Good luck.

Good luck all.

@Magisch There is an old saying....don't feed the trolls.

@MisterPositive It's a legitimate concern

and I need to be accountable to questions like this

no harm no foul

Oklay... here we go...

@Magisch Why do you want to be a moderator at TWP?

@Magisch What perspective of being in the workforce do you bring and how will it be valuable as a moderator?

@Magisch we have people in the workforce posting for literally around the world, do you have any perspective that extends beyond your own culture that provides you insights?

@RichardU As per my nomination, I think I can affect some good that way. I'm good at these types of intricacies

My interest in the network has always been a bit more procedural then actual in general. That's why I participate more in moderation activities and specialities like fighting spam

@Magisch so, what is your interest in The Workplace, specifically? Why does this stack interest you?

@RichardU From a workforce perspective, I'm relatively new (4 years in), but as a moderator I'm not in charge of determining topicality, up/downvoting, closing more then any other user. Rather, moderators are human exception handlers and subject matter expertise is helpful but not necessary to be a good one

@RichardU I like reading here, I like answering here if I feel I can contribute, and it's been a hugely positive resource in my personal growth

@RichardU Being active in an international community such as stack exchange carries exposure to many different work cultures. Besides, I have many friends from india and canada, and between that and here I wouldn't say I'm very limited to my own country's work culture

@Magisch As you know, we are IT heavy in The Workplace, but occasionally, we get questions from other fields. These are often closed as off topic, such as a maritime question that was easily answerable. As a mod, if something like this was pointed out to you, what would you do? (part1)

Would you move to reopen, if a strong case could be made, such as much maritime law is international, and therefore the close reason was invalid(too broad, when it clearly was not) would you reopen, or wait for the community to do so?

(end)

@RichardU As i've noted in my answers to the communities questions, I believe we need to be better at allowing questions from all walks of life and not become "The (IT) Workplace"

@Magisch yes, but how would you act if you came across that scenario. It took quite a bit of arguing to get that particular question reopened.

As noted, this is something I see to be one of the biggest challenges facing the site. Closures need to be done with care and scrutiny. I think discussion on meta is vital for this:

As moderator, it's not really my job to be the arbitor of what is closable and what isn't. I'll not use the binding moderator vote to take away the communities deciding power, unless a case is blatant

I'd probably submit a meta thread discussing possible reopening like without moderator powers

@Magisch what, in your opinion would make a case blatant for you?

very dependant on the specific case to answer generally

I'd err on the side of letting the community come to their own consensus

@Magisch but if it were clearly wrong. Say for example, you were an maritime expert, and saw that question that was clearly answerable, and blatantly closed for a reason that didn't make sense, would you wait, or reopen yourself?

I would reopen it myself, but it would require a higher standard of "I believe this should be reopened" then I would now apply before submitting my reopen vote

Its a balance between keeping things expedient and not robbing the community of their votes

@Magisch Conversely, (and this has happened in the past, tho not recently) occasionally, we've had a moderator from a different stack come in and close a question. Would you override a mod close if the mod was from another stack only if you disagreed with the reason, or would you do it out of principle (assume the Q is not spam or abusive)

@RichardU What do you mean "from a different stack"?

An employee?

Other stack exchange moderators do not have moderator powers here unless they are also explicitly moderators of the workplace

@Magisch ah, sorry about that.

As for reopening it or not, who closed it is immaterial to that deliberation

@Magisch let me try this again. Would you reopen a question another moderator closed if you felt it was unjustly closed?

I would probably ask them if available first why they closed it, and if we couldn't come to an agreement over the status of it, take it to the community for resolution as a meta post

optionally after reopening it meanwhile depending on how I felt. I can't really say for certain, this is a hard to imagine scenario

@Magisch occasionally, a question will blow up on HNQ, one even made it to hacker news. Consequentially, we can get hit with a flood of comments, low-rep users who can't comment, so post comments as answers, and some rather bizzare troll posts that are clearly NSFW....

How would you pitch in if the site suddenly required constant moderation during this flare up?

Would you be able to dedicate more time until the crisis calmed down?

@RichardU depends. If I'm at work, probably as possible, depending on my current workload. If I'm at home, I would within reason drop what I was doing and have a field day deleting comments

I like flagging things, and cleaning up comments is like flagging things except you have an immediate effect, so all the better

Also note: those are all things that technically the community can take care of by themselves; enough flags on comments will make them delete, and enough red flags on a post will delete it. There is almost nothing that would require immediate presence by a diamond moderator, so it's alright if a mod can't just drop everything and start deleting comments.

@Mithrandir Excellent points.

@Magisch you notice a heated discussion in chat. Nobody is being rude or insulting, no bad language or insults have started, but it is getting heated. At what point do you step in? When would you freeze the room?

@RichardU freezing the room is a measure of last resort. Room owners also have that ability and in all of my time as room owner of the awkward silence room and the tavern of the meta room I can't say i've ever used that tool (or, if I have, I can't remember it. I have used plenty of talking people out of it, though)

Heated discussions can be cooled down by merely reminding the participants to do so or by nicely asking. Most of the time, when it comes to chat moderation, less is more. Kicking people, suspending people, or freezing the room are all measures for when insults have started and people desperately need an enforced cool down

@Magisch good answers, BTW.

@Magisch Yeah, I don't think I've ever had to freeze or timeout a chat room.

@Magisch You haven't been particularly active in TWP (not passive either, not trying to imply that) why does being a moderator for TWP interest you, and do you think you'll participate more, or less, if made moderator?

@RichardU more, and the reason it interests me is the same I've given previously. It represents an opportunity to make use of my knowledge of stack exchange, hone my conflict resolution abilities and apply them

And it represents a way to apply and actually use the tens of thousands of tidbits of procedural knowledge I read across the network

@Magisch yes, but why here specifically. What is it about the workplace that attracted your attention to moderate it? Most mods had very high rep. Enderland is over 100k, for example. Snow is over 60k, Kate, over 100k, Lillenthal over 50k. You would be the mod with the lowest participation what would make you stand out, other than rep?

@RichardU Here is one of 4 sites I'm active one. Here has a moderator election. And the reason I'm active on here is because the subject matter interests me and I like participating. I think reputation isn't the prime measure of one's ability as a mod. Some things that make me stand out is that I have a relatively unique perspective on spam fighting and the procedurals thereof (I mentioned this in my nomination too) and prior room owner experience

I think I can bring something to the table with my efforts if elected

@Magisch Well, we generally don't eat cacti... (sorry)

Even on sites like stack overflow, where there are thousands of high rep people, some mods get elected with reputation numbers like 13k or less.

@Mithrandir cactus fruit is tasty, though :D

Hard to pick, though. I've done it once or twice.

@Magisch Of the four sites you're active in, what is special about the workplace?

@AnneDaunted hello

This has been a invaluable resource in how to conduct oneself in the professional world to me. In general I would like to see it grow because of that

really helpful especially if you have difficulties with groking social conventions intuitively, like me. In that way it has been a tremendous help

@MisterPositive Hello

@Magisch ^5 GREAT answer!

I initially started here because I was sorely lacking in that department. Through time, I'm now quite confident in my professional conduct. In so far it's helped me more then programming lessons. I can grok logik and problemsolving. Groking social conventions is harder. This is really good for that, especially since you can get multiple perspectives in one question's answers, it makes it a lot easier to understand and adapt to foreign work conventions

@RichardU Has Kate ever been a mod on TWP?

@AnneDaunted I thought she was. Maybe I've confused her with someone else.

@RichardU I just checked the election posts - Monica and Jane.

@AnneDaunted Ah, I always get kate and Jane confused. I don't know why, but I do

@Magisch Have you ever been a moderator on an SE site?

@AnneDaunted no

@Magisch If you were to become a mod, would you also be more active on TWP Meta?

yes

@Magisch A user who you personally don't like, is engaging in borderline behavior. You'd be well within your rights to step in, but it would also be reasonable to let it pass. Assuming you wouldn't be able to be 100% objective, would you be more likely to be more lenient, fearing that you might be pursuing a vendetta, or be more likely to give into the opportunity to stop someone you felt was a troublemaker. NOTE: as I said, neither action would be unreasonable or malfeasance

I consider it a part of a moderator's duty to at least read all meta posts and respond where necessary/prudent

@RichardU If I feel that I'm biased against a user, I would any circumstance permitting pass the decision off to another mod

I'm not above bias, nobody is, so the most expedient way to neutralize it is by removing the situation that leads to it. If that wouldn't work, I would try and make as objective a decision as possible, but still ping other mods to review it later on

@Magisch Great answer, this is why there is a team of moderators.'

I was close to asking Richard about that third option, when you gave it in your answer, magisch

@Magisch say, there are no other mods online, and the situation needs to be dealt with now, then what?

@RichardU Try to be as objective as possible (neither trying to be lenient or strict) and ping another mod or CM for review of my actions

Most disruptive actions can be remedied later if failed decisions occured

@Magisch what is your view towards some of the horseplay that goes on at TWP? Silly chat in the water cooler, odd comments that aren't productive, aren't mean, but people throw in to be funny?

chatty comments eventually meet the same fate as all no longer needed comments, unless they're also constructive in some way, and horseplay in chat is fine as long as it stays within the code of conduct

basically unless you're severely overdoing it fair enough

just chatty comments will not result in account action against the poster though

@Magisch You wrote "Unless a scenario is blatantly contrived and not real, I don't think it's the moderator's role to police genuineness of a question." But what about a pattern of several questions that are all kind of borderline, like the infamous Hans Moleman?

@Magisch what is your opinion of comments that say "-1", or "this is terrible advice" or "such an answer reflects poorly on your character" as responses to questions or answers?

@AnneDaunted Would be a case-by-case analysis in collaboration with the other mods

Not averse to taking action against such users in general, but that would require an indepth analysis

@RichardU Depends. I'm not generally a fan, but substantiated criticism that does not insult should stand

I'll be back to answer the next batch of questions in approx. 30 minutes. Biking home.

@Magisch well done.

Totally relevant to the mod election: What type of bike do you have?

@Magisch Here's one for when you get back: Do you think any of the three examples above are not insulting?

@RichardU LOL those are all insulting, if you allow it. ;-)

@MisterPositive yeah, the "-1", especially when it's from someone with a 101 reputation, who cannot down-vote. IMO, that's an attempt to sabotage an answer.

@MisterPositive are my questions fair, BTW? I'm trying to be thorough, not rough.

@Magisch Would protecting the question be a good option, in your opinion?

That's a 15k+ privilege, for those who don't know.

@RichardU you questioning seem reasonable to me

@Mast Mostly yes. The tool is kind of designed for that use case. Depends if the disruptiveness is confined to comments or extends to answers (varies by question)

@RichardU "-1 this is terrible" is without actionable feedback and pretty useless on its own

I would tend towards No longer needed or not constructive (the distinction is useless if you're a mod)

@RichardU Which three examples do you refer to?

@Mithrandir Normal streetbike to get to work and back. Was like 200 bucks 4 years ago when i bought it

@Magisch How important are tags to you?

@Magisch "-1", esp when coming from someone with a score under 125 (can't downvote), "This is terrible advice", and "this shows your lack of character". I've gotten all three. oddly enough, despite flagging the last one, it was left sto stand.

I knew from the beginning I was signing up to be examined and questioned and criticised. This also happens when you're a moderator, so if I couldn't stand this heat, I'd probably not be a good candidate for the job

@Magisch hopefully you'll be spared the character assassinations of the past.

@AnneDaunted I think they're important for categorizing questions, and should be handled with care

Does anyone even pay attention to any tags, other than location?

It pays to have at least group-similar tags, e.g proper syonymizing

I've been guilty of reading all the top voted questions of a tag in a sort of binge for general curiosity

And more information at a glance helps people give more informed answers and directs people more towards what they're looking for (to read or answer)

@Magisch Do you think you're rather level-headed and can keep cool, even if the topic (whatever it is, might also be some policy change posted on MSE) is dear to your heart? Or maybe there is not even a topic that could get you that worked up?

@AnneDaunted I like to think I would be. Room for improvement is always there, but I'm not one to just start cursing

This carries with it a bit the seriousness of the office, too. I'd think that (for better or worse) I'd become more neutral if elected - moderators have to be

As Undo likes to say "Diamonds are pointy and have sharp edges"

So TWP could count on you to stay moderator for longer?

So do cacti.

Self asessment is hard, and it obviously depends on the situation. I got quite miffed by the incident about HNQ last october. I like to think I kept a level head throughout. I can't currently imagine something that can upset me significantly more

If elected I plan to stay for at least 3 years

major life changing events notwithstanding

@Magisch You have never been suspended, have you?

Once, on chat, for a week, back in 2016. Never on any main site

@Magisch well

I mean, I was angry, I wrote a lot, but I didn't quit over it or started to curse people out :p

@Magisch That's good

@Magisch What server? I don't see a record here on chat.SE...

@Mithrandir Chat.SO. I was annoying shog

in SOCVR

ah, heh

Minor, but in the interest of full disclosure, I must mention it

Doesn't count ;-)

The electorate can decide if that precludes me from their vote or not ;)

@Magisch I seem to recall a bit of something around Charcoal and the disabling of SD on certain sites, but that didn't go too far over the line, and I haven't seen anything since. You got... a bit heated, but managed to shut yourself up (which is a valuable skill).

@Magisch Not relevant that long ago IMO.

@Mithrandir You're right, I think. When was that? I think art told me to take a hike so I took one

Not fresh in my memory anymore

^not afraid of admitting mistakes

@Magisch thou shalt not annoy thy shog

Hello, I am looking to nominate myself and it will be first time, I would like to know how to present myself in nomination

@Nofel What do you mean, "present yourself"?

the linke to do so is at the bottom of this page

workplace.stackexchange.com/election?cb=1

You'll want to write up why you want to be a mod, what makes you qualified, and anything else that you feel is relevant. Bear in mind the short character limit. Save long explanations for the questionnaire. Try to make a good impression. Show, in your nomination, in your style of communication, what would make you a good mod.

@Mithrandir thanks

:)

Don't forget answering the questions, here.

@Mast yes, the grand inquisitor is in

lol

he might be

@RichardU you should become an interviewer

@Magisch I have conducted numerous interviews. I'm usually quite probing and difficult, but I do so to dig and give the interviewee the chance to shine.

I once had one interviewee about ready to cry, at least until I told him I was recommending him.

@Magisch all the stuff in my profile about training people for interviews, it's true.

I used to conduct mock interviews.

train with me and you are bullet proof

hey there @JoeStrazzere

@MisterPositive Hi

@JoeStrazzere we are waiting for more of your wisdom and guidance.

I bow to your greatness, Sensei!

@RichardU Huh? About what?

@JoeStrazzere we hang on every word. You know that of course.

:D

I mean, if you ran, you'd probably just be a shoe-in @JoeStrazzere

All kidding aside, @JoeStrazzere we do love having you around.

Uhm, okay. If you are talking about being a moderator, no thanks. I've been a moderator at other forums, but I wouldn't do it here. Too many disagreements over the site's gamification model for my tastes. I'll try to help in other ways.

point

I think the current crop of moderators all do a great job. I'll help them any way I can.

@JoeStrazzere then you can interview the next candidate :D

@Magisch Flags - a post is flagged as spam and you are not sure (i. e. the flag might very well be valid, but you don't want to delete the post): decline or dispute?

If the flag is raised on good faith and I can see why a user would - always dispute

decline is "you should not have raised this flag" I want people to flag borderline cases so even if I don't end up nuking the posts other corrective action can be taken (There is a lot of room between spam delete and this is fine)

@Magisch That's the right spirit!

@Magisch two users are feuding. Both have acted in bad faith. Both contribute. How would you try to settle the feud before people start taking sides?

Private moderator messages to both asking them to stop. Key in such issues is to show understanding and empathy and hold any accusations and value judgements. Focusing purely on making their interactions on site less disruptive. Mostly, this works. If it doesn't, targeted timed suspensions for both (or whoever went across the line) will have to kick in. But mostly #1 works

In general if you're dealing with a valued contributor suspension is a measure of last resort and other avenues will be explored first.

@Magisch Here's another one for you. How would you deal with someone editing for political purposes? Just today, I had to undo three edits where someone changed all of my pronouns... again.

Depends on the edits I guess. Good edits are always welcome, bumping lots of posts for no reason always isn't

Immaterial if its because of politics or because they didn't sleep well that day

@Magisch yeah, I had to roll that one back numerous times.

@RichardU What would a political edit changing pronouns look like?

Localisation differences?

@Mast changing every "he", "his", et cet. to either "They", "theirs", or "She", "hers"

Oh, those.

Gender edits.

@Mast YEP! Sorry, I don't mind what you use, but don't mess around with what I'm writing.

Fully agree with you there.

@Mast thing is, if they'd left a comment and asked, I might be inclined to change it myself.

I'm an old fart from a different time, give me a bit of deference due to my age eh? LOL

I don't see an issue with changing a generic "he" to a generic "they". If it's not generic that's an issue, but... collaborative editing is an essential part of the site.

@Mithrandir If I had meant "they", I would have said "they".

^^

It's an attempt to reply.

Not a good edit.

Especially having to get into a damn edit war over that nonsense.

Similar to British English vs American English.

Don't enforce using one or the other.

@Mast yeah, imagine editing "colour" to "color", "aluminium" to "aluminum".

I've had to rollback such edits in the past.

George Orwell wrote 1984 to be a cautionary tale, not an instruction manual

@Magisch Where do you draw the line? Because that's something that looks good on paper, but is quite hard to do in practice.

Individual basis, I guess?

Probably in conversation and discussion with all the other mods, come up with a consensus

What would you consider a good example for a political edit?

^^^^^

I don't really consider edits as political or no

So you didn't answer Richard's question?

truth be told I care very little about someone's motivation of making an edit. A good edit fixes all relevant issues with a post and improves the post's readability, clarity or fixes errors

a bad one does not

@Magisch yes, but it's weaponized

Exactly like with someone editing for any other reason. If they make a pattern of bad edits, that can be actioned like any other pattern of disruptive behavior

would you consider the pronoun edits disrupitive?

So you have no stance on edits that only change pronouns to a more generic form?

For the record, people are allowed not to have a stance on something. But do consider everything a moderator does is under scrutiny, so you might as well get the questions up front.

@Magisch this is exactly the kind of things that can cause a forum meltdown.

only changing pronouns to a more generic form would be an unsound reason to edit. If someone was fixing other issues with a post and did that meanwhile, fine, I guess. Bumping posts just for that is pointless

Pointless, but I wouldn't rollback.

@Magisch yeah, and someone did that to me TWICE today. Got the edit notif, rejected it, person went back and did it again.

And doing it when you know the author dislikes it is a bit worse

@RichardU At that point you put a mod flag on it I presume?

@Mithrandir that's harassing a person

@Mast I did the first time, because I'm getting tired of it.

I wouldn't spend time rolling it back if it's just someone putting in a search term for gendered pronouns and then chain editing them. I'd probably tell them to stop bumping posts for just that. Doing it after the post owner has rolled back is actually disruptive and a waste of time for all involved

indeed

can't have too strong an opinion one way or the other, moderating entails finding compromises and mimising disruption

Hi @Magisch :) Just dropping in to wish you good luck and read your answers here... Looks like you're doing great to me so far :D

@Magisch you also have to be aware of what's called "The golden mean fallacy". Most reasonable people assume that other people are also reasonable. The problem is, the unreasonable people know this too, and will use that. Person A could be 100% right, person B could be 100% wrong. But, if person B is a manipulator, they can pull nonsense like....

"Well, I certainly admit to my part of this conflict, but I think "A" should take responsibility as well, after all, it takes two to have a disagreement"

cross that bridge when we come to it. Between the way moderation is set up (as a team) and careful consideration, I'm reasonably confident it can work out

Person B has simultaneously bullied person A, AND scapegoated them as well. Just be aware of that trick if you get the job.

Just be aware of the tricks. SE is hard to troll, but not impossible.

@Magisch A lot of your responses involve 'team consensus', but please keep in mind there will be times when you're on your own for hours.

@Mast right. Most decisions will be mundane. Team consensus can be sought post fact, and a lot of actions are reversible and liable for being temporary

As I've never been a mod before, there'll be a lot of getting to grips and learning first, but as with everything you get more confident as you go on

Whoa, full house today

Hello everybody

@Mast A mod is never truly on their own... the network-wide mod chat room never sleeps...

@DarkCygnus Well you are in the Moderator Election Chat room ;-)

@DarkCygnus When are you nominating yourself?

wuut

@Mithrandir There's that.

lol I just clicked the first room automatically

@DarkCygnus LOL

@MisterPositive jajaja... unno, maybe this weekend?

@DarkCygnus I am 50/50 on it.

like I said, I will run if there are no other (at least 2) users I would vote for

@Magisch Yea, they won't eat you alive on your first day. At least not on purpose.

@Mast yeah, they want him to marinade for a few days first. He's young, probably stringy, at least three days in brine to soften him up

and only if I get some sort of guarantee that there will be cookies

@DarkCygnus Do imaginary cookies qualify?

They stopped giving out swag for running in an election years ago...

@Mithrandir Did they also stop giving out swag to the winners?

No

Then there's no problem.

The cookies are a lie.....@DarkCygnus

Swag probably never included cookies in the first place.

I do expect more people to step up in the coming days.

@Mast perhaps, there was good turn out for the last one.

I would like to see that swag arrive all the way here to Guatemala :)