By the way, a little PSA for candidates to make sure they know how important it is to get their questionnaire answers up promptly: last election, almost 29% of voters voted within the first two hours.
And the ten percent that did had made up their mind already.
I don't think the questionnaire caused a change of heart in any voter.
I look at it more like double-checking -- make sure the guy you vote for isn't crazy.
Like certain presidential candidates . . .
The questionnaire gets more prominent in SO scale, where the questions are more sensitive, the job looks more professional, and the answer to most questions isn't obvious.
After Colleen nominated, I considered withdrawing, since Nathan and Colleen are the two candidates right now I want to see with a mod badge. But then I thought that ELL still wouldn't have an active chatter as a mod @Arau, so I'm on the fence on whether I should withdraw or not.
I worry that if I don't withdraw, the votes will be spread among us, and ultimately I couldn't get the people I want to be a mod.
As a voter, isn't that exactly what I should be doing? Contributing to seeing the people I like as a mod.
But then you guys'd keep shouting "NOOOOOO" at me.
@DEAD People do get two fallback votes, so there's not likely to be too many wasted/split votes with the field we have. (Last year, there were a lot of overvotes for J.R. that ended up being partly wasted, but I don't think we have a single frontrunner like that this time.)
It's important that there be a slate of credible candidates. If everyone withdraws except the two frontrunners, we don't have a true election.
Ultimately, whoever is elected should be elected from a pool of respected members.
This is critical when the inevitable malcontent comes along down the road, and asks, "Well, who made you a moderator, anyway?"
And, besides all that, you just never know who will win.
Funny, I was just thinking about how the pool of candidates has rounded out rather nicely. Moderator elections should have more qualified people running than positions available.
Now I come here to see a couple strong candidates thinking about bowing out. Please don't.
@DEAD You can campaign for whoever you want to support, but I'd appreciate if you stayed in the race.
2016 ELL Moderator Election Chat
2016 ELL Moderator Election Chat