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.
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. |
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. |