Plugin related questions has always been a hot topic. What are your
opinions on the matter?
Making third-party plugin questions on-topic or off-topic has been the center of debate ever since this platform made its first Sunday roast.
My aim as a moderator would be to allow the community to be a part of the decision making. If it is a controversial decision like this, and one that will quite drastically affected the content of the platform, the decision should be in the hands of the members of the community.
In this scenario, rather than using my power as a moderator to make a decision, I would provoke and campaign (if you wish) to encourage the community (and the upper-tier users/staff of StackExchange) to engage in the decision making itself.
That would be my main purpose.
The website is currently seeing a downward trend in participation. Why
do you think that is and do you think it can be reversed?
I would work towards encouraging users, particularly new ones, to engage in the community. Lack of traffic, or boost of traffic do not necessary affect user participation, but a welcoming community where you can discuss work and procrastinate certainly do.
Beyond all of my online moderation roles, my partner and I are also moderators, organisers, and hosts of a variety of (in real life) pro and casual networking groups in Stockholm with thousands of members. My experience of connecting people via these groups has been surprisingly handy when working on boosting activity on platforms I moderate online.
Do you have any kind of past moderation experience? When, where, how
do you think it can help here?
Moderation has been a passion of mine ever since I delved into it sometime late 90’s moderating a high trafficked WWWBoard.
Then I moved on to moderate phpBB forums with user bases in the thousands.
Nowadays, I work as a moderator on a variety of platforms, including a leading long-form writing platform with an audience of millions. They all share the same source of existence, and that is WordPress.
I have experience of moderation from all corners of the web, and I believe this diverse insight will come in handy for WPSE. Most noticeably, some of the platforms I have worked with have a rather niche audience where conflicts easily form and the actions of the mod team are continuously on topic.
How often do you find yourself using WordPress?
Every single day. I work as a WordPress contractor full time, and on my spare time, I run several established platforms powered by WordPress. So the question should be rephrased to how often I don't use WordPress. ;-)
How much time do you spend right now on our site per day and week? Do
you know if you can stay so active or become even more active for the
next year?
I spend at least 30 minutes on the site on a daily basis, primarily doing editorial tasks rather than posting Q&A's. This is actually a very good question that I am hoping to sum up with an answer that makes sense to people who have concerns about activeness.
Being active here is a part of my professional and personal routine. Meaning, I work full time, I socialise, run meetup groups, do sports, keep active, and engage with WPSE daily.
It can be "easy" to hangout here when you are on a leave, or not active outside of the community, but being here frequently when working towards an active career and social life is whole new butter and bread.
That should highlight where my priorities are. I think some of you who have been a part of this community for a long time will relate, understand, and appreciate this.
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?
I would overview the flagged entries properly (and not skim through them), discuss internally with my fellow moderators, and finally approach the user and engage in a constructive session with the user about the etiquette of the platform.
While the quality of answers are of high value, the community is the heart of this platform and should certainly be treated as such.
How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc
a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
This is definitely an internal issue and not one that should be resolved in a public manner. I would discuss the issue with the said moderator and come down to a solution together in how to proceed. If there is still a conflict, I would bring it up with the whole team of moderators and delve into it with a collaborative approach.
In your opinion, what do moderators do?
As I outlined in my pitch, my model of moderation is divided into three major processes:
Communication: Understand the lingo to connect with the community and master the art of maintaining a positive approach to resolve conflicts.
Collaboration: Engage with fellow upper-tier users/mods and work together to resolve issues and provoke change when encouraged by the community.
Responsibility: Protect the integrity of the community, understand my rights, and never misuse my power.
You can also read my tale of moderation.
A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the
past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will
do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?
I am completely comfortable with it. I have moderated a variety of high trafficked platforms and learned from it, particularly on how to engage with the community and not to overstep my boundaries.
In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more
effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?
Reputation doesn't mean anything for me beyond achieving new abilities to perform editorial tasks, which I've found valuable. I've spent my points on more bounties than I can count.
Being a moderator, as opposed to a high rep user, will mean that I will gain the status to do more upper-tier moderation tasks. And more importantly, I will have the possibility to provoke change and improvements to the platform. This is something that tends to require a strong voice to kick off and I can be a part of the movement with the assistance of my fellow moderators.
Our aim should be growth in quality contributions in all areas and encourage controversial changes when needed be.
If all fails, I will do a mind-meld with the community members. One by one...
