In the interest of participation, here's my take on the questions. Yes for the most part my answers are serious. I have no doubt others here would excel at moderating SF. However I would appreciate the opportunity to take a stab at it. > What have you personally done to make Server Fault a more enjoyable > place for professional system administrators? I'm not in the "Top X-Percent" of voters, but I do thoroughly read each question, answer, and comment, and vote/flag accordingly. > There is a lot of discussion about the quality of questions on SF; > this is a topic that comes up regularly in meta. In fact, meta > sometimes feels like the same two questions over and over again: "Our > site is dying! How can we encourage better questions?" and "Why are > you guys so mean?" Do you believe that site quality is really a > problem? Do you believe the two questions are related? If so, **where do > you stand on how to encourage better questions?** and is it your opinion > that our **site is "too nice," "too mean," or "just right"?** For the first, I can sympathize with the opinion that the quality of SF has declined. However, it's not *just* SF, it's everywhere. Once a forum gains enough popularity, the "lowest-common denominator" starts to grow. How to encourage better questions? I think the ability to review actual questions themselves (similar to the "Scorecard" idea proposed by another member) is probably the next best idea. Is the sight too mean/nice or just right? None of the above. I think it's "mean enough". "Mean" being the perception that started w/ the popularity the site began earning, and has "grown". As the number of people that submit poor questions/answers grows, the number of people that get down-voted, questions closed, or otherwise get the Ax goes up. Along w/ complaints that people are being "mean". > Do you as a nominee feel that moderators should have term limits or be > required to be re-elected? Do you feel there should be a way to > formally ask a moderator to "step down" for inactivity based on a vote > of the users or is this something that should only be handled by other > moderators and/or SE staff? I'm not a fan of term-limits or activity thresholds. The 'meat-world' gets in the way sometimes. I'm of the opinion that, barring aberrant behavior, once a mod always a mod. > Since mod-decisions remove questions and answers from the review-queue > which can become later audit-items to trip up other reviewers, will > you continue to delve the review-queues at your current rate? Since my current rate is "none" or "what's a review queue", I'd say yes. I will continue at my current pace. > As a moderator you can see how other people are reviewing content. > What would it take for you to consider a review-ban on someone for > persistent over/under reviews? Someone who's "negative" actions far outweigh their "positive" actions. > What is your strategy for improving the quality and professionalism of > questions users first encounter when visiting Server Fault? Any questions with less than two tags, no example code, poorly formatted, will get a comment asking to follow basic "How to Ask A Question" etiquette. If it's not changed in a day or so, give the Question the Ax. If the poster has a single-digit history, ban. > 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 verify they're not just copy-pasta'ing answers from other sites (if they are, ban). If they're providing legit, relevant answers, I would message them to clean-up their commenting. (If they're being openly hostile/combative, etc.) If they persist, give them the a__-Hat badge. > How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc > a question that you feel shouldn't have been? If a more-experienced-than-I moderator (read: anybody else) did that, I would read/re-read and determine the criteria used. If I still felt it should not have been Ax'd, I would contact them. If they're justification did not suffice, I would attempt to re-open. > Do you agree with this proposal? Would you believe it to help us? > Would you still want to be a moderator if this became effective? Sure, a moderator's here to help everyone play by the same rules. Just because the rules change a bit isn't a reason to pack-up and go home. > Is there an administrative requirement to post on Server Fault? Do you > need to be in control of policy, or is it enough to know your job (as > a sysadmin)? The only requirement I think there should be on SF to post is that of curiosity and basic proficiency to ask questions. I have seen too many "Please help me with this, need solution ASAP" posts from employees of a company who's *actual* troubleshooting policies include "Step 3: Post in the forums online"