2016 ELL Moderator Election Chat

StoneyB

00:46

Hello @Catija @DEAD

DEAD

18:14

@StoneyB Hullo

NVZ

18:52

@Catija Me neither. Why CW a meta post for collecting questions!

It's funny. Nobody's online while I am.

DEAD

Guess again ;)

NVZ

But.. but you're not ALIVE!

@DEAD What was that about?

DEAD

Sleeping

NVZ

19:10

Aha.. ZZZzzzz

Nathan Tuggy

I wonder if we're going to get any more nominees.

DEAD

Nominates again

NVZ

Hello, Nathan.

Nathan Tuggy

(also, hi all ;))

It's been almost two days, after all

NVZ

When I chanced upon ELL's election page, there were probably just 2 candidates. That's when I set a reminder to nominate myself later. And then I did.

DEAD

19:21

@NathanTuggy Well, I don't think it'll get any higher than eight.

Unless something weird happens.

Nathan Tuggy

Yeah, I don't expect all that many more, but I'm getting a bit antsy anyway.

NVZ

Probably some big cheese will drop in at the last moment, my guess.

Nathan Tuggy

(It would be nice if we got 11, but oh well.)

*cough*Araucaria*cough*

DEAD

@NVZ Stoney? Snailboat? Damkerng? None of those guys and that gal are nominating.

Unless @Colleen nominates, which would be awesome.

(It'd also mean I can withdraw my nomination)

NVZ

Maybe, mine too.

Seeing that there were only 2 noms, I thought I could help out ELL.

Nathan Tuggy

19:24

Well, that's not wrong.

NVZ

But now there's more candidates, better candidates. :)

I look like kind of.. odd.. in that list. :)

Nathan Tuggy

Looks like Arau's been active recently enough they're probably already aware of the election, though, so we might not get a surprise from them like last year

:P

NVZ

zero-score guy.

@NathanTuggy, is Tuggy a nickname?

Nathan Tuggy

@NVZ Nope!

That is my actual, genuine-issue, certified-unopened surname.

Catija

@NathanTuggy You're so daring... to use your actual name here :P

Nathan Tuggy

19:31

ikr?

NVZ

Probably an alias, a false identity. Who knows ;)

DEAD

Finds @Nathan's number in the phone book

Threatens to threaten @Nathan

Nathan Tuggy

I am amused to see that my wording above comports remarkably well with my advice a year ago on the subject.

Catija

@DEAD How do you even know what a phone book is?

Nathan Tuggy

... wow.

Catija

19:34

@NathanTuggy He's a teenager... I keep hearing that they don't know what old stuff like phone books are :P

DEAD

Well, I'm exceptional

NVZ

@Catija I have phone books in all my phones. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's called Google. ;)

Catija

Sure... but that's not the same thing as an actual phone book... with everyone in your area's phone number unless they specifically ask to be excluded.

DEAD

Well, if there's a lesson to be learned, it's that I might have been an older chemical in my previous life

O_o

Catija

@NathanTuggy Oh, hey, I helped with that. :P

Nathan Tuggy

19:37

@DEAD ... you mean, before you were DEAD?

NVZ

@DEAD Your addiction to chemicals is remarkable. "Jesse, we have to cook!"

If I had a chemical-ish name, it would be Nitrate-Vulnerable-Zone or something?

Aah.

Hello, @StoneyB

StoneyB

Hi, NVZ!

DEAD

@NVZ Nitrogen vanadium Ziemann

NVZ

Even better..

DEAD

Hey Stoney

StoneyB

19:41

O Dead!

Catija, Nathan -- round up all the usual suspects.

And @barbarabeeton -- there's a name we've missed.

Catija

I am very round right now, in fact.

NVZ

And like that... poof... he's gone.

Nathan Tuggy

Hmm, nitrotyrosine is a good name.

DEAD

That's owned.

StoneyB

@Catija Rotundity in the cause of fecundity is no vice.

DEAD

19:43

You can't trademark that

NVZ

@DEAD But... but why change your chemical name? So unstable a compound?

DEAD

Well, you're not asking for the reason behind something that should need much reason.

So just because.

StoneyB

O reason not the need: the basest beggar is in the poorest thing superfluous.

NVZ

For the lulz, then. :)

StoneyB

Wasn't that the Kinks? ... no, the Yardbirds.

NVZ

19:46

And yes, "lulz" is defined. ;) oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/lulz

DEAD

BTW, @Stoney and @Nathan, we can use your opinion regarding this sentence:

@DEAD It's pretty odd sounding to me with "can't"... You could certainly use a direct quote to use "can't"... I thought, "I can't do this alone"... — Catija 1 hour ago

NVZ

Looks fine

Nathan Tuggy

are you asking about "I thought that I can't do this alone"?

DEAD

Yep.

Nathan Tuggy

Yeah, that dog won't hunt.

DEAD

19:48

Should it be "can't", or the backshifted "couldn't"?

NVZ

"can't" is fine.

Nathan Tuggy

It's effectively reported speech, so backshift like you've never backshifted before.

StoneyB

I can't make heads or tails of that question by myself.

NVZ

In speech you change stuff.

StoneyB

Is the point at issue "I thought that I can't do it alone" ? It's certainly odd, but it would play in some circumstances.

I thought that I can't do it alone, and I was right: I can't!

DEAD

19:53

(ﾉ＾◡＾)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻

So Phil's answer is inaccurate.

StoneyB

Great Mother English has a question for every answer!

DEAD

From now on referred to as GME

ColleenV

Howdy, y'all my ears were itching @DEAD. We have Nathan and Jay - y'all don't need me to nominate :)

Catija

@ColleenV ... :( I don't know Jay. I know Colleen :(

NVZ

I don't see any moderating done by Jay, but Jay has great reputation. :)

DEAD

19:56

Anyway I gotta sleep. \o all

ColleenV

g'night

StoneyB

Flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Nathan Tuggy

night!

Catija

Night!

StoneyB

Hoo-ha. Three more minutes and I can stop pretending to work and go home.

NVZ

19:58

Have we super pinged all the candidates to this room?

ColleenV

I am going to toss my hat in the ring now that I've thought about it. After thinking about how much time I spend on ELL, why shouldn't I at least offer to help with the heavy lifting instead of just puttering around.

NVZ

I mean, has a moderator..

ColleenV

@StoneyB I'm just flat out playing hooky at this point (ie, not even pretending to work)

NVZ

@ColleenV Welcome to the ring!

DEAD

@ColleenV Now we're talking

ColleenV

19:59

Thanks @NVZ

DEAD

Well, all my vote slots are now filled.

Catija

@NVZ No one currently in here can super ping anyone... well... except me.

ColleenV

After reading through some of the other nominations, including yours I felt like a shirker :)

StoneyB

How many votes do we get? And where's @snail when we need a Chicagoan to get out the graveyard vote.

NVZ

@ColleenV Your meta posts are nice. :)

Catija

20:01

@StoneyB Three.

NVZ

We did discuss something in the comments long time ago. @ColleenV

ColleenV

No-one has ever accused me of being too shy to share my opinion lol

StoneyB

@ColleenV waycool.

on my way ...

ColleenV

Now I just have to write up my self-nomination and refine it in less than 4 days

Nathan Tuggy

@ColleenV Ah, sweet!

Catija

20:03

@ColleenV And start working on answering the candidate questions so that the answers are ready to post when the form becomes available.

41

Q: Improve election schedule with respect to the questionnaire

The questionnaire is a great part of the election process, but during my first (first-hand) experience with an election, over on Code Golf, I've found that the timing of the questionnaire is a bit unfortunate. Others have noted that too in the election chat, so I'm quite surprised that this hasn'...

ColleenV

Lol, just pile it on - it's good for me to have deadlines though. Otherwise I end up writing and rewriting and never finishing

Catija

Nathan put his hard-earned MSE rep towards bountying that.

Nathan Tuggy

@Catija (For certain values of hard-earned :P)

ColleenV

I've up-voted

DEAD

@Catija Hard-earned? Meta.SE? :P

ColleenV

20:04

It does seem a bit crazy

Catija

@NathanTuggy Well, I figured you started low because you wanted to be able to offer more bounties in the future :P

Nathan Tuggy

That and I'm not sure the bounty amount means much of anything there.

ColleenV

But at least it goes into the "featured" section

which means someone cares about it enough

to bother

Nathan Tuggy

Right, but as far as that goes it's mostly just going through the UI hassle to get the bounty up.

Catija

@NathanTuggy Nope.

And it won't affect us, either way.

Nathan Tuggy

20:08

Well, no, obviously. It's just good to have for future problems.

Catija

Sure. :D

ColleenV

So basically I should pad the questionnaire with questions I've already written the answers to...

Catija

Yeah.

ColleenV

Is that "efficient" or "unsportsmanlike"?

Nathan Tuggy

That's totally not underhanded or sneaky at all!

ColleenV

20:13

I'm an engineer. We are inherently lazy (for the good of all humankind though)

Nathan Tuggy

(On the other hand, anyone else who's nominated in the past may get a similar boost.)

ColleenV

It's barely an advantage. If candidates don't have time to respond thoughtfully to questions, they probably don't have time to moderate well.

Catija

I'm sure you wouldn't post the same, identical answers...

Your feelings could have evolved somewhat in the intervening time.

ColleenV

I imagine before jumping into it, candidates have already thought about their views on any of the topics that might come up

Anyhow, I had better stop slacking and get back to work, or my moderation campaign may be my full time job lol

barbara beeton

@StoneyB -- Hi there. Didn't know it would be noticed. I've been inundated with TeX and TUG (TeX Users Group) business, not all of the pleasant kind, so have been ignoring almost everything else. But I'm trying to pay enough attention so I can cast an intelligent vote in the moderator "race".

Nathan Tuggy

20:28

Good for you!

StoneyB

22:10

@barbarabeeton I noticed, but that's because at my age the immediate past is fairly cloudy.

@ColleenV Engineers make the world go round. Unmoved movers.

Nathan Tuggy

22:26

@StoneyB The only question I have then is what shape was the world before those pesky engineers got to it?

StoneyB

@Nathan תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ -- the Authorized Version says 'without form, and void'.

Nathan Tuggy

Well, that's fair. Not sure I would lump the Almighty in with mere engineers, but I suppose the comparision is not wholly unwarranted.

StoneyB

The Original Engineer: mechanical, chemical, hydraulic, aeronautical, electrical, you name it He had it covered. And of course He invented artificial intelligence--who else designed the circuits by which we're hardwired for language?

ColleenV

23:33

The first primate that grabbed a stick and attached a rock to it - then ran around trying to get everyone else to appreciate their invention was an Engineer ;)

Transcript for

2016 ELL Moderator Election Chat