Apologies if this has been covered in FAQs, but I haven’t seen anything quite on this topic.
What’s the process? Who is ultimately in charge of it, and has the final authority?
There is obviously a bit of a ‘Quis custodiet ipsos custodes’ question involved…?
Sorry. That’s secret.
If I tell you, I’d have to…
well…um…NM.
You’ll know if it happens.
Cecil is too busy to concern himself about triflin’ details.
When I did it, I had to fill out an application, then have a phone interview with Ed Zotti, then I got to be a moderator. I think the opinions of other moderators about whether that person will be a good moderator heavily factor into it. As well as your track record on the board. Do you have a bunch of warnings? Do people perceive you as biased? Are you generally well respected as a poster? Do you have a long experience with the board? Etc.
Ed Zotti for both. It was briefly Tubadiva.
Wow ! Your Zotti number is 1 ?! Cool.
I had thought it was cage matches.
Welcome to Thunderdooooooome!
Who is, or was, Tubadiva?
Ed Zotti seems to be a real journalist according to Wikipedia.
The website still seems to be owned by the Chicago Sun Times.
Who is number one?
Former Administrator of the Dope. Died a few years ago.
She was a moderator until she passed away a few years ago.
She really was a tuba player. Participated in many a musical group.
The longer of two threads on TubaDiva’s passing.
She was an administrator as well as a moderator.
Generally speaking, when we feel that we have a shortage of moderators, we start tossing names around the mod loop and discuss who we think would be good for the positions that we need. TubaDiva used to do the bulk of the work in the old days, but Ed has always had final approval. Once we all agree on a candidate, we contact them and ask them if they are interested, and if so, then we send them an application to fill out. Ed will usually interview them over the phone or via Zoom. Once we have the application and all of the information, we will all review everything and come to a final decision.
TubaDiva (aka Jenny) was our Admin until she passed away a few years ago. She reported directly to Ed.
Ed Zotti is currently “number one”
She was our Admin, not a moderator. After a data breach she lost her admin privileges in the software, but for all practical purposes she remained an administrator. When things had to be done that required admin access in the software, someone else had to push the buttons, but she decided what needed to be done and when. She managed all of us moderators, but did very little moderating herself. She also did a lot of work on the Straight Dope web site.
Ah. Probably before I was around. RIP, especially to any musician.
Mind you, adminstrator is not the same thing as boss…??
Ed has always been the boss. TubaDiva did the day to day administration and management.
Of course I can’t resist the quote: I am not a number, I am a free man.
You are number six.
I think I was TubaDiva’s last approval but then a lot happened with the Discourse change-over and her passing. So I went through a final interview with Ed Zotti.
TubaDiva was going to assign me to Cafe Society and one other forum, but she wasn’t sure of the other at the time.
I think she had reached out to me this time, but I had thrown my hat in the ring much earlier, possibly twice. I can’t remember for sure on that one.
That’s the same way I got into McDonalds in the '80s!
@Cecil_Adams is number 1…ahem!
Should… Should someone tell her?