What's the Process for Picking Mods?

"Tangent: nice to see you follow my posts Ignant, we appreciate the kisses.... "

Actually, I was just told about it Afetr hearign the quality of ppl posting there...I wouldn't

 

Do I have a long history of bannings and warnings?

 

Do I have a long history of bannings and warnings?

Yep.

 

Do I have a long history of bannigns for this month?

 

Do I have a long history of bannings and warnings?

 

What if your long history of banning and warnings are spread out over a few usernames?

 

> I think that has a huge amount to do with moderators being restricted to spending their moderating time in their dedicated forums and not really knowing enough about other forums, other forums regular users

But you don't need to be moderating in another person's forum to participate in it. And it's the reading and posting in other forums that will give you an idea of suitable moderator candidates.

> And I've seen mods not even offer a group of people as viable promotions, just a single one with the expectation that people will defer to their judgement and back them up.

If there is one standout candidate, who is obvious mod material, why go through the farce of trying to scratch up a couple of other less suitable candidates just to go through the whole rigmarole of setting up a meaningless vote?

 

I find it hard to believe that at any given time, in any forum, that only one person stands out as a potential candidate for a Mod position. I can understand someone being a favorite for the promotion, but you can (and should) still have a vote if that is the normal procedure.

+1 vote for Saddam.

 

I find it hard to believe that at any given time, in any forum, that only one person stands out as a potential candidate for a Mod position.

That's increasingly been the case. In my view, the number of standout candidates has significantly decreased over time in the JC, leading to either one or two people being obvious choices, or there being no standouts at all (leaving a number of so-so candidates to choose from).

Up to a year ago or so, there were almost always multiple standouts in every major forum. Due to a seeming decrease in interest regarding JC politics and forum business (coinciding with an increase in people keeping to themselves or just one or two forums), and probably other factors, this is no longer the case.

 

Due to a seeming decrease in interest regarding JC politics and forum business (coinciding with an increase in people keeping to themselves or just one or two forums), and probably other factors, this is no longer the case.

I blame al-Queda. And the economic downturn.

Everyone but myself

 

"Due to a seeming decrease in interest regarding JC politics and forum business "

If interest in forum politics are a factor, I'm mystified at recent selections.

 

> I find it hard to believe that at any given time, in any forum, that only one person stands out as a potential candidate for a Mod position.

There are plenty of forums whose regular userbase can be counted on one person's fingers and toes.

 

There are plenty of forums whose regular userbase can be counted on one person's fingers and toes.

Is that a dig at Ignant have six fingers on each hand ? If so, thats certainly uncalled for.

The userbase in the JCC is huge. However, there are a significant number that post on a daily basis for a few hours. You can almost count on the same people being there everyday, participating in all of the new threads and conversations.

 

Having finished and handed in a 5,000-word essay on ?Propaganda in the western media with regards to the Middle East,? two days in advance of the deadline, I?ve got time to write an essay on the difficulties of choosing moderators.


That's increasingly been the case. In my view, the number of standout candidates has significantly decreased over time in the JC, leading to either one or two people being obvious choices, or there being no standouts at all (leaving a number of so-so candidates to choose from).

Agreed, to some extent.

Uh oh, I?m still in an essay-writing mode. I feel a whole lot of verbage coming on. Run children, run while you still can!

It may be in part due to decreased knowledge of other forums on the parts of moderators ? I honestly couldn?t really tell you who the best moderator candidates in 3SA would be right now, and I post there on a semi-regular basis. On the other hand, if you asked me who the best candidate for promotion was in Literature right now, I could answer immediately without hesitation. If you asked me for a list of five people who would make solid moderators, I could give you an answer after a minutes thought. If you wanted me to provide ten candidates that I?d feel comfortable with as moderators, people with clean histories who?ve contributed to the forum, who were well respected by most everyone and generally sensible, it?d take more thought but I could probably do it after an hour or two of thought.

So, I?d have trouble coming up with candidates in 3SA and I?d be fine coming up with candidates in Literature. Does that mean that there are fewer viable candidates in 3SA? No way, no how, and no sir ? it just means that I?m a lot more aware of what?s going on in Literature than I am of what?s going on in 3SA.

Having said all that about there being multiple viable candidates in Literature right now, if for some bizarre reason we decided to add another moderator, I know that I would press for one person in particular, and I think that the other Literature moderators and Mastadge would probably strongly agree with the choice. I may be wrong (it?s happened on at least two occasions in the past, possibly even three! ), but I don?t believe so. If we six Literature forum regulars who are moderators were to all believe that this person was the best possible choice, should we bother to create a poll? In my opinion the answer is no, as we know the forum and its people best.

So, the question is, at what point do you say that the choice of the current and departing moderators of a forum with regards to new moderators is a choice that no longer needs affirmation via a poll by the Mod Squad as a whole? Five or six forum regular moderators are enough (in my opinion). Four? I think so. Three? Maybe. One or two? In all likelihood, no, that?s probably not going to happen.

But, what about when a) the forum regulars doesn?t intermingle much with the rest of the JC as a whole or only a few do any mingling, and b) it?s a forum that few current moderators visit? The choices that most moderators are most likely to choose in my opinion are those that they know through other forums, regardless of whether or not that person is the best choice within the forum in question. Say that person A posts a dozen times a day within little used forum in need of a moderator X, and does so in an outstanding way. Person B also posts in forum X, but only two or three times a week and in an average way. However, person B also posts in well traveled forums Y and Z, thus becoming well known across the boards. When the time comes to promote, would one except that person A would get the most votes or would person B? Of course, it would generally be person B, because they?re the one that?s well known to all. But they probably wouldn?t be the best choice for the forum.

But if we just allowed the forum moderators to choose their own successors, would we always end up with poster A? Not a chance. I?d say maybe half the time we could get poster A, and half the time we?d get poster B,

 

> . Of all the promotions to come out of the recent troubles, Mastadge was one that almost everyone who knows him agrees was long overdue. In my opinion, Errant_Venture and The2ndQuest were both excellent choices for promotion

I think you'll find both Errant_Venture and The2ndQuest were moderators before this "recent trouble".

Otherwise, nice essay.

 

I think you'll find both Errant_Venture and The2ndQuest were moderators before this "recent trouble".

Sorry, didn't mean to imply that. I meant to say that they were recent promotions, but I suppose the context makes it look like I was saying that they were promoted due to the recent trouble.

And thanks.

 

What about me? Exactly how long have I been banned over all my usernames...my guess is 1 week and four days.

Am I right? Or wrong? What?

 

> Sorry, didn't mean to imply that.

Well OK, but I'm still marking you down half a point for ambiguity.

 

I especially love it when threads are derailed because people want to talk about me and not the stuff I discuss in my posts, as nearly happened on the last page.

It brings warm feelings to my heart.



Edit: And I wouldn't want to be an admin for quids, Gandolf. Particularly one of those super tricky, extra difficult one's like "Security" which consists basically of scanning mods IP's when they're online, watching the admin action log and reminding everyone to change their passwords every quarter

 

Thoughts....

I don't think the number of viable candidates for mods in the bigger, more active forums has changed much at all. I think the standards have changed somewhat since I first signed up. It also doesn't seem to me that mods put that much effort in looking for the best candidates. Having said that, people like 2ndQuest, Errant_Venture and DamonD were all top-notch choices, IMO.

I feel that the makeup of the MS in general has changed since I first signed up. That group in the summer of 01 seemed much more volatile than the one in place before the recent Philip Wise fiasco.The latest group seemed to be constructed more like a group that could work effectively together, either for the JC as a whole or within their individual forums. Not as much who is the best individual candidate. But that's just how I see things from the outside, and I know my opinion isn't the most informed in the world.

And speaking of the majority board owner....I think if the current mods are having a hard time coming up with a list of possible mod candidates, they can thank Philip. His antics and new standards for moderating here have driven away a lot of people who otherwise would have been happy to wear "the colors." Although I highly doubt I have ever been mentioned as a mod candidate, I can tell you I would decline any invitation to be a mod now, based on the new rules he's instituted.

 

Why is there a post with no name next to it?


yep


craaaaaaaaaaaaaap.

 

I don't think the number of viable candidates for mods in the bigger, more active forums has changed much at all. I think the standards have changed somewhat since I first signed up. It also doesn't seem to me that mods put that much effort in looking for the best candidates.

Agreed. Speaking for YJCC, there were people that were promoted that either I haven't even heard of or don't spend all that much time in the forum. I've also seen noticeable gaps in moderation times and having "outside" mods filling in when no other mod is available - for instance, this evening, with all those birthday parody threads about it took a good fifteen minutes before Kimball got involved and locked all but one thread. Considering that it was at a relatively "high traffic" time (3-4 PM board time) here, I think that's a little ridiculous that someone else, out of necessity, has to take care of something that those in charge of their own forum ought to have taken care of within five minutes, max.

And with not three, not four, but FIVE mods in charge, it only leaves me scratching my head. Surely there's SOMEONE that's paying attention, or at least online at the time?

I feel that the makeup of the MS in general has changed since I first signed up. That group in the summer of 01 seemed much more volatile than the one in place before the recent Philip Wise fiasco.The latest group seemed to be constructed more like a group that could work effectively together, either for the JC as a whole or within their individual forums.

Again, there's a point I agree with. There are no longer any 'elitist groups' that produce an insane proportion of moderators as there has been in the past, so that's one of the big reasons why the mods have been able to work better together as of late.

 

To clarify:

My post above was not meant as a slam to any of the newer mods who I didn't happen to name. They deserve a chance to make their own reputation, not have one made for them.

I based part of my post on comments by others in this thread, about there just not being many good mod candidates around. I frequent a decent number of forums around here, and I see quality mod candidates all over the place. They're there, the mods just have to know where to look. Some of them apparently are not willing or able to do so. Or their idea of what a good mod would be doesn't fit in with characteristics regular users like me would think makes a good mod.

 

There is no reason to excuse the fact that I am not a mod yet.

 

i know for a fact i would not give out my personal information. i personally think that is an invasion of privacy (i am posting this here since i missed my oppertunity with the other thread). thus since i would not give my personal info out, i am never going to be a mod. that and my post count is way to low. (i'm already a board mod on an ezbread froum so i have enough work to do).

i think a mod should have a regularity to posting, have quality posts, and be on during regular times. but hey..that's just me.