Ask Ubuntu 2013 Moderator Elections

smartboyhw

03:34

Good morning guys

Am I wrong or did @EvanCarroll quit again!?

Seth

@smartboyhw He didn't want to sign the Ubuntu CoC

smartboyhw

@Seth That is good.

Seth

IMO yes.

Manishearth

04:30

@smartboy @journey you can vote for yourself. The voting is via Meek STV, and you get 3 choices(ordered)

smartboyhw

@Manishearth I know

Journeyman Geek

@Manishearth:I saw/know that. I'm just unlikely to

Manishearth

Eh.. Give yourself top choice, the other two go to the riffraff :p

Seth

@Manishearth I call that a major bug...

Manishearth

@seth why?

Seth

04:35

@Manishearth Because that isn't the way an election is supposed to work.

Manishearth

How is it supposed to work then?

No one said that this needed to be like a presidential election.

Seth

good grief.

Manishearth

To me, STV actually makes more sense here :)

In a presidential election you're only choosing one guy.

Seth

That's just not the way an election is supposed to work. An election is supposed to be people voting for you not you voting for yourself.

Manishearth

Ah, but here the votes trickle

Seth

04:38

obviously if you've nominated yourself you must think you're a good candidate.

Manishearth

You still vote for two other people

Seth

@Manishearth true enough. Still, that could be the tie breaker and then it wouldn't be fare.

Manishearth

With lower priority

@seth tie breakers are very rare in stv

They have a way of dealing with it

Seth

shrug

I'm not going to say don't vote for yourself though.

Manishearth

Not allowing you to vote for yourself--> you give a rather large vote(first pref) to another guy. Allowing you to vote for yourself -->if you get elected, your votes help choose the other mods. If you don't get elected, the votes are worthless :p

Seth

04:42

that seems like weird logic.

Manishearth

Not allowing a candidate to vote means that s/he has no say in the other candidates' election

Seth

I'm not talking about not allowing them to vote.

Manishearth

Again, stv is not a single choice election. Your votes get transferred.

By prefs

Seth

I just think it isn't fair to let them vote for themselves.

@Manishearth true.

Manishearth

If they'd obviously vote for themselves, it doesn't mean that it's unfair if they do

room topic changed to Ask Ubuntu 2013 Moderator Elections: for the 2013 election chit-chat. askubuntu.com/election/3 (no tags)

Realised that there should be a link

Seth

05:03

probably should :)

Heya @jokerdino :)

jokerdino

Hey

Seth

I like UTT's new icon :D

Journeyman Geek

@Seth: in theory in a normal election you can vote for yourself too

jokerdino

@Seth :) Frank made it.

Seth

@jokerdino Which guy is Frank? (I'm actually rather new here)

@JourneymanGeek oh?

jokerdino

05:06

Hm, i dont think Frank is in here. He is the icon designer guy in the bigger Ubuntu community.

Seth

ah OK. Well its a nice icon :)

Journeyman Geek

no one would know, really. Its just considered bad form to

/me chuckles about all the questions about my flagging rate

Manishearth

@jokerdino Ha! I replaced some of his designs. My power options menu has a psi on it now. Waay cooler :P

Journeyman Geek

there's folk with less >_>

Seth

@JourneymanGeek and there's folks with a lot more.

Manishearth

05:08

@JourneymanGeek But they have REPS! GLORIOUS REPS!

REPS REPS REPS

Seth

bah

Manishearth

In the end, unfortunately, rep tends to rig the election :(

jokerdino

@Manishearth Haha, greek letters make anyone geeky ;)

4

Journeyman Geek

@Seth: @jokerdino has more on AU than I have on SU

Manishearth

Since the "uninformed masses" just vote for whoever is high rep

@jokerdino to me, it looks like a trident sort of thing and kinda scary :P

Journeyman Geek

05:09

@Manishearth: eh, in most elections I tend to use "lower rep" "best chance of being awesome mod" as my two determinants

Manishearth

@jokerdino When it boots it also says "Manibuntu" instead of Ubuntu :P

@JourneymanGeek you do

Seth

@JourneymanGeek Not a good thing IMO

Journeyman Geek

someone with lower rep and good community spirit would use powers they wouldn't have had anyway for good

Manishearth

The election notice is prominently displayed to everyone

jokerdino

@Manishearth Ah, you personalized the bootscreen? How awesome!

Journeyman Geek

05:10

@Seth: not necessarily - I tend to favour comments and voting as a way to handle stuff over flagging

Manishearth

@jokerdino plymouth, yep

Journeyman Geek

I consider flags a bit blunt force from the aspect of being a user

Seth

@JourneymanGeek Flags are used to help keep the site clean.

Journeyman Geek

@Seth: Flags basically are a way to handle things that regular users can't

Seth

in 99% of the cases leaving a comment isn't going to get someone to delete their question they posted as an answer

Journeyman Geek

05:12

@Seth: oh, those are one of the few things that definately need to be flagged

along with spam and such

Seth

@JourneymanGeek I disagree.

But then, you come from SU

Manishearth

@JourneymanGeek Well, they should also be familiar with the tools. On a beta site, not a problem -- these guys don't have many immediate modding duties. On a large site -- it's better if they already know how to handle stuff

Seth

a rather angelic (in a sense) community.

Journeyman Geek

I don't see how that's a massive downside

Manishearth

To me, anyone without closevote privs on some site (and who knows how to use 'em) is out

Seth

05:13

@Manishearth oh?

Manishearth

unless the user is an active close vote flagger

Journeyman Geek

@Seth: I also have some presense in SF

Seth

@Manishearth Close vote flagger?

Manishearth

@Seth flags to close

Journeyman Geek

@Seth: sub 3k users can/should flag to close

Manishearth

05:15

So a good helpful flag count is OK as well

Journeyman Geek

its a way to handle them not having closevote rights

Seth

Ah, yeah. 80% of my flags where those.

That's how I got so many.

Journeyman Geek

@Manishearth: Its also useful to keep in mind there that closevotes arn't just to kill off a question, its also, where possible to get the OP to fix the question in question ;p

Seth

@Manishearth I agree. IMO Flagging is extremely similar to close voting. Almost the same.

Manishearth

I look for someone who is active on the meta, preferable MSO as well, with either (a) a decent amount of flagging for sub 3ks [most flags are CV flags, so I can just assume that a lot of helpful flags=knowz hiz stuff] or (b) activity in VTC queue/lots of VTCs for a 3k+.

jokerdino

05:17

Not really. Flagging is being processed by some one but close votes are processed by your conscience.

2

Manishearth

@Seth Except that you flaggers are POWERLESS when faced with us mods! BWAHAHAHAHAHA

Journeyman Geek

@jokerdino: primarily cause low rep users generally arn't trusted by default ;p

jokerdino

:P

Seth

@Manishearth Only in your own territory. I have more power here than you do. (Well, not in chat)

Manishearth

In chat?

Bwahahaha

Journeyman Geek

05:18

I don't have much power ;p

Seth

Power is the wrong word.

but you get the point ;)

jokerdino

privileges perhaps.

Journeyman Geek

@Seth: with great power comes great responsibility ;p

Manishearth

@JourneymanGeek you should have. This is your third nomination or something, rught?

Journeyman Geek

nope

first

will probably be standing for the next SU elections when they come, regardless of my performance here

Seth

05:21

@JourneymanGeek So, I guess this this is what I'm getting at: A moderators main job is to clean the site. Pretty much his only job. Your flagging and editing history shows me how well you are already acquainted with this job. That's why I value flagging so much.

Manishearth

@JourneymanGeek oh

jokerdino

I apparently value people more.

Manishearth

@Seth Exactly. Once you become a mod, you may not have time to write answers/etc.

Journeyman Geek

@Seth: and dealing with the community. I just personally favour the softer approach to actual users.

Manishearth

@jokerdino If you know more about the person outside the displayed stats, then of course, vote with respect to that :D

Seth

05:23

stats display character.

Journeyman Geek

stats are stats

Seth

As much as most people here can know at this time.

jokerdino

@Manishearth :D I have left comments on nominations that I don't have a problem with :)

Or I know something others might not have.

Seth

@JourneymanGeek Not all character

Journeyman Geek

they don't show comments or on chat actions or actual dealing with people

Manishearth

05:25

Rep never displayed anything but quantity*quality. It is a very very rough measure of how much the community trusts you

Journeyman Geek

If I needed to deal with tangibles I'd think meta participation is a better thing to look at, IMO

Manishearth

on SO, there are >10k (even 100k) users that break the rules themselves

@JourneymanGeek yep

Journeyman Geek

it tells you how well someone understands the system

Seth

@Manishearth I know, makes me cry.

Mahesh

13:17

Silence

4

Manishearth

@Mahesh broken

Mahesh

@Manishearth :( sob sob sob

Manishearth

Bwahaha

Transcript for

Ask Ubuntu 2013 Moderator Elections