August 2011 Moderator Election - Town Hall Chat Digest

Question

The following is a "digest" version of the August 2011 Moderator Election Town Hall Chat. The format, as described on Meta Stack Overflow, is one answer to this question for every question asked in the Town Hall, containing all the candidate's answers to that question.

To view the digest chronologically, please sort the answers by "oldest".

If you have questions or comments about this, please do not answer this question as the answers are designed to be used for the questions from the Town hall itself. Instead, please ask on the parent question or in the Town Hall Discussion Room.

If you see any corrections which need to be made to this digest, or if you were a candidate who was unable to attend the town hall and would like your answers included, please @Rebecca or @TimStone in the comments or in the chat room and let us know!

Answer 1

tzenes asked: What is the biggest problem facing Gaming.StackExchange today?

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Mana ಠдಠ answered: Attracting attention from other expert gaming communities. We're stuck in a Catch-22 situation where new users will only feel comfortable asking in-depth questions about different games if they feel like they're going to get an expert answer, and expert answerers are usually only going to take interest in our community if they see in-depth questions being asked.

Mana ಠдಠ continued: This leads to entire genres, such as fighting games, that are neglected because there are much stronger communities dedicated entirely to those games(for example, Smash Boards for Smash Bros. players).

Tom Wijsman answered: In general, there seem to be too be too much edits on the front page. So, I consider that we need to keep promoting the community so that we can raise activity; actually, Brett White from the CHAOS team is already working on different kinds of promotional material and I would encourage people to help promote. In any case you are wondering, I'll wear my Gaming T-shirt where appropriate…

Ivo Flipse answered: we need more question and more diversity in the topics we cover

Anna Lear answered: I think the biggest problem is lack of variety in games covered. We see some spikes around new releases (especially if a community promotion is involved), but other than that, a lot of questions are about TF2 or Minecraft (or Starcraft 2). There's nothing wrong with those games, but it can be hard to get into the community if one doesn't play those. I can see how expanding the game coverage could help draw in new users.

Anna Lear continued: I think one of the biggest impediments to getting new users is that the answers are quick, but not quick enough. If I'm playing a game now and have a problem, I don't want to wait a while for someone to get back to me with the answer. I'm not sure if there's a good solution to this beyond posting questions as we think of them and trying to draw people in with our existing content, but I do perceive it as a problem.

fredley answered: The selection of games with significant interest. Currently big-budget games are well represented, as well as geeky games like Minecraft/Dwarf Fortress, but there's a whole lot of games that are widely played with very few questions on the site. We need to either make a deliberate effort to ask/answer questions on these games, or attract players directly

fredley continued: E.g. The Sims is a huge game, with millions of players, and <30 questions on the site across the whole Sims series.

Kevin Y answered: I think one of our problems is that we don't have enough users. We should be getting more questions per day than we are now, because I times, I feel the flow of questions is quite slow. We have quite a few really active users, but it'd be great to bring in more users to expand the general knowledge of various games. CHAOS will help remedy this, though, by bringing in more users.

FallenAngelEyes answered: I agree with @Mana's assessment in regards to other expert communities. Places such as Shoryuken.com and other sites that already have established, expert communities either don't know we exist or are loathe to leave their own little corners of the internet. I think we really need to increase the site's visibility so that when we mention "Gaming.SE," people know who we are.

FallenAngelEyes continued: There are several games with established forum communities who just stay on their forums. We need to find a way to increase our visibility to various communities without alienating them outright and having them think we're just advertising.

bwarner answered: Gaming's biggest problem is that it isn't as widely known as it deserves to be. I want to work with Brett and Grace to keep finding new ways to bring new people to the site. The more gamers we have, the better we can be about providing high quality answers for all games.

Raven Dreamer answered: I think it's an issue of publicity and user base. I think everyone who knows gaming has heard about GameFAQs. It'd be awesome if we could drum up enough visitors and users so that everyone thinks Gaming.Stackexchange.com! (A close 2nd: Having to get such publicity with such a long URL)

sjohnston answered: I would say the biggest problem is attracting new users (and converting occasional users into obsessive core users like us). This two-step conversion will help solve a lot of the other issues mentioned, like question diversity. Gaming is pretty big, compared to the other SE2.0 sites, but we're still quite small compared to the original trilogy, and compared to some of the popular gaming sites.

Nick T answered: It seems to be growing fairly well (though I don't have metrics), but I'd think we should work on getting and retaining users that stumble onto the site.

Answer 2

Rebecca Chernoff asked: How would you handle a question that gets lots of upvotes/answers that the community likes/supports, but is off-topic?

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Tom Wijsman answered: If there is another Stack Exchange community available where this question would be considered on-topic, it shouldn't hurt asking them if they want the question and migrating the question there. If the community has upvoted and answered the question in a way that is not conflictive (subjective answers with discussions in their comments) and does have value in terms of learning or usefulness; then there is no direct need to close the question.

Tom Wijsman continued: Now, if an user would flag this question for being off-topic; I would leave a comment to him or explain him my reasoning in the chat. If he however disagrees or multiple users flag the question for being off-topic, I would leave a question on meta asking where people could vote if the question should be closed and look out for a certain amount of votes over time. There is no hurry, it's an useful question that you learn from in the first place…

Ivo Flipse answered: Burn it with fire

Ivo Flipse continued: Users shouldn't forget that deleting and closing isn't final. If there are convincing arguments for reversing it, nobody will object. Its strange how everyone acts like these things are set in stone.

Arda Xi answered: The same as any question really. I learnt very early in this site's infancy that upvotes are about the quality of the question, not about whether it should stay open or closed. There are very well-written but still off-topic questions, and these are the most harmful because they can be a 'foot in the door' to get more and more off-topic questions through.

Mana ಠдಠ answered: My actions would be dependent on whether or not the question is clearly off-topic or more borderline. For the former (for example, in the case of a game-rec question) I would close the topic first before it gets too out of hand, leaving a comment explaining why it's off-topic. It's important to emphasize that these topics aren't allowed on the site. I would be open to a discussion in chat about why it's off-topic, but in order to reverse the decision and reopen the question...

Mana ಠдಠ continued: ...I would need to be thoroughly persuaded and a meta topic would be required. If we allow even a single one of these questions, it redefines the scope and nature of our site, so that's not my call to make alone.

Kevin Y answered: Stack Overflow has some questions that are only around for "historical significance", because they were highly voted before the rules were set in stone. However, in the case of Gaming, I believe we've made our rules pretty clear already, which will prevent most of these questions from appearing (they would be voted against by the community before they become super popular).

Kevin Y continued: If, though, the community happens to support an extremely off-topic question, I'd voice my opinion on that, and see if the community agrees.

fredley answered: First of all, all the things which I can do anyway - start a meta topic and discuss with the community if/why it's off topic, and try and work out a way of re-phrasing the question. This should hopefully sort out a resolution, but if the question still remains un-closed, and is clearly off-topic (i.e. a game recommendation) then I would close it!

Anna Lear answered: We deal with this a fair bit on Programmers. How I handle these cases depends on the question. If the question is clearly off-topic for the site, I support closing it (especially if it receives flags or a few close votes).

Anna Lear continued: If the question is a bad fit for Stack Exchange but is still ostensibly on topic, I prefer to try and turn it into a better question through editing or even just moderating the answers to encourage a high quality of responses. If the question is in a gray area and has flags, I am likely to close it and open a post on meta to see what the general consensus is. A closed question can always be reopened, so the community always has a say in whether or not it stays closed.

Anna Lear concluded: Last but not least, any action I take on a popular question is accompanied by comments explaining the reasons. I'm not a fan of unilateral unexplained closures.

• Juan Manuel asked Anna Lear: I find myself disagreeing (just a little) with some of your flags. How do you plan to resolve this with the other mods if you are elected? How do you do it on programmers?

  Anna Lear answered: On Programmers, I tend to wait for confirmation - either multiple flags or close votes. I also check with other moderators a fair bit and leave comments on the question asking for clarification or making a note of potential pitfalls. I intend to continue doing this here. It doesn't take much to ask for a sanity check and everyone's usually better off for it.

FallenAngelEyes answered: It partially depends on the severity of how off-topic the question is. If it's gotten enough visibility that it's getting upvotes despite not being on topic, then it means that a number of users has seen it and/or have an opinion on it. I feel that the best course of action would be to open a Meta topic on the question at hand, and depending on the severity of its off-topicness, make a decision from there. If it's receiving votes for the wrong reasons then we want it closed.

FallenAngelEyes continued: If a good deal of the community doesn't understand why it shouldn't be receiving votes, then we likely need to outline and emphasize our policy more clearly.

bwarner answered: I don't think the number of upvotes or answers is relevant. If the question is clearly off-topic, it should be closed. If the community seemed to support changing the rules to allow that type of question, I would start a discussion on meta for people to voice their opinions. If the discussion led to a change in the rules, the question could then be reopened.

Raven Dreamer answered: There has to be something said of examples. Often, when a user gets a question of theirs closed, they will attempt to defend their question with examples of other, similar questions elsewhere on the site. For this reason, even highly voted, mostly off-topic questions need to be closed or migrated, for the simple fact that if they are off-topic, they will probably generate other off-topic questions, especially if they are high-visibility in the first place.

sjohnston answered: If the question obviously belongs on another site, I would migrate. If a reasonable re-wording would make it kosher, I would suggest that in a comment (and edit it myself if the original poster doesn't). If it's somewhat unclear whether it's on-topic or not, I might start a meta discussion to decide if that category of question is appropriate. Once a decision was made on meta, I would follow through, either closing the question or leaving it be. So, TL;DR, it depends on the situation.

Nick T answered: If such a question can be moved to another site (possibly introducing mono-stackexchange users to other sites), do so. If it's borderline but garners significant support, then it's fine by me.

Answer 3

tzenes http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/947c457cb4e5480cb8b2f09e49794834?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG tzenes asked: Recently, we've seen a large number of edits from certain users. Frequently rolling back their own changes or having other users do the same. Given edits bump the home page, what is the minimum quality an edit should have?

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Anna Lear http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/66c88a90c2bad25fd0eadd696e7a5f50?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Anna Lear answered: I believe an edit should serve a larger purpose. I strongly dislike editing for editing's sake, but it's hard to quantify something like that. I think the problem isn't with the quality of an edit, but with the quantity of edits at a given time.

Anna Lear http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/66c88a90c2bad25fd0eadd696e7a5f50?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Anna Lear continued: Most housekeeping edits like retagging can and should be throttled to avoid overwhelming the front page. I personally dislike trivial edits that don't add a lot of value. I think correcting grammar is important and often I see questions where grammar corrections can lead to a bigger improvement. Still, individually even the most minor edits are not be a problem, but if done to a lot of posts at the same time they could be an issue.

Arda Xi http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/392db0e18e66e34bdaee051bb0bd1345?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Arda Xi answered: I don't think there's a minimum quality an edit should have. Rather, if an edit is going to be in bulk, it shouldn't happen. Period.

Tom Wijsman http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d3b75bb3bda58d5d4a7d31b820f856c9?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Tom Wijsman answered: Regarding the specific links, another user informed me that there has been decided that we should not have balance questions thus I rolled back my changes. I wouldn't call this a large number of edits as it's only about 5 questions. As for the Minecraft link, badp actually agreed with me but rather improved than rolled back my edit as to put the heavy GIF inside a link rather than in the answer.

Tom Wijsman http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d3b75bb3bda58d5d4a7d31b820f856c9?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Tom Wijsman continued: As for the latest tag, I added Blizzard and you rolled it back and you have the full right to do so if you disagree. The question is indeed not about Blizzard itself. The actual edit bumps you are referring to on the home page have been made by other users, in large amounts. But after a discussion that problem has resolved itself.

Tom Wijsman http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d3b75bb3bda58d5d4a7d31b820f856c9?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Tom Wijsman continued: Edits should have a certain quality as to improve the question and answer so that other user benefit from it, trivial edits can be made but they should be made multiple times at the same time. In some specific case, it might be necessary to add a tag to multiple questions to benefit the people as they could search in the tag.

Tom Wijsman http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d3b75bb3bda58d5d4a7d31b820f856c9?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Tom Wijsman continued: If necessary, they should be planned out well so that they do not interfere with the front page in such way that you can't see the recent non-editing activity anymore; there should always be a share of quality edits and recent new questions & answers.

Tom Wijsman http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d3b75bb3bda58d5d4a7d31b820f856c9?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Tom Wijsman concluded: Of course, in some extraordinary cases manual intervention is necessary to maintain quality of the community, but these should be planned out well on meta and chat: Get multiple editors together, prepare all edits in tabs and do some normal activity after the short flood to bump it halfway down the front page.

Anna Lear http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/66c88a90c2bad25fd0eadd696e7a5f50?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Anna Lear answered: Most housekeeping edits like retagging can and should be throttled to avoid overwhelming the front page. I personally dislike trivial edits that don't add a lot of value. I think correcting grammar is important and often I see questions where grammar corrections can lead to a bigger improvement. Still, individually even the most minor edits are not be a problem, but if done to a lot of posts at the same time they could be an issue.

fredley http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d8d1d62f89cf41fb5ff7a06e1b5c22fb?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG fredley answered: It depends on the timescale. Digging up a 6-month old question for a minor spelling mistake isn't worth the effort, but it is for a 6-minute old question. I tend to edit only when I see something that needs fixing, which is usually on new questions anyway. Old questions may need significant edits if a game has changes (e.g. the constantly changing Minecraft situation)

• Anna Lear http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/66c88a90c2bad25fd0eadd696e7a5f50?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Anna Lear asked fredley: Does your opinion change if the 6-month-old question is still unanswered and could use a bump?

  fredley http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d8d1d62f89cf41fb5ff7a06e1b5c22fb?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG fredley answered: Yes, however editing it for editing's sake is not the way to do it. If the questions is unanswered because it's in poor shape, fine, but otherwise a comment would be a more appropriate way of bumping.

  fredley http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d8d1d62f89cf41fb5ff7a06e1b5c22fb?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG fredley continued: If you can, then fine, of course.

Kevin Y http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/9035729a8a3f36156485c82ad1e32904?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Kevin Y answered: Well, this depends on the situation. Sometimes, a minor edit could turn a horrible answer into a great one. On the flip side, sometimes a major edit could do nothing more than make the answer easier to read (spelling and grammar).

FallenAngelEyes http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/60338afa180663a68905906af6c0df0c?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG FallenAngelEyes answered: Even small edits such as improving grammar and spelling help improve the content of our site and the potential opinion of visitors as to how we handle quality. We want to look like experts, not Yahoo answers. As long as edits are done in moderation (as in not flooding), then I think that even something as small as correcting a typo is acceptable for an edit.

bwarner http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/5352e298ad788c978a16bdb0f83c90ad?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG bwarner answered: I think the recent spurts of edits stem from people trying to make the site better, and I applaud that. But in order to grow, we do need to make sure that the site always remains friendly to new users, who don't tend to care about massive tag edits. So I think we should try to throttle mass edits to make sure that people who might not be familiar with the other lists for questions can still successfully use the site.

Raven Dreamer http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0c02079e74de8563fdfa7e4ac1d87d76?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Raven Dreamer answered: My policy has always been to not go "fishing for edits". That is to say, don't dive into month old questions for the singular purpose of editing them (unless the correct answer has actually changed, due to patch, etc.). A much better plan is to only actively edit questions on either the frontpage (so the 'active' list) or the new question page so that we are sending good questions into the bowels of the site's archives, and preempt the issue of editing older questions in the first place.

sjohnston http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/42465045efd7af0115c6524c06f8cb9a?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG sjohnston answered: I'm pretty liberal on this. So many sites with user-generated content are a huge mess. I think it is really important that our questions and answers have appropriate capitalization, punctuation, spelling and grammar (and, of course, a coherent line of thought). For language-obsessives like me, it's a breath of fresh air. I suspect many others who don't worry so much about grammar will still get more subconscious happy feelings from pristine, readable questions and answers.

sjohnston http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/42465045efd7af0115c6524c06f8cb9a?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG sjohnston answered: This also can have the effect of cycling up some of the older questions, possibly giving them the visibility to be answered, where they would otherwise be lost and forgotten. So, I am in favor of relatively small edits, because they really add up and do add value to our site. That said, I think it's good to space them out to avoid flooding the front page or pushing the new questions down too fast.

Mana ಠдಠ http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/9bed80a3291bbaeec9895a71682173ce?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Mana ಠдಠ answered: I never really thought about changing old questions or answering them as bumping. It's all about improving the quality of the content we have on the site.

Answer 4

Mark Trapp asked: If you could change one aspect of the Gaming.SE community (not the software) without repercussion—whether it's banning a particular type of question that's currently acceptable, allowing a type of question that's not, emphasizing on something that Gaming ignores now, or something else—what would it be and why?

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Tom Wijsman answered: I wouldn't necessary change an aspect, but rather improve one of the four main aspects of a community listed on the about page. I feel we should lay a bit of focus on improving the wiki aspect of our site.

Tom Wijsman continued: But this is of course not an easy thing to do and not every question can be a community wiki; although great answers also kind of serve as wiki value without necessarily be marked as CW. But none the less, looking at possible questions and asking meta or existing experienced moderators should be a good step towards it.

Mana ಠдಠ answered: I would take away identify-this-game questions. While they help to solve a problem (remembering the name of a game), it's a very localized problem (other people might take interest in finding out what game it is, but otherwise don't have the same issue) and so it doesn't really add much content to the site or attract new users.

Mana ಠдಠ continued: Furthermore, the answers that each question gets are very rarely better than an educated guess(could it be <game x>? or perhaps <game y>?) which undermines the idea that we're a site of experts at solving gaming problems.

Ivo Flipse answered: Gaming users are far too proud. If Portal and Witcher 2 have shown anything, we all have a lot more questions when we're playing games, but we're simply not asking them. Trying to stimulate users to ask a bit more (without going overboard) by sponsoring games seems to work fairly well though. Another thing is that a lot of users thing they can't blog. However, if you can write a great answer, you can also write a great blog post

Kevin Y answered: While I was initially in favour of identify-this-game questions, I now realize they aren't the best fit for the Stack Exchange engine, because of the scope of each one of them. However, instead of completely disallowing them on the site, I'd start a chatroom where users could ask. (Or point them to The Bridge, whichever would work better at the time.)

FallenAngelEyes answered: Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how to answer this question because it seems to exist in a bubble of fantasy. Nothing that we do on this site is without repercussion, especially as moderators, where we are in a position of more visibility. Theorizing on whether or not I'd ban/accept a certain type of question or change a policy wholesale on the basis of there being no repercussions is rather futile, imho, because everything that we do in actuality will have consequences.

• Oak asked FallenAngelEyes: oh come on give us something, it's a good question

  FallenAngelEyes answered: Is it? I feel that it's asking me to imagine that I can do anything on the site without consequence, like god-modding, and that's a completely unrealistic scenario. I don't want to be a mod to be a one-person show. :)

  Oak asked: OK, but as a future mod I would like to understand what is your vision to the future of the sight. Give us one change you would like to see, at least, that will bring the site closer to what you want it to be?

  FallenAngelEyes answered: Actually, thinking on it, if I could have one change, I think it would be nice to actually have an official domain name that is catchy, concise, and easy to remember. And that would fit on a t-shirt.

fredley answered: I would get rid of identify-this-game, as it sticks out like a sore thumb against the rest of the site's questions, which are all about the games themselves. It's handy, and I can't think of where else on the net you can get such good info (most are answered!) but here is not the place.

fredley continued: I'd also encourage users to post questions on a far wider variety of games, including casual and flash/browser games. There's a huge amount of traffic to be brought to the site like this (look at my top two viewed questions), but the focus is much more on big, 'serious' games.

Anna Lear answered: I would start closing identify-this-game questions that are completely vague as Not a Real Question. While identification questions in general aren't a problem, IMHO, I think they should still be subject to the same rules as other questions. If it's too vague, it's too vague.

Arda Xi answered: Not so much policy as I would add a 'minor edit' feature that doesn't bump to the homepage.

bwarner answered: As moderators I feel we need to be brave enough to change things even if they do cause repercussions. I would like to make a clear process for people to propose changes to our rules, have discussion around it, and then come to a decision.

bwarner continued: I envision something like what we did for game-rec, but I think it needs to work more like these elections. We should have an initial phase where everyone just throws out ideas. The mods should then decide which ideas are viable (preventing the problem we had during game-rec), and then we should have voting on the ideas, without adding new ones. I'd much rather we make a decision and then change it later then waffle back and forth and let the debate damage the community.

Raven Dreamer answered: I would find something to do with identify-this-game questions. While I think they're valid questions, the scope is so narrow so as to be almost totally unhelpful to any user other than the direct asker. They're neat little trips down memory lane for some of us, but they're not conducive to the SE Q&A type format.

sjohnston answered: Like many of the others, I would probably shut down the identify-this-game questions. While I was initially an ardent supporter, I've come to realize that pretty much all of Atwood's complaints about them are true.

Nick T answered: While fun, I'm not sure how well it helps us to phrase some choice questions in an asinine manner. I don't think it helps us terribly from an SEO perspective, but it might be made up for in sheer curiosity. Obviously this would be unpopular, but you said no repercussions :P

Answer 5

tzenes asked: If you had to pick one other person to be a mod (instead of you) who would it be, and why?

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Mana ಠдಠ answered: @FallenAngelEyes. Between having no moderator obligations to any other sites, organizing and rallying community support around events such as Gamescom, large amounts of activity, and generally just having a kind, friendly disposition, I can't think of any stronger candidate.

Ivo Flipse answered: Raven, because he deserves it. He has been very valuable for the site by answering question, editing and voting a lot and performing all sorts of other user tasks. Basically, he's a great role model

Tom Wijsman answered: sjohnston; he spent a lot of time on the Gaming community and I like his nomination, he deserves a chance to be a moderator. I don't want to simply vote for people that are friends, already have been moderators or which I simply know. I would love to give someone new a chance...

Anna Lear answered: I would pick @Mana. He's one of the most active and sensible users I know.

Kevin Y answered: I'd choose @IvoFlipse. He's a great moderator on Super User and Meta.SO, and I'm sure he'd do just as well, if not better, here on Gaming. He's also taken great initiative to get our community blog rolling.

fredley answered: @RavenDreamer His consistently excellent questions and answers show someone who knows what this site is all about.

FallenAngelEyes answered: Such a difficult question! I would choose @Ivo. He was 4th in the last election, and for good reason. He has a high familiarity with the SE engine and without his incentives, we probably wouldn't have a blog.

bwarner answered: Grace Note. Just kidding. Ivo. He has done so much to help promote this site with the blog, and he obviously knows how to be a great moderator based on his record at other sites.

Raven Dreamer answered: I would totally vote for Mana. He's active, friendly, and often in the chat, making him the perfect go-to guy for anyone with a question.

sjohnston answered: Mana. He's always around and always improving the site. He's also very personable and helpful, and a lot of fun (which is think is actually hugely important and underrated quality for a mod to have)

Answer 6

Juan Manuel asked: What would you do when you see a flag that you either disagree with, or are unsure how to act upon? (Examples: "This question is off-topic", "This question is not constructive", "This answer answers the question only partially", "This answer is low-quality (a one-liner for example)")

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Tom Wijsman answered: If the user is available for chat, I would invite him and ask why he thinks it is that way. If there is no way to contact him/her I would leave the flag for other moderators to consider; or even better, discuss it with them. If it really seems that the question isn't that way, I would reject the flag. He still has the option to use the vote to close system which was designed for that purpose…

Ivo Flipse answered: If I disagree I dismiss it, however most of the time it was a premature flag and it was better to leave a comment. In that case I leave the comment myself and flag as valid, even though I don't do as the flagger requested. If I don't know what to do I either leave a flag for my fellow mods, leave a comment if its nothing sensitive/negative or I ask in the (mod) chatroom

Anna Lear answered: If I disagree and the question is clearly not "off=topic|not-constructive|etc", I dismiss the flag. Usually I leave a comment on the post explaining that the question/answer is fine the way it is (with reasons). If I'm simply unsure on how to act, I leave a comment on the post, leave the flag up for other moderators to look at, ask for a second opinion, or some combination of the above. I never take an action I'm not absolutely sure of and can't explain.

Anna Lear continued: Leaving a comment on the post identified as a potential problem allows me to see if the community at large agrees or disagrees. I find that works well.

Kevin Y answered: If I'm unsure how to act upon the flag, I would simply leave it to see what the community thinks of it. If the post gathers more flags, I'd reconsider. If I can instantly tell that the flag is invalid, I would dismiss it as so. If it's a minor problem, I would comment on the post, telling the user how he / she could alter it to make it a great post.

fredley answered: I would probably discuss the matter with other mods before making a decision

FallenAngelEyes answered: If I was unsure, I would consult our other moderators to see what their opinion was. There's a reason we have a moderation team rather than just a single overlord. I think that working with the other mods and making sure you're all on the same page in regards to consistent response is pretty important.

Mana ಠдಠ answered: If the flag's clearly not supposed to be used in the given situation, dismiss. If I'm unsure, consult with other mods. If it turns out to be a wrong use case, leave a general note in the chat about how the flag should or should not be used pointing no fingers at specific people.

bwarner answered: If I disagreed completely, I would clear the flag. If I was unsure, I'd ask for help from other moderators, or from other community members in the chat channel. I wouldn't act until I felt like I had a good understanding of the situation.

Raven Dreamer answered: One of the important things to remember at Gaming is to trust the community. Not every member will have played every game, and often times questions of accuracy are impossible to determine for outsiders to the game. If ever I'm unsure about a flag, it becomes an issue of trusting the site's users. There are enough around that if a question should be closed, it will be.

Raven Dreamer continued: If the site's users disagree with me, or repeatedly flag something as wrong (for whatever reason), I'd like to think that the collective of active flaggers tend to be right, and will act on the flags accordingly, even if that means admitting I'm wrong.

sjohnston answered: I would talk to the flagger, if possible, and with other mods, or possibly other users (for example, if it pertained to a game I'm not familiar with). Could be that I'm missing something that will become clear in the discussion. If I still disagree, I'd dismiss it. If I still was on the fence, I might leave it to other mods.

Answer 7

tzenes http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/947c457cb4e5480cb8b2f09e49794834?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG tzenes asked: Moderators exist to help keep the community in line, but they also exist to act as leaders. This means not getting involved in heated debates (like I do) and presenting your opinion in well thought out posts (like Grace does). What is an example of your leadership that you have already shown on GSE?

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Tom Wijsman http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d3b75bb3bda58d5d4a7d31b820f856c9?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Tom Wijsman answered: I like the way Jeff Atwood places a well thought out post about his opinion and backs out only to leave a clear concise response when it's really necessary, I'll be imitating that kind of leadership. I will not be participating in heated debates in comments, I have learned over time that these are usually pointless. The Duty Calls comic by XKCD is a good example…

Tom Wijsman http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d3b75bb3bda58d5d4a7d31b820f856c9?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Tom Wijsman responded with a post link: Is it really acceptable to ask questions that are already easily googled?

Ivo Flipse http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/f7ae8c8fb83e502a854e2db3410f3827?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Ivo Flipse answered: We never had to, we only had to second Grace and get what we wanted. Though honestly I think that Gaming is a well behaved community compared to the Programmers and Math of this network. So its not a real issue here. @Wipqozn I mean that we never have had to show leadership, because we never bit each others heads off. Unless I'm romanticing the game-rec discussions

Anna Lear http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/66c88a90c2bad25fd0eadd696e7a5f50?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Anna Lear answered: I've been in the back seat on GSE. The upside is that there isn't a single heated debate I've been a part of. :) The downside is that I don't have much to show for opinions on GSE beyond a few comments I left on posts that were flagged and later removed.

Anna Lear http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/66c88a90c2bad25fd0eadd696e7a5f50?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Anna Lear continued: My behaviour on Programmers (including meta) and Meta SO, though, can speak for both my style and behaviour. I'm pretty even-keeled.

Kevin Y http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/9035729a8a3f36156485c82ad1e32904?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Kevin Y answered: Personally, I feel that I haven't taken much of a leadership role on Gaming.SE yet. Instead, I've done my behind the scenes work – flagging posts, editing posts, etc. I have made a couple of posts on the community blog, and take the initiative to help new users when their questions are off-topic and such.

FallenAngelEyes http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/60338afa180663a68905906af6c0df0c?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG FallenAngelEyes answered: I work on editing the Gaming blog's posts (though I took a break from May to July because of personal reasons), editing them for spelling/grammar, as well as suggesting improvements to the articles. I questioned what level of exclusion was healthy for the site in the middle of the game-rec debate in early beta.

FallenAngelEyes http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/60338afa180663a68905906af6c0df0c?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG FallenAngelEyes continued: In addition, I'm going to Gamescom so I can do coverage for the blog and try to increase the visibility of Gaming.SE.

bwarner http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/5352e298ad788c978a16bdb0f83c90ad?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG bwarner answered: I've tried to start discussions on meta or on chat when I felt like there was something about the site that could be improved. Not all of my ideas have been implemented, but I think I've shown the qualities of a good moderator in being willing to live with a decision even if I don't agree with it.

Raven Dreamer http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0c02079e74de8563fdfa7e4ac1d87d76?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Raven Dreamer answered: A while back, I realized that of Gaming's terraria questions, half referenced the official Terraria wiki, and half referenced a wikia wiki dedicated to the game. In the hopes of greater consistency, I went through each question and changed the links to point to the official wiki. I was questioned as to the 'why', and I responded in this meta discussion with my reasoning.

sjohnston http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/42465045efd7af0115c6524c06f8cb9a?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG sjohnston responded with a post link: Meta-Meta: A proposal for Creating Site Policy

sjohnston http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/42465045efd7af0115c6524c06f8cb9a?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG sjohnston followed with: This is my original proposal for deciding difficult site policies, which was used to put the Great Game-Rec Debate to a final vote. As I mentioned in my nomination, if I had it to do over, I would have probably done it a little differently.

sjohnston http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/42465045efd7af0115c6524c06f8cb9a?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG sjohnston continued: However, my main goal with that post was to provide a viable option to move forward with, and to stimulate some conversation about other possible solutions. It didn't end up stimulating as much conversation as I would have liked, but I think it did help push us in the direction of actually trying to resolve the problem, rather than re-hashing it for the umpteenth time.

Answer 8

nhinkle asked: What about being a moderator appeals to you? Why do you want to take on this responsibility?

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Tom Wijsman answered: The thing that appeals me about being a moderator is helping the community as well as individual pople; providing support when they have problems, explanation when they don't understand a choice made by the community as well as handle flags to apply the site attributes /scope as discussed in meta the community clean.

Tom Wijsman continued: Responsibility is my main concern, this is why I will not act out of my own opinion when I'm a moderator but act out of the decisions the community has made on meta. The only places where you would see my opinion would be in a non-heated discussion; either on meta or on the chat. But I will not be participating in heated debates in comments, I have learned over time that these are usually pointless...

Arda Xi answered: Mostly being able to do what I'm already doing, but better. As my flag weight signifies, I flag a lot and often monitor the flag list to see what is valid and is invalid. Actually having diamond status would help me to act on these flags, and not just advise.

Mana ಠдಠ answered: I like to help keep everything on the site in order, and I really like the community, so I'd love to be able to take on the role of a leader here and help make sure everything on this site is awesome.

Kevin Y answered: The part about being a moderator that appeals to me the most is the access to tools that aren't available to regular users, that assist in keeping the site clean and awesome. For example, being able to actually deal with flagged posts, and being able to lead the community. I think the Gaming community is great, and I'd love to be able to help make it even better.

fredley answered: Helping stop bad questions before they spiral out of control, as seems to happen fairly often. One thing that seems to keep happening is bad questions being edited into good (or at least better questions), which causes a lot of confusion. Being able to sort these out quickly is essential.

FallenAngelEyes answered: I really enjoy this site and its community. I want to be able to help the site on the backend of things, as I feel that the community itself runs things pretty well on the front end. We have a number of active users who consistently flag, edit tag wikis, vote to close, etc. I think our current mod team has done a great job these past few months, and with the gaps in moderation we're anticipating, I think I would make a good candidate to help responsibly manage running it.

Ivo Flipse answered: I'm mostly interested in helping the site grow, but I didn't feel fully accepted in that role before, especially because it was also in part Grace's task (with her community grant). Hopefully as a mod that situation will change

bwarner answered: My interest in being a moderator is in helping steer the site as it continues to grow, and in helping to encourage that growth. While I have some ability to do that as a regular user, I think that moderators are better equipped to get consensus and bring about change and new ideas. I want to take on this responsibility because I believe that this is a great site, and I believe that I can help make it even better.

Raven Dreamer answered: I am looking for something tangible to show for my efforts on gaming. because I'm the highest rep user on the site (currently), I can do almost all of what moderators can do, so, in my mind, being elected moderator means the community sees my efforts as a good effort - in my mind, it would be the very definition of "leading by example".

sjohnston answered: I want to continue improving the site, and I think mod tools would definitely make that easier. Being a mod also means that you're trusted to deal with problems. Right now, I have to seek out problems to fix (which I would still do), but as a mod, I suspect more of those problems would be brought to my attention, through the tools and the community.

Answer 9

DMA57361 asked: What would you do with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable content, but at the same time generates a large number of arguments and/or flags?

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Mana ಠдಠ answered: Try to explain to them that they need to bring down the attitude to be welcome on the site. Valuable content is always nice but a single user starting fights and spouting nasty messages will not only offend and perhaps even drive away some of our new users and some of our best, but also tarnish the quality of the site itself.

Tom Wijsman answered: Handle them with care; if the arguments/flags in question are against what the community wants I would explain it to him, we can't make things right for everyone.

fredley answered: Let the community take care of them. Up/Down/close votes will take care of their inconsistent behaviour

Ivo Flipse answered: Negative contributions always outweigh their positive contributions. So while you always try to solve things diplomatically, if the user refuses to change he will be dealt with like every other problem user

• fredley challenged Ivo Flipse: I disagree. Their positive contributions will be promoted, and people will see them (and good Q/As will get Google hits). Their negative contributions will sink away.

  Ivo Flipse answered: no users is worth the trouble of negative contribution

  Tom Wijsman questioned: What form of negative contribution are you thinking about? I feel like we're not on the same wave length here...

  Ivo Flipse answered: anything that annoys your fellow users is negative

Arda Xi answered: I'd try to resolve the issue in chat or alternatively by email trying to keep any drama off the site as much as possible. Valuable content but still arguments are a sort of trojan horse that isn't very desirable.

Kevin Y answered: First I'd talk to them in chat, to see if they could change their flag-provoking behavior. If this continues (or they refuse to change) and it gets worse, off-site email conversions may be needed, and possibly a suspension. (Of course, this all depends on the specific scenario.)

Anna Lear answered: If they produce valuable content, their posts aren't likely to be downvoted. I first warn the person that their behaviour is problematic and is getting a negative response from the community via flags or comments. If their behaviour persists, my actions would depend on the severity of the problems. I consult with other moderators and consider issuing a brief suspension.

Anna Lear continued: It's always a delicate situation when a person contributing good content and/or a high rep user is causing problems. I don't want to drive them away and have them leave and take their expertise with them, but at the same time, there are other users to worry about and their experience on the site is just as valid. Everyone has to be treated the same and held to the same behavioural standard to keep things fair.

FallenAngelEyes answered: While positive contributions to the site shouldn't be overlooked, if the user is familiar enough and has been on the site long enough to have produced a lot of valuable content, then in theory they should be aware of the site's policies. A private warning/discussion, if possible via email or chat or some other medium, would probably be my first step, as people tend to be more accepting of having their faults pointed out when you don't do it in a public space.

bwarner answered: I agree that the discussion should be had off-site as much as possible. I'd use e-mail or other discussion formats to talk with the user and try to help them understand the negative impact that their arguments have on the site and its users. Ultimately, if the user continued their behavior, I would take appropriate action, regardless of what valuable content they might be providing.

Raven Dreamer answered: While it would obviously have to be handled on a case to case basis, I would start by trying to talk to the user in question. Text is an inelegant medium at best, losing many nuances of communication we have in verbal context. If the issue is one born of ignorance, it is hopefully easy to resolve that way. Attitude is a different issue. Ideally, we'd want to keep as many high-content users as possible, but in the end we must place the good of the site first, and lead through example.

sjohnston answered: This is a difficult situation. Ultimately, generating good content does not excuse bad behavior. If that person is allowed to continue, it sends the message to everyone else that you can reach a specially-privileged status, where there are no consequences for negative actions. The problem will only spread from there.

sjohnston continued: The first step is obviously to explain to the user exactly what behavior is problematic and why. Then I would explain what the consequences of continued misbehavior would be. I think a 3-strikes rule is reasonable. If the user refuses to control him/herself, then it's time to consider issuing a suspension.

Nick T answered: I'd be fine with such a user so long as they are not antagonistic towards others. While irritating to moderate, if the content they provide is of good quality, that should trump all.

Answer 10

DMA57361 http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/21e2208ace8e9022d8feca4e4fb3dcae?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG DMA57361 asked: How will you handle only being able to cast binding vote (to close, flag, delete, reopen...)?

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Mana ಠдಠ http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/9bed80a3291bbaeec9895a71682173ce?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Mana ಠдಠ answered: I'll be more cautious. I've cast some close votes in the past that a mere few minutes later I regretted once users explained to me reasons why not to close; lately I've been trying to avoid this type of situation by asking on the chat when I'm unsure to poll some extra opinions. With flagged answers I feel more confident in my ability to diagnose what measures should be taken but I'll still ask where I'm unsure.

Tom Wijsman http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d3b75bb3bda58d5d4a7d31b820f856c9?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Tom Wijsman answered: Unless the question should be closed or deleted for a very obvious reason as decided by the community on meta, I will stand back and let the community decide.

Ivo Flipse http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/f7ae8c8fb83e502a854e2db3410f3827?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Ivo Flipse responded with a post link: Help us clean up Super User

Anna Lear http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/66c88a90c2bad25fd0eadd696e7a5f50?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Anna Lear answered: I handle it with care. I'm always mindful of the fact that my vote's binding. I'm always a bit uneasy about making unilateral decisions, so I tend to hold off on taking action until I have community backing and guide things through comments in the meantime.

Anna Lear http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/66c88a90c2bad25fd0eadd696e7a5f50?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Anna Lear continued: The Gaming community is more active in moderating itself than I'm used to, so I'm hoping to enjoy seeing more of that and not having to use my binding votes as much. :)

Kevin Y http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/9035729a8a3f36156485c82ad1e32904?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Kevin Y answered: Wait for a community consensus. For example, now, if I see a question I feel is off-topic, I'll cast a close vote almost immediately, knowing if it's invalid, it will just fade away. However, with a binding vote, I'd wait for more votes from the community (3 or 4), to ensure I'm not closing a valid question by accident. If a question is clearly off-topic or not fit for the site, I would cast my binding vote.

fredley http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d8d1d62f89cf41fb5ff7a06e1b5c22fb?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG fredley answered: Let the community deal with it, unless it's an extremely obvious breach of the faq. I'm happy to let the community deal with the majority of problems, and only step in where absolutely neccessary.

FallenAngelEyes http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/60338afa180663a68905906af6c0df0c?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG FallenAngelEyes answered: I foresee myself casting fewer close votes and letting the community handle closing first, unless a question is particularly egregious. As I mentioned before, we have many users who are vary active in casting close votes, especially as the question feed goes to chat, where questions get immediate attention from those active users. This community tends to police itself very well on the front-end, so I would wield my closing stick with care.

Raven Dreamer http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0c02079e74de8563fdfa7e4ac1d87d76?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Raven Dreamer answered: I hope I'll continue to respond to questions and votes as I've always had. Voting shouldn't depend on whether you need one or five people. If you cast a close vote, cast it because you think the question needs to be closed, not because it "might" need closure, and leave it up to another 4 people to determine if you're right. The fifth vote should be treated just the same as the first, to moderator and high-rep users alike.

bwarner http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/5352e298ad788c978a16bdb0f83c90ad?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG bwarner answered: I'd try to avoid using my binding vote until the community had already acted on the question, unless I felt very strongly that something needed to be done and that the community had failed to act appropriately.

sjohnston http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/42465045efd7af0115c6524c06f8cb9a?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG sjohnston answered: I don't cast a close vote unless I feel the post is definitely unsalvageable and should be closed, so I don't think my behavior would change in that regard. As mentioned earlier, closed questions can always be re-opened if there's a legitimate reason for it.

Answer 11

M’vy http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/b379cfe07bbf58aab9414128a6e159f8?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG M’vy asked: You all seem very serious in your descriptions. Apart from that are you gaming? Which game has your favour ATM and why?

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Tom Wijsman http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d3b75bb3bda58d5d4a7d31b820f856c9?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Tom Wijsman answered: StarCraft II: I've heard a lot of people talk about this game so I had to buy it to check it out, what I saw was a game with an excellent match-making system and certain complexity so there will always be someone able to beat you (working on your macro economy while saving units by making sure that they don't die but do the most effect).

Kevin Y http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/9035729a8a3f36156485c82ad1e32904?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Kevin Y answered: Minecraft, because I enjoy the creative aspect of it, and getting to know the various mechanics that make it unique. Plus, Redstone is a lot of fun to mess around with.

fredley http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d8d1d62f89cf41fb5ff7a06e1b5c22fb?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG fredley answered: Minecraft, all the way. I'm still nowhere near out of things to do, after playing almost daily for over a year.

Anna Lear http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/66c88a90c2bad25fd0eadd696e7a5f50?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Anna Lear answered: I'm always gaming. I'm perpetually a couple years behind these days, so right now I'm (re)playing Dragon Age and trying to desperately hang on to my WoW subscription. I usually play stuff on my Xbox or PC, but there's some iPhone stuff in there too for those times when I'm not at home.

Anna Lear http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/66c88a90c2bad25fd0eadd696e7a5f50?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Anna Lear continued: Alas, Minecraft is not my thing. I'm not a fan of open sandboxy kinda games. Give me a story progression and (optionally) an ending instead. :)

Ivo Flipse http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/f7ae8c8fb83e502a854e2db3410f3827?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Ivo Flipse answered: None, I'm trying to get some actual work done before the vacation and waiting for the new blockbusters to release. But there's always Games for Google+ to pass the time

Mana ಠдಠ http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/9bed80a3291bbaeec9895a71682173ce?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Mana ಠдಠ answered: Recettear is pretty awesome, haha. I'm totally hooked on the dynamics between the different characters and the store management stuff. It's ridiculously fun.

FallenAngelEyes http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/60338afa180663a68905906af6c0df0c?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG FallenAngelEyes answered: Am I gaming? Uh... to be honest, I sometimes game more hours in a week than some people work. The game I've most recently extensively played is Chantelise, but I fear I may never finish it because I'm addicting to fishing. Terraria has also captured me quite thoroughly, as it rewards exploration more than Minecraft (though I'm looking forward to the 1.8 update). MMO-wise, I have an active sub to City of Heroes and I also play Guild Wars fairly regularly.

FallenAngelEyes http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/60338afa180663a68905906af6c0df0c?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG FallenAngelEyes clarified: Correction, if you go by a 40-hour work week, than I nearly always game more in a week than people work.

Raven Dreamer http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0c02079e74de8563fdfa7e4ac1d87d76?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Raven Dreamer answered: I am currently playing a lot of Spiral Knights, which is a free-to-play MMO. The game's got a couple of things going for it - firstly, it's totally free, and if you want to play for free, you are inherently limited to only playing small amounts each day. I like the fact of the in-built limitation the game places on me because of that. Additionally, my experience with the game's community is incredibly favorable, and I've yet to meet someone in the game who isn't kind and courteous to

Raven Dreamer http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0c02079e74de8563fdfa7e4ac1d87d76?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Raven Dreamer continued: other players, and the sense of community that engenders is a highly positive aspect of the game's experience. Also, I play League of Legends, and Dwarf Fortress, but because of the competition and complexity respectively, I can only play those for small sittings as well.

bwarner http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/5352e298ad788c978a16bdb0f83c90ad?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG bwarner answered: I'm dabbling in all sorts of games right now. Terraria, LA Noire, Desktop Dungeons, with some occasional Torchlight and Civ 5. But I'll be all about Diablo 3 as soon as it is available.

Nick T http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/1a71658d81f8a82a8122050f21bb86d3?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG Nick T answered: League of Legends at the moment, possibly Dota 2 in a while. I mentioned in my blurb that it's pretty much impossible to know all the games, but that doesn't mean you can't improve the content in those other...less interesting :P...posts.

sjohnston http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/42465045efd7af0115c6524c06f8cb9a?s=16&d=identicon&r=PG sjohnston answered: I still go on Minecraft binges from time to time. I've been working on Recettear lately. I'm also very interested in StarCraft II, but these days I end up mostly watching a lot of pro games and talking with co-workers about it, rather than actually playing.

Answer 12

Rebecca Chernoff asked: Final thoughts from the candidates?

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Ivo Flipse answered: Vote for Raven!

Ivo Flipse added: Help out with the blog!

FallenAngelEyes answered: Thank you @Rebecca for taking the time to organize this chat for us and deal with our conflicting schedules! And preemptive thanks to whomever will be putting the transcript together.

Kevin Y answered: Good luck to all the other candidates! And thank you @RebeccaChernoff for scheduling this!

Anna Lear answered: Thank you everyone for coming. And may the best mod win. :) I'm still gonna be active on the site whether I get elected or not, so I'll see everyone around.

Answer 13

tzenes asked: Moderating is an around the clock job, what sort of time can you dedicate to moderating GSE? and as a follow up for those of you who participate on other stack exchanges how do you plan to balance your time between GSE and other places?

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Mana ಠдಠ answered: I go back to university in early September. While this will effectively limit the amount of hours I can spend lurking/chatting on here, I still believe that I will be able to dedicate a very sizable amount of time to the site, due to being able to check up on everything in-between classes(maybe even during class) and having plenty of time in the evenings if I manage my schedule properly.

fredley answered: I'm on the site many times a day. I'd say it's not so much about chunks of time, but more how often, and how regularly you're there, and for me that's at least a dozen times spread throughout the day (and night!). (GMT/BST)

Anna Lear answered: I'm online nearly all the time. I drive my spouse nuts because I refresh SE as often as some people refresh Facebook or Twitter. I'm usually active throughout the day. Weekends are usually a quiet time, but I still check in a few times to make sure nothing crazy happened.

Anna Lear continued: As most people know, I'm a moderator on Programmers as well. Programmers does not receive a huge amount of flags and does not generally require a lot of attention. I see no problems with being able to do stuff on Gaming... since I already spend time on gaming! I'm here every day looking at questions and answers, posting where I can. Adding some flag handling and administrivia will not be a problem.

Anna Lear concluded: Last but not least, I take my commitments very seriously, so if anything ever had to give, it'd be my reading time for other SE sites.

Kevin Y answered: I'm almost constantly on Gaming.SE. Currently, I'm constantly refreshing the page to see if any new questions have popped up, and while doing this, I check moderator flags and the suggested edit queue. I'm on almost the entire day (especially when school gets boring), so I'd have more than enough time to do moderator activities.

FallenAngelEyes answered: See previous answer. I currently have a lot of free time on my hands, as I don't work or go to school at the moment. I'm planning on job-seeking soon, but anything I get will be part-time so it wouldn't interfere with my schedule. I may apply to university for next spring, but that's up in the air at the moment. I'm in Central European Time, so I'm available in what may be off-hours for the US. I currently have no other moderation obligations.

Ivo Flipse answered: To my surprise I've managed to handout to most votes of all users on Gaming (2970), which should at least show that I'm able to see a lot of questions on Gaming even though I'm active on other sites as well. Besides, I've been working on the blog for the past few months, so Gaming already get's a lot of my premium time. Besides, I have great fellow mods on SU who have my back so I can broaden my horizon a little bit. Fitness only get's 5 questions/day, Gaming only 20.

Ivo Flipse continued: Go ask the SO guys how they are handling their thousands of flags. Besides I'm on chat all day, though just not in the Bridge :)

Tom Wijsman answered: Several hours a day; sometimes I'm awake at night or at the early morning so I also cover periods where others might not be online, I can adjust myself to the community's activity and need for moderation. GSE would get my main attention and I will spent most of the time here, I will still visit a very limited amount of other sites but I will not let they distract my attention away from GSE. In the end, I've nominated myself to help the Gaming community; so, I'm here for you.

Raven Dreamer answered: I'm a college student, so in addition to having lots of free time, I've also got a lot of downtime, just waiting between classes and such, which is time I can devote to moderating. I wouldn't be surprised if I already spend 1-2 hours on Gaming.stackexchange each day, and that amount will only go up if I'm elected moderator. I'm not terribly involved in other parts of the SE network, so there's no issue of overlap there.

bwarner answered: I'll admit that I don't have as much time to devote as some of the other candidates. My job doesn't always leave time for browsing the site, and at home I'm a father of three. But I check the site regularly, and I think I will have enough time to do my job as a moderator, and also to contribute new ideas as they pop into my head.

Nick T answered: While working in the lab and going to school, there are all sorts of free bits of time I can spend moderating the site. While I can't make a definite commitment of X hours/week, I'd like to think that all things equal, being around more frequently is better.