About Me

Hello, my name is William. I have a genuine sense of humor. Come into the chat room at any time I am in there and you will see that. Sometimes I take the sarcasm a little too far, and I apologize for those times. I discovered Ubuntu when Windows 7 came about and my computer was rendered obsolete after a couple of months. I googled and found out abut Ubuntu. I realized how frustrated I was with Windows. I was always looking for some way to customize and personalize my machine, and this generally involved tweaking config files onlt to find out after rebooting that the system was bricked. In the two monthis I was with Windows XP, I had went through 7 reinstalled and four virus attacks. I had had enough. I went with wubi for three weeks before formatting the whole computer and deciding that I was now an Ubuntu user.

In the 11.10 installer, I found out about Ask Ubuntu and on my 13th birthday, signed up. I was thrilled with the amount of resources out there on this site for someone of my type, and the amount of help available at my fingertips. Being a person who frequently tweaks the wrong file and ends up needing help, I realized the true potential of this site. I am a passionate Ubuntu user wanting to help those who need it so that they too can have a great Ubuntu experience.

Why You Should Choose William

Past

I unfortunately, don't have a great past to point at and prove what a great Moderator I would make, but in the time that I have been on Ask Ubuntu, I have tried to remain as active as the majority of the other users on the site. Being a moderator for me would give me more potential to do good for the community. The reputation limit is a real limiting factor for me. Being elected would mean that those restrictions would be removed and I could do a lot more.

Time

As far as time that I can put into Ask Ubuntu, that really varies. I don't have a consistent schedule, so the amount of time I can spend on the site varies with each day. I can, however promise whatever free time I do have to helping this community grow and prosper.

Meta

I participate on the meta within reason, maybe not as much as the other candidates, but when I have an idea on how to make the site better, I will post it to the meta and get some feedback.

Flags

As far as flags, I really don't have a lot to point at. I don't believe in flagging things frequently, instead, edit and improve. Lead by example. That way, hopefully, whoever wrote the post in question will look at the edit and be inspired to write better posts.

What I Would Do Differently

Whoa, this is already starting to sound like a political speech. Anyway, I like the cleanup sprints that have happened in the past. This has been a great way to get the community together while cleaning up the site at the same time. I would like to have some more of these, maybe with other things like improving tag wikis, answering questions, etc. Another thing I would like to do is get the word about Ask Ubuntu out there. I didn't even know that AU existed until the 11.10 installer! So, spread the word as much as possible.

Summary

If you skipped everything above, read this. Please elect me as Moderator. I am a passionate Ubuntu and StackExchange user, despite being relatively new to the community. I have a sense of humor in epic proportions which I sometimes take too far. I will put as much time and resources into helping this community grow as possible, and really want to help make Ask Ubuntu better. I would organize more cleanup sprints and try to spread the word about Ask Ubuntu to the maximum extent possible. So, vote for William!

Nomination from Bruno Pereira

I would like to nominate myself for as a moderator for Ask Ubuntu.

---

I know I haven't been a member of this community for as long as the majority of the active members but the time spent on the site has been well used both trying to help others as also learning.

I care about the site and have shown ability and capability, I take pride in making things better and am proud of making part of the community as one of the most active users on the site.

• I believe that opening valid questions that can be useful for any user on the Internet seeking for information is a valid way of attracting some traffic while solving duplicate questions frequently asked on the site.

• I have around 445+ open answers that granted me enough reputation to access one of the most valuable resources for me on the website, moderator tools (limited edition ™). Not bragging but keeping a 3rd spot on the users that receive more reputation per day while flagging and organizing the site kinda shows how interested I am on the work I do on it.

• I have not stopped after 10k, I am eager to help while revisioning , reviewing, commenting and flagging;

• I have, in 4 months time, flagged 606 times, 14 of those where declined, 40 disputed flags, that makes my useful flags percentage 92%. I am not proud of this value but I have to say this has improved over time, no one is perfect and I am whiling to learn. I have been firm while solving some flags with moderators but in the end that has made me better at it.

• I keep voting up in questions or answers with content and good format and down on dubious or invalid posts, around 10% of my votes are down-votes.

• Some of badges I have earned include Electorate, Copy Editor, Marshal, Convention, 6x Necromancer and Fanatic.

• Meta has been the place where I share most of my doubts, I have to thank the help of the users that helped me and I try, when possible to answer any subject I can. I intend to keep being active on meta as much as I can and on the subjects I can help with. It is a great source of information when you are trying to improve your level of support on the main site.

• I have signed the Ubuntu Code of Conduct and fully agree with the Ubuntu Leadership Code of Conduct.

Why do I want to be a moderator at Ask Ubuntu?

Ever since I got access to moderator tools (limited edition) I have been working on improving the site. I sit and go over all the questions posted on the site since I last visited, one by one, editing, reviewing, up voting and down voting, voting for closure on the questions where a good reason is present and flagging. This is a constant job, not a one week venture.

I wont lie and say I spend all my mod flags and close votes everyday but I can say that some days those are not enough, this limits me and my actions on the site. I know I am not doing a bad job, my flags come back as approved, my edits are useful, I approve useful edits, its all great. But limiting.

I would like to do it faster! See something and fix it without need to send 2 flags for a moderator to act, I know what to do so why not do it myself?

I see too much and flag too much, cleaning, organizing the site, solving and fixing issues without having to flag or be limited by the number of flags I have in a day is something I want.

Why do I think I would been a good moderator?

I live in Europe, CET time and from around 7:00 until midnight each day I and connected to the Internet. It is part of my work, even on the car I have a laptop open with connection. During a work day I can cover most of the populated world's day light time. When I go to sleep other moderators from the site are probably awake in the USA and when they go to sleep I am for some time already awake.

I am never more then 2 hours away from the computer, you can poke me anytime for any issue, you will probably get an answer within that time.

I have a stable life and a career job, you wont see me complaining that I am going to college, starting a job or moving to the Himalayas in the next future time.

I do not need people to be constantly pointing me to how to do things, I do them with confidence either by learning reading documentation or learning by example.

I am objective on my ideas and goals, I would never let a personal opinion intervene with the ideas of the community, I believe that asking and discussing is the proper way of settling those situations. Personal opinions and believes will never cloud my judgment, for me what matters is to have and share objectives that are for the good of the community.

I am firm but respect what other people are telling me. I may sound harsh sometimes but will prefer to solve a situation than to keep putting my foot to the ground. If I am wrong you will get an apology and I have leaned a lesson. No one is perfect and I understand that.

How much work would we need to make you a moderator?

Not much, I have simple questions that can be simply answered. I believe that team work is where I can get the best answers for those questions. I do not require much attention and always focus on doing what is necessary. I am a person that whats to get to the point as fast as possible and move on to the next one.

I have faults that can be corrected, and maybe I need to be a bit more active on the chat channels. Its not that I am not social or similar, probably I am just busy doing stuff on the background. Most of you know me for trowing a joke or 2 while on the chat and just intervening when I find subjects I am interested or have an opinion on them, I think that is just the way I am. A bit quiet and workaholic.

How would you be as a moderator?

Firm, but careful to listen. Supportive of other moderator opinions and would try to share their view. The quality of the work would be important and I would work hard making the tasks that I already take better done.

Supportive and more eager to learn all aspects of the site and support the a fair code of conduit. More involved and professional. Work until I my standards have risen to a point where I am at level with the best work of the moderators with me. Listen to them and share my opinion, learn.

Never loose temper and share empathy with users during disputes, be permissive but just when rules are broken. I would care for this community not as if I was a small part of it but as if it was a big part of me. I believe in it and I know we are all doing a very good job.

Who am I (that most of you don't already know)?

I was born in Portugal but have been living in other countries in Europe since I finished college a couple of years ago. I have finally settled in the Netherlands where I work on installations and support for an American company. I don't have a kitty yet but plans exist to get him asap (when the winter is gone!). On my free time I am taking Computer Science and Technology classes form something will take a bit of time (but not impossible to) finish. I speak 3 languages as good as I can speak my native one and other 2 that I am on the process of learning. I love good beer and food, reading and cooking are some of my preferred hobbies (it takes the stress away and tastes good!).

As a finish line I just want to say: in the end, it does not matter, I love the site and will be around. Thanks for this opportunity, niceness and good feedback.

Q&A from the users

Asked by N.N.:

Have you got any particular vision for Ask Ubuntu? What would you focus on as a moderator?

I see moderator work as the main focus of my presence at the site, quick editing, flagging, discussing issues and helping. I understand that it might sound some how trading time to solve and answer questions for work on the backgrounds but I would always do my best while still trying to help solve user issues.

I was born to multi task and find moderation work somehow more important. Its not that I have not been doing it over the time I spent at the site! I have as much helpful flags, edits, reviews as most active users that have been on the site for more than a year. I would simply love doing the job.

Asked by Marco Ceppi:

As a user with more than 10k What does being a moderator mean to you? Since you already have access to the majority of the tools - and thus can perform a majority of the actions - that moderators currently can.

I believe that there is more to do than just editing, flagging and discussing. It is not the first time I while handling a hopeless amount of editing in a questions and answers that I get a "no, go ahead" answer from a moderator or say "its already done" to him.

I love that part, I love taking care of the site and seeing it change for better. I want to be able to handle that by myself (with some support at first, true): handle other people's flags, make a point when needed, fix posts, remove "answers" and place them where they should. I want to read flags from top to bottom and say "this is correct, close it. this is not", I want to be able to close spam as soon as I see it, remove rudeness if I believe that it is a necessary thing.

I am not just a Linux person, I am not (just) a Ubuntu fan boy. I do believe that Ubuntu uses the right philosophy at the right places. I have meet Ask Ubuntu very recently compared with I have learned in life and I know my place and my capabilities. I will never be a great programmer creating beautiful things that people love to use, nor someone that makes beautiful speeches but I do know I am a great problem solver. I am a (great) fixer ;). This is what I do best.

I know I am not always the best at giving answers, I tend to joke when needed in while publicly but I take pride of what I do behind the curtains. Being a moderator at a community I have recently fallen in love with is my way of saying thank you while doing something that will be a changeling and positive.

I wont lie, there is power involved and with that responsibility. Take the power away, I would not mind but leave the responsibility and give me rights to do a better job. I want that responsibility.

Asked by jokerdino:

Ideally, who among the current batch of moderator nominees would you like to see getting elected?

Ideally? Me ;)

Jokes apart: I think that as a nominee it would not be fair show support for other nominees. But I do not think its unfair or wrong if one decides to do so. This answer can be easier answered by me if I change the tone of the question a bit, lets think of it as: If you would vote for a nominee on the list what would make you vote for that person?

I am sure that James as a lot of support from most of us, I like that, he deserves it for his hard work lately, he is a nice kid and shows deep love for the site.

Fossfreedom is a heavy weight for the nominations, if I decide to vote I am sure that my opinion about him will pend a lot towards a vote.

I have a deep respect for Roland, he is smart, nice to everyone and has shown to be a great asset to the community.

Octavian is always nice and right, smart to the bones and has a great avatar that can be used as base for memes, I would like to see him more active as a moderator should be but the work he does is good and stable.

You (jokerdino) have shown great curiosity and ability to work on the site, I know you are young and eager to show what you have done, there is nothing wrong with that and the work is correctly done, would like to see your activity rise and some more confidence from your part but as candidate there is nothing wrong with you.

If I had votes enough and if I knew that it would not be against me to vote for these people these are the people I would vote (not necessarily in this order) on and the reasons I would do so.

Asked by Thomas Ward:

To what end, if any, should 'helpful flag counts' be used as a metric to determine the worthiness of a nominee to be a moderator?

To me helpful flags are not even close to what a moderator should measured upon, they do however show the initiative, commitment and judgment ability of a user when faced with situations where if having moderator privileges one would have to deal.

One of the main tasks of a moderator will be janitorial work, reviewing other peoples flags and making decisions upon those, there is a reason why the flag weight is shown under each candidate's nomination, gives am idea of how much involved he is on that task and how used to it the candidate is.

In the end, no, it will not be the helpful flag counts that will be the main factor for an elected nominee.

About me

I'm a 23 years old, professional Android applications developer living in Austria. Currently I'm studying Software Design which I'll hopefully finish with a B.Sc.

My passion for Linux started almost a decade ago in 2003 and for Ubuntu specifically since 7.10 Gusty Gibbon. I'm also an active Ubuntu and thus Ask Ubuntu advocate. When I have the time to I try to help build up my LoCo.

I've joined the Stack Exchange network through Stack Overflow where I am still very active. Not too long after joining Stack Overflow I have discovered Ask Ubuntu which of course was a site I had to stick to. I'm also quite active on Meta.SO and on Meta.AU as well.

If I'm not programming or on one of the Stack Exchange sites I'm probably pursuing my other hobby which is reading.

Visit my Ubuntu wiki page for additional information.

Why I am nominating myself

Mainly because you, as one of the communities I care about need some additional help. I would like to invest the spare time I have on helping this community grow and maintain its current quality standard.

Another reason is frankly because I want to grow as well. I want to broaden my horizon and if I can combine that with also helping my community it is a double win.

What I would focus on as a moderator

Besides being a moderator as described in A Theory of Moderation I would like to focus on getting more users involved in site maintenance tasks by trying to setup events like described in Own Your Community.

Moderators are human exception handlers, there to deal with those (hopefully rare) exceptional conditions that should not normally happen, but when they do, they can bring your entire community to a screaming halt — if you don’t have human exception handling in place.

This is exactly my point of view!

Because I think that only setting up events is not enough since you have get the community involved as well I would also concentrate on just that, getting the community involved and guiding new users to use their available tools as efficiently as possible.

Contact

To contact me privately you can either use my Twitter handle or send my an email (or add me to GTalk). Alternatively I'm always in one of the Stack Exchange chat rooms if I'm at the computer.

Chat rooms:

• Tavern on the Meta
• Ask Ubuntu General Room
• Android on SO

Private contact information:

• @mainerror
• mainerror [at] gmail [dot] com

I've tried to keep it as short as possible. If I left out something that you'd want to know just ask.

---

Community questions

Asked by N.N.

I appreciate that you participate at MSO and meta.AU. A mod should know what goes on at either. You also give good references on what you would focus on as a moderator but have you got any personal views when it comes to moderation and what you would like to focus on? Not to be rude but you have not done terrible much maintenance (e.g. edits, flags and votes) on AU for being a member a year and three months. Moderation is after all mostly maintenance. Do you plan to increase your janitorial work (also the work that regular users without mod powers can do) if you become a mod?

It is true that I have been relatively inactive in that respect lately. I was only able to check the site and cast some close votes (I've actually depleted my close vote contingent) on already spotted dupes and abandoned questions from time to time because I've been very busy with real life issues like University and so on. I am not only planing to be more active but I've already started to be more active, on all three sites I visit, that is AU, SO, Meta.SO.

Hi, all.

I am Roland Taylor, your friendly (?) neighborhood fellow Ask Ubuntu user. I can't say I'm active on Meta, because I spend most of my time (when on the site) looking for questions answer/edit, especially in cases where someone needs a patient guiding hand. Sometimes I have (and still do) go out of my way to find solutions (I have learned from this) to tougher problems, and I believe that this should be one of the properties of any leader.

Anyway, I'm not here to exemplify my qualities as an "answerer of questions". If you are reading this, you are probably wondering about (and thus seeking to learn) what I can bring to the table as a moderator.

Well, I will try to list my (better) attributes that would be useful as a leader:

Patience

Far more than a virtue, patience is a practice. I am not always patient, because of course, I am human. However, I have learned from my experience as a moderator on an online computer game (yes, I learned from a computer game), that when your patience is tested, the best thing to do is walk away.

Psychological/Social Flexibility

A bit of a term of my own making (I guess), this is one property that I value most. I believe any leader should be able to switch context at the drop of hat, especially in large scale situations. In my experience (I once ran a few social networks on the Ning platform with varying success and currently run a community of gamers; in other words, highly varied people), I have found that one must be able to adapt quickly to personalities and situations, learning how to make everyone feel comfortable, while remaining true to your core values.

As a moderator, I would use this ability to keep the peace where need be, as I already do in other places.

A Strong Will

Yes, I said "A Strong Will". Most people see those who are "strong willed" as being difficult and stubborn, but that is mostly because people who fit the stereotype are often inflexible in other areas. To me, my strong will is an asset for leadership. When it comes time to stand my ground, I'll do just that, whether in defense of a decision made with the consultation of other moderators, or in the case of defending the rights of a user against other moderators ;).

A Sense of Humour

Yes, a good moderator should be able to fall out of their chair on cue. Okay, well, maybe not, on cue... but when the time is right, a leader should be able to put the "why so serious" face aside, and spread cheer and good will - without losing grip of reality at the same time of course.

Some who know me would argue, that maybe I take this part of my personality a bit too far. However, those who know me well enough would testify, my Social Flexibility rules over my sense of humour with a strong arm.

My philosophies:

To sum it all up, I believe in leadership that is modeled after two principal entities that I have learned from (bear with me here):

• Jesus.

In this case I'm referring to his form of leadership: calm and patient guidance, coupled with a firm reprimand when needed, and a never wavering stance on core values, while relegating a large amount of power to those being led. In the case of this site, I believe this method of leadership would be useful.

The community and I are one. In other words, if I am a moderator - my interests are the community's interests and the community's interests are mine. However, when needed, I will transcend the bounds of the general community for the good of the community, though not to seek my own benefit.

• The horse.

Prepare for a biology lesson :). I remember sometime in my teen years watching horses on a documentary and learning quite a bit about leadership. The stallion leads from behind, in other words, he drives the group forward, but he does so without getting in the way. Essentially, the mares carry the sway, with their own delegation of authority (think, 10k+ and 20k+ users here, like I currently am) among the "harem". The stallion's authority is only exercised when:

• Disputes arise
• Undesirable outside forces attempt to cause trouble
• It is time to move in a new direction

I know that must have been, an interesting - combination of examples, but I hope you have seen where I get my inspiration in leadership from. I hope to make use of (and improve upon) those if elected as a moderator, and to remain open to correction and reproof from the community should I slip up. If I am not elected, I'll just continue doing what I already do: answering, editing, and closing questions, and looking out for those who need a helping hand.

My Role As A Moderator (With focus on Ask Ubuntu)

I have been asked often, "What would you gain from becoming a moderator that you don't already have as a 20k+ user?"

To be quite honest, I don't really think I would gain anything more than a little notoriety and a ♦ next to my name, at least if referring to things that pump the ego. What I'm looking for as a moderator is not power to wield an axe, but rather power to help more than I can right now. For example, I get slightly perturbed by the inability to convert wayward answers into comments, or stop a spammer in their tracks, or part a fight, rare as those may be.

As a moderator, I would not longer have to wait in such cases for a solution, or pass on the work to someone else, but I could jump right in and right the wrongs that I come across, taking into consideration the advice of those who've gone before me and those who I serve.

Another area I hope to put a more concentrated effort into, is in helping users who are not native-english speakers. I already seek to do so when I can by editing questions, but as a moderator I would seek any other ways in which I could help them (though, to be fair, I will still seek ways to do so even as a normal user).

Overall, my goal is to make the site a better place, and of course, a cleaner place.

~~~

To me, being a moderator is not a political office, even if the process of becoming one feels similar. I hold current moderators to no higher standard (as a user) than I would for any other user - except that they have a responsibility to use their powers as required of them.

---

Q & A from the community:

I wonder what is your vision more concretely for Ask Ubuntu? You write about leadership and about keeping peace but what are concrete examples of issues you see that you would like to focus on as a moderator? – N.N.

My vision for AskUbuntu is to make the site the best - within it's boundaries - place to get answers to your Ubuntu questions. My method for doing that would be:

(Whether a moderator or not):

• Provide good answers as usual.
• Ensure that hard work is rewarded (vote and share).
• Protect questions from spammers and pointless comments.
• Guide users with helpful feedback and instructions where needed.
• Edit questions and tag wikis (something which I have not done as actively in very recent times but will be back to in the coming months).
• Flag questions that need attention or respond to flags (as a 10k+ user I can confirm or contest flags).

(As a moderator):

• Migrate out of place questions to the right place.
• Merge tags/questions where needed.
• Quickly dispatch advertisements in answers (hey come buy my fancy handbags, they're made of soy leather - and the like).
• Turn comments into questions when that is required.
• Put users in time out for repeatedly breaking the rules.
• Part fights (yes they do happen) and stomp out unfriendly users.

Jesus would forgive anyone. how about you? – UAdapter

To this I would say: "Be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove." - This is the instruction to His disciples (I'm one), and it works well whether you are one or not. What I mean by this is, most of the time I will be "forgiving" of offenses and infractions, with a warning to avoid doing it again. However, wisdom dictates in this context that I cannot always "forgive" wayward behaviour. In such cases, my foot will be down... for good. To quote another saying of Jesus here (not verbatim) "whoever's sins you forgive are forgiven, and whoever's sins you retain are retained".

P.S. I will not use my moderator status to attack users who personally attack me or my friends or even a love interest.

---

I have signed the Ubuntu Code of Conduct and I try to live by similar principles to those in the Leadership Code of Conduct.

---

For more about me as a person, see here: http://about.me/rolandixor You will find I don't try to hide who I am on the internet, because I believe if someone is to be trusted, they should be known for who they are.

P.S. Please leave feedback if I should improve this post before the time runs out :)!

Well hello!

I am a prolific editor, active Meta contributor, obsessive compulsive voter (both up/down votes, votes to close etc), as well as a flagger. Yes, I flag things. A lot. In fact, I regularly run out of flags. True fact.

Whenever there have been "issues" with things on the site, I normally bring it up on Meta or in the chatroom. I'm constantly available - I reply to email somewhat quickly, you can ping me on chat, or post on meta, or (if this is your thing) send me a tweet at @jrgifford - although I do ask that if its related to moderation, that you contact me more privately then twitter, because after all, twitter is public.

I visited on Christmas day. I have Copy Editor, Fanatic, Electorate and Convention.

While I wasn't even on the internet at the time A theory of moderation was posted, since I joined Ask Ubuntu over a year ago (shortly after launch) I have regularly referred to it as a guidelines of how to (or how not to) handle things, relate to people on Ask Ubuntu, and in general be a good community member.

How much time do I anticipate spending on the site? Well, every day, I spend (on average) about 4 to 5 hours (more on weekends) editing, looking for posts in dire need of cleanup, closing etc.

What are some of the "biggest issues" that I see on Ask Ubuntu, and how am I going to help fix them?

Well, currently, I see "the biggest" problem as being our answered rate keeps plummeting - and as moderator, I will continue doing everything I can (primarily, dealing with abandoned questions), but as moderator, I will be able to devote more resources to taking care of our large amount of abandoned questions.

I took a question from the Stack Overflow November 2011 Elections:

How will you respond to a user calling you out by name on Meta, damning your black nazi soul for closing their question and vowing vengeance upon you?

They have a right to call me out, yell at me, etc. I'll take a look, and if I think its worth my time, I will explain what I did, and why.

What would I do if I disagree with the other moderators actions?

I will publicly back them up all the way, but privately ask them to explain how/why they came to that conclusion.

In short, while I might have less than 200 answers, its not because I don't care about the site - its because I take care about the site in other ways, such as editing, editing and editing.

If I'm elected I will...:

• Do my hardest to get the communities feedback, the existing/previous moderators opinion on any sort of "tough decision".

• Do my best to resolve any and all conflicts that might arise in conjuction with the other moderators - although I haven't seen a lot of them.

• Continue working to make sure the site is high quality.

I am somewhat active on Meta StackOverflow, although I wouldn't say its as "important" as Meta Ask Ubuntu is.

I have signed the Code of Conduct. I also hereby agree to continue abiding by the Leadership Code of Conduct, as outlined here. I have read the moderator agreement and I take the "rules of the road" there very, very seriously. I am also aware that moderators have access to large amounts of potentially personal data - I can assure you that I won't misuse this info, and even if I were to try, the SE team tracks that and cracks down on it, and I'm pretty dang sure its not a three-strikes-you're-out policy, its a "BOOM DEAD".

In A Theory of Moderation, the following is mentioned:

Whenever possible, try to leave frequent comments on posts where you’ve taken (or considered taking) a moderator action, explaining the reasoning. This is important so that community members can learn the norms of the community and the moderation policies.

I leave comments when I have voted to close on a existing question, or flagged it, or I've upvoted an existing comment (this last one is often the case for duplicate questions).

Moderators are human exception handlers, there to deal with those (hopefully rare) exceptional conditions that should not normally happen, but when they do, they can bring your entire community to a screaming halt — if you don’t have human exception handling in place.

emphasis mine

In many ways, being a moderator wouldn't really change anything in the way I use the site - since I will have InstaCloseVotes™ as a moderator, in the case of abandoned questions I will be more inclined to leave a comment, set a reminder for a few days ahead, then come back to the question and then close it. In the case of obvious bug reports however, I will close them, and if I think its slightly possible that it isn't a bug, then I will not close it, but rather leave a comment asking for more information to determine if it is a bug.

Ok, enough about me and my Ask Ubuntu stuff, what about me as a person?

I'm a blogger of sorts. I have been known to make screencasts. I heckle people I know well enough that I know they'll enjoy a joke or two. I like Apple Pie, but not Pi. I am an Ubuntu Member. I sincerely hope you can trust me, and I ask that you watch me as a moderator, and tell me what I might be doing wrong - after all, unlike Jorge Castro, I am only human.

I enjoy riding my bike,although unlike some people I see it as a way to get from point A to point B easily. While I'm in UTC - 5 hours (or -4 - stupid daylight savings), I am active throughout the entire day here in the US, as well as parts of the day in other timezones.

Questions from the community.

Is there any concrete issues you would like to focus on as a moderator? – N.N.

@N.N. Define "concrete" - I stated that I would focus on A. our answer rate, B. our abandoned question problem and C. Continue working on making sure things are high quality. AKA, JANITOR. :) – jrg

@jrg I just wanted to make it clearer. That makes sense. – N.N.

@N.N. However (and I posted on meta), do you (and by extension, the rest of the community) see problems? – jrg

@jrg As a moderator, in which situations would you use your "Instant clse" rights, as opposed to regular close votes? – Jacob Johan Edwards

@JacobJohanEdwards as opposed to regular votes? Well, as far as I know, the only kind of vote that a moderator has is a instaclose vote. In what situations would I use them? Flags, things posted in the moderator chatroom, questions that clearly meet the criteria for abandonment, as defined in this meta answer - I also always always always leave a comment explaining why I'm closing, so if I'm wrong, I can (and will) flag it for reopening. – jrg

@jrg Ah, even after reading ToM, I somehow got the impression mods had an option to vote (unlimitedly) as regular mortals. – Jacob Johan Edwards

@jrg When nominated, can you promise to make 'Unicorn Staring' a standard? Furthermore, What is your stand on this hot, and trending topic? – rlemon

@rlemon I have no control over the first, and my opinion is that it is a good song. - jrg

fossfreedom

Hi all, I would like to put my name forward for community moderator - I'm known by my nom de plume fossfreedom - but to my friends and colleagues as David - DM - Danger Mouse (hence my avatar)

who am I

I'm a family guy with two great kids and a gorgeous wife.

I have a Master's degree in Software Engineering. My life revolves around my family who will always come first and foremost.

My interests outside computers are the theatre, cinema and a good round of golf ... not necessarily in that order. My first computer was a BBC Micro - 1983 vintage and my first PC was a Windows 3.1 based x80286 in 1993

My career for the last 20 years is in Information Technology creating large systems in a variety of operating systems and coding languages. I came to Ubuntu through my job early in my career with Gutsy (v7.10) and never looked back.

I'm UK based but you will see me popping up throughout the day & evening (and sometimes the night...)

I am an active UbuntuForums contributor (Chocolate Ubuntu Mocha Blend) but nothing beats the buzz of Ask Ubuntu!

Ask Ubuntu participation

I'm constantly amazed with the people & their Q&A's I've met through Ask Ubuntu.

My participation is mainly through up-voting Q&A's, editing, flagging, identifying dupes and nominating questions for closing - achieving Gold badges for

• Copy Editor
• Electorate
• Fanatic
• Marshall

Last year I was fortunate to be ranked Number 1 in the reputation rankings with over 800+ answers - thank-you all!

Why do I want to be community moderator

That really is an easy question ... I'm a fan of Ubuntu and love this site. I try my best always to help to improve Q&A's, frequently helping directly through answers and comments and explaining & most importantly following up queries and issues.

Since I'm such a frequent contributor I can easily spot the obvious day-to-day issues. Community moderator will provide just the little bit more ability to take action where the community (that means you!) wishes it.

My philosophy...

Janitorial work is part-and-parcel of a good Ask Ubuntu contributor ... a good moderator is just an extension to a good contributor.

Thus - whilst I maybe a higher than average rep user, I look to be a community moderator as a natural progression to what I currently do - to help Ask Ubuntu to be better wiki for all things Ubuntu.

Ask Ubuntu should be the site that users should come to for help.

Encouraging, tidying & updating everyone should do. A community moderator would be able to progress these tasks efficiently and effectively - not only working with the community but just occasionally leading by example to achieve this.

I won't make any grand promises other than two:

1. To do my best to make this the best StackOverflow site, through raising its profile by providing high quality answers and carefully tidying-up through community flags.
2. Be the Spam merchants worse nightmare - kill those "Gold Watch" answers that pop-up very occasionally!

---

Questions from the community

How would being elected moderator affect your use of time on the site? Some other nominees have librarian-type work as their primary contribution, while you are a problem-solving machine. I know it's unfair, but I find myself wondering if making you a mod would just shift your productivity and mojo to other tasks, rather than increasing your ability to contribute to the site.

Wow - that is a flattering question.

Actually, I believe the role of the moderator will not have any impact on Q&A's. I've thought hard how much I actually spend on Q&As vs Janitor type stuff - I believe it can be as much as a 50/50 split - especially around the 6 monthly release schedule. Believe or not, I don't answer that many Q's in a day - just three or four on average!

Hi, just to keep it short: I'm 23, doing my masters in physics and also a system administrator in a dormitory. My work here can be divided into four parts:

• Keeping the servers and network alive and up-to-date
• Experimenting with new technologies and solutions
• Solving problems for users, and teaching them the Ubuntu way
• Moderating mail lists for the dormitory and for the physicist student groups.

I've joined askubuntu about a month ago, and after a few days became top user of the week. I am a Ubuntu user since 7.10, and deployed it to many various configurations.

Update #1: As I work mostly at the computer, I have the required time participate in askubuntu.

My problems with AskUbuntu:

1. Too much duplicate questions. -> When someone comes here, just asks a question, even more times, just to get attention. Solution: If it can be done, I would change the way how a question is asked. First you select the tags -> you get a list of previous question titles (to check if there is a similar one). Second you start to give your title, and the search list gets shortened based on the words. So first you only search, and if you can't find your question/answer, then you will be granted an option to ask. (Reputation limit for instant questions (like now) 150.)
2. Limit the number of question which can be asked in an hour. (<50 ->1, 51-150-> 3, >151 -> inf)
3. Lower comment junk for new/low rep users. -> I wanted to invite somebody to chat, to solve his problem there. The problem was, he had only 1 rep. If the policy can be changed, that would be fine: High rep users could invite anyone to chat. OR create a new flag "request chat", and when a mod sees it, it can grant chat access if needed fot a short period of time.
4. There are no sub questions. - When a problem is only slightly different from the other, why can't someone add his own question.

Update #2 About my age. (Some comments say, I am too young to be a mod)

In my opinion, it is not the age that makes a good mod, it is the community experience. The best thing that I have learned in the university is that if you are alone, then you are lost. But if you participate in something, you are a part of it. If you do your part, the whole goes on, but if you do it in a wrong way, the whole gets poisoned from it. If there are no elected/respected leaders or mods who see and solve the problems, then the community can't live for long.

Update #3: Earned the enthusiast silver badge.

Any other question?

Hello AU'ians

I am nominating myself as a Community Moderator For Ask Ubuntu. Im a guy with a good sense of humor, and unicorns.I started using ubuntu from 10.04, When the glamour began. I always like to learn new things. I'm very active in chat :D . Also, Im an expert chocolate and ice-cream tester ;)

• I know I haven't been a member of this community for as long as the other active members but I use my time on this site for learning and helping others learn by solving their problems

• I may not seem to have much answers as the other nominee's but, when I answer, I well research the topic, and the ninjas(No offence) Answer it by that. All in all, I get to learn something new

• I also ask questions which serve as an example as dupes, and In that process a person can get to the real question

• I review and flag appropiately

• As a regular user, I do cleanup sprints with jokerdino and jrg, Making me a moderator would help in cleaning up the site more efficiently :D

What would make me a good moderator?

Availability

Im around from 4:30PM IST to 6:00PM IST on school days,and alot more when on holidays and exams. You can ping me anytime for any issue, you will probably get an answer within that time. I visit on all holidays too. I'm pretty much always online on chat when I'm on a PC. Im on the other side of the globe (GMT+5:30). Which gets me a great advantage

Suggestions

I will be open to suggestions. You can contact me on chat or send me an email. I have read and will try my best to implement the suggestions in The theory of moderation

How I will treat the Users

I will take all suggestions to make me a better moderator seriously. I will not give in to favouratism and will respect the user's opinion. After all what would be Ask Ubuntu without users?

I will respect the users privacy and will not use my powers for any bad. I know that Moderators have access to a very large store of potentially private data., which is not to be misused

Handling disputes

I know that everybody has their own opinion on flagging and other resposibilities. I will try my best to solve disputes(Although I hadnt seen much)

Who Am I(Out of AU)

I'm a 13 year old who loves ubuntu and promotes the usage of ubuntu everywhere. I study in the 8th grade. When I'm free, I play with my arduino and learn to code.

tl;dr Vote for me so that I can get the StackExchange™ PeopleEmpowering Diamond-O-Matic™

Questions from the community

Q:

I wonder what is your vision for Ask Ubuntu? What issues would you like to work with and how can we make Ask Ubuntu a better site, i.e. what would you focus on as a moderator? – N.N.

A:

I Want to make this site a better place for users to engage in answering and asking questions. I would focus on making the site free of any wrong type of behavior, also making sure the total quality Of the site is improved.

i like ubuntu. I prefer windows (its much better), but I have to use linux, so I know it best. What I like about linux? not much, but I will say what I like. I like workspaces. it allows me to use linux easier. I miss that feature on my home machine.

elo ziomki :-)

If you are looking for cute cat pictures, please read the last line of this post.

---

Now, onto the serious part.

My thoughts about Ask Ubuntu

As a plebeian, I have participated in Ask Ubuntu as an useful and an active contributor. In the past four months or so that I have been member of the site, I have noticed how the Ask Ubuntu community and the site on the whole works. I realize that there is great potential for me to serve the Ask Ubuntu community as it perfectly fits into one of my strengths, that is collaborative work. I am convinced that the moderator team wouldn't mind a new member who isn't afraid of collaboration but rather is more than willing to chip in whenever necessary.

Experiences thus far

I understand that I am relatively newer to the site than most of the other candidates. While some people would consider it as an handicap, I actually think it plays well into my hands. Being new to the community means, I bring fresher and varying perspectives to the party compared to the veterans who are so much more used to the flow of the community, which I think, can only be good for the community! Having spent a good couple of months, I think I am in the right mould to step up as the moderator, who is both familiar to the community and equally vibrant, capable of providing a varying perspective to the whole mechanism.

Qualities that I hold

• Never afraid to stand up

I stand by decisions and choices if and when necessary. If someone is not comfortable with my flow of thought, I am more than willing to verify and/or clarify and I think that is an essential quality that every moderator should have in themselves. And, when I am not very clear about other's opinions, I am not afraid to ask for clarifications which would then enable me to make a smarter decision. To sum it up, if I think I am right, I will stand by my decisions. When in doubt, I will consult the relevant people.

• Enthusiasm and self-confidence

I feel that not having a large amount of reputation or answers in the site doesn't make me any inferior to the other candidates. Where they (the other candidates) contribute in terms of useful resources, I make up for that more than enough with my enthusiasm and self-confidence. That, unfortunately, is not covered by any of the metrics in the site.

• Not afraid to own up

I am willing to admit mistakes when I erroneously commit one. I have done that before and I am not shy to do that in the future if I make another one. (I just hope I don't have to do that often enough!) Surely, making genuine mistakes is the part and parcel of human life right?

Participation in the meta

I might not have visible contributions in the discussion that takes place in the meta. But, you should note that I have been regularly visiting the meta to see possible discussions that are worth exploring. I also visit the meta.stackoverflow.com for any updates on the Stackexchange mechanism on the whole. I have an enthusiast badge to show off as a proof for my eagerness and enthusiasm in the discussions affecting our community that takes place in the meta. Usually, I bring up these issues in the chat room and I make sure that my thoughts and opinions are heard about this if necessary. In brief, I do discuss matters. Just not in the meta that actively.

Contact

When I am online and not trawling the main site or the meta sites, you can find me in the Ask Ubuntu General room. When not chatting, you can find me lurking on the corners of the chat room.

If you are interested in what I do, you can follow me on Twitter. No promises that I would regularly tweet though.

Geographical location

(You might want to call it the strategic location.)

Also, I live on the other side of the planet [Singapore / GMT +8] compared to the current crop of moderators and that, I think, is an added bonus to my nomination. While I don't disagree that this is purely by chance and not strictly by merit, I still think that it is beneficial to the entire community if there are enough moderators available at any time and that they are able to cover a variety of time zones without much trouble or discomfort.

If I become a moderator...

If I am elected as a moderator, I will be focusing on issues that are currently bothering our site, namely:

• The sub-par answer rate of our site compared to the other StackExchange sites.

This I am already working on, as a regular user of the site, by being part of the cleanup sprints brought together by jrg. But, I think being a moderator would only help me help the site in cleaning up in a faster, better and an efficient way.

Now that I think more about this, I think we can take a leaf out of our friends at tex.stackexchange.com's book and organize events that help us cull the unanswered questions in a more useful manner.

• Improving community involvement and engagement.

This might sound mundane but I think this is necessary if you want to keep the community thriving. I note that the current moderator team already has plans to have events like meeting with the moderators. So, I think I can help them in getting this done a tad earlier.

• Get the Ask Ubuntu Wikipedia page updated on a regular basis.

Works on the Wikipedia page wasn't started by me and I haven't yet contributed personally to the page yet but I have got plans in my mind. So, you can some changes coming that way.

• And, perhaps, explore ways of possibly getting localized versions of Ask Ubuntu.

I am not yet sure of the possible logistical issues that might get in the way of setting up a localized version. Since I am a multilingual, I know how useful it is to have resources available in multiple languages. If setting up localized versions is indeed possible, I would work to ensure that actually happens.

Summary

To sum up a long winding post, please vote me in for the moderator post. I will surely not make you regret.

Knocking out,
Joker-Dino!

---

Community inquiries

Question: Ideally, who among the current batch of moderator nominees would you like to see getting elected?

Answer: Looking at the nominees right now, I would say, jrg and Octavian for sure. No one else has convinced me for the third slot. So, that would be blank for the time being.

---

I understand that Geoff Dalgas has ailurophobia. So, I won't be posting any cute cat pictures here. Sorry! Please do read the reminder of the post up there!