2017 Moderator Election

nomination began

Mar 20, 2017 at 20:00

election began

Mar 27, 2017 at 20:00

election ended

Apr 4, 2017 at 20:00

candidates

positions

Election Phase

In the election phase, the candidates who made it through the nomination phase or primary phase (if required) advance to final community voting. Candidates are displayed in random order.

Any community member with 150 reputation may vote in the election. Please make your selections in order of preference, with the most desirable candidate as first choice. You do not need to rank all candidates.

We will calculate the winners using OpaVote with the Meek STV method, which automatically weights users' votes in the way that does the most good for the candidates they have selected, in order of preference.

When the election is complete, the ballot file will be freely downloadable from this page for the life of the site. Individual users' voting choices are always private; only the aggregated tally will be made public.

On Stack Exchange, we believe the core moderators should come from the community, and be elected by the community itself through popular vote. We hold regular elections to determine who these community moderators will be.

Community moderators are accorded the highest level of privilege on our community, and should themselves be exemplars of positive behavior and leaders within the community.

Our general criteria for moderators is as follows:

patient and fair
leads by example
shows respect for their fellow community members in their actions and words
open to some light but firm moderation to keep the community on track and resolve (hopefully) uncommon disputes and exceptions

Every election has three phases:

Nomination
Primary
Election

Please participate in the moderator elections by voting, and perhaps even by nominating yourself to be a community moderator!

3 Candidates

Nomination Primary Election

Hi there. I'm James.

I'm a dry-lab PhD student looking at the biophysics of membrane proteins. I'm also interested in the wider scope of biology, and the surrounding scientific culture.

Key points.

I have the Steward gold badge and Electorate gold badge. Indeed, I'm far more involved than my reputation suggests.
I had the >3k mod privileges during beta. I understand that the heavy closure moderation approach needed from me then is not what we need now.
Despite my unexciting research area, I'm ranked #21 in reputation with ~173k impact.
A total of ~53 questions is unusual for top contributors here. I sympathise with the challenges involved in doing both Q&A well and can offer effective guidance on either.
If I have ideas, I readily share them in meta.
I've been an active user for 3 years 10 months.
I'm in the Singapore time zone. I would be available when no other mods are & wait time metrics could be reduced.

I am proud to be in this interesting, informative, and friendly community. My aim is to maintain that environment by filling the role of glorified janitor/mod.

posted Mar 23, 2017 at 3:53

James
member for 10 years

candidate score 26/40

reputation 11k
moderation badges: 6/8
editing badges: 4/6
participation badges: 5/6

reviews | meta posts

Hi - My name is Chris, but I am using an alias given that one of the mods has the same name - AliceD it is!

My participation -

top reviewer in 4 of 7 categories;
4k reviews;
500+ answers;
active during graduation;
second in reputation;
active in meta and chat;
top badge collector;
ranking second in the related Cognitive Sciences stack;
proud owner of sportsmanship badge

My views in a nutshell
During graduation this site's moderation was fierce and that attitude enabled our graduation. I think we need to stay critical to urge the OP to improve their post. My motto, however, is:

Good answers can make the question.

Users should think out-of-the-box and write answers that fit within Bio.SE's conventions, but not let those conventions push them into harsh close-voting. This example received multiple rounds of closure but has been superbly received. See also here.

posted Mar 22, 2017 at 20:38

AliceD♦
member for 9 years

candidate score 40/40

reputation >= 20k
moderation badges: 8/8
editing badges: 6/6
participation badges: 6/6

reviews | meta posts

Hi I'm theforestecologist.

I study long-term forest change, and I have diverse interests/experiences in all things natural.
I'm a college instructor, so I adhere to effective pedagogical guidelines -- b/c we're all here to teach/learn!

I've been an active user on Bio.SE for almost 2 years:

Regularly comment & perform review tasks
Answers are thorough and well-cited to help serve as model for others
Increasingly more active on Meta (especially re: "best practices" & discussion tags) and chat.

I feel strongly that our community should be welcoming & friendly to users of any background or level of biology, so I make sure to include friendly/constructive comments whenever possible.

While I would emphasize quality control like current mods, I would really focus on providing constructive help in those instances. (Not that current mods don't already do this; I would just place added personal emphasis on this aspect of moderation).

Overall, I'd like to play a larger role in ensuring that this site's growth continues both effectively and according to our dedication to helping others learn in a friendly & welcoming community.

posted Mar 21, 2017 at 17:06

theforestecologist♦
member for 8 years

candidate score 38/40

reputation >= 20k
moderation badges: 6/8
editing badges: 6/6
participation badges: 6/6

reviews | meta posts

Stack Exchange Network

2017 Moderator Election

3 Candidates

Key points.

This election is over.