To avoid confusion, we did not come up with this within the last hours; it was a something that was basically decided a short while ago. I did not say it yesterday, as I had to double check it is really decided and communicable.
I guess my point is that I don't think it's reasonable to expect most people in the US to actually thoughtfully engage with long format things like essays or documentaries or what have you
The context of the clocking was that I was criticizing a subreddit for being too meme-y
When it should in my opinion be much more detailed in its ideas and discussion
And the person pointed out that the memes being posted, and reacted to, were helping people to express their opinions who weren't smart enough to do so otherwise
That they had a right to their opinions, even if they couldn't hold a candle to me in a debate (no matter which side each of us took)
When I say we have to learn to meme (and by we I mean, people who don't want more of the current president) what I mean is we have to find ways to take the academic arguments we make and distill them into a format that is digestible for somebody with only 2 min to understand them
There will be some loss in bandwidth there but it's remarkable how good some creators are at doing it
Their videos themselves tend to be very long video essays on social topics, so they aren't exactly a great example of brevity in that way, however I constantly see short clips of them circling around the internet, making an impact. Little quips they make or other short counterarguments to popular fallacies on the right.
anyhow I have to drop off for a bit-- can talk more about this later if you like!
@FakeMod, hope you received a little surprise I sent you
user434058
@ArjunRana Yes :-) , well thanks, but serial upvotes get reversed by the system automatically. However, the fact that you liked my answers is more important than the rep :D
user434058
@Knight IIRC, RewCie is just added for anonymity. Abhas told that to me.
@FakeMod But why “RewCie” not anything else? It could mean something (but there are chances that it may be meaningless because after all Abhas has used it)
@FakeMod , those weren't serial votes, mine and your thought process are nearly same. I loved those answers specially the circle and square, bicycle one and also pendulum one
@Knight , does @abhas_RewCie live in India or Chicago?
@ArjunRana First, users self-nominate to be candidates. Then, you can vote for the candidates that self-nominated. (Usually there are two steps, a primary, and an actual election.) In an informal way there are sometimes activities to encourage users to self-nominated, but they have nothing to do with the official process.
@AlexanderGruber I think that is a useful skill. But you can't propose legislation with a single meme, nor circulate a petition without words, nor can you get NSF funding unless you know how to write. You can't try a case in court without knowing how to write. You can't write a meme-only dissertation, etc. etc. Knowing how to write well is just as important as knowing how to design a meme.
@ArjunRana what I meant to say in a somewhat fun way is that there is no fixed term. A user stays a moderators as long as they wish (except in exceptional cases when they are removed) and are moderately active.
@quid Yes, it would entail more work for SE to oversee. I get that. But I think it might be wise to have an established procedure for users, and perhaps a few site mods, to "fire" idle "moderators" who aren't moderating.
@amWhy that is not the down-side. The down-side is that moderators in moderating might think how this affects their chances of getting reelected. Alright, maybe one can also see this as an up-side, but I don't think so.
@quid That could work, but we could lose excellent mods like yourself after one fixed term. I do think SE could become a tad stricter on what counts as being "active" as a mod,
Translated to English "enjoy everyday, I u can't, look for enjoyment", it loses its meaning in english. Here is it in hindi "moj lo roj lo na mile to Khoj lo "
@quid Perhaps it could be a per capita criteria. And I do not mean strict, to any unreasonable sense of the term. A mod is entitled to vacations, and such. But if I understand correctly, the only requirement from SE for mods is that they log in as a mod once every six months!
@quid Well if they aren't motivated to participate actively, they should be encouraged to resign. A mod who does nothing no longer deserves to be a mod. Can't you see that? It is deceiving to users, right now, to see that there are all of nine moderators on the site! And when a mod does nothing, the workload falls on other mods. If you want, propose a "mod emeritus" title, so mods are designated as retired, and can choose to retire without losing the designation. But to pretend...
...a user is a mod, when they don't moderate, is deceptive, at best. So, I propose you suggest to SE that they create a status "moderator emeritus" to allow mods to proud to resign, to resign with a title??
@quid My point is, if they do nothing, they should not be mods. Not that they go through the motions. I respect wholeheartedly the mods who know when it is time to go. If others' are to proud to admit they aren't serving math.se, then there needs to be another avenue to fire them.
sp\"too": "too proud"... Too much pride undermines one's purpose.
@ArjunRana No, I'm sorry, but I will not be running in the election. I appreciate your support, though!
Unless it's only after six months of inactivity. I do not think you realize how insulting it is to "regular users" who work harder than inactive mods on this site, but are seen as mere peons in the whole scheme of things.
@quid right, when they don't regularly visit the site now? That's just a reach, @quid. Pedro was virtually a child when he was elected. He was never a terribly effective mod. I suspect for him, he just likes to flaunt the diamond elsewhere. He's hardly helpful for understanding anything from "way back then."
I do think, @quid, that you are far too invested in protecting your brethren.
@quid Okay, @quid. You don't give me many options to speak freely. You clearly don't want me talking about them because you clearly cannot defend them. whatever, quid.
What is the point of users voting for moderators who are then allowed to turn around and do nothing? That is an insult to the users who voted them in. If you cannot see that, then I have little more to say.
@amWhy no. Rather I am actually invested in protecting you. Sorry, for the potential parternalism, but that's way closer to the reality of the situation. And I don't mean that some "power to be" comes along. But when you continue like that and stuff gets flagged it creates issues.
@quid Well, then please delete my comments against Pedro, so they remain silent, and so no one knows any the better. Isn't that what flags and suspensions are about? Protecting those in power?
No, please, @quid, if I have to sacrifice speaking what I see, in order to participate here, then delete the comments. The negativity you speak of originates from the negative presence of certain privileged users who were elected moderator.
@amWhy you can express it. But it depends how you express it and also how often. If you say it once, alright. If you go on and on about it that's a problem.
@amWhy I agree. I think they're both important skills. The important thing is to know the context you're working in. Math.SE supports both long form and short form posts, and I would argue that long form is more important, but short form tends to be upvoted more just as an artifact of how the site is browsed. I've also noticed a hybrid format tends to do well here (what I'd call "internet writing"), such as for example many of Jaydles' posts.
@quid On and on? No, twice. Don't exaggerate, please. Also, I offered very constructive options and alternatives. But I see that @AlexanderGruber is also on board for protecting poor P****, so with two mods ready to slam me, I should bow out.
@AlexanderGruber No, I just, perhaps incorrectly, misattributed an upvote on quid's comment above. It's not a bad time. I know when it is not safe for me to speak on SE.
@ArjunRana The P**** was just the first initial of a user's first name, with askteriks for the rest of the letters. It was not profane! I was warned by a moderator not to mention the specific user/moderator.
@amWhy Regarding this message, I appreciate the support and vote of confidence, but I don't think that I have the time or energy to put into moderating here.
@amWhy it felt like more than twice, but granted I did not count, so I trust you on that. Either way I should not have used "on and on" but something more neutral. Sorry about that.
@XanderHenderson Do you think I felt like I have the time or the energy? Or the will? Or the inclination? No to all of them. Sometimes, though, you need to step up to the plate and fulfill your role.
@ArjunRana Every college in the US is slightly different, if you are asking about transferring to a college in the US. Mostly it amounts to their assessing earned credits at a former campus; usually they find matching courses at the incoming campus, or accept such credits. But most campuses in the US welcome transfer students. But I can not speak for policies outside the US.
@XanderHenderson sounds intriguing. But for now that's a bit abstract as a story. I'm about to leave for now, but if there are more details when I come back I will sure read them with interest.
@quid Sorry. My master's advisor did a postdoc with Edriss Titi. One of my very good friends actually extended Titi's work with our advisor as part of his masters thesis, and I read a fair amount of the work in my own master's work.
It turns out that Titi is the cousin of one of my colleagues here, and showed up to the defense out of familial pride.
@amWhy I haven't seen it, but given the association with science fiction, I think it fits my above assertions. It is a nerdy, somewhat isolated fandom, rather than a communal fawning.
@quid Are you familiar with the expressions "fangirl" or "fanboy"? I wasn't, until today. @XanderHenderson I think I already told you I think I'm older than you!
@XanderHenderson I pretty much knew what you meant when you referred to "fangirls". I proposed "fanboys" because I think boys are prone to communal fawning as well. I had no idea there were these different cultural meanings.
