- 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?
With some 20/20 hindsight from my experience on AU, I can say that it seems to help when I focus on improving the user's interactions with others (via private Mod-message) by pointing out:
- some examples of problematic exchanges
- ways that the user might (or should) handle it differently going forward, such as different wording or simply flagging the content for moderator assistance
In the cases I've dealt with so far, this has worked very well. However, if a user didn't improve, then suspension is certainly an option, even if the user is a frequent, even quality, poster. It's more important to keep the site from becoming toxic.
- How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc. a question that you feel shouldn’t have been?
I usually check with them in chat:
- explain my reasons why I think the content might could/should be salvaged
- listen to their rationale on (if) why not
Reach an agreement or, if we can't, leave it closed in most cases.
- Given many moderators and curators left the site in recent times because they disagree with the direction things are going on the site/network, why do you want to be a moderator? What motivates you to keep cleaning up garbage, when many previous "janitors" felt it's not worth it anymore?
I (probably obviously) believe there is huge value in Stack's (primarily) question-and-answer format, but keeping that value is dependent on how well we (as a community) curate and moderate content.
- Community moderators operate under shared principles; however, they are ultimately individual participants. A consensus may form within the team about how to handle discretionary matters not covered by established policies—for example, how to handle a specific kind of flag, or how long of a suspension to issue for some kind of inappropriate behavior. Would you consider this consensus to be binding and, in case you weren’t already doing things that way, adjust accordingly?
This would be similar to the situation in question #2 above, where we'll need discuss and reach agreement (or agree to disagree). In general, though, I typically defer to the status-quo when joining a new team of any sort.
- Stack Overflow moderation is a nontrivial time investment due to its scale. Do you think cleaning up Stack Overflow is an appealing way to spend your free time? If so, why? If not, what makes you want to be a moderator anyway? (Copied from this post by Ryan M, originally from 2022 suggested moderator questions.)
Yes, from my experience curating and moderating across the network, I'm pretty good at it (especially with AI-generated content). As mentioned above, I see immense value in the format of Stack Overflow and see moderation as an essential element in keeping that value.
- Stack Overflow sometimes asks moderators to offer feedback on things that they are planning (features, network software changes, etc). This feedback can sometimes alter what Staff does. What do you think about moderators being the "bleeding edge" of feedback, and are you willing to participate?
Absolutely. While we love SO, it's clear that it needs to continue to evolve and grow in order to succeed going forward. I certainly want to (and do) provide feedback to Staff on proposed changes. I also try to view these changes from the perspective of:
- SE, who needs to make sure the company continues to succeed
- The existing users who have made it what it is
- New, and less experienced, users who can help us continue to grow
- The mod team is completely split over a controversial issue. They are cordial with each other, but they disagree over what they should do, and it looks like they'll have to agree to disagree (which wouldn't work out great). How do you handle this?
Wait.
Over the next few days or weeks, watch for benefits or issues with either approach being taken. Look for ways to "tweak" the suggested approach(es) to (hopefully) demonstrate to the team how we can capitalize on the benefits as much as possible.
Most definitely. Stack has a lot of "rules" that new users tend to stumble over, and we have them for very good reasons. It's important to me to welcome new users in by gently helping them understand these rules whenever possible.
While I realize that things are much slower in the two-stoplight town of Ask Ubuntu, even when flagging here on Stack Overflow I've tried to make sure that I explain nicely to new (or just less experienced) users why their post is problematic. When deleting a post, I do my best to leave a comment with links to appropriate Help or Meta pages where the user can learn to improve either this post or their future posts.
And please, if you ever come across my comments and feel they can be improved in any way to make them more clear or kind, let me know.
- While moderators no longer have a huge backlog of flags related to AI generated posts, plenty of AI generated content is still being posted and flagged on daily basis. What is your stance on AI generated and assisted content and are you willing to handle such flags?
As you may know from my Meta posts or the previous election, I've been focusing on AI-generated content (AIGC) for a number of years now. Since ChatGPT posts first appeared on the network, I've been working to have them removed. I've also been "collecting" them, with a current list of more than 15,000 posts that are likely AIGC.
I've been able to flag over 3,500 so far, leading to removal of thousands more from the same users.
Since "The Strike", I've been a member of the working group tasked with (from the strike-negotiations) developing new, approved heuristics and improving the handling of AIGC. I have been the most active contributor to the Team, both in rep and posts.
As an elected moderator, you can have an outsized impact on the community as a thought leader aside from the typical clean-up/moderation tasks. A diamond next to your name can lend weight or a sense of validity to your ideas, stances, and reactions. Do you plan to be a thought leader? If so, how would you seek to use your influence?
Additional Context: Being a moderator means more than just getting expanded powers to do things like cast binding votes, delete comments, and issue suspensions. It also means that people tend to look to you as a thought leader. People may vote for you based on what they already know about how and what you think (and I suppose asking this question just reinforces that), but you'll also gain leverage with a diamond—like being a weak magnet, subtly aligning iron filings around you. Is there anything in particular you'd want to do with that expanded influence?
Nothing would make me happier than if I can help Stack Overflow become easier to navigate for new users. As mentioned above, I love helping users improve their posts much more than I do deleting them.
Also, my philosophy (with credit to @Zanna on Ask Ubuntu where I learned it) is to look for reasons why posts should be kept and improved rather than to just focus on the reasons why they should be removed. That's not to say that there's plenty of deletion to be done (even the bulk), but that there's also plenty to salvage as well.