OSDev.org

As I see there are a few spambots on this forum (even now) and I would like to clean them out, or move some offtopic posts/topics as a moderator. I visit this forum almost every hour, more than 20 times a day in sum-up. I have more than 1050 posts (I know the post count doesn't mean anything) and I would like to have some liabilities and to do something for the community. Okay, I apologize for some of my offtopic posts or useless threads.... everybody makes errors and I'm not a exception.

As you know I'm not new here, I would like to have some responsibility around the forums... if Chase wouldn't mind.

Thanks for your answer.

I know you specifically wrote to Chase in your post above, but you did it in a public forum, and that makes it free for people to respond, and I believe this deserves some response.

IMO, being a moderator is a lot more than just cleaning out spam posts and moving offtopic posts into a new thread. And it's more than just enforcing the forum rules. To me a moderator should be someone that does all of that, has demonstrated a fairly large knowledge base, and more. Simply put, I think that some of your recent posts show your lack of knowledge in some areas of OS design that a moderator should have. Perhaps you do have that knowledge and just haven't shown it. Or maybe you're simply ignorant of it. Good thing you don't have to be a global moderator and could be a moderator of a couple specific forums (general programming, rambling, etc, but not the OSdev related ones, please!).

However, in my book, you're automatically disqualified because you asked to become a moderator. Good mods don't ask, they're chosen. And IMO, the community should get a say in who the mods are.

And all that said, I do believe there should be changes in the moderators we have now. Some of them don't appear to be active enough.

I won't be dealing with the question of actually becoming a mod, mainly because I'm a junior compared to some other members of the team. I don't mind to give some insights in what happens behind the scenes though.

As a disclaimer, this is my view of matters, and I wouldn't even dare claiming the same holds for all of the moderators. And I'm deliberately going to be vague on the matter (and don't expect to get more)

If I were to select a moderator I'd select one based on having showed the capabilities needed to manage the many people coming around, and having the best interests of the forum at heart. Several of the items mentioned are indeed a key aspect, but I have quite a few more on my own personal list, and there are also some aspects I personally consider less important.

True, you won't become a mod by asking. However if we think someone is the right person for the job then rest assured, you'll get your invitation. The fact that one proposes himself gives some ideas about the person, but should not necessarily be bad for one's chances. In the end it will always be the overall idea of the person that makes the decision.

I would not approve of a mod election, since IMHO elections tend to make people with too little background knowledge make an uneducated choice based on the wrong arguments. However, having recieved positive karma from the community is one of those things that are listed on my personal "best mod checklist"

That will always be the problem of not knowing what is actually happening behind the scenes. That I might appear to be a quite up-front mod does not mean the other mods are slacking off, on the contrary, I admire that they can achieve good things without even letting you notice something happened.

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Personally, you're not on my list of "people I might propose for moderatorship" (for some healthy speculation: it counts two people at this moment). Fortunately, you're far away from my "won't ever be mod" list, so there is still hope that one day you may be one of ours.

There's some nice insights, Combuster. Thanks for that!


I tried to cover everything with my blanket "and more" statement.


Perhaps not a huge community-wide mod election, no. Polling a representative slice of the community would be nice, though.


I'll agree with you there; I like that some of the mods seem to get things done without it even being noticed. In this case though I meant some of the mods haven't even visited the forums in quite a while, according to their profile pages.

I disagree. If there was a poll on who should be an moderator I would put my vote forward for Inflater due to his dedication, enthusiasm, and his knowledge.

Of course, there would never be a poll for moderator. It would be like a high-school election. *remembers the horror*

Edit: Also, a moderator doesn't need to know everything about OS Design... that's not really part of the job description. The moderator is to calm down discussions, be a role model for the forum, clean up spam, decide whether posts need to be moved or deleted or locked, etc. Of course, knowledge of OS design is helpful.

should upgrade to SMF you can have games on it and you can delete your own posts and better moderating and managing. I use it my self. not porblems at all

Not everyone would think that's a Good Thing


You can here - unless someone has replied and you would therefore disrupt the thread.


I think the moderation tools provided by phpBB3 are more than adequate.

Getting back on topic - I entirely agree with Combuster's sentiments. There was recently a "round" of appointing new mods due to the fact that there are many more users on the boards now. I don't think that a poll would have been the correct way to go about this.

Cheers,
Adam

Thanks for the replies, but actually will this end into a simple answer YES or NO? I would like to see chase's opinion.

Hi,



I'd just like to point out that all members can help out with moderation, without actually being a moderator.

In the top right corner of each post there's a "report this post" button (it looks like an exclamation mark in a triangle, if you're using the default theme). If you click on this it gives you a screen where you can enter a reason why the post is a problem, etc.

You can report posts for any reason you like - it doesn't have to be offensive, spam, etc. For example, if you see a post that needs to be moved or if you'd like a topic split or some other minor adjustment, then you can still report the post - just mention what you'd like done in the comments.

Reporting a post makes it very easy for moderators to find posts that need some attention - it highlights the post and adds it to a (normally empty) list of reported posts that moderators can check to quickly find any/all reported posts. I assume that most moderators don't actually read every new post (I know I don't), however moderators do check the list of reported posts regularly, so using this feature can help a lot.

I'd also assume that using the "report this post" feature (in a responsible manner) wouldn't hurt a person's chances of becoming a moderator...


Cheers,

Brendan

Hi ,
I am sorry if i hurt someone here . But i find that some of the moderators are more or less dead ( in the sense that i dont see their posts ) . May I suggest JamesM (despite his general rudeness ) , and Dex as new moderators . I think both of them would be excellent moderators .

Regards
Sandeep

Moderators work behind the scenes deleting posts that we never get to see, managing users, and holding the peace. You'd be surprised at how active they really are - you can't see the moderation subforum, for instance

But we can see their last logon times. For example I doubt that "carbonBased", "mystran" or "os64dev" visit as much as e.g. Brendan or Combuster do. Mystran has no "last visited" date,that can only mean that he didnt visit this forum since phpBB3 upgrade. And, I've never seen carbonBased to post in 2007 or 2008...

A moderater should be, IMHO, a user who cares about the forum and users, visits it often and has the will to help with e.g. OSdev, too.

Anyways thanks MessiahAndrw for the compliment

hmmm.., chase?

Reply is obvious