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Depends on the forum; GnC and ARSE and Fanfic aren't about 'debate' so there's no sides to take. There's just 'right' and 'wrong'.

Turin wrote:I almost hesitate to mention this because it'll probably summon flaming, and maybe the administration is already thinking of this. But some of the names I'm seeing tossed up for moderation (particularly among those volunteering) are people with pretty toxic personalities and/or a lot of history of personal conflict. Do we really want folks with histories of stirring up emotions to be in charge of managing them, in light of this whole idea of trying for a more "positive board culture?"

There's a distinction between people who like to argue passionately and being unreasonable. I've known many people who were highly competitive debaters, even vicious, but were quite capable of acting in a very calm, rational manner otherwise. There are also some pairings who actively do not like each other, that doesn't mean either one is incapable of moderating a forum. It doesn't mean they are capable, either. It is a factor that must be weighed by those choosing new moderators.

Even with our current moderators, individuals sometimes recuse themselves or ask someone else to step in where there might a problem with bias. What I want is not necessarily a perfectly impartial moderator (I don't they exist) but someone capable of recognizing when they should step aside and ask for assistance.

In a somewhat related vein, should people who are heavily active in a given forum the best choice for moderation? I'd think you'd want to make sure the mod would be interested in the forum, obviously, but if a candidate is one of the most active members in a given forum, that might make their lives more difficult when it comes to moderation.

That's a good point, and I even mentioned it in another manner by saying that I might be a better moderator for forums other than where I post most frequently.

(BTW: for what it's worth, I think that Broomstick would be a good choice for an ARSE mod, as would Stas for pretty much anywhere.)

Thank you!

Since Marina nominated me on the last page, I'm in Florida and thus American EST (-5 GMT) time zone. I try to keep my sleeping hours to a range of 10PM-midnight until 6 or so AM, though on some days I have to get up earlier if I need to run errands and thus have the truck. Aside from days I run errands I'm usually home and barring problems with the hotel wireless I'm active. To be conservative, I'd put my hours from 9AM or so until 11PM, again conservatively. Of course, my sleeping hours do rotate sometimes, but again when I'm up I'm usually online.

Alright, I wanted to get some of the nominations sorted out by forum today, but I had a few minor RL issues come up that had to be dealt with. I' sorry about that, but I'll get them sorted by forum on Sunday, and start the vote threads as well, and we can get started.

As for toxic personalities, well... I trust the people to vote what they feel is right. And remember, in a democracy, you tend to get exactly the government you deserve.

(Also bear in mind the Admins & DW are looking at this thread, and while they'll take the voice of the people into consideration, they will also apply their own screening processes as well.)

I live on the west coast of the US -PST and am available pretty much all the time. I'd also like to throw my hat into the ring for testing mod as well as N&P. It's tacky, but fuck it. I think I'd do a damned good job and even if I get passed up at least I'll have shown my interest when future openings occur down the line.

I am flattered that someone (who, I wonder?) would nominate me for a possible position of official responsibility and obligation to the community, and would think I could moderate with a steady hand. That's very nice of you. However, I must decline, because my personal obligations would never allow me to spend a dedicated quantity of time regularly, where I would feel I could be relied on to be responsible for the state of a forum. We do not need absentee or transient moderators. We need dedicated, apolitical, logicians. I respectfully decline the nomination.

Alright, this is how I've broken it down. If I missed, or mis-interpreted anyone interests, let me know so I can modify that.

I'm starting with general, across-the-board moderator interests & availability. From there, I break it down into "All Fiction Blocks" or "All Non-Fiction Blocks". So a person may be a mod of an entire 'theme' of Fiction or Nonfiction areas. From there, it goes down to individual forums or subforums.

GENERAL MODSHIPS:
Broomstick (US Central Time Zone)
Bubble Boy (US Mountain Time)
Lonestar (US Eastern Time)
Stas Bush (Russia/Omsk: GMT +6)
Coyote (US Mountain Time)

---------------------------------------

FORUM-SPECIFIC MODSHIPS:
Fiction Forum Block:
Bounty (Western Europe: GMT+1)
Ender (US Central Time)

Pure Star Trek:
Gandalf (Eastern Australian Time: GMT +10)
DaveJB (England, GMT)

Pure Star Wars:
Desertfly (US Pacific Time)

Fantasy:
Big Steve (Eastern US)
Yosemite Bear (US Pacific Time)

Fanfics:
Duchess of Zeon (US Pacific Time)

Gaming & Computers:
DaveJB (England, GMT)

STGODs:
Rogue Ice (Eastern US)

---------------------------------

Non-Fiction Forum Block (ie SLAM, N&P, AMP):
Alyrium Denryle (US Central Time)
General Zod (US Mountain Time; frequent availability)
Stark (Eastern Australian Time: GMT +10)
GrandMasterTerwyn (US Mountain Time)
Simplicius (US Eastern Time)
Surlethe (US Eastern Time)

News & Politics:
Flagg (US Pacific Time)

ARSE:
Duchess of Zeon (US Pacific Time)

History:
Thanas GMT+1 and EST time zones. Would defer to Stas Bush if Stas becomes History mod.
MKSheppard (Eastern US time zone)

Arts/Music/Pictures:
Yosemite Bear (US Pacific Time)

Testing:
Yosemite Bear (US Pacific Time)

Horsemen:
Mr. Coffee (US Central Time)
Duchess of Zeon (US Pacific Time)
Havokeff (US Pacific Time)
Stark (Eastern Australian Time: GMT +10)

-------------------------------------

Declined Nominations:
Illuminatus Primus

-------------------------------------

To be Categorized --or-- Haven't Hear From:
Publius
Ma Deuce
Mad
Knife
Kuroneko

--Anyone know the status of these worthies?

Yeeeeeeeah...Hipper has been a mod for more then easily a year, or two, I think it's almost three. And no, I don't mean GALE.

Coyote wrote:Bubble Boy (time zone?)

That would be Mountain Standard Time, for those concerned. (generally I'm active after my work hours, which is around 4pm to 11pm, and variable on weekends).

As for activities, I'm online quite frequently and generally stick to the Non Sci Fi forums, although I pop into the others occasionally.

Position as a 'general' mod would fit me, I'd think. Although I admit I'd really have to brush up on the board rules and specifics before I'd feel comfortable employing any actual mod activity.

And I reiterate, I volunteer as a backup mod more than anything.

Ghost Rider wrote:Yeeeeeeeah...Hipper has been a mod for more then easily a year, or two, I think it's almost three. And no, I don't mean GALE.

That's what I thought. Then he's been fairly "inactive" of late; I'll remove him from the list. I just took in nominations, I didn't do background checks.

Timezone is US Central. Doing a lot of "office" work lately and I don't sleep much, so I'm at or near my computer a lot.

Alright, I just did some updates to the list.

I see a lot of US coverage, which may be fine & dandy in some respects, since so many of our demographics come from the northern American continent, but some more input from "the other side" might be helpful. Otherwise it will be a police state by day, and an anarchy by night!

I should mention that I'm in Australian Eastern Standard Time, which is GMT +10.

As far as my time zone, I'm on MST. But since I check the board throughout the day it's kind of unimportant trivia.

The part about time zone coverage is a good one, but some of us are on very early or very late for our time zones.

It might be best to covert all availabilities to one time zone and then see how it looks.

Broomstick wrote:

Turin wrote:I almost hesitate to mention this because it'll probably summon flaming, and maybe the administration is already thinking of this. But some of the names I'm seeing tossed up for moderation (particularly among those volunteering) are people with pretty toxic personalities and/or a lot of history of personal conflict. Do we really want folks with histories of stirring up emotions to be in charge of managing them, in light of this whole idea of trying for a more "positive board culture?"

There's a distinction between people who like to argue passionately and being unreasonable. I've known many people who were highly competitive debaters, even vicious, but were quite capable of acting in a very calm, rational manner otherwise.
<snip>
Even with our current moderators, individuals sometimes recuse themselves or ask someone else to step in where there might a problem with bias. What I want is not necessarily a perfectly impartial moderator (I don't they exist) but someone capable of recognizing when they should step aside and ask for assistance.

Oh, absolutely. There are plenty of folks who argue aggressively about various topics, but I'd trust them to step aside if they had to mod a given argument. I'm just not sure everyone on that list is capable of that.

Coyote wrote:As for toxic personalities, well... I trust the people to vote what they feel is right. And remember, in a democracy, you tend to get exactly the government you deserve.

(Also bear in mind the Admins & DW are looking at this thread, and while they'll take the voice of the people into consideration, they will also apply their own screening processes as well.)

Oh? I guess I didn't realize there would be voting as well (must've missed an earlier discussion). I imagine any concerns I have will work themselves out through that process.

Stark would make a good mod for GnC

Put me down under Horseman as well Coyote.

^If possible, I would like to second that. Based on the few flamewars we two got in, you would make a great horseman.

Updated, including Havokeff for Horseman, by his choice; Stark for Horseman by nomination.

The Vote threads are up!

It breaks down like this:

General, All-Board Moderators
These are the folks that will be Moderators for the whole Board.


ALL FICTION Moderators.
These are the folks who will patrol the Fiction Forums. Some are running for SPECIFIC forums, some are running to be Mods of the entire Fiction "section" or "block", as it were.


ALL NON-FICTION "Block" Moderators
These are the folks who are willing to ride herd on ALL the NON-FICTION forums as a complete "section" or "block".


NON-FICTION "SPECIFIC" FORUM Moderators
The Non-Fiction section had to be divided into two since so many people were interested. So the peopel running for specific forums (ie, ARSE only; N&P only, etc) were put in a seperate vote thread from people who were running for ALL the Non-Fiction forums as a whole.

Please feel free to ask me any questions about this, and I thank you for your time & patience!

If I want to give an argument for why a user should not be a moderator, since there are no discussion threads, where would be appropriate? The vote threads? This one?

I'd say this one would be fine. This, or the thread where that particular person is up for the vote, either way.

EDIT: I'm not trying to be wishy-washy, I just suppose it is whichever thread you think would get the most coverage for the person you're protesting.

One thing I would like to see potential moderators bring to many of the forums is a greater emphasis on logic in debates. Mike I believe brought up the absence of logic in some forums (like N&P) and N&P is definitely a forum I would like to see logic enforced more in. Or at least having an attemtp made.

Of course, some of the forums don't apply (Testing for obvious reasons.) but that could be handled on a case by case basis.

GR is probably one of the most visible mods, since he does a lot of unpleasant janitor work.