“We don’t know” is a boring answer, but it’s the truth. I really don’t know anything more about the free-to-post move, and I wish I did - but if anybody else here knew, they’d have already told you. We’re volunteers helping keep the board working, not part of the heirarchy at the Reader/Creative Loafing. Likewise I don’t know about how much money the board might be making. That’s just not something I would be told.
They could tell me the capacity of the servers and I wouldn’t understand it anyway, I’m not that technically capable.
As for the Cecil thing… when I became a Mod I thought I might finally get the Ultimate Answer there. I thought wrong. Other people might know, but for all I’ve been told, Cecil works out of the office next to that warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant is kept.
Edited: By the way, make that five spammers today. Must be a full moon.
How does one become a mod? Is there an application form? What are the requirements? (I presume Requirement #1 is a 24/7 connection to the Net… and Requirement #2 is thicker skin than a Toronto bus driver.
I tend to disregard obvious crapola rumors like “Mods can make themselves invisible” or “Mods can transmutate elements” but there is one which I am dying to know:
Is it true that Mods can make themselves invisible?
Well, heck, I might as well shoot for the moon here: Do you know if it is true that SDSAB folk can levitate? I seriously question this, but it has been reported to me more than once by what I would usually term ‘reliable sources.’
Send an email to TubaDiva and ask for one. As far as I know, any member can be considered.
LiveOnAPlane, I live in New York City, so I know what being invisible feels like anyway. Being a Mod is incidental. SDSAB members can levitate, but only when they are on a treadmill.
I have just one small question. Do all the mods pitch in for tomndebb’s Geritol or does Ed just send it to you a case at a time. Enquiring mind(s) would like to know.
You know I love you tom, you old coot
Are men in uniform cute? I think I was whooshed by a mod! A banner day for me.
How does one become a Mod? Does one apply and once those already in the Elite stop laughing long enough to process the app or what? Do you have to interview? Have a criminal record? Advocate for deviant sexual practices? What does it take?
Oh, so you’re saying you Photoshopped your way into this job, eh? <knowing smirk here>
You mods are all alike. Big talk, but fake photos. Ha!
<evil grin>
In my case, I was recruited. TVeblen sent me an email, asking if I’d be interested in being a mod. It was quite a surprise, as I didn’t think anyone even knew who I was, apart from the occasional harassment of minors or toilet dare, let alone thought I should be trusted with any sort of authority.
But I think application through Tuba is the usual way. Once it’s decided that another mod is needed, there’s discussion about who seems to have the right disposition for the job. Then it either gets forgotten or someone (not me) makes a command decision – we’re not exactly the most organized group.
Can mods delete their own posts? (I am certain I got an email the other day about a post to a thread by a mod and when I looked there was no post. Either they can or I am losing it).
For the banning of a member- say a long standing one with few warnings- would one mod act alone or would you tend to get agreement from other mods that it is a suitable course of action?
If a mod disagrees with the actions of another mod- are these raised in discussions or just accepted?
Yes. We can delete anyone’s posts, although it’s really only done when someone makes a duplicate post and asks for us to erase it. We can also edit posts, which is mostly just used to break links or fix code. But my first couple of days as a Mod, I was deathly afraid I was going to accidentally hit “edit” instead of reply, and just write over someone else’s post.
We never act alone to ban members in good standing. A guest troll would be a different story, but even for somebody with plenty of warnings, we always discuss that stuff. The official rule is that two mods and one administrator have to agree, I think, but basically we put it to the entire group and see what people think.
We discuss that sort of stuff all the time. I’m constantly impressed by the amount of thought some of the more experience Mods put into their interpretations on the rules and considering the implications of policies.
Yes, we can, but we don’t unless it’s a double post. When we do delete a post, there’s a record that a post was deleted, so if you think that has happened, feel free to email another mod and ask them to take a look.
Bannings of members require consensus, we can’t just do it ourselves. Bannings where response time is important, e.g. spammers or trolling guests, can be done by a single mod. If we make a mistake, it can be reversed, but that hasn’t happened very often.
Yes, we argue amongst ourselves about the best way to handle different situations. For actions that are forum specific, e.g. thread closings, we’ll usually defer to the mods of that forum. For actions that are board-wide, e.g. warnings for violation of board-wide rules, people feel more of a stake in maintaining consistent and fair enforcement of the rules.
