We'll get started in a little over 30 minutes.

puts out soda and cookies (;

Both of those are by my side!

I got crackers.

Hmm, apparently I'm nicer tonight...

Pepsi Throwback, Homemade (Not by me) Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Vitamins that I need to put away!

Wait, I thought...

@VxJasonxV Pepsi Throwback is the soda of champions. Very nice.

@Josh ...?

It makes controllers all sticky.

I am glad to see you changed your mind @Rebecca :-D

That was because one of the candidates wanted to leave to go get food. (;

Does 2-liter pepsi throwback exist? I tried to find some at my local Wal-Mart but I could only find mountain dew throwback

Oh haha

@TimStone Actually that's Mountain Dew Code Red. But that's ok.

Right then.

@KyleCronin Closest you'll get is the 1 liter imported bottles IIRC.

Hi (:

@VxJasonxV ah, that's too bad

@KyleCronin They sell 24-can cubes at my Costco...but now for the business at hand, heh.

Welcome to the Ask Different Town Hall Chat

hola

I've got some intro notes, so bear with me (and read fast!) (:

We're just here to get to know the candidates and ask questions regarding the candidates views on moderation that may help in voting.

A few notes about the format:

The format is open, feel free to ask your question(s) unprompted, however please be mindful of whether or not candidates have answered the previous questions so that they don't get behind and start missing questions. Other than that, feel free to jump in.

Candidates, please use the reply feature so that questions and their answers are linked together. (Hover your mouse over the left of the message, click the down arrow, click reply)

When a question is asked, I'll star it - please star it yourself also to help! Please save stars for the questions so that candidates can refer to the star list to make sure they haven't missed a question.

@Josh will be creating a digest version of the town hall chat after it is completed. This digest will take the form of a question on meta, containing all the questions asked as well as their answers for easier reading.

There's a system message up on the site, so we may get some stragglers joining us.

@RebeccaChernoff I was just typing that, lol

The candidates I see here are: @KyleCronin, @VxJasonxV, and @NathanG. It is 4am for @Diago, so he's zZzZzZzZzZing.

With that, I think I've got all my initial messages, so I open the floor to y'all. Who has a question to start us off? (:

Hello ALl

(I would like to reinforce the use of the reply function, it makes the chat digests much easier :-)

I cannot stay for the whole thing, in fact I have to leave soon, so I'll get my question in now:

@RebeccaChernoff: should questions be directed at all candidates or particular ones? :P

Candidates, what is your opinion of the new "Everyone can edit" feature that has recently been rolled out?

@calavera your call. In past ones, they've mostly been at all, but questions at an individual candidate are totally fine.

@Josh I think it's a great feature. As a current moderator, I've had the opportunity to see the edits that people are suggesting to posts and tag wikis and a lot of it is good and constructive. I usually approve about 90% of the edits directly, 5% I add my own changes to, and about 5% I decline

@RebeccaChernoff is this chat session is only for 'Elections' or applies to anything related to AskDifferent

@Josh It's a great feature to allow users to suggest edits to questions. We're all here to help, and if people choose to help by /accurately/ clarifying the question, helping to classify (tags), even if they can't answer the question, I would completely welcome the help, and will love to help other sites as well.

@Josh I don't really see a downside, since everyone can always view the edit history and rollback.

@garikapati not necessarily election specific, but moderation specific to help in voting for the election...if that makes sense.

Thanks everyone. I'll go ahead and ask another one too, before I have to go. (DOn't let me stop anyone else from asking questions!)

@Josh I think it's like Wikipedia. @NathanG viewing changes everytime would be difficult I guess. if users with some reputation can have it.. then it would be good. IMO

What ideas (if any) do you have to promote the site and get more users? Or, do you feel it is the responsibility of a moderator to do this at all?

@Josh To reinforce that last point a bit more. Someone who works more in "meta" ways, someone who can provide quality to anything outside of the point of the question/answer is more than welcome to do so.

@garikapati I just mean that we have the option to do so if some problem comes up, not that it should be done every time.

@garikapati ...wait, are you running for moderator?

@Josh NO

OK. Wanted to make sure, because I didn't think so :-)

I don't think I can be... at this time ;-0

@Josh He's running for AWESOME :P

Haha

i.e. not that enough knowledge on Apple related stuff ;-)

@garikapati This is a good place to learn. ;)

@garikapati That's 5-10% of the job, tops

@Josh StackExchange has ridiculously good SEO. I can't tell you the number of times that I've started searching for the answer to a question, and the (unanswered) question is already on Page 1. It's hard to do much more beyond this except continue to use this site for answers to questions that come up offline or on other sites.

@NathanG yeah been learning much here.. since 5 months

@Dori agreed :P

@Dori agreed. But it's long time to reach you guys level ;)

@Josh Moderators definitely should try to promote the site if they can. As an example, for our initial launch I posted about it on multiple Apple sites around the internet, Reddit, and Hacker News. I even emailed Lifehacker to see if they were interested in doing it. That said, I think that it's much more important to try and get the community to promote the site. There's only so much a single moderator can do, but if you have a solid core of regular users that can promote the site (cont)

@VxJasonxV Have you noticed this for Ask Different specifically? This is what drew me to Stack Overflow originally, but I have not seen the same for Ask Different (yet)

(cont) organically, then there's a much better chance for it to succeed.

Moderation requires decisive action. You may find yourself in a position where you're unsure of what action to take, but can't immediately discuss the situation with a fellow moderator. Are you more inclined to act swiftly or wait for additional input, and how would you decide where to draw the line?

@Josh Ask Different, Super User, and Server Fault I have explicit memory of. Might have happened for gaming too.

@Josh I don't know that I call it a responsibility to bring traffic to the site, but it is commitment to do so. It's a great reference site, and it will continue to be used and referred to by those who agree with the principles and quality.

@TimStone If there's a problem and something could be harmful/offensive or otherwise dangerous, I would move quickly. Otherwise, if I think it's possible that I'll make something worse, I'll hold off.

What's you stance on hackintoshes, both in regards to questions on the site, and in more general terms? :)

@calavera See my answer: apple.stackexchange.com/questions/8392/hackintosh-vs-new-imac

@TimStone If it's a time-sensitive issue (i.e. repeated spamming, trolling, etc) then yes, absolutely take immediate action and use the new user contact system to contact the user and let them know that their behavior is unacceptable. The system also informs all the other moderators of the message and keeps them in the loop, and there can be discussion later on. For cases where there isn't an immediate need to act and I'm unsure what to do I'll post about it in the moderator chat and get feedback.

@TimStone The scale of the question determines the level of reaction. Abusive/offensive issues should be dealt with to a degree of mitigating the issue, less severe things shouldn't have rash decisions attached to them, especially in uncertainty.

How do you feel about questions related to a) Jailbroken phones and b) Hackintoshes?

@calavera As for the site, I think they're fine as long as they relate sharply back to Apple (e.g., comparisons). Someone asking for help with their Hackintosh is borderline, but I'd call it acceptable, since it is Apple Software.

@IntuitionHQ Half asked by @calavera

@NathanG how about in terms of ethics? Do you think creating a hackintosh is unethical or whatnot?

OK everybody I cannot stay for the remainder, I have to run. I love Ask Different, so everyone ask lots of good questions while I'm gone! Thanks to all the candidates! I'll post a digest of the chat to Meta tomorrow morning.

@calavera There are many ways to make a Hackintosh. If you pirate everything, that's unethical. If you buy retail copies of everything and hack it yourself, that's ethical.

@calavera I don't think that hackintosh questions should be allowed on the site. My reason for this is because, at the very least, it's against Apple's EULA that requires that Mac OS X be run on Apple-branded computers, and often involves obtaining modified install disks with Apple's copyrighted content. To me, this sort of information is not something that the Stack Exchange network should be disseminating.

@calavera That said, I personally don't have anything against Hackintoshes. I even ran one at one point, and it was my experience using it that led me to buy my first Mac.

@Dori Haha, yes, pardon me.

@calavera Personally: I purchased a tangible good, not a service. I'm allowed to do what I want to do with it as long as it is not unsafe nor harmful to another person/business. But I shouldn't expect to be supported by the original terms of the warranty.

@calavera For the network: Pretty much the same. While users aren't entitled to support and may not be running in the same configuration as everyone else, if someone can help, there's not a legal problem with it nor a reason it shouldn't be allowed on the site.

How many Apple devices do you own? (;

@Josh thanks for doing that, later

(please don't star non-questions)

I'ld like to add a reminder that questions answered in the context of this particular forum (being the Town Hall Chat) are intended to gauge the suitability of a particular moderator-nominee for moderatorship. Extended discussions are not necessarily encouraged/required. ;)

@IntuitionHQ With regard to jailbroken phones, this activity is now considered legal by US law, so I have no problem with questions about jailbreaking on the site, so long as they aren't about using jailbreaking to commit piracy. That said, I personally hope that the site isn't overrun by them.

@IntuitionHQ In addition to @calavera's question, I'm a bit mixed regarding iPhone jailbreaking (iPod, no problem, iPad w/ 3G, see response): While I don't think jailbreaking your phone is a security threat to the carrier, it does let you abuse the terms of your contract with the carrier. I'm not a fan of that.

@RebeccaChernoff should we star that so people see it? :P

@NathanG That's what your answer says (now)

@calavera no, there's a few mods in here, we can handle it

@calavera how about that? q:

@RebeccaChernoff nicely done

@RebeccaChernoff I have a 13" MacBook Pro (2010) as my primary machine, a 13" MacBook (2007) as a file/media server, an iPhone 4, and a first-gen Apple TV. I also have Apple keyboards, mice, power bricks, routers, etc

@RebeccaChernoff In our household, 1 iMac, 3 Mac Mini's (1 PPC, 2 Intel), 2 iPads, 1 iPod Touch, 1 iPhone, 2 MacBook Pros.

@drachenstern I see that :)

@RebeccaChernoff Oh, can't forget the Time Capsule! Wouldn't be here if that thing weren't actively passing my bits around wirelessly!

@calavera ;)

@RebeccaChernoff 2009 15" MBP, iPad 3G, 2 iphones and 4 ipods

Looks like I may have more Apple devices than all the candidates—combined.

@Dori jealousy

What do y'all see as the biggest challenge when it comes to moderating Ask Different?

oops. Can I escape asterisks?

hehe, if I count the wife's and mine together, we're at about 5 I think ... working on our MBPs/iPads come Christmas

@Dori I might be pretty close to you :P

@RebeccaChernoff Answering this question might be on the list. Predicting the future is hard :).

@RebeccaChernoff Right now, increasing traffic. We have a healthy amount of answers and little/no spam and other cleanup work.

What do you think specifically that you would bring as a moderator on Ask Different? // Compared to other moderators?

@VxJasonxV You can't predict the future? puts a big red X through @VxJasonxV's name

@RebeccaChernoff D=

Why do you really want to be a moderator? Power, fame, community-service, power?

@IntuitionHQ I love Apple stuff, and I like to talk about it. Simple.

@calavera Community service on a topic I (1) know relatively well, and (2) am currently invested in. (Not in the Stock Market sense, purely in the consumer sense.)

@RebeccaChernoff Apple hasn't released iPsychic yet, and they also blocked the third-party app from the iOS/App Stores :(.

@calavera The company car is nice

@calavera Will you still be a moderator? You always seem to have sensible answers and I like your style.

@IntuitionHQ Sadly, he's not running

@IntuitionHQ I don't feel there's anything different that any of us would bring outside of the basics. Difference in skillsets/knowledge, difference in history. But we're all here for the same topic and similar reasons.

New users often are not accustomed to the Stack Exchange system, and sometimes struggle to present themselves properly, either in the way they use the site or their attitude. How willing are you to work with "problematic" users, and at what point do you decide that someone isn't worth the effort?

@IntuitionHQ I don't really know, but to be honest I assume that if we don't run, we lose our moderator status since we were merely temporary :)

@calavera that's true for pro-tems

@Dori don't current mods stay in that position if they don't run?

after you're a regular mod it's for life

@TimStone If they're intentionally uncooperative, I'll tend to be impatient. Otherwise, I'll work with them. I had to learn too.

@garikapati Not pro tems, no

@IntuitionHQ honestly I would really have liked to run but my new job has been taking up a lot of my time, so I figured it was someone else's turn for awhile :)

It's like being a supreme court justice, except here you can get that position before you turn tombstone

What would you do if you were in a position where you and another moderator had a disagreement/reached an impasse over what to do about a certain post?

@TimStone You never give up on a user unless they don't want to be a user, or unless they're there to be abuse to other users.

@IntuitionHQ thanks a lot for the mention though...

@calavera Well, thanks for your service then - I think you had a great approach! I feel you about the work situation though; probably what I should be doing right now

I would love to star this ^.

@VxJasonxV aw guys you're makin me all teary eyed :P

@VxJasonxV How much time would you spend dealing with someone who posts rants as answers? No abuse to other users, wants to be a user, etc. [is this an official question? it got starred... ~ drachenstern]

@calavera we'll still let you chill in the mod lounge if you want :)

:P

@IntuitionHQ In no particular order (currently): Meta, another moderator on this site, another moderator on another site, official SE employees. The most important thing is attitude, respectfulness, and courtesy. Attitudes and tempers in check.

While the candidates are answering their questions, pro tems: one piece of advice for the new <del>suckers</del><ins>mods</ins>?

(I starred Dori's follow up... that's a legitimate time to star a question, right?)

@VxJasonxV It wasn't a general question, so I'd think no…

Someone else did too, I'll undo mine though.

@Dori I included it in the digest anyway, I'll have to see what Josh does in this situation.

@RebeccaChernoff Unless it's an emergency.... if you have a gut reaction to something, always come back to it later. Heated or emotional moderation does not work well. Think like a judge...

@TimStone Whenever possible, I give people the benefit of the doubt.

@RebeccaChernoff Since you asked for advice… if you want to be a mod because you like talking about Macs, or because you know a lot about Macs—don't be a mod. Being a mod is about janitorial work more than anything else; you'll end up with less time to do the fun stuff.

@RebeccaChernoff However, don't leave your values at the door. Do what you think is right, even if others don't necessarily agree.

@Dori I can't answer that with anything close to a finite time. I can let discussions go on for a very long time. It's usually stopped by overwhelming circumstances (time is up, need to do something else, etc.). I have a big emphasis on solving the problem, not getting it over with. There needs to be a limit, I don't know that that limit is, and I'm sure it varies heavily.

By the way, "suckers" was in no way meant seriously or officially! (:

@IntuitionHQ Generally once a moderator takes an action, there needs to be support for that from the other moderators. Even if I may not have closed/deleted/banned/etc, if another moderator does I support that decision, and I hope that my fellow mods will do the same for me

@KyleCronin 100% agree

Moderation is hard, let's go repping. How do you plan to balance your contributions to the community with your responsibilities as a moderator, and how do you plan on making sure that both stay fun to do?

@KyleCronin even if you disagree in private, in public you can't discredit your fellow mods

@Dori True, but we'll still miss your firm but loving hand of justice... Even if it gives you more time for the fun stuff :)

@TimStone Contributions are what you want to do, responsibilities are what you have to do. All of us invariably want to do both. The balance is based on need for what you have to do. If you want to write up a question, but there's a problem that needs resolving, you resolve the problem, write up a quick draft of your question and come back to it when you can. We're already doing this because it's fun, or at least that's the case for me.

@calavera exactly

@RebeccaChernoff My suggestion is to try to visit the site and the mod/edit queue as often as you can. We need users to be able to rely on the moderators taking quick action when something needs to be done.

@calavera Wait, I'm not going anywhere! I found the loophole that lets me stay on as mod, not run for election, and not take one of the too-few mod seats.

@Dori Hahah ;)

@TimStone There are tons of contributors and three mods. This site is awesome and needs to stay like that. If the moderation work is done, have fun and contribute. But, if you've had a rough day and you're not going to be able to moderate well until you've contributed... Take the logical path (as long as the moderating still gets done in a timely manner).

Thanks for the answers guys - I've got to go to a meeting, but I really appreciate what you all have to say. Good luck for the election. Cheers!

@TimStone or anyone else who might think I was joking: blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/02/…

@TimStone Some days I answer ten questions, sometimes I go a week without answering anything at all. But I'm always checking the site and the mod queue to make sure nothing's blowing up. :)

@Dori Oh crap I didn't even notice that, congratulations... the loophole includes pay! :P

@calavera :-) icing on the cake!

@IntuitionHQ Cheers!

@Dori When your work is doing the thing you love, you'll never work a day in your life.

I love that quote.

Do you think the community generally gets the SE engine and how the site works? Is there something they don't get and how can you help improve that situation?

@RebeccaChernoff Participants do, new users sometimes do and sometimes don't. It's all teaching and knowledge, and we will continue to do that to those who continue to participate. (We includes non-mods too.)

@RebeccaChernoff What I remember from being a newb: I was surprised that others could edit my stuff, but thought it was cool. It took some time to get used to the up/down voting, but that's pretty intuitive. You just have to get into the habit. Everything here is well-documented, and the mods can teach if necessary.

Candidates: What's your tolerance for burnout? :P

@RebeccaChernoff It seems to me that this is common. You catch on quick, and can be an expert with a little practice.

@RebeccaChernoff The thing that I find most often is that people don't understand how SE is different than a forum. People will find a question through a Google search that doesn't have the answer they're looking for and they ask their followup question as an answer to the existing question. However, I'm not sure how to improve the situation, short of maybe adding an answer->question conversion for mods.

^ /star

@calavera I'm a SysAdmin in my day job. Getting to sleep at 2AM, waking at 2:30AM, at work by 3AM, working 4 hours+ on one single crucial issue. This has happened at least a few times in the last 1-2 years. You tell me :P.

@NathanG +1 (or is that +2?)

We're almost at the hour, so let's get any final questions in now or forever hold your peace!

@calavera As long as I'm not the only active mod on the site, I can avoid burning out by relying on the other mods to take care of stuff while I take a quick break.

Candidates: Will you vote for yourself?

Situation: you're looking at recently highly-voted-up questions and you notice one that just doesn't sound like the user's regular stuff. You google a line from it, and notice that it's lifted from elsewhere. What do you do?

@calavera already did :P

The magazine, and the annual winter expo: Macworld, or MacWorld?

@calavera I admit that I already did, though not 1st place. 2nd place is reserved for my pick pending the results of this town hall.

iPhone or Android?

@Dori my instinct is to put it in a quote block and attribute it to the source. However, the official SE policy seems to be to delete that content, so that's what I'd probably end up doing

@Dori I'd probably just comment with a link to original. Mention that this isn't new stuff. But, it is always good to get new perspectives and answers, especially if things have changed since the original was asked.

@Dori I don't know what the answer to this is, so I guess my answer is: I go look up what we're supposed to do :). Or ask someone else who may know.

@calavera I have and love my iPhone, but I really wish that I could get better native clients for GMail and other Google services (esp Maps, Android Maps is sick)

One important thing to keep in mind with that situation: copyrighted material! Delete on sight!

@NathanG Whoops, no, I meant as in MacRumors or similar

@Dori you're talking plagiarism vs. dup questions, right?

@Shog9 Yes, the former

@Dori MacWorld. I'm sucker for TitleCase, especially on contractions.

@VxJasonxV Anyone else?

@Dori So did I. First part was joke.

@Dori I'm sorry, I don't understand what that meant.

:596997 Sorry, totally misread

Ok, let's let the candidates catch up with the questions that have been asked. and then...

@VxJasonxV I was wondering what the other candidates would answer

Final thoughts?

@Dori I read and contribute to MacOSXHints, which is owned by Macworld. But I haven't been to conference :(

When did you buy your first Apple product?

I just hit my vote allowance.

So we're at Cap W: 1, non-capped w: 1

@VxJasonxV Is that your final thought?

:)

@KyleCronin When I was 10 years old :P! (Well, technically, it wasn't my money...)

@KyleCronin I bought by first Apple product in summer 2007, my Black MacBook

@calavera Maybe...

@VxJasonxV lol

i suppose anything could be our final though :P

@calavera I love my iPhone. I like playing with Androids. If I had my choice? Probably sticking with the iPhone for a long time. Already invested into it. Apps and content and all.

well this has been fun, and it's certainly the most people we've ever had here in the AD chat :)

^ /star

@Cawas - welcome, and unfortunately, you missed the chat :-(

yeah, good luck to you all

am I too late?

@Cawas by exactly one hour

oh, I thought it could be at 23

@RebeccaChernoff This was fun, but very hectic (it's already been an hour? What?). Perhaps we reconvene tomorrow for Apple's March 2nd event announcements? :)

you guys are all great candidates so I'm not worried about the outcome :)

Still want to hear Kyle's tiebreaker answer

@KyleCronin '05, it's in my primary post.

but I couldn't get earlier anyway

@Dori I've seen it as "Macworld", but not "MacWorld"

except for Kyle of course, I heard that guy kicked a baby once

:P

@calavera like a boss

@KyleCronin rofl

@Cawas, all the questions are starred so you could answer them now and they'd be included in the digest.

The answer: @KyleCronin and @NathanG are correct; @VxJasonxV is not. The only time the "w" is capped is if you're referring to the Swedish edition of the magazine. (how's that for a trivia question?)

@Dori :(

I think I answered everything, pretty sure I saw a highlight on mousing over everything.

@RebeccaChernoff cool, sure do

@VxJasonxV Eyeballing what I have, that seems correct.

good job you guys, I'm out for the night

Alright, thanks everyone for participating!

@Dori Speaking of which, do you have any extra handouts for AD from the conference?

night everyone

And if you'll excuse me, I have not had dinner yet (8PM local). Thanks for organizing this Rebecca, Tim, Dori, all involved. Thanks everyone for being here.

feel free to continue answering if you're catching up.

@RebeccaChernoff thanks for putting this together

An extra thanks to everyone for using explicit replies. :)

for any non THC stuff:

Happy $timeOfDay everyone. See you around.

Crap, not only do I have more Apple products than all the candidates combined, I've owned Apple products longer than all the candidates combined… whimper

@KyleCronin They were business cards, and yes—tons. Jeff brought me a huge box full.

@Dori and you're over twice my age :)

@KyleCronin snap!

@Dori even counting my amazing collection of apple products? A mac and an iphone! :P

@Dori cool, do you think I could get one?

@KyleCronin Oh, it ain't like I haven't realized that I'm probably the same age as most SE users' moms.

@Dori do you have children?

@KyleCronin Email me a snail mail address.

Night everyone. Happy voting.

@NathanG night

@Dori thanks, will do

(that was the answer to Kyle's question, btw)

@Dori my mom's still got a few years on you

q:

I think @RebeccaChernoff wants us out

@KyleCronin She has to sweep up afterwards. Her own fault for bringing cookies, those are always messy.

oy

@Dori Nice, no AD account though

@RebeccaChernoff I'm old, I walk slow! leaving now…

ok, moving over to the regular chat now...

@reb

yo

You can stay and answer, I'm not kicking you out q:

@RebeccaChernoff so should I just link and answer them here?

Use the reply feature

In the star list on the right, click the time "17m ago". That'll take you to the message. THen hover over the left of the message, click the down arrow, and click reply.

Then type in your answer and hit enter. (:

all right. I'm on it. :)

@Josh I love how the new edit shows our edition suggestion to ourselves alone before it's reviewed. It's great for fixing broken links instantly! The downside is that there will be a lot more "reports" for moderators to review them, so we may need mods only for that eventually.

@Josh not a moderator or anyone's specific responsibility. it's just something you do naturally with things that are also useful to other people who will naturally accept the recommendation if it's a good one.

@TimStone I don't like acting upon something I can't handle. There are exceptions but the rule is that I will not do something I'm unsure of. But that doesn't mean I would keep waiting for input. I'll do my homework if there's a point on doing it.

@calavera I'm in favor of jailbreak, hacking and openness. I'm even in favor of piracy up to some point. I'm a developer and I get my pay from programming software. I just believe there is more to life than trying to capitalize everything.

@calavera Nathan said it all. There isn't much difference between being ethical and being a good neighbor. I just try to treat anonymous people, even companies, like I'd treat my mother or my dad's business and respect.

@RebeccaChernoff I own 2 devices. But I had 4 other (iOS) devices that went lost, broken, lent for ever or missing. I'm new to apple world and I hate to love it.

@RebeccaChernoff I honestly don't see any big challenge and I hope there won't be any! I prefer small challenges and bearable ones for this role.

@IntuitionHQ in all honesty, I feel like the less prepared compared to the other candidates. first reason why I became a candidate, I told Rebecca, is because I thought it would be a qualificatory process rather than eliminatory for a few vacancies. I'm good to make fill the role, but I'm afraid I don't have all the time the others do.

@calavera what? don't moderators get paid? count me off! :P

@TimStone I was one big problematic newbie and I love dealing with them / us. I've dealt with many "marginals" and I can say with all honesty that there's nobody that's not worth it. It depends on me to take a lesson in each case and those are one of the best kinds of teachers.

@IntuitionHQ get a third opinion. It depends too much on the situation tho, and availability of both. Ideally, discuss through until getting to a common ground, then to an agreement.

@Dori I usually wear everyone else off, so probably I'd deal with it until she/he stops. But I couldn't count it in hours as this would be completely asynchronous and over days, weeks or even years.

@TimStone to keep the fun, I'd just keep the pace. I wouldn't change much of what I already do, but I'd be able to do it more independently.

@RebeccaChernoff I've got a very close friend who's all tech and a designer. He thinks the stackoverflow site is ugly as hell and never really used it, or any SE site, consciously. I think most people don't get the site, except when stumble upon it on google with some good info on it. I don't think I can help much on this situation, but who knows...

@calavera I regard my patience as my biggest virtue since I'm a little kid. That's for about at least 25 years. Maybe one day I'll explode like Ned Flanders, but I doubt it.

@calavera I did it because I found a pattern and just 2 other candidates on it and because I really want to be a mod. :)

@calavera I'm really looking forward to install android on my iphone. My first choice would be Android + iPod Touch, but thanks to prohibitive costs here in my country I have just an iPhone for now.

@KyleCronin about 3 years ago, my first iPhone, a 3G.

@Dori thanks for the heads up! :)

@RebeccaChernoff I was trying to use the side panel with favorites, but I couldn't because they either open on a new window and provide no reply option at all or because it doesn't show all stars. So I went all way up, pressed "load older messages" and looked for the stars paying attention to the time.

hehe, I was going to say "phew, took me longer than if I had come earlier!" :P

@Cawas sorry you had to answer all these without any feedback

@TimStone but I guess no final thoughts hoping this won't end here. ;)

Alright, just making sure. :)

@KyleCronin it's cool and my fault.

thanks @tim! :)

The digest will be posted as soon as @Josh and I have a chance to go over it, probably by sometime tomorrow unless we're held up for some reason.

Oh, and I suppose we need Diago's answers too. :)

But yeah, soon :P

those britney concert tickets ain't gona sell by themselves, right? [/bad britney joke]

I should go get a bath and lay down to sleep now.

@Dori and congrats on the new job!

'night @kyle, @tim. thanks for sticking around. :) -- i'm off

@Cawas G'bye :)

@Cawas Thanks!

@TimStone how many candidates are there—for some reason, I thought 6.

@Dori Apparently there are. Diago and Philip Regan were absent.

Ah, Philip Regan—you might want to get his as well.

Yeah, I should have checked the election page before speaking, heh. We'll be sure to get everyone in in whatever manner's been used to do that in past Town Halls.

@Josh I really like the new Everyone can edit feature. On Super User I have 90% approval rate, and so very good edits come through from low rep users. On Ask Different I have gotten quite a bit of my rep from using the feature, and I have to admit I like the feeling when I see one of my edits approved.

@Josh I think a moderators role is more to ensure that the promotions reaches the right target by making sure questions and answers are clean. The SEO for Stack Exchange is very effective, and it's the role of moderators to ensure that the quality of the questions and answers make the SEO successful. Obviously promoting the site in general should be done, but that can be expected from anyone that is a user on the site.

@TimStone It depends on the actual problem. On bigger sites my feeling is act swiftly, it is always easier to ask forgiveness, however on smaller sites patience is better. However, overall the call has to be made based on each individual scenario and situation. I do however have no issues reverting something to another moderator if I am not at all sure.

@calavera This is a grey area. We banned it on Super User and I think it needs to be avoided, not for anything but to protect the reputation of the site. They exist, and we all dabble with the concept every once in a while, but they have existing support forums and should not be encouraged on Ask Different, if solely to show Apple respect regarding the EULA, and also since we want to come to the attention of Apple at some point.

@IntuitionHQ As long as the question is not about Jailbreaking, I am fairly OK with it if it is a high quality question. Refer to my previous answer with regards to Hackintoshes.

@calavera Personally, although I have done it, I don't think you can appreciate the power of OSX or Apple Hardware unless it is a genuine Apple product. The power for Apple lies in their control of the hardware and software, and no Hackintosh can truly show the potential of OSX

@RebeccaChernoff In our house we have 2 X 15" Apple MacBook Pro's (2010, i7), 2 X iPhone 3G's, 2 X iPads and 2 X Airport Express routers. I am also adding some more hardware in the next year, and all hardware purchases going forward will be an Apple product. We are addicted to the brand and quality.

@RebeccaChernoff Quality. Like Super User, the topic is a religious one for a lot of users. Apple users tend to expect quality, and ensure that questions are on topic and valuable is the biggest challenge going forward. It has already been successful and the formula is there, maintaining it now would be the biggest challenge.

@IntuitionHQ Experience. I have been a moderator on Super User since launch, and have gone through all the hiccups and hurdles already. I understand when it is required to intervene, and when intervention is required, 99% of the time know how to intervene correctly. I also have no issues with making hard decisions, and sometimes being disliked for a decision made.

@calavera Community service. I enjoy improving things, and helping build a community like Ask Different is a challenge I would enjoy. There is no fame or power in being a moderator, it is often a thankless job.

@TimStone Easy. When they are not trying. New users are the one's that come back and question an action, who will improve closed questions to have them re-opened, will fight for an answer when they feel it has value. Those users I will help and guide a 100%. However, it is something you learn over time and with experience, when someone is worth it and when not. Sadly the latter is rare.

@IntuitionHQ My number one rule is: Never in public take on or disagree with another moderators decision. If action was already taken, I would discuss it with them when the opportunity arises, and if they choose to stand by their decision, I would support it, whether I disagree or not. The latter is important to me and something I feel strongly about. The team must always stand together as one, irrelevant of internal disagreements.

@Dori I would contact them once, and try and guide them in the right direction. However if they continue and shows no improvement, I will take action if required. These are users that tend to escalate quickly into flame wars.

@Dori I am refraining from answering since Dori provided the answer in the transcript :)

@TimStone By not getting too involved in a particular issue. This is something I had to deal with on Super User, and have already learnt to balance. It is something that can happen quickly, but stepping away can also sometimes be required.

@RebeccaChernoff In general, Yes. The FAQ and privileges wiki's help a lot with education, and sometimes correspondence with them help as well.

@calavera High. I burnt out once before and took time away to learn to deal better. Since I have been back I have been able to manage it a lot better.

@calavera Yes. It would be silly not too. I believe enough in myself to vote for myself. I also feel I need to show who else I would like to be on a team with when voting.

@Dori If I can find the source, edit it to reflect the original source and give credit. If it's copyrighted, inform the OP and remove the content from the site. It is however dependant on the situation.

@calavera iPhone. What type of question is that :)

@KyleCronin December 2006.

@RebeccaChernoff Best of luck to all the candidates running, and elected or not, I will continue to do my best to edit, flag and answer questions on Ask Different.

@Diago Thanks for all of the responses! :)

@TimStone No problem :) I promised I would reply.

Sorry for being late, TimeZones…TimeZones… (and me being on vacations)

(on a positive note, I'm now following twitter.com/#!/charliesheen)

I'll be posting the digest shortly

@Josh That'd be fantastic

@MartínMarconcini It's in progress!

Discuss in:

chat.meta.stackoverflow.com/rooms/352/town-hall-discussion

@Josh nice

Thanks. Still posting, ~70% done

Digest completed

\o/