithKK as far as I need to. If a user comes on chat asking what he's doing wrong, I'd gently help him get on the right track. If its someone who can't be helped, well, least I tried

@fossfreedom I can't think of any one thing. I think the entirity of one's actions are important

@MarcoCeppi I don't actually have that. I've not been here that long, but I want to step up and do more. I think that willingness, and the fact that I'm part of some of the other parts of SE, and can talk to them on good terms is what I have to offer.

@Shog9 Comments are the ultimate metamoderation tools. They provide an insight into what someone is thinking. Everyone needs to comment more when voting or flagging, myself included

@AmithKK as much as I do now. I consider the chatrool system the social aspect of any site, and that and meta is the way that we communicate how we think things should be

@bcbc as far what I can talk about, Moderator on Lords of the Battlefield.com for long enough that I don't remember. I've also been a moderator on the battlechat irc channel on slashnet. I'm a fairly well respected user on SU. I've also had a few periods I've helped out small, very private forums get things up, but in most cases, they prefer not to be publically mentioned.

@Gilles somewhat on the local mailing list, but I'm recovering my social life from a short period when I ill. I used to attend LUG meetings when I was a student in the UK. Otherwise, its mostly here.

@ObsessiveSSOℲ Unlike a lot of folk here, for better or worse, I am familiar with, and use windows and other linux distros fairly regularly. if its on topic as per the rules of the site, I'm fine with them

Journeyman Geek

08:42

@AmithKK whatever means necessary - private chatrooms for sensitive issues, Meta for things that need to be done in public and needed to be recorded, and chat for things that need to be handled publically in real time. What's important to me is other mods know what I'm doing

@AmithKK If its a true, and honest apology, it probably should be accepted, and handled as gracefully as possible. Moderators arn't judge, jury and executioners, its better to talk to everyone involved and sooth things between them. There's always going to be drama, but we can try our best to keep it down.

@GraceNote I suppose, what I can really say is, I am a bit of an unknown quantity, compared to some others as far as the AU community goes. No matter who you elect, you're going to get three great mods, and I look forward to working with them, as either a user or a fellow mod. No matter what the outcome of the election, I hope to contribute to the community in whatever way I can

there we are. I hope I answered everything, and apologies If I missed any, there's 6 hours between my first and last set of answers due to the Chat.SE downtime, and having to go handle real life stuff ;p

Ali

11:27

hi

Journeyman Geek

lo, you missed all of it. ;p

Transcript for

Ask Ubuntu Town Hall Chat