I guess most of you have heard by now that Jeff is stepping down as moderator to make room for the demands his new life are bearing onto his shoulders. Hopefully he will still continue to be a presence on this site, so we can still enjoy his wit and humor now and again.
But in any event, we've got some shoes to fill so Susan and Nanci don't get fed up with taking on more workload and responsibility with Jeff not being able to spend as much time here as he would like to. I could ill afford to loose them as well. So I suppose I really do need to get cracking with Jeff's replacement.
So here's the deal. Much like the moderator process in the past, members can nominate one or more people who they feel they can tolerate, uh enjoy, here as a moderator. The nominations will then be processed and then those nominations that pass muster will be put into a public poll so you all can vote on which moderator you want. But there is a string attached. If a person has been a thorn in management's side here, or otherwise someone normally in the center of personal conflicts with other members, please don't bother nominating them. The whole idea of having moderators is to put people in place that will MODERATE contentious situations, not be the center or cause of them. So yes, any nomination meeting that criteria can be vetoed out of the voting by myself and the current moderators. I certainly have no intention of losing them because someone might become a mod that they don't care to work with. I suspect this will be rare to have happen, but I do want you to know that someone nominating someone as some sort of joke or just to cause trouble, will be wasting their efforts.
Also note, that a nominated member HAS to come into this thread and officially accept the nomination. This is NOT a draft. So you may want to contact that person to let them know that they have been nominated and need to come here IF they are interested. No acceptance, no being on the ballot. Acceptance notifications can take place up until I close this thread to new nominations and acceptances.
Right now there isn't any set deadline for nominations, so all I will say is that when the nominations begin to trickle down to nothing, I will fire a warning shot that the nominations are closing soon, and then we will get on with setting up the poll and voting. Much like above, voting will take place until I feel that all the votes have taken place that are going to. Or if someone is SO far out in front that it is improbable that anyone will be able to overtake them with votes. We'll just play this by ear.....
Please give this a LOT of thought and pick someone you truly believe will be an asset to this site in the position of a moderator. It's not as easy and as much fun as you may think. If you can't actually BAN your best friend here when he or she goes ballistic over something and becomes a public nuisance, then this isn't for you. If you can't accept that some members may get angry at what you have to do, then no, you won't like this responsibility one bit. I have been very fortunate in that the moderators for both this site and FaunaClassifieds have been just absolutely top notch in helping me run these sites, such that I feel I could go away for an extended trip and not have to worry a bit about what was going on while I am away. As such, I really have no intention of bucking that trend by choosing unwisely those people who can become a moderator here. Besides the obvious personality conflicts in the moderator team, a rogue moderator who suddenly cops an attitude and turns maliciously upon the site he or she is a moderator on CAN greatly damage or even destroy a message board system. I've seen it actually happen. Imagine someone having the power to DELETE all messages running loose here with a chip on their shoulder? THAT could get pretty ugly, to say the least.
So please choose wisely.... This IS a pretty important event.
Let the nominations begin!
But in any event, we've got some shoes to fill so Susan and Nanci don't get fed up with taking on more workload and responsibility with Jeff not being able to spend as much time here as he would like to. I could ill afford to loose them as well. So I suppose I really do need to get cracking with Jeff's replacement.
So here's the deal. Much like the moderator process in the past, members can nominate one or more people who they feel they can tolerate, uh enjoy, here as a moderator. The nominations will then be processed and then those nominations that pass muster will be put into a public poll so you all can vote on which moderator you want. But there is a string attached. If a person has been a thorn in management's side here, or otherwise someone normally in the center of personal conflicts with other members, please don't bother nominating them. The whole idea of having moderators is to put people in place that will MODERATE contentious situations, not be the center or cause of them. So yes, any nomination meeting that criteria can be vetoed out of the voting by myself and the current moderators. I certainly have no intention of losing them because someone might become a mod that they don't care to work with. I suspect this will be rare to have happen, but I do want you to know that someone nominating someone as some sort of joke or just to cause trouble, will be wasting their efforts.
Also note, that a nominated member HAS to come into this thread and officially accept the nomination. This is NOT a draft. So you may want to contact that person to let them know that they have been nominated and need to come here IF they are interested. No acceptance, no being on the ballot. Acceptance notifications can take place up until I close this thread to new nominations and acceptances.
Right now there isn't any set deadline for nominations, so all I will say is that when the nominations begin to trickle down to nothing, I will fire a warning shot that the nominations are closing soon, and then we will get on with setting up the poll and voting. Much like above, voting will take place until I feel that all the votes have taken place that are going to. Or if someone is SO far out in front that it is improbable that anyone will be able to overtake them with votes. We'll just play this by ear.....
Please give this a LOT of thought and pick someone you truly believe will be an asset to this site in the position of a moderator. It's not as easy and as much fun as you may think. If you can't actually BAN your best friend here when he or she goes ballistic over something and becomes a public nuisance, then this isn't for you. If you can't accept that some members may get angry at what you have to do, then no, you won't like this responsibility one bit. I have been very fortunate in that the moderators for both this site and FaunaClassifieds have been just absolutely top notch in helping me run these sites, such that I feel I could go away for an extended trip and not have to worry a bit about what was going on while I am away. As such, I really have no intention of bucking that trend by choosing unwisely those people who can become a moderator here. Besides the obvious personality conflicts in the moderator team, a rogue moderator who suddenly cops an attitude and turns maliciously upon the site he or she is a moderator on CAN greatly damage or even destroy a message board system. I've seen it actually happen. Imagine someone having the power to DELETE all messages running loose here with a chip on their shoulder? THAT could get pretty ugly, to say the least.
So please choose wisely.... This IS a pretty important event.
Let the nominations begin!
I agree..
