2018 Moderator Election Q&A - Questionnaire

Question

In connection with the moderator elections, we are holding a Q&A thread for the candidates. Questions collected from an earlier thread have been compiled into this one, which shall now serve as the space for the candidates to provide their answers.

Not every question was compiled - as noted, we only selected the top 8 questions as submitted by the community, plus 2 pre-set questions from us.

As a candidate, your job is simple - post an answer to this question, citing each of the questions and then post your answer to each question given in that same answer. For your convenience, I will include all of the questions in quote format with a break in between each, suitable for you to insert your answers. Just copy the whole thing after the first set of three dashes.Please consider putting your name at the top of your post so that readers will know who you are before they finish reading everything you have written, and also including a link to your answer on your nomination post.

Once all the answers have been compiled, this will serve as a transcript for voters to view the thoughts of their candidates, and will be appropriately linked in the Election page.

Good luck to all of the candidates!

Oh, and when you've completed your answer, please provide a link to it after this blurb here, before that set of three dashes. Please leave the list of links in the order of submission.

To save scrolling here are links to the submissions from each candidate (in order of submission):

• Johnny Bones
• Skooba
• A J
• sanpaco
• Nog Shine
• Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
• Rand al'Thor

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1. The site has core cadre of 'die hard' members and, because of the popular subject material, attracts a lot of casual passing users. How would you use the role of moderator to encourage new users to contribute to the site more?

2. Being a moderator you will be able to close questions on your own and override other community votes. Will this change how you vote to close questions?

3. A user has posted a question that was quickly closed as being Trivia. The user however disagrees believing the question is valid, on-topic and not "trivia" and proceeds to post their frustration in the comments and on Meta, dismissing the opinions of others trying to help, etc. How would you determine if the question is Trivia or not? How would you defuse the situation?

4. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

5. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

6. If you got the hypothetical power to change anything about this site without any repercussions, what would you change and why?

7. How are you going to cope with the additional workload of being a moderator in comparison to your activity as a normal user asking and answering questions? To which degree do you feel your new moderator duties might decrease your rather content-wise contributions to the site? How will you balance that if necessary?

8. What area do you feel the site could use the most improvement in and do you have any possible ideas for trying to tackle that issue?

9. Somewhat recently there was a policy change in which Identification Requests were made off-topic, however a group of users were not happy with the decision citing concerns of not having a say in the matter. As a Moderator you will be seen as a part of the team implementing and enforcing new policies such as updating help pages and/or close reasons, mod closing and/or deleting questions and answers. To ensure that the community is on board with proposed policy changes, what would you do to get more people to "have their say" in such discussions? Do you believe that this was missing in the Identification Request policy change debate?

10. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

Answer 1

They call me Mister Tibbs A J!

My colleagues call me by this name cause my real name is a little big to pronounce.

And here are my answers.

1. The site has core cadre of 'die hard' members and, because of the popular subject material, attracts a lot of casual passing users. How would you use the role of moderator to encourage new users to contribute to the site more?

I will try to leave constructive comments with links to all questions of the relevant tags that are on the questions they asked/answered and ask if they’d like to answer other questions as well. Although, comment is not a place for this, but it can be effective. Besides this, community events like Weekly Topic Challenge focusing on certain topics might interest those users.

2. Being a moderator you will be able to close questions on your own and override other community votes. Will this change how you vote to close questions?

When I become a moderator, it will have a little impact on my decision. I cast close votes on questions where I am 100% sure that question is unclear or too broad or opinion-based or off-topic. Sometimes, I might not be certain about a question being off-topic. In this case, I will try to leave a comment and leave the decision up to the community.

3. A user has posted a question that was quickly closed as being Trivia. The user however disagrees believing the question is valid, on-topic and not "trivia" and proceeds to post their frustration in the comments and on Meta, dismissing the opinions of others trying to help, etc. How would you determine if the question is Trivia or not? How would you defuse the situation?

I will check if this question does really adds anything to the understanding of any story element or character from that movie/TV-show. I’ll also take a look at the relevant meta posts or discuss with other mods in doubt.

When it comes to defuse the situation, I’ll leave comments or answer the meta question explaining why it is a trivia thus off-topic. If there is a chance of improvement, I’ll try to either suggest it in comments or edit that post. If that user is still being disruptive, then I will use the suspension.

4. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

Code of Conduct applies for everyone, even for a high-rep user. When it comes to deal with such user, I will focus on the behaviour, not user. If that user has behaved properly in the past, I’d first talk with them and ask them to correct their behaviour as it is harmful to the site. If they love contributing to the site, they will sure come to sense and stop. If there is no improvement in their behaviour after that, I’d issue a suspension as a last resort. If they improve their behaviour when they come back, it’s all good. If they don’t, then a longer suspension will be issued.

5. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

There must be something on other mod’s mind which is why they have taken that decision. So, I will talk with them and ask for their concerns, and then share my concerns. I am very certain that we will sort things out and come to an agreement on what to do with that question/answer.

6. If you got the hypothetical power to change anything about this site without any repercussions, what would you change and why?

There is nothing at the moment I can think of. Anyway, if I get the hypothetical power to change anything, I’d like to change the one that is harmful to the site.

7. How are you going to cope with the additional workload of being a moderator in comparison to your activity as a normal user asking and answering questions? To which degree do you feel your new moderator duties might decrease your rather content-wise contributions to the site? How will you balance that if necessary?

It really won’t have much impact on my content-wise contributions to the site. I answer the questions which interests me and when I see that there is something I can contribute, I do. Besides this, I am active in review queues and flagging stuff which didn’t really affect my contributions.

8. What area do you feel the site could use the most improvement in and do you have any possible ideas for trying to tackle that issue?

The meta participation. There are only a handful of users visit meta raising their concerns, get involved in meta discussions, answering the meta questions or even voting. If we can get more people to use meta, we can certainly have more opinions in meta discussions. Although, numbers are okaish, this area really needs an improvement.

To tackle this issue, I think we must ask users to raise their concerns regarding their posts on meta and post links to helpful meta posts. And if it won’t be too much, I'd like to add a thank you note in the post for bringing it to meta.

9. Somewhat recently there was a policy change in which Identification Requests were made off-topic, however a group of users were not happy with the decision citing concerns of not having a say in the matter. As a Moderator you will be seen as the part of the team implementing and enforcing new policies such as updating help pages and/or close reasons, mod closing and/or deleting questions and answers. To ensure that the community is on board with proposed policy changes, what would you do to get more people to "have their say" in such discussions? Do you believe that this was missing in the Identification Request policy change debate?

The community bulletin featuring featured and hot meta posts is enough to bring users to those meta discussions in my opinion. A community event can be used, but it's not necessary. As I said in 8th answer, we need to ensure as many people as possible participate in meta to get more people to raise their opinions about proposed policy changes.

As the Idenitification Request Policy was featured in the community bulletin for a month, there was nothing missing in that discussion I'd say.

10. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

There are more tools available for moderators than 10k or 20k users, such as unilaterally close, delete, ban etc. So, I can cast a unilateral vote on clearly off-topic and spam posts without waiting for the remaining votes. Even there is more information available to moderators which will help me take a decision more effectively. And I already have experience using these tools as a pro-term moderator on Interpersonal Skills SE.

Answer 2

Johnny Bones here...

1. The site has core cadre of 'die hard' members and, because of the popular subject material, attracts a lot of casual passing users. How would you use the role of moderator to encourage new users to contribute to the site more?

I think contests are a great stimulator when it comes to generating interest. Everyone likes to compete, even if the prize is merely recognition.

2. Being a moderator you will be able to close questions on your own and override other community votes. Will this change how you vote to close questions?

No. I've moderated before, over on the Music stack, and I understand the power a "final say" has. As such, I use my votes only where necessary, and becoming a Moderator here wouldn't change that.

3. A user has posted a question that was quickly closed as being Trivia. The user however disagrees believing the question is valid, on-topic and not "trivia" and proceeds to post their frustration in the comments and on Meta, dismissing the opinions of others trying to help, etc. How would you determine if the question is Trivia or not? How would you defuse the situation?

I would take it to private chat if necessary, explain why I think the question is trivia and, if they still don't agree, explain why the question would be seen as trivia to the majority of users.

4. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

Anyone who produces a steady stream of valuable answers likely wants to see the stack flourish. The vast majority (and I'm talking 99.99%) of people who dedicate that much time and energy aren't going to do it and troll the site in the process. So, you're talking about a handful of people. As a Mod, you have the capability to contact any user privately using your Mod panel. I would reach out to them, explain that they are a valued member of the community and ask if they could tone down whatever rhetoric was setting people off. If it continued, I'd warn them that a suspension was the next step.

5. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

I'd head to the Mod chat room or contact them via the Mod panel, and ask them directly why they felt the question should be closed. This has happened a handful of times on the Music stack, and we were able to quickly come to an agreement about whether the question should remain closed or be reopened.

6. If you got the hypothetical power to change anything about this site without any repercussions, what would you change and why?

I still like "Identify This" questions. Honestly, I, personally, discovered at least 40 movies I'd never have seen or heard of had I not read someone's description and thought, "That sounds really cool". Also, at my advanced age (yes, I'm 52...) I sometimes forget a movie I wanted to re-watch but could recall pivotal scenes. It helped me numerous times, and I'd love to see it brought back.

7. How are you going to cope with the additional workload of being a moderator in comparison to your activity as a normal user asking and answering questions? To which degree do you feel your new moderator duties might decrease your rather content-wise contributions to the site? How will you balance that if necessary?

Moderators should be involved. It's as simple as that. I don't think it would impact my usage at all, with the exception of increasing my visits. I'll still have questions and I'll still have answers, I'll just be around more often to make sure everything is running smoothly.

8. What area do you feel the site could use the most improvement in and do you have any possible ideas for trying to tackle that issue?

Our review queue is empty, we have a steady stream of questions flooding in, the only thing I can think of is that we have about 8% of the questions here unanswered, or without accepted answers. That might be able to be cleaned up, possibly by removing old questions with no answers. A 3 year old unanswered question doesn't add any value to the site, in fact it may prevent someone else from asking and having a new set of members eyes on it rather than being buried on Page 53.

9. Somewhat recently there was a policy change in which Identification Requests were made off-topic, however a group of users were not happy with the decision citing concerns of not having a say in the matter. As a Moderator you will be seen as a part of the team implementing and enforcing new policies such as updating help pages and/or close reasons, mod closing and/or deleting questions and answers. To ensure that the community is on board with proposed policy changes, what would you do to get more people to "have their say" in such discussions? Do you believe that this was missing in the Identification Request policy change debate?

Oddly enough, I spoke earlier about this policy and I earned a Reversal badge for that question. How would I deal with it? Somewhat like an election, especially if it was a policy with an impact that large. Posts on Meta, a week to vote by the users, links on the main M&TV page and M&TV Meta. 5 people shouldn't dictate how a site is run, they should be there to make sure it runs properly. Otherwise, you're going to lose a lot of users who feel alienated.

10. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

As a Moderator, you can help shape the site, or at least have enough "clout" to effect change. Your voice is heard. The "Blue Diamond" matters. It's like the difference, in American politics, between being a constituent and a Senator.

Answer 3

Skooba diving in!

1. The site has core cadre of 'die hard' members and, because of the popular subject material, attracts a lot of casual passing users. How would you use the role of moderator to encourage new users to contribute to the site more?

Of course this all starts with “Be Nice” and further emphasized by SE’s new Code of Conduct. The role of a moderator in this sense is not much different than any other user. First Post Reviews are good way to interact with new users and engage them early. This is the internet after all and most people are looking for quick responses. Typically I prefer a quick welcome message that is followed by constructive feedback based on the quality of the post. Links to the tour and help center, small edits if needed, and voting, are common and I strive to keep them positive. If I see a post/user struggles I offer encouragement for them to stick around and let them know that SE can operate differently than forum type sites, but if they are patient they will likely receive the answer they seek (or recognition if they are providing answers) and it will be worth it.

2. Being a moderator you will be able to close questions on your own and override other community votes. Will this change how you vote to close questions?

The community has many members with the privilege to close questions, I would let them do the majority of that moderation since this site does not have problem with review queue backlogs. I would only instantly close questions that were rude/offensive or blatantly off-topic. Other than that, if I was reviewing a question for closure I would wait to be the final vote if I agreed that the question needed to be closed (the same would be true for reopen votes).

3. A user has posted a question that was quickly closed as being Trivia. The user however disagrees believing the question is valid, on-topic and not "trivia" and proceeds to post their frustration in the comments and on Meta, dismissing the opinions of others trying to help, etc. How would you determine if the question is Trivia or not? How would you defuse the situation?

Trivia can certainly be sticky subject, especially since the Meta topics linked in the close reason are short and old. The “general reference” and “too localized” close reason have gone away, and we are supposed to embrace the “non-googlers”.

To determine if the question is trivia or not it must be evaluated properly. A good question will always explain why they are asking the question and what research they have done which allows for a clearly defined problem to emerge. As much as the phrase “I know it when I see it” is often mocked there are signposts to poor questions. Since a question takes 5 users with sufficient reputation to close, generally the right decision is being made. Every case will different and I would make a determination on a per each basis.

Defusing a situation on Meta can be difficult as well. The key is be involved early before anything can get out of hand, but obviously moderators cannot be on site every minute of every day. If the user is not listening to reason the best we can do is state our case based on the site rules and guidelines, stick to the facts, and offer support in line with those. If necessary a moderator needs to keep the established users in check as well from not bullying a new user. The goal is to maintain order and allow a user to make their case in support of their question.

4. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

The SE Network already has a progressive disciplinary program in place. This would need to be followed regardless of the content the user is providing, the Code of Conduct applies to all. I would try to reason with the user to attempt to stop the behavior and explain that if continued would lead to account suspension.

5. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc. a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

Generally, I would hold another moderator to the same standard I would any other user, so if I would undo the action of regular users that performed an action I would do the same to the moderators. The only difference might be that I would discuss this with the other moderator in a private setting first (whereas normal user interactions are in public comments, Meta, or chat). What we have to keep in mind as well is that even moderator actions can be undone (as long as the post is not locked) by the community, so if I could not come to terms with the other moderator, the community can decide on its own the best course of action (with some light handed guidance if needed).

6. If you got the hypothetical power to change anything about this site without any repercussions, what would you change and why?

As easy as it is to say “nothing”, that is what I am going to go with. The community changes itself as users come and go, and right now I feel the community is in good shape. Just because we have the (hypothetical) power to do something doesn’t we need to; change for the sake of change is often no change at all.

7. How are you going to cope with the additional workload of being a moderator in comparison to your activity as a normal user asking and answering questions? To which degree do you feel your new moderator duties might decrease your rather content-wise contributions to the site? How will you balance that if necessary?

Being a lower-rep user obviously means I am not as active as many (full disclosure, if you look at my answers you will notice what particular show I am into), but to put a positive spin on this… My site workload will not be affected by my moderator duties!

8. What area do you feel the site could use the most improvement in and do you have any possible ideas for trying to tackle that issue?

More questions! Every site needs more questions! The best way to do is to attract and retain new users, which is accomplished by providing high-quality answers. It is not a simple fix, and I see myself contributing more in the future to make this a reality.

9. Somewhat recently there was a policy change in which Identification Requests were made off-topic, however a group of users were not happy with the decision citing concerns of not having a say in the matter. As a Moderator you will be seen as a part of the team implementing and enforcing new policies such as updating help pages and/or close reasons, mod closing and/or deleting questions and answers. To ensure that the community is on board with proposed policy changes, what would you do to get more people to "have their say" in such discussions? Do you believe that this was missing in the Identification Request policy change debate?

I do not feel there was a lack of users having their say. I myself had a say in the discussion. There were numerous discussions over months if not years about this issue. It seemed to me that the majority of the outcry came after decision was already made, and major changes are always going to upset a certain number of users.

Policy changes need to be featured on Meta for a sufficient amount of time which can be determined by the number of responses and voting trends. The issue needs to be clear on why the change is being proposed, when it will take effect, and what is constituting a “majority” opinion. Engage, engage, engage… make sure to provide comments, have an open chat room (possibly dedicated solely to the proposed change), and try solicit as many response from the community as possible.

10. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

Since I do not even 10k rep on this site being a moderator would greatly expand my privileges. But the difference between a 20k user and a “diamond” is really not that much. The only visible difference is to make instant actions (close, delete, etc.) and lock posts. These actions are typically rarely needed so moderators act as that “human exception handler”. Behind the scenes I feel moderators act more as custodians rather enforcers, making sure flags are addressed as needed, providing input where it is warranted, and generally keeping the site a tidy pleasant place to interact.

My final thought is that if you have to “swing the hammer” the system has broken down to where that is the only option left. My goal would to limit that to a next to zero event and basically blend in as normal user.

TLDR; When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

Answer 4

sanpaco here!

1. The site has core cadre of 'die hard' members and, because of the popular subject material, attracts a lot of casual passing users. How would you use the role of moderator to encourage new users to contribute to the site more?

This community already has a good culture of welcoming and being friendly to new users by adding comments and providing patient feedback. I would continue to encourage this. If any action was needed to be taken I would be sure to let the individual know why the action was taken. Text communication can be mis-interpreted easily so I would be sensitive to this in communicating with new users.

2. Being a moderator you will be able to close questions on your own and override other community votes. Will this change how you vote to close questions?

Yes, I would become a little more conscientious and conservative in my close voting.

3. A user has posted a question that was quickly closed as being Trivia. The user however disagrees believing the question is valid, on-topic and not "trivia" and proceeds to post their frustration in the comments and on Meta, dismissing the opinions of others trying to help, etc. How would you determine if the question is Trivia or not? How would you defuse the situation?

To determine if the question is trivia or not, I would get a clear understanding of both sides of the argument while remaining un-biased. I think the community vote is usually the right way, but I also know that sometimes a small change in the wording of the post can change things. To diffuse the situation, I would show the user empathy and explain to them that I understand the frustration of being down-voted and point out possible ways to ask the question differently. I would explain as best I could to them the decision made to close the question and encourage them to continue participating.

4. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

If the community is raising flags then I would respond to them as they are raised by deleting offensive and rude comments or threads. No reason to take any additional action if that is all that is happening.

5. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

If I strongly felt that the wrong decision was made, I would talk to the other moderators and explain why I felt so and determine as a group if anything should be reversed. If the other mods still disagree with me I would respect that.

6. If you got the hypothetical power to change anything about this site without any repercussions, what would you change and why?

This might not be what the asker of this question was looking for, but I think it would be awesome to allow private groups to run their own instance of the SE engine for their personal and private uses. I would love to have a private SE site for some of my gaming and work teams.

7. How are you going to cope with the additional workload of being a moderator in comparison to your activity as a normal user asking and answering questions? To which degree do you feel your new moderator duties might decrease your rather content-wise contributions to the site? How will you balance that if necessary?

I think I would actually potentially contribute more than I currently do, or at least more regularly. My current behavior ebbs and flows depending on how much I'm currently actually watching movies or television. As a moderator I would be participating a lot more in meta than I have in the past. I would attempt to check in to the site daily to see if anything needed moderator attention.

8. What area do you feel the site could use the most improvement in and do you have any possible ideas for trying to tackle that issue?

It's probably my OCD side, but it bothers me that there are so many old unanswered posts. I think a lot of questions go unanswered because people don't have time to go watch the movie in question at the moment and then it gets forgotten. I have seem efforts already by mods to promote Necromancer and Revival badge competitions and I like these types of participation events.

9. Somewhat recently there was a policy change in which Identification Requests were made off-topic, however a group of users were not happy with the decision citing concerns of not having a say in the matter. As a Moderator you will be seen as the apart of the team implementing and enforcing new policies such as updating help pages and/or close reasons, mod closing and/or deleting questions and answers. To ensure that the community is on board with proposed policy changes, what would you do to get more people to "have their say" in such discussions? Do you believe that this was missing in the Identification Request policy change debate?

I don't think I can comment too much on the specific situation mentioned because I did not participate in the debate. I personally did not love id questions, but I determined that I could simply add the id tag to my filter and avoid seing them. Anyone who participated in the meta discussion was heard and those who didn't shouldn't have a reason to complain. Anyone who wishes to have a say in how the site is moderated should participate in meta regularly. The most I think I could do as a mod in that situation would be to drive discussion on existing ID questions to the meta thread by posting a link and encouraging users to voice their opinions.

10. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

I think moderators tend to be more visible to the community and others tend to emulate the example that they are shown for the most part. At least I know that is how I've responded to fair and friendly moderation on this site as opposed to other SE sites. I've felt welcomed and appreciated and seen where other sites I've felt mostly ignored and un-welcomed.

Answer 5

Nog Shine joining the party!

You have known me as SS. S S and Sinister too. Answering the questions now,

1. The site has core cadre of 'die hard' members and, because of the popular subject material, attracts a lot of casual passing users. How would you use the role of moderator to encourage new users to contribute to the site more?

This site has been a great place while welcoming new contributors. They are very nice to new contributors when compared to other sites. I know how a positive comment and votes would boost a user to write more. So, I always try to be friendly and make the site user friendly. When I struggled as a new user on SE and here on Movies, people helped by editing, posting helpful links and faq to feel friendly. I would do the same. New contributors generally do not know how to ask or answer according to site standards in the first try. Taking a moment to modify their posts, voting or posting comments of helpful articles from faq would be very effective.

2. Being a moderator you will be able to close questions on your own and override other community votes. Will this change how you vote to close questions?

I believe in community involvement in policy making. So, I would always give importance to what community decides. I consider moderator a part of community and will close a question when it is off-topic or too broad. I participated in reviews through flags even when I didn't have enough rep to vote to close, they were most accurate (1 declined flag). You can count on me in the reviews :-) At the same time, I never hesitate to ask opinion of the community when I am unsure on what to do on a review item. I believe in community moderation and want their participation in reviews, flagging. So, I will always give importance and try to include community in the decision making.

3. A user has posted a question that was quickly closed as being Trivia. The user however disagrees believing the question is valid, on-topic and not "trivia" and proceeds to post their frustration in the comments and on Meta, dismissing the opinions of others trying to help, etc. How would you determine if the question is Trivia or not? How would you defuse the situation?

First thing, I will try to avoid the heat environment in the comment section. Leaving constructive comments explaining why the question is off-topic would prevent the damage. I am always available on chat. I will use chat to talk to them freely on chat. If they have posted on Meta already, answer that question as honestly as possible on why it is Trivia or not Trivia.

Trivia has been a tricky subject on our site. There have been many discussions about this topic. Every time, there was a discussion, I think we are moving towards a clearer way. Referring those posts and discussion with community and mods would help me and the OP understand what Trivia is. According to me, Trivia is something which doesn't help in understanding characters, movie/show plot in any way. If the question is wrongly closed, I would use my hammer to reopen. If that's trivia, I would write a meta answer in such a way that the OP would not feel bad about their question on Main and Meta. If they are crossing Code Of Conduct, mods have tools.

4. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

Code of Conduct applies to every user on the network irrespective of rep. Being polite with fellow users is more important than being a great contributor. So, I would talk to the user privately to reduce such behavior. I hope they will understand. If that doesn't happen and the behavior continues, consequences follow as usual.

5. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

We have private Mod Only chat rooms. Talking with fellow moderators about such situations would prevent a heated environment in the Moderation team. I am a good listener. Every mod has a version on their action and on why something is eligible for closure/deletion/etc., so talking would make things easier without much heat. I would explain to them how the post is not eligible for closure/deletion. I think I can make them agree with my version. I think we all come to an agreement on what to do and sort out things in the Moderation team.

6. If you got the hypothetical power to change anything about this site without any repercussions, what would you change and why?

It would sound strange but not anything at the moment which needs a sudden change. We are in a good position. Any policy change can be gradual and can be brought by community decision.

7. How are you going to cope with the additional workload of being a moderator in comparison to your activity as a normal user asking and answering questions? To which degree do you feel your new moderator duties might decrease your rather content-wise contributions to the site? How will you balance that if necessary?

I am active on chat most of the time. I have contributed a bit less to the site as normal user than what I can. I watch more Non Hollywood movies. That is the main reason why my contribution is less on site. I have to improve myself in that area. My moderation responsibilities would not decrease my activity as a contributor at all. Actually, it might increase my contribution as I may watch movies to understand plot etc., which definitely helps in understanding questions. At worst, my contribution would stay same in asking and answering but will not decrease. Apart from asking and answering, editing, commenting, voting will increase.

8. What area do you feel the site could use the most improvement in and do you have any possible ideas for trying to tackle that issue?

There are a few areas:

• Editing

  We need more users in editing and modifying questions and answers to bring them to a good shape. There are very few editors at the moment.

• Meta Participation

  Current moderators are very active on Meta. They deserve appreciation in that. But opinion of normal users is equally important in taking decisions. Normal support questions are also not answered by normal users. So, this area needs more improvement.

• Questions from different areas.

  Even though we are getting popular and frequently questions about a movie, I feel there should be more questions seeking analysis from a movie/TV show. Those questions will increase quality of the site. I generally keep an eye on stats of Q&A posted. That has decreased lately. We need to improve in that area too.

• Questions from different regions and languages.

  We get very less questions from Non English movies and TV shows. Improving questions in that topic would keep the international nature of the site thriving.

9. Somewhat recently there was a policy change in which Identification Requests were made off-topic, however a group of users were not happy with the decision citing concerns of not having a say in the matter. As a Moderator you will be seen as a part of the team implementing and enforcing new policies such as updating help pages and/or close reasons, mod closing and/or deleting questions and answers. To ensure that the community is on board with proposed policy changes, what would you do to get more people to "have their say" in such discussions? Do you believe that this was missing in the Identification Request policy change debate?

Personally, I have liked Identification Requests in the beginning of my course of membership. They created a lot of interest in me in participating on the site. But my problem is not with ID questions but the quality they were bringing to the site. Many of the questions contained only one or two sentences. Even though we can answer most of them, we should not do it because if affects quality. We would be flooded with such one liners.

The decision of discontinuing support to ID's was not taken a fortnight. There were series of posts written before the meta post discontinuing support and they were either on featured section or 'Hot on Meta' section which will be shown on bulletin board (They became hot because the answers received good number of votes). There were discussions in the chat on what to say (I participated in them as well). These are for a couple of months. Even before that, there were many discussions before I joined. That sums up to more than year. So, I don't think that the decision taken is a sudden decision taken in a day by 5 people.

10. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

I have access to 10k tools on other sites and I know how it feels to use them. I know moderators have extra tools which make a difference between 20k and I will cope up with them soon. I am a Stack Exchange geek and theoretically know how some moderator tools work by active participation on Meta Stack Exchange. I believe in leading by example. I will try to follow the way the current moderators have helped me in understanding the site during my initial days and feel very welcomed. I am a fast learner and I can cope up with the moderator tools in no time.

Answer 6

Paul Johnson here ... aka Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Here are my answers to the questions to potential Moderators.
I hope you find me worthy of your vote.

1. The site has core cadre of 'die hard' members and, because of the popular subject material, attracts a lot of casual passing users. How would you use the role of moderator to encourage new users to contribute to the site more?

The first thing you do is welcome them to the site (usually through a comment under the question). If the new user feels they are welcome, I'm hoping they will feel that welcome and would want to come back. Seeing that a moderator is taking time to welcome them I'm hoping goes some distance in that feeling of welcome. Doing these types of things also helps those “die hard” members of the community it’s a good idea to help new users get over the hump and on the road to success in the SE world. There are a lot of great communities here, covering a large amount of subject matter. It continues to grow all the time.

2. Being a moderator you will be able to close questions on your own and override other community votes. Will this change how you vote to close questions?

A Mod has what is affectionately called a Mod Hammer. We have to use it very judiciously. There are some questions which everyone knows right off the bat are off topic, so can be closed without thinking twice about it. Other questions are, well, questionable. In this case, you let the community take care of it, which is (for the most part) how they should be handled anyway. Allowing the community to take action on these types of questions makes user everyone is in agreement and people aren't seeing the Mod as heavy handed. If, as a Mod, I feel something might be off topic for the sight, I may leave a comment as such, or drop a note in the Screening Room to allow the community to pick up on it and decide for themselves if the question isn't a good fit. I don't need to wield the Mod Hammer to get things done, but it is there just in case.

3. A user has posted a question that was quickly closed as being Trivia. The user however disagrees believing the question is valid, on-topic and not "trivia" and proceeds to post their frustration in the comments and on Meta, dismissing the opinions of others trying to help, etc. How would you determine if the question is Trivia or not? How would you defuse the situation?

Questions which help us look like imdb.com or the like are not what we should be looking to answer here. These are the types which are most often trivia based. Trivia, given in the name itself is trivial. There is nothing really important about it, nor does it bring life to a movie or TV episode. It’s just that, trivial. Why should we entertain it? That been said, we cannot please every user all the time. We’d be foolish to try and do that as then the entire site would fail. If the community has spoken and stated a question is off-topic because it is trivia, we as Mods should not be quick to reverse that or even try. It may be that we can assist the asker in editing their question to make it so it isn’t trivial. If the question isn’t salvageable, we need to work with them to help them understand why it isn’t going to be allowed and hopefully they will find their way towards understanding. As I stated, we cannot please all the people all the time. It just won’t happen. We can, however, help people to understand why things are as they are and move on from there. It’s sometimes a hard pill for people to swallow, but it is the cold hard truth of the matter. We as Mods just need to ensure we are being nice about what we are doing and how we handle it. If the user still feels they are being slighted, we can direct them to the Community Moderators through the Contact Us page. This will get them a response. If we, the Mods or the site are being out of whack, the CMs will contact us and help us to change their ways. With three Mods on the crew, though, this is something that rarely if ever happens.

4. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

You have to clean this stuff up right away, which means deleting comments. These types of users will usually continue to do the same thing without some type of intervention. When they see their comments are getting deleted, this will usually deescalate situations, but may not get the person to stop their antics. From here, if they continue, you would contact them through email with a Mod Message. A well written Mod Message can go a long way to settling someone down from what they are doing. If they continue past this, then a suspension may not be out of the question. You hate to see it get to this point, but sometimes it is needed to get the point across. While a steady stream of valuable answers is a good thing, comment flags & arguments should not be tolerated from anyone. This tends to drive people away from a site. It's one of the reasons the Code of Conduct was recently revamped. I for one, was glad to see this, as it took a lot of ambiguity out of the entire thing.

5. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

Every Mod has the ability to create a "Mods Only" chat room where they can discuss the runnings of the site away from the community. This allows them the ability to talk between themselves and to ensure what we are doing is the correct way of doing it. If confronted with this scenario, I'd call my fellow Mods to this room and ask them why it was done this way, as well as give my opinion as to why I may not see it this way. Usually, there is a consensus. It is really easy to reopen a question if needed or to undelete an answer if it has been axed. There are very few actions which cannot be reversed, so there's really no worry if someone makes a mistake. It can be rectified. Realistically, though, it comes down to communication. If I felt they've done something wrong, I always listen to what they have to say about it. I expect the same from them, because sometimes differences of opinion will arise.

6. If you got the hypothetical power to change anything about this site without any repercussions, what would you change and why?

I don't think I'd change much of anything. I like the site. I like the people. I love movies. TV? I binge watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Heh. Yup, pretty much addicted, lol.

7. How are you going to cope with the additional workload of being a moderator in comparison to your activity as a normal user asking and answering questions? To which degree do you feel your new moderator duties might decrease your rather content-wise contributions to the site? How will you balance that if necessary?

There's not much of a balancing act in this case. I'm on Stack Exchange every day of the week. I've not missed a day of being on SE for well over five years. I'm dedicated to how SE works and the great people we serve. Moderator duties didn't change how I do things on Mechanics.SE and it won't change how I do things here. When I'm in, I'm in it to the teeth.

8. What area do you feel the site could use the most improvement in and do you have any possible ideas for trying to tackle that issue?

Voting. Voting never seems to be good enough. Unfortunately, the only thing we can really do about it is to encourage others to vote. Holding contests to get people to vote might be one way to encourage it to happen. Voting is very important. It's also one way to help people to understand the importance of good questions/answers. And as Jon Ericson once said to us on Mechanics.SE, "... voting is the engine that drives the reputation economy." Voting keeps seasoned users interested and new users coming back.

9. Somewhat recently there was a policy change in which Identification Requests were made off-topic, however a group of users were not happy with the decision citing concerns of not having a say in the matter. As a Moderator you will be seen as a part of the team implementing and enforcing new policies such as updating help pages and/or close reasons, mod closing and/or deleting questions and answers. To ensure that the community is on board with proposed policy changes, what would you do to get more people to "have their say" in such discussions? Do you believe that this was missing in the Identification Request policy change debate?

It's unfortunate ID questions had to go away. I was one of the ones who sided on keeping them. I do understand why they were made off-topic, though. I realize they created the greatest amount of poor questions and content for the site. What some may not realize about the ID questions was, they were what propelled M&TV out of Beta. Without them, we'd most likely still be there. You can look at the question count today and realize with 7.9 QPD right now, that is well below the 10 QPD threshold which is used as a litmus for graduating a site (it's not the only thing, but a strong indicator).

While I may have misgivings about ID questions, the fact remains there was ample time for discussion and argument about the policy change. If people feel they did not get their voices heard, it wasn't because the community didn't allow it to happen. They had the chance, but their side was not loud enough or didn't argue well enough to allow the ID questions to stay. The community spoke and the outcome was the ID questions went away. It is what it is and there really isn't much more that can be said about it. All I can do for someone who feels this way would be to commiserate with them and tell them there's not much which can be done about it. Maybe given time and some effort, the policy could be changed back. As a Moderator, it's not my position to go against the will of the community. The community spoke, so I must listen.

10. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

It would allow me to be better attuned with the site. I have enough rep to have most of the Mod powers right now. I can tell you it was very strange when the site graduated. I had enough rep before the graduation to have access to all of the normal person powers … then, in one fell swoop, poof! Some of those things I was very used to were no longer there. It wasn’t a big thing, but it happened. You feel a sense of loss. Now I’m used to it. Clearing out the review queues should be done by the community. Flags are what they are as they get taken care of when they arise. On Mech.SE, I handle most of the flags because I’m on the site the most. If they’re there, you handle them. If you have questions, you can ask your other Mods how they’d like to see something taken care of or if worse comes to worse, there is also the Teacher’s Lounge or the Mods Team Site where you can ask questions and receive answers to very troublesome issues. Weird things do happen, but for the most part, there isn’t anything which cannot be handled.

Answer 7

Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn.

1. The site has core cadre of 'die hard' members and, because of the popular subject material, attracts a lot of casual passing users. How would you use the role of moderator to encourage new users to contribute to the site more?

The role of moderator wouldn't necessarily be much of a help here. Anyone can encourage new users, and I can't think of any way diamond powers could be used to do so more effectively. That said, I do know of an excellent meta post on another site which lists a large number of site promotion ideas, some of which are specifically targeted at encouraging people to keep contributing, or attract people who are more likely to do so, as well as the more 'drive-by' users.

In terms of day-to-day usage of the site rather than outreach and events, a personal rule of mine is always to give personalised feedback to new users. No offence to those who use template comments, but I feel that they're more likely to respond positively to comments which clearly come from fellow humans rather than stock responses. Linking to the Tour and Help Centre is great, but it's also nice to give specific feedback on their post: either how they could improve it, or what particular aspects make it good.

2. Being a moderator you will be able to close questions on your own and override other community votes. Will this change how you vote to close questions?

Short answer: yes. I've already experienced this when becoming a moderator on another SE site. People think of the mod position as being unimaginable power, unlimited rice pudding, etc., but in fact in many ways it reduces your ability to make your opinions heard on the site. As a moderator, you have to cast close/reopen votes according to community consensus, and refrain from voting if there is no clear community consensus, even if you do have a personal opinion.

3. A user has posted a question that was quickly closed as being Trivia. The user however disagrees believing the question is valid, on-topic and not "trivia" and proceeds to post their frustration in the comments and on Meta, dismissing the opinions of others trying to help, etc. How would you determine if the question is Trivia or not? How would you defuse the situation?

In general, I believe that the trivia policy needs re-examination. I've always felt that it's not really clear what counts as trivia and what doesn't, because something that's "uninteresting" to one person could be fascinating to another. The very fact of someone having posted the question suggests that it adds to their understanding or appreciation of the film/show, at least. I'm not alone in this view (meta post from a 20k+ user, top answer says remove this close reason altogether). I think that if we had a new community discussion and clarification/revamp of the trivia policy, it would reduce the amount of anger from people having their questions closed as trivia.

4. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

In the first instance I'd send them a carefully written and personalised moderator message, highlighting exactly what the problem is with their behaviour and mentioning that we do appreciate their high-quality content but it doesn't 'buy' them increased leeway in creating drama. (I've actually done exactly this a number of times as a moderator on SFF.SE.)

Beyond that, it really depends on the personalities involved. Some people will take such a reminder as a wake-up call and actually improve their behaviour. Some people will continue exactly as before, or even become more confrontational due to what they see as suppression by moderators. The answer to the mod message, if any, and their future behaviour would determine the next course of action, e.g. whether or not to escalate to an account suspension.

5. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

Discuss it with them, either in the private moderator chatroom or in public. I'm a fan of transparency, so unless the issue involved something that should be kept private (e.g. abuse of sockpuppets), I'd rather have the discussion in public. Scope debates are something that the entire community should be able to have a say in.

6. If you got the hypothetical power to change anything about this site without any repercussions, what would you change and why?

Hmm, tough question (as it's intended to be). I guess I would create a push for better-sourced answers. Stack Exchange prides itself on being a repository of useful, reliable information - we should be better than sites like IMDB or Wikias with their unsourced and frequently inaccurate claims. I've seen a lot of answers on this site which simply quote a Wikia and don't go to the trouble of checking or verifying its claims. It would be nice to see more encouragement of good sourcing and well supported answers.

7. How are you going to cope with the additional workload of being a moderator in comparison to your activity as a normal user asking and answering questions? To which degree do you feel your new moderator duties might decrease your rather content-wise contributions to the site? How will you balance that if necessary?

As one of the lower-rep candidates in this election, this question probably applies less to me than others ;-) I'd certainly be able to continue contributing Q&A now and then in my relatively few favourite tags while also doing mod tasks like handling flags and monitoring meta, just as I currently contribute Q&A now and then while also reviewing, flagging, and monitoring meta.

8. What area do you feel the site could use the most improvement in and do you have any possible ideas for trying to tackle that issue?

This kind of overlaps with some of the earlier questions. As mentioned in my response to question 3, it would be nice to see some clarification of the trivia policy, and I'd be happy to open such a discussion on meta. As mentioned in my response to question 6, it would be nice to see a push towards better sourcing of answers, and again I'd be happy to open a discussion about this on meta (better to see what the wider community thinks before taking any other steps).

9. Somewhat recently there was a policy change in which Identification Requests were made off-topic, however a group of users were not happy with the decision citing concerns of not having a say in the matter. As a Moderator you will be seen as a part of the team implementing and enforcing new policies such as updating help pages and/or close reasons, mod closing and/or deleting questions and answers. To ensure that the community is on board with proposed policy changes, what would you do to get more people to "have their say" in such discussions? Do you believe that this was missing in the Identification Request policy change debate?

It does look, at least, as if this very important discussion and decision was mishandled. The original meta post explicitly said that "this post is not intended as an outright vote to keep or ban such questions", and yet it was taken as such after the fact ... due to an answer with a net score of 10 (+22/-12) which argued lengthily to ban them. The post was featured during the month of December: precisely when most users are more likely to be offline, preparing for and celebrating Christmas. Hence the "concerns of not having a say". Also worth noting: the announcement banning them has a net score of -5; the answer expressing a negative reaction has a net score of 53; and the top comments, all expressing dissatisfaction, have scores of 94, 60, 55, etc. It certainly looks as though the wider community were against the ban, and the decision was mostly taken by the most dedicated community members who were active on meta in December.

(All that being said ... there's no point crying over spilt milk now. It would be crazy to propose a reversal of the ban, after the destruction by deletion/locking of the site's massive existing hoard of ID questions. We have to accept that the decision was taken and move on with the site as it is.)

Most importantly, what lessons to be learned in future important policy discussions?

• Be aware of how much of the userbase is likely to be involved. If you want to make a massive change in the site, don't decide it during holiday season when many people will be concerned with more important things than a lengthy policy discussion on a Q&A site.

• Be clear about the potential ramifications of a discussion. Don't say "this vote won't be taken as binding" and then take it as binding. If possible, make clear in the title (visible in the sidebar) exactly what's at stake.

10. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

Well, I haven't reached 10k or 20k rep yet ;-) Seriously though, I see the moderator position as more about responsibility than power: getting 10k or 20k rep gives you increased abilities and powers, but getting a diamond gives you increased workload and stress. But after a couple of years doing it, I do think I've learned a great deal about how to do the job. Moderation skills like writing convincingly on meta, defusing conflict between users, and knowing when to take action against a user or not - these are what I'd bring to the table, and these are entirely unrelated to 10k or 20k skills like knowing when to close/delete a post or not.