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Comments (I started this write-up before the election started thinking we'd just get the usual boring election questions, but then things got rancorous, so this is partly my take on the State of ServerFault and partly answers to the questions.) Overall, SF is working - questions get asked and answered, bad ones get downvoted and closed. There's a core of ...

Congratulations to @Ward and @yagmoth555 have fun! Thanks to @HBruijn and @EEAA for your moderation (in all senses).

I didn't intend that comment as a "cheap shot" - there's only so much you can say in the space of a comment. A little bit of background might help here: along with most of the people on my team, I spend a fair bit of time doing support work - helping folks who are trying to learn to use these sites when they get stuck. When such people post questions on ...

What have you personally done to make Server Fault a more enjoyable place for professional system administrators? I answer questions, and when I have a question I can't easily answer myself or something useful to share with the community, I ask questions. This is one of the most important things there is to do. I also review a lot, and vote a good bit. ...

I know AndrewB already referred to Iain's theory, but I thought it was worth spelling it out: Iain said a couple times that all the discussion about moderation style and intent didn't matter because when it came to the election, people would come in and just vote for the candidates with the highest reputation. And sure enough... To be clear: I think N00b ...

I'd like to drag an elephant into this room (I'm sorry in advance), and see what people think now that some time has passed. Perhaps the amount of exposition is too much, and the subject aged. But I can't help but feel like it will color this years election whether we bring it up or not. We had an election last year that ended with some parting and drama. ...

Haha, wow. HopelessN00b making the cut and Ward not is a double upset compared to the meta voting. Did not see that coming at all. Thanks to everyone who participated. We'll get you in one of these days, Ward. :) Interesting observations... Voting participation has continued the two year trend in increased activity, despite SF's overall activity ...

I am Falcon! Here are my answers! I also still stand by my answers last year. We had an election last year that ended with some parting and drama. And I can't help but think of Ryan Ries` comment: "I don't know why anyone would want to be a moderator, now." Let's be honest here, things went wrong after the last election. Communication was a major ...

What have you personally done to make Server Fault a more enjoyable place for professional system administrators? The same things I would as a moderator :) Answering and cleaning up relevant questions and I'd continue to move or delete off-topic questions and answers. I'd like to think I already set a good example there. There is a lot of discussion ...

What have you personally done to make Server Fault a more enjoyable place for professional system administrators? Mainly answering questions, a lot of voting and a bit of reviewing. I believe that asking good questions and providing good answers is the single most important thing to do on Serverfault. There is a lot of discussion about the quality of ...

Congrats Sven, sorry Ward, and... well, I'll let Kent Brockman say the rest. I will try not to screw it up too badly, too quickly.

I think I speak for all my fellow fresh meat when I say: bring it on.

Ward's responses to the moderator candidate questions: Do you feel there are any issues with the relative amount and types of participation on ServerFault of long-term, high-rep users compared to newer, lower-rep users? If so, what would you try to do as a moderator to address these issues? I think it's unfortunate that many long-term, high-rep ...

Do you agree with the statement "ServerFault needs professional-quality questions, not just questions from professionals"? What does the word "professional" mean to you, within the context of the phrase, "professional-quality questions"? Do you believe that in addition to professional-quality questions, ServerFault also needs professional-quality answers ...

EEAA reporting in... We had an election last year that ended with some parting and drama. And I can't help but think of Ryan Ries` comment: "I don't know why anyone would want to be a moderator, now." Let's be honest here, things went wrong after the last election. Communication was a major issue, and there were some divisive opinions on what should ...

I am normally a person of mild temperament. I normally don't call people on their bullshit or make waves unless it's something fairly serious. An election is a serious business, and it's perhaps the most appropriate place for these statements to be made. Additionally, I don't really see anything wrong with either of those two comments. Of course I'm biased ...

It is a feature. Upvote is approval. No vote neutral. Downvote is disapproval. This gives an overall sense of how the Server Fault community and the wider Stack Exchange users feel about a particular candidate.

Of the active mods*: 3 Mods are in UTC-5, some tend to roll into work a bit later than others, but we're all most active in the 1300-2200Z range. 1 Mod in UTC+10, that mod get's up too damn early, so most active 2100-0600Z. We're notably lacking in 0800-1400Z area, which is daytime for most in GMT, or UTC+1, or near there. The first of the UTC-5 mods to ...

Note: I personally have found Server Fault to be a very friendly site, but am fully aware that this is not necessarily the experience of others. 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 ...

The number of active users has dropped nearly monthly since Server Fault started: Server Fault has developed a reputation across the network of being full of BOFHs who yell at people asking dumb questions. (That's not my experience, by the way.) Reading the nominations, I see a lot of burnout and frustration that stems from a steady stream of questions ...

I still believe the consensus here: Inactive mods on SF - Or are they? I see the same 2-3 moderators all day long on SF. Granted that's my timezone and perspective, but it's the only perspective I can speak from. The link above that Pauska asked shows that it really hasn't changed over the years. 2 moderators were appointed back in 2009 and are rarely ...

What have you personally done to make Server Fault a more enjoyable place for professional system administrators? By ensuring I'm active in all aspects of the side and contributing what I can to the site (voting, asking questions, answering questions) I help make Server Fault a better place by setting some examples of content that is welcome on the site. ...

I'm drunk/not reading carefully/don't hang out here much. Why should I vote for you instead of some other person? What problems does Server Fault face that are unique to Server Fault?

What have you personally done to make Server Fault a more enjoyable place for professional system administrators? Well, like the other high rep users, my primary method of making Server Fault a more enjoyable place for professional admins is by providing high quality questions and answers. I'm also one of the more active voters on the site (3rd this this ...

The impression new users get of the site is mostly defined by what they see when they get here, in terms of its usefulness, purpose, and community norms. What is your strategy for improving the quality and professionalism of questions users first encounter when visiting Server Fault?

As far as I know there is no page for this. You could however copy-paste some Javascript code into your browser which will show it for you. With a little copy and pasting and under 10 lines of non pasted code :) The Javascript on the page is not obfuscated so easy to read. With minor adjustments you can copy-paste some of the code and have it display for ...

Do you feel there are any issues with the relative amount and types of participation on ServerFault of long-term, high-rep users compared to newer, lower-rep users? If so, what would you try to do as a moderator to address these issues? It's a complex issue. SF is almost over 10 years old and I consider myself in the new generation. The answer ...

So the the link of original answer was dead, so I would like to add another solution. Basically the technique was similar: inject javascript snippet into election page. To do this I create bookmarklet with the following javascript code. javascript:void%20function(){var%20e=prompt(%22Please%20enter%20your%20Server%20Fault%20user%20ID%22,%221%22),a=parseInt(...

I notice that several of our top review-queue users have put themselves up for a mod-bit. 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? As a moderator you can see how other people are reviewing content. ...

There's a bug with some localization code - a fix is going out right now. Also, your vote was properly recorded; the bug only affected any optional display message that might have been sent back to the client.