Travel 2017 Moderator Election Chat

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Adrien Be

08:59

hi all, I'm interested in becoming a moderator for travel.stackexchange.com , how can I apply for this ?

pnuts

Just put your name forward when next nominations are called.

You meet the minimum rep requirement and I presume the others too.

Adrien Be

thanks pnuts. Do you know when are these called ?

pnuts

Roughly once every 12 - 18 months.

Adrien Be

uh, that's a shame I missed that

any way I can setup an email notification ?

pnuts

If you need an email notification you might as well not bother to nominate yourself.

Adrien Be

09:15

maybe you're right

However, considering I earned my 4'000+ reputation over just a few months of activity, maybe you're wrong

What I mean is that if I decide to be active, I will prob have a lot of positive impact...

pnuts

Why would anyone vote for someone who may decide to be active as long as there are others to choose from who already are active.

Adrien Be

True

Not sure. Maybe there is something I can bring in that others don't have ?

I mean no disrespect, but the candidates' application don't seem so exceptional

"I'm definitely not going to be the most traveled person applying for this position, but I've got a fair amount of experience moderating online communities, and I like to help on TSE whenever I can, so I figure it can't hurt to apply to moderate my favourite SE community"
That's rather vague tbh

this guy has 1k reputation ...

"I'm Moderator at Law, and I like travelling and living abroad. I've lived in a bunch of countries and states, and have taken many roadtrips across the states."
Seriously ??? amazing

pnuts

I think you misunderstand the role of a mod. (a) rep is pretty much irrelevant for it and (b) it is not rocket science. The skills required are tact, patience, diplomacy, dedication ... not Travel topic expertise.

Adrien Be

Alright then, maybe I'm wrong

I'm just used to see quite incredible elections candidates on stackoverflow I suppose

We have only 5 people in the election phase. You think that's enough ?

Just wondering - not trying to be an a**hole

pnuts

Check out the credentials of those who are elected this time (flags, posts, edits, meta participation etc) and compare with those who are not elected.

Adrien Be

09:27

pnuts

6 - there were 7.

Adrien Be

Right

pnuts

With 37k users I am very disappointed we could not muster at least a dozen candidates. But, as mentioned, being a mod is a hard grind. I don't blame users for not volunteering.

Adrien Be

Yeah, it's a shame. Maybe more people, like me, would have been happy to sign up

I suspect many users missed it coz they are active on specific "traveling phases"

pnuts

We managed to persuade one, and tried to persuade another.

Adrien Be

09:31

It's probably not the same usage as a pro-topic forum: like programing

So it's easy to miss notifications

Ah well, maybe next time more ppl sign up

pnuts

With enough mods they can run a rota or step in for one another but really somebody should be 'on duty' 24/7.

Adrien Be

Agreed. Having the same (or around) amount of mods in different continent timezones would help - also to bridge cultural gaps in discussions. i.e. 10 mods in Americas, 10 in Europe/Africa. 10 in Asia/Oceania.

pnuts

Time zones are a factor.

You candidate score is 9 at present. In this election we have one with 39 and another with 40 (out of 40).

Adrien Be

09:54

Candidate score ?

pnuts

Q: What are the details on the "candidate score" which shows during an election?

The way stats used to be shown during a moderator election have recently been changed. It now shows a "candidate score", which appears to be an amalgamation of total rep and certain badges, awarding a point for each badge and each 1000 rep. This change is retroactive, so all the previous and clos...

You don't know about an election that has been "pending" for months - until after it has started. You seem to misunderstand the role of a mod. You don't know about candidate scores. You seem not inclined to visit regularly unless made a mod. You have not accepted even As you yourself have provided (and any number of others from other users - seems mostly without bothering to explain why unacceptable) ... There are a lot of things that don't work in your favour to be elected.

Have you voted in this election?

1 hour later…

davidb

11:03

Hello. May I ask what the role of a moderator is for Travel SE? What is required of them?

JonathanReez

11:40

Process flags, close and migrate questions, delete offensive/chatty comments and posts

update tags, ban abusing users

Adrien Be

@pnuts yes, I voted :) Ah, I visit when I am actively traveling usually & need info or want to share info. Maybe you are right. Better ask other members :) I will be happy to keep participating on the forum as I already do. And who knows, maybe some day I have the necessary knowledge & time to become a mod.

Thx JonathanReez for the clarification :)

davidb

so its pretty much a full time job? Good Luck to all candidates :)

1 hour later…

JonathanReez

13:15

@davidb nah, there would be 5 mods

I expect a 15 minute workload

JoErNanO

13:29

@davidb Quoting from my 2016 Mod questionnaire answer:

> I like the idea of moderators being [human exception handlers](http://stackoverflow.com/help/site-moderators).
Moderators are here to ensure that the site runs smoothly, taking care of anything that can't be handled directly by the community -- spam flags, offensive flags, user suspensions, etc.
Ideally moderators do as little work as possible as they silently watch the community self-handle itself using the tools regular users have at their disposal.
Sometimes moderators might have to step in nip issues in the bud. When this happens their actions must be visible, and therefore accountabl…

I should not be a full time job.

davidb

14:07

But being available to moderate, oversee etc even if not doing much requires a large amount of time and dedication. Huge respect to The Moderators!

JoErNanO

14:19

Dedication and time, definitely yes.

8 hours later…