John aka hot2use's answers to the submitted questions.
- In your opinion, what do moderators do?
Moderators are here to do as least as possible. They uphold the values of the community and only respond when asked by the community to do so, either via flag or when called in chat. The moderators are here to resolve conflicts, that the community themselves are not able to.
- 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?
Going back in time and looking at some of my comments I guess I possibly could have done better. But the past is ingrained in the community and it just goes to show that I have matured over the past couple of years. What I was has made me what I am today.
- In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?
Being a moderator will not make me more effective, it will allow me to participate in resolving issues, that the community otherwise cannot resolve themselves. It will equally allow me to participate in household chores.
- 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?
Talk with the user and ask them about the reasoning behind their comments. Just because something sounds/reads as flag-worthy does not mean that it was intended to be interpreted that way. E.g. foreign language community members sometimes have issues with the English language and grammar, and what they intended to write is not reflected in what the community reads in the comments. If the community member in question is not able to explain the comments, then I would remind the user of the guidelines. In a next step I guess that future comments might have to be deleted and the user reminded of the consequences of continuous inappropriate comments. Comments that coflict with the CoC will of course be deleted.
- How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
Communicate with the moderator if possible. If the question can be salvaged by editing the contents to produce a noteworthy question, then I would do that and possibly reopen/undelete the question. If the question has ben requested to be closed/deleted then of course, the question will remain that way. Moderators aren't here to always question decisions made by other moderators, but to contribute to the community at a higher level.
- In your opinion, what is the biggest problem/challenge Database Administrators is currently facing? How would you propose to solve it?
Some of the biggest challenges are the high proportion of new users that are either asking for the first time and are unregistered or from users that believe Stack Exchange is a Newsgroup. This becomes obvious when observing the questions and the responses in answers and comments.
The first issue was brought up by myself in 2017 with the following DBA Meta Question:
Policy Change : Disallow unregistered users from asking/answering questions?
The Meta post has since been evaluated and will be implemented sometime in the future.
The second issue can be mitigated through constant coaching of newcomers to the site and by guiding them during their first steps. This can be pointing them to the help centre or assisting in creating valuable questions and answers.
- Would you be proud to tell people in other places that you're a moderator here? Ex: on your linkedin profile, or at conferences?
Yes, I would be proud to let people know of my moderator's job. I wouldn't use the title to brag, but given the opportunity in a discussion or at a conference, I might be inclined to tell others of my activities.
- What is your favorite StackExchange experience or question/answer? What gave you the best engagement/entertainment? What specifically about this made it so memorable?
I guess one of my favourite experiences was changing a down-voted question during Hats season into an upvoted question with an accepted answer. If I recall correctly it was written by a non-native English user. I guess the user wasn't really expecting an answer after their question reached -3, but after re-writing the question the user had an upvoted question and an upvoted answer.
And my previously mentioned meta question that is to implemented on DBA.SE.
- What are some of the things Stack Exchange (and DBA.se in particular) has done well to promote diversity among askers, answerers, and moderators? What are areas they/we have done poorly? For example, many women feel they must obscure their female identify (through pseudonyms, avatars, etc) to be welcome on the site. Similar could be said for other minorities and underrepresented groups. As a moderator, how will you contribute to promoting a more welcoming environment that allows individuals to feel that their whole person is a part of the Stack Exchange community?
I'll pull the individual question a bit apart and answer them separately...
What are some of the things Stack Exchange (and DBA.se in particular) has done well to promote diversity among askers, answerers, and moderators?
Anybody in DBA.SE is accepted and highly welcome. We don't know who somebody is until they disclose it. I, and possibly others, send people here to read about questions or issues they may be interested in. We don't care where somebody is from, nor what native language somebody speaks, nor which minority somebody belongs to. If time permits, we'll even go the extra mile and convert questions into better English.
What are areas they/we have done poorly?
Communication over the past has been slow and sometimes lacking substance. The community reads a lot and hears even more. Pro-active communication could be improved upon.
For example, many women feel they must obscure their female identify (through pseudonyms, avatars, etc) to be welcome on the site. Similar could be said for other minorities and underrepresented groups.
I am not currently aware of a situation that women aren't being accepted in the DBA.SE community. I'm equally not aware of any issues with the LGBTQ community or other minorities or underrepresented groups on the DBS.SE site. I am aware that some of our community members have a different orientation than I do, but I treat them as normal community members like you do and everybody else does.
There has been discussions that some people might be posing as females to garner interest and to minimise the impact of low-quality questions, but this hasn't been a real issue.
As a moderator, how will you contribute to promoting a more welcoming environment that allows individuals to feel that their whole person is a part of the Stack Exchange community?
Do as the whole community should do. Support new users where possible. Guide them through their first questions with tolerance and understanding (it is hard getting in, I know it myself) and encourage community members to come back by not offending them.
Paul White had additional questions over in the 2020 DBA Moderator Election Chat. Specifically these two here:
Which I answered starting here. And after a small detour answering his next question (see below) I continued with remarks to additional faq articles.
Which I answered here.
