As promised, my endorsements.
Meta Activity
Not the most active meta-denizen, but Iain's contributions are
always well thought out and with an eye to the community.
Importantly, I agree with most of what he says that he'll keep the
moderating consistent. Everyone likes an even hand, especially those
of us who have to defend what we do.
Flag Activity
Iain's is ServerFault's only person with a Marshal badge, and I
handled a large chunk of the flags needed to get there (our
schedules overlapped, it was a rather hectic September and October).
His flags nearly always get actioned. I have very high confidence
that Iain has a sound understanding of what does and does not need
moderator attention, and should have an easy time getting on board.
Conflict Management
Iain has participated in several of the conflagrations we've had in
the past year, and he has always been on the side of sane. He has
been baited, and failed to take the bait. I am completely satisfied
that he can handle the job calmly and professionally, and
Badges
Iain has earned the gold Copy Editor, Sportsmanship, and Yearling
(twice!). This is a person who is engaged and active.
I look forward to working with Iain, and think he is a most
excellent fit to the moderator team.
Meta Activity
Ben has always been an active member of Meta, and I've found his
contributions well worth the read. His contributions are very
frequently in line with the emerging community standard, which shows
both that he has a solid sense of the community and knows it
intuitively. Very valuable for a moderator charged with enforcing
those standards.
Flag Activity
When flag-rank was introduced, Ben already had one of the highest
ranks on the site. Additionally, most of the flags of his I've
handled have been actionable. Ben's flagging, and his close voting
back in my pre-mod days, show a strong understanding of the culture
of ServerFault.
Conflict Management
Ben doesn't usually get involved in the messy stuff, but the few
times he has his voice has been calm and reasoned. Watching his
discussions over the years shows he is level headed, and can take
debate in many forms.
Badges
Ben has also earned the gold Copy Editor badge, and Yearling.
Ben was my #3 choice in last year's election, even though he had
just broken 3K, and I think he has had some of the rough edges worn
off since then. In the face of a strong candidate field, I believe
he is worthy of the diamond.
My third choice presented me with problems. After viewing the
candidates nomination statements, Town Hall Q/A, and the other
information available to me, I find myself deeply conflicted. The
two candidates it came down to were one who is very well versed in
the culture of ServerFault, has good judgement, and is stable in
conflict, and another one who is not well known on ServerFault but
is well known to
StackExchange moderators. One
candidate who knows the culture cold and would be a valuable
addition to the team, and another candidate who knows how
StackExchange moderators are supposed to moderate and is a member of
our community albeit somewhat in the background.
Because of this, I'm going to present both candidates. Unlike Ben
and Iain, I won't be doing a full breakdown. I'll be describing why
they're worthy of your vote.
Freiheit is known to me as a moderator on some other
StackExchange site. Bicycles.
I know of him because he's frequently in the Teachers Room
chat when I am. This is a person who knows how Stack
Exchange moderators are supposed to moderate.
His ServerFault record shows participation, though not to
the extent of many of the other candidates. His flagging
history is light, but he's yet to flag incorrectly. His
meta-participation is similarly light. His main site
participation is spot on though. While he may be big in
bicycles, he knows of what he's talking about when it comes
to professional systems administration.
In spite of his light participation in ServerFault (well,
light meta-participation anyway) I believe he is worthy of
my #3 spot because his demonstrated theory of moderation and
how he handles conflict would make him a very low friction
addition to the ServerFault moderation team.
I do not hold his mod-bit on another site against him. We've
done that before and benefited from it. ServerFault can be
quite insular at times, and bringing in someone more widely
involved in StackExchange would be very good for us.
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Chris S has been involved in ServerFault since practically
the beginning. What's more, he has been active in
meta-activities since then as well. His flagging is high
quality. He is not a big editor, but he is big on tag
organization. And he shows a level head when tempers start
to flair.
Unlike my first two picks, Chris's main active times overlap
with my own. This will provide another valued pair of eyes
on the flag-queue during what can be busy times.
Chris's vision of what ServerFault is about aligns closely
with my own. The discussions he's participated in on meta.sf
have been well thought out. His reasoned approach should
mean fewer hotly contested mod-actions, something all mods
can appreciate after they've been in the seat a while.
Chris is worthy of the ServerFault moderation team.
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