14

In connection with the moderator elections, we are holding a Q&A thread for the candidates. Questions collected from an earlier thread have been compiled into this one, which shall now serve as the space for the candidates to provide their answers. Due to the lack of submission count, we have selected all provided questions as well as our back up questions for a total of 10 questions.

As a candidate, your job is simple - post an answer to this question, citing each of the questions and then post your answer to each question given in that same answer. For your convenience, I will include all of the questions in quote format with a break in between each, suitable for you to insert your answers. Just copy the whole thing after the first set of three dashes. Oh, and please consider putting your name at the top of your post so that readers will know who you are before they finish reading everything you have written.

Once all the answers have been compiled, this will serve as a transcript for voters to view the thoughts of their candidates, and will be appropriately linked in the Election page.

Good luck to all of the candidates!


  1. We allow questions about all sorts of databases, such as Traditional RDBMSs; both commercial and open-source (e.g. SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Postgres), slightly non-traditional databases (e.g. MySQL), NoSQL and NewSQL databases and document stores (e.g. BDB, MongoDB). As a community, we sometimes come across as looking down on all but the traditional group; MySQL is treated with mild contempt and NoSQL sometimes with open derision (though it is also widely recognised that both have their place). Is this a good thing? If not, how would you act as a moderator to encourage a different attitude in the community?

  2. Quite many newcomers face the situation their question is not fit in for the rules of community. Details are lacking, no sources are provided, and/or several other down vote reasons arise. What is your opinion on this phenomenom of welcoming newcomer with seven down votes? Is the situation just part of the game or could you help in some way?

  3. How would you handle a user who routinely deletes their own content because they feel it wasn't valued by the community, even tho it was a very helpful content that absolutely contributed to the greater good of the internet, it just wasn't seen by those who would have upvoted it?

  4. What's your opinion on taking out trash, washing dishes, doing windows, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping and washing down the blackboards? That's what moderators do. The gun is just for show, there's no glamour to being a mod. All the fun stuff can be done by someone with a few hundred rep (edit, comment) so at this point you're literally scraping the crud and repeating the same three phrases to people.

  5. 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?

  6. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

  7. Some of you guys are great answerers and commentators. How do you feel an 'obligation' to moderate would cut into the time you can put into sharing your knowledge? Are you going to do something different than what you can already do with your rep? Will you still answer as much?

  8. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

  9. A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?

  10. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

4 Answers 4

16

Paul White:

  1. We allow questions about all sorts of databases, such as Traditional RDBMSs; both commercial and open-source (e.g. SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Postgres), slightly non-traditional databases (e.g. MySQL), NoSQL and NewSQL databases and document stores (e.g. BDB, MongoDB). As a community, we sometimes come across as looking down on all but the traditional group; MySQL is treated with mild contempt and NoSQL sometimes with open derision (though it is also widely recognised that both have their place). Is this a good thing? If not, how would you act as a moderator to encourage a different attitude in the community?

No, this is most definitely not a good thing, and is incompatible with our Be Nice model. A key phrase from that important page is, "Your tone should match the way you'd talk in person with someone you respect and whom you want to respect you.". That pretty much sums it up: we should deal with people in Q & A just as if they were someone we know personally in real life.

As a moderator, I would primarily encourage good behaviours that fit the Be Nice model wherever the opportunity arises: by voting, in chat, through comments, constructive edits, bounties ... and so on. Rewarding good questions and answers in non-traditional topic areas is something we could become better at.

Where people fail to live up to the model, gentle reminders and constructive conversation might need to be followed up with a private expression of the standards the community expects to be observed. Ultimately, and hopefully extremely rarely, administrative action might be necessary to provide a short period away from things to cool down and reflect.

  1. Quite many newcomers face the situation their question is not fit in for the rules of community. Details are lacking, no sources are provided, and/or several other down vote reasons arise. What is your opinion on this phenomenom of welcoming newcomer with seven down votes? Is the situation just part of the game or could you help in some way?

To quote from the Be Nice page again: Be welcoming, be patient, and assume good intentions.

Now this does not mean being slow to down-vote, place on hold, or delete poor questions and answers, but it does mean making reasonable allowances for newcomers. Helpful comments (with links) are essential help for those new to the Q & A model, and we should be quick to reopen closed questions when sufficient improvements have been made.

There is nothing wrong with down-voting in general, it is a valuable part of an essential feedback mechanism.

  1. How would you handle a user who routinely deletes their own content because they feel it wasn't valued by the community, even tho it was a very helpful content that absolutely contributed to the greater good of the internet, it just wasn't seen by those who would have upvoted it?

First, I would ask the more experienced moderators for advice. My own instinct would be to contact the user privately; explain why these posts are valuable, encourage them to undelete, and to please consider not removing good contributions in future. I regularly hit my daily vote limit on questions and answers, but my understanding is that limit does not apply to moderators. With that in mind, good but neglected contributions can expect an up-vote from me at least.

  1. What's your opinion on taking out trash, washing dishes, doing windows, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping and washing down the blackboards? That's what moderators do. The gun is just for show, there's no glamour to being a mod. All the fun stuff can be done by someone with a few hundred rep (edit, comment) so at this point you're literally scraping the crud and repeating the same three phrases to people.

The quality of Q & A here is generally pretty high, and with an increasing number of highly-trusted users, much of the workload is already pretty efficiently handled by the community without moderator intervention. The remaining tasks are no doubt routine and monotonous at times (e.g. answers that ought to be comments) but that's fine with me. As the top- or second-highest processor of the routine review queues, I'm happy to continue to contribute quietly in that sort of way.

  1. 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?

As with the previous question, I would seek the advice of the other, more experienced moderators. My instinct would be to contact the user privately to thank them for their excellent contributions, make them aware of the problem in a constructive way, and agree a way forward. If the problems continue, despite repeated offers of help and guidance, a short suspension might be necessary, though I should hope to avoid it.

  1. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

Presumably, a private chat area exists for exactly that sort of discussion. I would look to make my case, while bearing in mind the others all have more experience than I and are therefore probably right. As a new moderator, I would have lots to learn, but I'd like to think I can add to the conversation.

  1. Some of you guys are great answerers and commentators. How do you feel an 'obligation' to moderate would cut into the time you can put into sharing your knowledge? Are you going to do something different than what you can already do with your rep? Will you still answer as much?

The time has to come from somewhere, it's true. My expectation is that other highly-trusted users will step up to fill whatever hole I might leave in the Review Queue processing area. I very much enjoy writing answers to questions I am qualified in, so that will never change.

The question of reputation points is a good one: I haven't fully thought this through, but I expect to distribute a good deal of it in bounties to reward unloved but high-quality answers, perhaps particularly in areas outside my own expertise. I'll be guided by the opinion of the other moderators in this though.

  1. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

They make the site a better place. They encourage good contributions and behaviours, lead by example, quietly 'take out the trash', and handle the rare exceptions that only a mod can handle fairly but firmly when required. Oh, and they're always nice of course.

  1. A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?

It's a little intimidating, in some ways, for sure. I'm not aware of anything I have said in the past that would look bad with a diamond attached, but like everyone I have learned things as time has gone by, so please let me know if there's anything I should revisit!

  1. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

I'm not sure that it will, but then it's not about me, is it? That said, I would hope that being elected as a moderator would open up a new area of learning and provide new ways for me to contribute to this superb community and resource.

1
  • 5
    I've learned so much from your blogs. You're well deserved candidate. At least by voting I can show my respect to you. Aug 7, 2015 at 12:38
13

My name is Hannah Vernon, and I'd love to be entrusted to be your next moderator.

It's been my pleasure to answer the questions below, and will attempt to answer comments as quickly as possible.

  1. We allow questions about all sorts of databases, such as Traditional RDBMSs; both commercial and open-source (e.g. SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Postgres), slightly non-traditional databases (e.g. MySQL), NoSQL and NewSQL databases and document stores (e.g. BDB, MongoDB). As a community, we sometimes come across as looking down on all but the traditional group; MySQL is treated with mild contempt and NoSQL sometimes with open derision (though it is also widely recognised that both have their place). Is this a good thing? If not, how would you act as a moderator to encourage a different attitude in the community?

While variety is indeed the spice of life, it's important that people use the platform that best suits their needs. If that means they need a document database or a NewSQL database, then fine; however if they are asking a question about how to store relational data in MongoDB, and "why is it so slow", then maybe they should be offered some respectful advice to try it with a relational DBMS, in the same way as storing document data in a relational database might be a non-starter performance-wise. If I see users denigrating someone for picking a particular DBMS over some other DBMS, I see it as essential to try to defuse the conversation, and will endeavor to do just that.

  1. Quite many newcomers face the situation their question is not fit in for the rules of community. Details are lacking, no sources are provided, and/or several other down vote reasons arise. What is your opinion on this phenomenom of welcoming newcomer with seven down votes? Is the situation just part of the game or could you help in some way?

As a moderator, whenever I see a question that is perhaps not worded well, or is unclear, I will endeavor to engage the poster in conversation to ask them to clarify their requirements. You can see from my voting record that I prefer not to downvote; I have a 1:7.3 downvote-to-upvote ratio - I clearly prefer to engage users with positive encouragement rather than negative. When I was new to this community, I looked up to the moderators (I still do!) whenever they offered me guidance on how to use the site. I saw the diamond, and thought "this person clearly knows what I should be doing", and then acted accordingly. I look forward to that responsibility and the opportunity to help people successfully use the DBA.SE site.

  1. How would you handle a user who routinely deletes their own content because they feel it wasn't valued by the community, even tho it was a very helpful content that absolutely contributed to the greater good of the internet, it just wasn't seen by those who would have upvoted it?

I would offer positive encouragement to the user. I have personally had the desire to remove some of my content that hasn't been well-received (ie not up-voted!); however if I think that content would be useful for a future visitor, I tend to leave it for them to find. I personally have seen many posts that I thought were well written and contained factually accurate details, that had either no votes, or had even been downvote, which I then upvoted.

  1. What's your opinion on taking out trash, washing dishes, doing windows, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping and washing down the blackboards? That's what moderators do. The gun is just for show, there's no glamour to being a mod. All the fun stuff can be done by someone with a few hundred rep (edit, comment) so at this point you're literally scraping the crud and repeating the same three phrases to people.

There is nothing better than keeping the place good-looking. I have edited over 980 posts, and take great pride in doing so with the guiding principal of making DBA.SE a better place for future visitors. To me, "taking out trash, washing dishes, doing windows, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping and washing down the blackboards" is just a necessary part of life; and I'm just the person to do that. You should see how organized my sock drawer is!

  1. 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 attempt to engage the user in a private chat and offer them my thanks for their valuable answers. Without users contributing valuable answers, the site would very quickly become meaningless, leaving valuable insight and knowledge off the table. I would ask the user if they would like some advice on how to avoid engaging in arguments, and what to concentrate on and what to not concentrate on. For instance, I might say: "Some people just insist on being difficult - typically it is best to move on to something more constructive rather than continuing to attempt to convince someone of your position."

  1. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

Depending on the value of the particular content that was "moderated", I might engage the other moderator in chat in order to understand why they felt the content needed to be "moderated". Perhaps I've overlooked some detail that warrants the item being closed/deleted/etc. If I feel strongly that the content deserves different treatment, I will engage them in constructive discussion to arrive at a mutually agreeable result. As many of the high reputation users already know, I am not so heavily invested that I cannot be swayed away from my position with regards to content on the StackExchange network. As Aaron so kindly pointed out once, they are only unicorn points.

  1. Some of you guys are great answerers and commentators. How do you feel an 'obligation' to moderate would cut into the time you can put into sharing your knowledge? Are you going to do something different than what you can already do with your rep? Will you still answer as much?

I answer and comment on as many questions as I can fit into my time. I don't see that changing except to say the duties of moderation would come first.

  1. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

Moderators handle flags on questions, comments, and answers, and provide guidance to users who feel they have been treated unfairly. Moderators play a key role in keeping the site spam-free, highly relevant, and useful, and as such must look at all questions, not just those questions they feel they can answer.

  1. A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?

I've always used my actual real name on every post I've made on Stack Exchange; and as such I've always treated those items as part of my real-life reputation. I stand behind what I say, and am always open to acknowledging when I'm wrong.

  1. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

I see being a moderator as a key way to help ensure the success of DBA.SE through handling flags and having dialogue with users via comments and potentially through Meta or private-chat. 10K and 20K don't allow you to handle flags. I already have 10k rep, and am looking forward to 20k, because those unicorn points keep me wanting to learn more and become a better DBA.

0
10

Candidate: Shawn Melton

1.We allow questions about all sorts of databases, such as Traditional RDBMSs; both commercial and open-source (e.g. SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Postgres), slightly non-traditional databases (e.g. MySQL), NoSQL and NewSQL databases and document stores (e.g. BDB, MongoDB). As a community, we sometimes come across as looking down on all but the traditional group; MySQL is treated with mild contempt and NoSQL sometimes with open derision (though it is also widely recognized that both have their place). Is this a good thing? If not, how would you act as a moderator to encourage a different attitude in the community?

I am not sure the community as a whole looks down on this area of the DBA field, at least as much as it used to maybe. It is a growing area that I think is warranted on this site as long as the questions meet the criteria for our site. There are already 190 questions under and 703 questions under . I think the work will be encouraging those experienced in that field to join the community and help answer questions. I don't think it is far fetched to say it is growing and becoming more welcomed on the site. If it comes to big of a problem where questions are being down voted or closed we might need to have the What topics can I ask here? updated to specifically cover this "technology" or area.

2.Quite many newcomers face the situation their question is not fit in for the rules of community. Details are lacking, no sources are provided, and/or several other down vote reasons arise. What is your opinion on this phenomenon of welcoming newcomer with seven down votes? Is the situation just part of the game or could you help in some way?

I think folks offering comments along with a down vote can help tremendously, and should be emphasized. I would try to intervene in those questions that begin to get down votes, and no comments, to help the OP understand what they need to add.

3.How would you handle a user who routinely deletes their own content because they feel it wasn't valued by the community, even though it was a very helpful content that absolutely contributed to the greater good of the internet, it just wasn't seen by those who would have up-voted it?

I would undelete the content and comment on the answer (or question) explaining to the user why it is a worthy contribution. If I can promote the content where it gets more visibility, I would do that extra step as well.

4.What's your opinion on taking out trash, washing dishes, doing windows, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping and washing down the blackboards? That's what moderators do. The gun is just for show, there's no glamour to being a mod. All the fun stuff can be done by someone with a few hundred rep (edit, comment) so at this point you're literally scraping the crud and repeating the same three phrases to people.

If it has to be done, it has to be done. This site is an awesome tool for DBAs of all kinds to further their career both from obtaining information and providing it. I am more than willing to do the "behind the scenes" work in order to keep this site thriving and growing in the right direction. I did janitorial work in college for 4 years, and seeing the "before and after" was always rewarding to me, even if no one else took notice.

5.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 think I would look at the pattern or overall activity of the user, and what contribution they are offering to the site. If the activity is just flat out abusive in the sense that their comments offer no constructive criticism then look at notifying the user by email. I would also bring the user up to moderator discussion to get their take on the matter. It could be the other moderators feel more immediate action should be taken (e.g. suspended the user), especially if they are seasoned users in the Stack Exchange network...they should know better.

6.How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

There are always going to be situations that you can argue that a modification maybe warranted or not. I would error on the side that they might see something I did not and reach out to that individual to find out more information. If it was done by a more seasoned moderator (which compared to me would be) I might learn something new, or obtain a different perspective on the question or content.

7.Some of you guys are great answerers and commentators. How do you feel an 'obligation' to moderate would cut into the time you can put into sharing your knowledge? Are you going to do something different than what you can already do with your rep? Will you still answer as much?

I think all the candidates offer a great contribution to this site in their own way. I have not really heard any war stories of how moderation has effected an individual's involvement in the site; nor have I necessarily observed it. I am also the only candidate that does not actually have moderator privileges, although I am very close, so it will be new. I think I will actually try to answer more (that lead by example thing), but overall do not think my activity will be effected that much.

8.In your opinion, what do moderators do?

We are the front line defense to keeping this site on par with being an place that new and old DBAs can come for help. As noted in the question earlier we take out the trash and perform other duties to help maintain an order and prevent the chaos that has occurred on other sites (<cough>SO</cough>). We help take care of those one-off situations where a normal or high-rep user could not, or where action needs to be take immediately over waiting for the community to intervene.

9.A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?

I'm good to go, no problem. I am up for defending my actions or (if justified) admitting I was wrong in some area, we are all human.

10.In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

The binding vote where my action can take effect immediately over waiting for further intervention from other members. I think this is beneficial most in cleaning up and preventing an overrun of spam or abusive activity on this site. It is a big stick that is not to be taken lightly and will require much more thought in applying it when needed.

6

Candidate: Kin Shah

  1. We allow questions about all sorts of databases, such as Traditional RDBMSs; both commercial and open-source (e.g. SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Postgres), slightly non-traditional databases (e.g. MySQL), NoSQL and NewSQL databases and document stores (e.g. BDB, MongoDB). As a community, we sometimes come across as looking down on all but the traditional group; MySQL is treated with mild contempt and NoSQL sometimes with open derision (though it is also widely recognized that both have their place). Is this a good thing? If not, how would you act as a moderator to encourage a different attitude in the community?

Treating some DBMSs with mild contempt, some with derision and some with open hands is pretty normal, since I consider such reactions are tied to individuals that have some technologies being favorites, just started to get interested in or are in learning phase and some are not just interesting to them. Its a people behavior which we cannot change, but we can ask them to be nice, since stackexchange is a community driven site and a good and polite behavior is expected from the users.

As a moderator, I would engage the person in a chat conversation as well as promote help topics like questions that can be asked and cannot be asked to get users a clear picture of what this site is about(Q&A site) and what it is not about (not a community forum). If I am unsure or need a second opinion, I would engage other moderators of this site as well to give a fair decision.

  1. Quite many newcomers face the situation their question is not fit in for the rules of community. Details are lacking, no sources are provided, and/or several other down vote reasons arise. What is your opinion on this phenomenon of welcoming newcomer with seven down votes? Is the situation just part of the game or could you help in some way?

I completely understand that a newcomer might face the situation that is described. I would point to the resources that clearly defines questions that can be asked and cannot be asked.

"Down-vote" as I have seen, is a reaction of not liking or having a prejudice which I strongly believe should not be encouraged. There are cases where a down-vote is completely valid - e.g. repeatedly not following the rules of asking a good question, being rude and adamant and not considering an attitude change when someone is trying to help or educate you, etc.

I would engage with the user that have received down-votes so that he feels welcoming and try to educate the user with the norms of this site. Voting is central to the model of this site which generates quality questions and answers.

  1. How would you handle a user who routinely deletes their own content because they feel it wasn't valued by the community, even though it was a very helpful content that absolutely contributed to the greater good of the internet, it just wasn't seen by those who would have upvoted it?

This situation is something that arises when you have "certain expectation" when you are helping people. I have seen people that tends to see an immediate reaction (outcome) in-return of the stuff that they are doing - e.g. helping a user with an answer to his question. If your expectation (need an upvote, since the person answering has put in effort) is not met and you feel that you are not welcomed in the community (people do not upvote your answers), you will see this behavior.

People have to understand that this is a community driven site and you have to "earn" trust by demonstrating and improving your answers through your technical expertise in your respective field. This is where reputation comes in which is "earned" with good and excellent answers and can also be lost with poor or link only answers.

I would explain above to the user who is burned/demoralized by thinking that he/she is not being valued by the community and invite in the heap chat so he/she can be engaged in the community.

  1. What's your opinion on taking out trash, washing dishes, doing windows, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping and washing down the blackboards? That's what moderators do. The gun is just for show, there's no glamour to being a mod. All the fun stuff can be done by someone with a few hundred rep (edit, comment) so at this point you're literally scraping the crud and repeating the same three phrases to people.

This is a tricky question. My takeaway on this is - Being a Moderator is like being a gardener that takes responsibility, cleans out bad weeds, get rid of bugs and helps flourish the garden (stackexchange site) with being trusted, gentle, approachable and determined, which is something that people take for granted when visiting this site. Its a joy for me to get rid of spams and at the end of day, I feel rewarded to see the site being cleaned of clutter and unwanted stuff thereby driving more people to visit this site.

With quote from Martin Luther King Jr., being a moderator is having an additional responsibility of making this site from good to better and from better to best. Someone has to take the responsibility and ownership and if given chance, it will be a good opportunity to continue to demonstrate it. Moderators of this site who lead by example has inspired me to nominate myself for being a moderator.

  1. 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?

Handling a user behaviour is a very tricky part of the job. If it is something that is hapenning repeatedly then I would seek advise of the experienced moderators of this site. Arguments are part of life which people tend to agree or disagree. I would engage and explain to the user the site rules and bring him/her on a common ground so that it benefits the site as well as the user.

I believe - "Its not what a community does for you, its matters what you do for the community to make it a better place - to learn, evolve and get involved"

In a rare situation and after seeking help/opinion from experienced moderators, I would escalate it to the site staff.

  1. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

I am always open to having an open constructive discussion. Its human nature of having differences in opinions (we experience it in daily life at home, work or in user groups). In a situation where another moderator closed/deleted/etc a question that I feel shouldn't have been, I would have a separate conversation with the moderator so that I can better understand the thought behind the action. I might be looking from a different angle and the mod might be looking from a different perspective and once we discuss, we can find out the reason and move forward from that point. Its all about working together, growing together and making this site a better place.

  1. Some of you guys are great answerers and commentators. How do you feel an 'obligation' to moderate would cut into the time you can put into sharing your knowledge? Are you going to do something different than what you can already do with your rep? Will you still answer as much?

Moderation (Edits/casting votes/ flagging posts) is/will be part of the regular time that I spend on the site. Its true that it will slightly cut down the time that I would normally have invested in sharing or gaining knowledge, but there are times that you have to move up, since being a moderator not only means to police the site, but promote community interaction, involvement as well as welcoming and encouraging the new users.

  1. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

The ethic duty of a moderator is fully documented and I fully agree that a moderator should be constructive and polite. Taking a snap from my previous answer - being a moderator not only means to police the site, but promote community interaction, involvement as well as welcoming and encouraging the new users.

  1. A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?

I have grown with this community - from being a novice user to a user since 3+ years. Even without a diamond attached to me, I am and will always "Commit to CAN I" - Constant And Never ending Improvement. Having a diamond is something that you get recognize by the community for your contributions over the years on this site. This is a rewarding feeling and an achievement for me.

  1. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

As per my profile, I already have 24K+ points. This reflects my community involvement and shows my field expertise. Moderator votes are binding and they can lock/protect posts that are receiving noise like "Thank you", "It worked for me" or "It does not work for me" or spams which is very common on other community forums. These are some special abilities offered to moderators that can help prevent noise on the site, promote good behavior and get users involved in the community more and more.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .