@DucatiKiller - You'd definitely have my vote.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Interesting.

Time for BBT ... be back in a 1/2 hour.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Thanks :-)

@DucatiKiller - Still out there?

Maybe this question has come up before, but I'd like to know what cars our candidates drive and what they would choose as their daily driver if they where to buy new cars today (the car itself doesn't have to be new).

@DucatiKiller - on a site with a strong community, mod time involvement can be reasonably light. The community does a lot of the heavy lifting, so day to day stuff gets handled (VTC's, activity from high rep folks, gold tag badge people etc), and even when things get more intense, the mod team share the load.

On one of my other sites, one of the 3 mods lives in hurricane central so has times when they cannot be online, sometimes for extended periods. The other two just step up a wee bit until they are back.

@Markus - currently I have a 300bhp Subaru WRX, and my fun crazy car is a 400bhp Litchfield Subaru Forester, but it is a bit old so I'm selling it, which means my only acceleration kicks are going to be from my Yamaha 750 Super Tenere.

If I could buy any car, I'd have another Litchfield - I've raced everything from Caterhams, Atoms, Le Mans cars, Ferraris, Porsches, rally cars etc., and the most fun and most practical car I have ever driven is my Litchfield

Great as a daily driver, brilliant to take the whole family camping, a sensible commute (can get 35mpg), and an awesome track day car

The 911 GT3 was very disappointing on track - the BMW M4GTP we raced the following season was miles better. I had a good session racing Corvettes and similar one time I visited Vegas - had real trouble with them until I had a proper session with an instructor to go through the differences between rally cars/Japanese cars and American muscle cars :-)

@Markus can't afford much racing these days - my budget goes towards helping my 3 kids (karting, snowboarding, flying etc...) but I'll get back to it eventually

What 911 (996, 997?) was it? and why was it disappointing?

Howdy folks - I have thrown my hat in the ring...

@DucatiKiller shame to hear you're not planning to stand, you'd have a lot to offer

@Markus Nice question - My current daily is a Subaru Forester (we seem to have a lot of Subarus here!), my dream car is an E-type Jaguar, but as a daily I'd go for a 1975 Triumph Dolomite Sprint...

if you really would have wanted a dolomite, couldn't you just change your forester? or is a dolomite really that expensive?

Hey @Nick - good to see you stand. And you too, @BobCross.

@Markus - I think it was the 996. It just didn't handle/accelerate/corner as well as the equivalent cars on the track. Even the Jaguar XKR (heavy beast with 460bhp) was better

Haven't done any classic racing?

Oldest thing I raced was a Triumph Spitfire - must have been made in 1975, maybe...

But I was more worried about dinging it than anything else

Really? isn't that cheaper than a race Ferrari?

Much - but it belonged to a friend. The others were owned by race clubs :-)

@tlhIngan remember to add in your answers here:

Oh, and Nick and Bob ^

Hey @anonymous2 - you standing for the election?

@RoryAlsop Done!

@Markus I'm intending to get one as a second car soon, through probably not a Sprint, as they are too expensive. I'd not be confident running a 40+ year old car as a daily really....

@RoryAlsop Thinking about it. It won't harm any of the candidates that actually have a chance. :)

Actually, I've got a potential nomination worked up. What remains is the questionnaire.

What do you think of it? Better to stand out or give it a shot?

And BTW, I noticed BobCross is running. Does he have to renominate?

@anonymous2 Go for it! The more the merrier!

@anonymous2 I'd say go for it. The worst that can happen is you don't get voted in and you get some useful experience. Or you could end up being a new mod here :-)

@anonymous2 pro-tems do need to renominate, yes.

@RoryAlsop Ah, ok. Nomination submitted.

Excellent - I'm an ENTJ, myself

@RoryAlsop - I believe I'm an ENTJ ... but I don't remember. I took a different personality test here last year. They had a different bend to it. Instead of just being an introvert/extrovert, there was a middle ground called a "omnivert" (I believe). I fall dead center of the omnivert faction. Blew me away, but made a lot of sense. I've always looked at myself as an E.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Frequently counsellors will also make a distinguishing mark between an EI and an IE.

Gotcha

For anyone who gets a chance ... if you get offered coaching services ... take it. I went through some training last year where I received professional coaching. I think it was the best professional experience I've ever had.

I'm an INTJ, according to a random online test...

lol

Laughing not at the "INTJ" part, but the random online test portion :o)

It doesn't surprise me, that's what I'd have said I was going on the descriptions of each type...

You doing well today @NickC? I think it's great you've self nominated.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Thanks, I'm fine, how are you?

Doing well. I had too many hours last week, so am making up for it this week by taking today off.

Fair enough. It looks like we're getting a good selection of candidates

Absolutely.

I was thinking about it when I was answering the last of the 10 questions

and I can't see anyone here who I think would make a bad mod

amongst either the declared candidates or the other high-erp users who have not (yet) declared

Of the "regulars" I'd agree. Quite a good group of people.

This is where I can't do things because I'm a mod: I'd love to leave comments on people's election answers but that reads as an endorsement from the incumbent.

And the issue is?

:o)

that depends what he puts ;)

@NickC - HAH! You nailed that one.

@BobCross I hadn't thought of that, but that's true.

Hey @anonymous2 ... morning

Good morning!

Something I think is important, and I've hopefully got over in my answers, is keeping the 'regular' crew involved - i.e. the other high-rep users who aren't mods

Excellent point, @NickC.

because it's a community

and it's greatest strength is that it is a community

@NickC it's not hard. High rep users who want to help are often hanging out in the open chat. All you have to do is throw issues out to the group and there's instant participation. ... Oh crap, now I've given away my strategy for winning the election! Curses!

@BobCross Aye, but it's important that the mods do that - I've known sites outside of SE where the moderation/admin teams are very much a closed block, and what they says goes

and I hate that

Well, as you know the rule of Bob has been one of tyranny from start to finish.... ;-)

<ducks the flying hammer>

@BobCross Afraid not. I fear he faces a re-election, poor fellow.

<hammers the flying duck>

Mods who are part of the community do much better - totally agree with @NickC

Hammers for everyone!

<Ducks from everyone>

@NickC -I hate that as well.

@RoryAlsop - Too funny!

@RoryAlsop - There was a movie line once which went, "Who stepped on the duck!" ... that was right after they passed gas ...

Hey, I didn't realize that I have to share the hammer. I am veto-ing this whole election thing.

Don't forget the "Bob Signal"

I'm definitely not sharing the Space Cannons.

@BobCross - But, but, but, but, but ... DARN! ... that was the only reason I signed up. That's it ... I quit.

@anonymous2 - Great answers!

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2, if you are elected, you will be assigned a space water gun. Not a super soaker. One of the old awful ones from the 70s that just barely dribbled out the end. It might be powerful enough to make a small amount of orbital mist. Use it with joy. :-p

@BobCross - Thanks Big Bob! I always knew you had a heart. :-|

Well, yes, I do have one if you are a bit loose in your definition of "heart."

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Thanks! I'm just taking time to read through the other nominees, and I'm seeing a lot of great stuff. We have a lot of great candidates! I am thrilled.

@anonymous2 - I'm thrilled as well. Like I said, you'd make a great Mod. I think a lot of our core group would make great Mods as well. I don't think we'll have any issues and I'll be happy with the outcome no matter what the results are.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Whether or not a make it this time, I'm looking forward to the experience, and enjoying it already.

@BobCross, I really like your answer on #8.

And #1, @Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2.

@anonymous2 thanks. See my previous: I wish I could be saying a bunch of things about specifics for everyone's answers but I feel weird as the mod. Assume that I'm giving everyone a thumbs up for volunteering their time.

@BobCross - It doesn't matter ... we know how you really feel ... Mod Hammer of the Gods and all.

Sometimes it's fun just to whack things with it. WHAM WHAM WHAM

Ouch!

@RoryAlsop, being already a moderator on 7 sites, how do you foresee yourself having time to moderate another one?

@BobCross WWW?

@anonymous2 - Nothing to do with the World Wide Web, btw.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Right, I was thinking that he types in www.mechanics.stackexchange.com, and he's thinking, "WHAM, WHAM, WHAM; Dent Old Tools (dot); mechanics; Destroy Others' Thinking (dot); stackexchange, etc.

Sorry, a bit hard to follow.

JK, BTW, @BobCross. From what I've seen, you've done excellent moderation.

@anonymous2 thanks, I appreciate it. I had to learn on the job. :-)

@BobCross , that's the best way to learn.

@anonymous2 - I agree. He's kept me in line, which is no simple task.

Man, there's even a chat room for you guys to pat each other on the back?

:P

How many mods will get elected?

Three.

But we're losing the pro-tems, so Bob Cross is going for re-election as well

So... Bob, Paulster and some other unlucky soul?

@JPhi1618 I keep the diamond only if you guys say so. It's not part of my ego....

@BobCross - Don't fool yourself ... we know it is, Bob.

:o)

At least that's what's been going around ... Bob has a Diamond Ego ...

Oh, my bad ... they were saying a Neil Diamond Ego ... I've got it straight now.

@JPhi1618 Are you going to stand?

Still trying to get out of his chair, I guess.

@NickC - JPhi should throw it in as well. Make a great mod.

I don't know, @BobCross, you don't have that deputy badge.

Neither do I, but, well, that's different, of course

@anonymous2 I think you've identified a mod symptom. Who am I flagging things to? Myself? Dear self, you need to consider the ramifications of this issue that you're currently looking at. Love, yourself

@BobCross I know, I was joking.

Pretend I'm super duper tired and am having trouble running my interpretation of earth human humor software....

Do you know if @MoveMoreCommentsLinkToTop is planning on re-nominating?

@anonymous2 - When I had talked to Larry previously, he said he was planning on it.

I sent him a text this morning making sure he was aware the nominations were open.

Talk about on the inside group! Sending a private text to a moderator! ;-)

@anonymous2 Right on! Glad you threw in your hat!

@NickC Rory has indicated that the time commitment isn't as much as I perceived from the outside. Maybe I'll throw in. This is the first time I've even considered it. Thanks for the kind words.

@RoryAlsop How much time per site do you spend a week on being a mod? It just seems overwhelming to me at your level of participation.

Oh dear. How come each person only has 3 votes? :)

@DucatiKiller Do pitch in!

You'd definitely come close to the top.

Seriously, we have some great candidates, and I'd be sad to see you not stand.

@anonymous2 Thanks for that. I'm going to chat with @RoryAlsop when he comes around and ask him about what it's like being a mod on a site that's experienced explosive growth just to understand more.

Hmm, I hope I'm around. Sounds interesting!

I'm sure he has a lot of light to shed on it.

I'll be sure to ask any questions in here and out in the open so everyone can see his answers.

Thanks! I'll definitely chew on the juicy morsels afterwards if I'm not there to get the worm.

He might have more experience than almost anyone in SE

True enough. I still stand in doubt as to whether he would be an ideal candidate for mechanics specifically, but there's time enough for the final decision.

@anonymous2 If you have some time, check out a few of his answers and questions.

I've been doing that slowly but surely with the various candidates. I just haven't looked at his just yet.

Hello all, just been offline during my commute. Just arrived home so will go back up through the transcript and answer those questions I see

Just let me get hugs from the kids first:-)

Part of parenting, eh? :)

@BobCross How much time per day do you think you spend mod'ing?

@DucatiKiller That guy has a broad knowledge base! I've just come from checking out some of his answers... where does he find the time?

@anonymous2 Indeed! He's committed.

@RoryAlsop - Give them hugs from Uncle Paul as well ...

@DucatiKiller depends on the day. There have been days when there are mod things that bug me for hours (I'm either doing something or I'm trying to figure out what to do). Some days there's nothing at all. I check in at least once a day unless I'm in a strange location (like now).

@anonymous2 I tend to be well structured in my approach to the day, but I also got used to working up to 100 hour weeks in a previous job. Now I work less than 45 hour weeks. That gives me a hell of a lot of free time

@BobCross When you are thinking about 'that thing', what kind of things would create that type of situation? What are 'that thing' s that give you hours of trouble mentally?

@anonymous2 2 of my sites are hard work - not the biggest ones. 2 are quite light as the traffic is still small. And the other three are actually relatively straighforward because of the committed core community.

This is what I was saying about Mechanics.SE - the core is very passionate about doing things right. Guiding new folks, voting to close when needed, and (as far as I can tell) flagging when necesary

There have been situations where someone really wants to start a fight with me about an answer. It was hard work to keep out of a furball. They were super upset and tried to get all "you e abused your mod powers!" That's why I try to keep most of that stuff in the open chat. I want everything to be on the record.

@RoryAlsop What are some of the mod challenges for a site that has moderate traffic and then suddenly blows up? Have you been in that situation? How did you solve it among the mod team so that people didn't get crushed?

My expectation is that generally speaking, this would add around 10-15 minutes to my time here each day. I tend to hang out a bit anyway (I tend to auto-open 25 chat rooms as favourites in order to be connected)

@BobCross I really like your 'out in the open' policy. Audit trails can be important.

That's not feasible for me. The mobile interface is the only one that I can count on.

Yeah, the mobile interface leaves something to be desired.

@DucatiKiller Security.SE did exactly that. Mostly it went well, however there were a couple of phases of mass influx of bad new posts during that growth that outstripped privileged user growth, and mod time went up a fair bit. But the mod group communicated constantly

Now Sec.SE has reached a pretty mature level, there are plenty of folks with mod-equivalent privileges, including gold badge holders who can do things like close as dupe in their specialisation

So it has become more relaxed - we still track spammers etc., but often they are flagged to destruction in seconds

@DucatiKiller it makes it easier to bring in support. "Folks, I think I need to tag out of this conversation"

@BobCross Sometimes I have to do it on mobile...that does suck. Unfortunately there is not really a business case for providing me with a better multi-mod interface, along with a couple of other multi-mods

@RoryAlsop Do you see the challenge of a sites growth revolving more around low rep users than anything else?

@DucatiKiller no - it's really about community direction and cohesion. You can track growth through various upticks in the graphs of new users, posts per day, and visits per day (I have 7 graphs open as we speak, comparing...) but the key at each 'knee' is around community involvement

Tempo starting to pick up here so I'm going to step out for a bit

@BobCross Catch you later. Have a good day!

with crappy interwebs.....

Let the record show that it's 1721 local time and my started ten hours ago. The tempo is picking up now.... :-/

@RoryAlsop Have you been a mod at a site that is struggling for traffic and enacted anything with the community to get better traffic numbers?

@DucatiKiller mods have a key role in supporting the good behaviours, publicising what is going on etc, but the community as a whole is what guides new folks, helps them understand what is expected etc., and changes the site policies as needed

@BobCross errrrg.... :-(

@RoryAlsop Based upon how google SEO works I have a firm belief that editing questions and cleaning up verbiage to align with the rules of language can have a profound effect on site traffic. How do you see editing as a tool to get better SEO?

We've debated this issue before and I have forgotten where you landed on it.

@DucatiKiller yes -a couple of times, and with success both times (albeit on different levels)...for one I did a lot of marketing work round various industry bodies, and I also went to various conferences on behalf of the site, giving out swag as prizes, and to speakers etc

That was incredibly successful - and the immediate uptick was measurable

The other one was more of an online marketing piece - using twitter etc to ping out links to questions that tied in with current affairs etc

@DucatiKiller Yep - I'm all for it. One of the things to be careful of is too much clean up all at once, as it swamps the front page

It does increase SEO, but then impacts the community, so doing it piecemeal over time is better!

(we did do that en masse for one site that needed a lot of work, but that was with SE staff who batched things up in a way that didn't impact the front page)

@RoryAlsop We went through a phase of that and I edit like a madman during the lowest traffic times to decrease the contamination effect on the 'active' page. From what I understand SE conforms to the new Google SEO rules and even an upvote is considered change and activity on a page making have a 'higher' value in their mathamagic. What are some things that the community can do with the tools SE gives to increase site traffic?

@DucatiKiller Also ran a competition on Sec.SE to reward certain things - and gave away epic prizes - meta.security.stackexchange.com/questions/887/…

@DucatiKiller Sharing a post in a relevant online group really helps, which is why you get badges for it! I share Music ones with my musical friends, Security ones with my security friends, and even some of the better Productivity ones with my group of productivity specialists.

@RoryAlsop Interesting and thanks.

@RoryAlsop Do you feel that voting and page change have a positive impact on traffic?

@DucatiKiller A strong voting ethic really helps encourage new folks, which leads to greater 'stiction', which leads to growth, so definitely, yes. Page change is also instantly picked up by Google, but I don't know SEO enough to know exactly how that transfers across

@RoryAlsop thanks for taking the time to answer all of my questions. You've always been compliant and a giver. Appreciate that!

@DucatiKiller no worries - I try and share what I know, and what I have worked out (as well as the odd guess :-)

@RoryAlsop There's no doubt you share the wealth with many in SE. Say 'Hi' do David Coulthard for me. I'm sure you know him since he's Scottish too.

@BobCross What are some of the mod tools that SE gives you that you don't have with 25K rep?

@DucatiKiller Heh - I met Damon Hill the other week. Not seen David C for years (he was at an event I was at but I didn't get to speak to him - if I remember I was trying to get Colin McRae's autograph)

RIP Colin.

I met Kenny Roberts a few years ago. Pretty cool.

Damon Hill is next level. Love that guy!

@DucatiKiller He's very cool - was at my work signing his autobiography

@RoryAlsop I would have bought one.

@NickC, If I was around as much as I was before I would certainly run for mod, but I don't have the time anymore to get on very much.

@DucatiKiller, you gonna throw your hat in the ring?

@JPhi1618 Thinking about after getting some prodding and time commitment experiences from Rory and Bob.

@DucatiKiller, Yea, I understand that. I don't have any idea how much time it actually takes. I see you on here enough that I don't think it would be a problem for you.

Of course, I'm not around much anymore, so maybe you aren't either...

@DucatiKiller yay!

@JPhi1618 it's less than you think - see my comments further up

@JPhi1618 After you went to your new job I got crushed at work for a few months. I've since resigned but am starting a new gig in a few days.

@JPhi1618 The mods are saying .5 hours a day, which, no matter what, I could manage, except Sunday.

@DucatiKiller and it's variable. Say if you could never do Sunday, someone else could take up the slack that day

Plus, weekends are lighter on all SE sites (as far as I can tell)

@DucatiKiller - that shows how I manage some of my workflow

sorry about image size - I had to shrink it to get Chat to accept it

I tend to have tabs open for all my main sites, chats all logged in, and other stuff open all at once so I can multitask

@RoryAlsop Didn't take you for a windows guy :-)

Looks like my chrome right now. Millions of open tabs.

@DucatiKiller I'm not - but this is my new gaming rig, and whether I like it or not, some things just work better for work

These days I'm actually more likely to have a unix in a vm than vice versa

Indeed. Windows = work, *nix = home

@DucatiKiller and I just cycle along them for mod tasks, then another cycle for answering questions

Efficiency, it's underrated. I like it.

and for review, but it's a bit more limited for mods, as decisions are binding - so I look for posts with 3 or 4 votes, and if I agree I add the closer

I like that ideology, let the community share their opinion first and be the last one in line.

Ideology being, hear the communities voice first.

@DucatiKiller Absolutely concur.

I think our userbase is big enough now we can allow that to happen without fear of something lingering too long.

The userbase certainly has increased pretty dramatically over the last 12 months