Who wants to be a moderator?

[EEVblog]

Given that I'm going away for a few weeks this weekend, I think it's about time I appoint an extra forum moderator or two.
Who's interested in being a net cop?

Dave.

[ElektroQuark]

I think you should chose them in base of users behavior in the forums.
Moderation can be a powerful gun in some hands, or not.

[ElektroQuark]

Another suggestion:

Two moderators will share problems and solutions. They can take agreed actuations. Two opinions can be better than one.

That's all 

[orbiter]

My hand is in the air to be considered for the EEV Police please. As long as there is no requirment that you have to be a fully qualified electronics engineer or anything. Although I am an enginner to some degree.. as a vehicle technician

orb

[Simon]

the idea of a mod is to control undesirable behaviour on the board such as remove blatant spam and ensure things don't go out of hand, an electronics degree is not usually necessary.

Dave I'll happily donate some time to it, I'm already subscribed to be alerted to all new threads and posts (which I don't necessarily follow up) so it won't be much extra to me.

At the end of the day as EdoNork said it's down to you to chose based on who you can trust, and yes two mods conferring before taking any serious action is a good idea, particularly if your new to the role.

[Zero999]

Sometimes someone with less knowledge is better because they are less likely to have a strong opinion about something.

I have a few questions:

Is the moderation temporary? Will it be revoked as soon as you're back.

How much power will the moderator have? Will they just be able to edit/remove posts or will they be able to remove spam signatures or ban?

I would suggest that you approach people who you think might be suitable rather than asking for volunteers. Maybe you could also give them a quick informal interview to make sure that what they think a moderator should do matches with your expectations.

If you need a permanent moderator, you might want to consider appointing a couple, one to moderate half of the sections and another to moderate the rest and only give them the power to delete/edit posts, not ban. Then you could promote one of them to super moderator with the power to ban people.

[Mechatrommer]

o jeez, this is happening sooner than i thought! away for a few weeks huh? If i'm the Admin i will make sure the moderator must be:

1) Literate in English, so not to confuse the stewardess to jump out of an airplane
2) Frequently logged in, so they can catch nasty things quickly.
3) Peace Maker, so to calm down any havoc occuring.
4) Not easily get into emotion, so not to kick a member easily like a ball.
5) Willing to reply to most posts, not just lurking and find a so called "quality question" to reply so they can be seen/categorized as a so called "quality poster"
6) Wide general knowledge and open minded to support (5)
7) Not a conservative dickhead!
8th) Above all... wise and wisdom.

Well, as the quality post is concerned, i've seen members with highly (and i mean very high) quality posts, but.... very few posts (less than hundred), so i cannot assure whether they are commited or not in keeping EEVBlog in harmony. They probably only specialized/interested in specific area and not caring others. And on the other hand i've seen members with high count of posts, but... non quality, maybe thats including me . so...

So here i'm not voting myself, i will help in suggesting the probable candidates. This is based on their commitment in keeping this forum in harmony and helping others through their "posts". Here they are:

2) Hero999: Wide general knowledge and willing to help in most discipline.
3) alm: Some sense of humor
4) saturation: same as hero
5) DJPhil: Native American IIRC and same as alm
(notice that #1 candidate is missing, it was Simon, but since he already send the application form, there is no need to put here)

...well, if you have to add the 9th criteria...
9) You must have an EEVBlog T-Shirt!
...then, pls count me in... just particularly for that!

[orbiter]

the idea of a mod is to control undesirable behaviour on the board such as remove blatant spam and ensure things don't go out of hand, an electronics degree is not usually necessary.

I know, that bit was a joke

I must apologise though as I have jumped in with both feet here. I've managed to forgot that I'll be away from the 16th of this month for 1 week.

[PeterG]

I aint sticking my hand up, but i will nominate Simon as one of the Mods.

Anyone second that?

Regards

[Time]

It doesn't seem like heavy mod intervention needs to occur frequently around here anyways.  Aside from the occasional spam post, people are usually pretty well behaved from what I can tell.  Whoever is appointed probably won't have to get involved with anything while Dave is gone, I imagine.

I guess the obvious nominations are the regular posters:

DJPhil, Hero999, Simon, shafri, alm, saturation

[Mechatrommer]

Anyone second that?

You seconded me!

I guess the obvious nominations are the regular posters:
DJPhil, Hero999, Simon, shafri, alm, saturation

pls dont vote me. I just want to be a regular guy and i dont think i can handle the burden (well.. unless it is just for a temporary short time only ). All i ask from d new mods is... dont ban me for no reason and warning plssss.

[PeterG]

LOL, ok Shafri is my second nomination. Shafri and Simon both seem to be level headed and knowledgable on forum topics.

Regards

[PeterG]

The decision Dave has to make is not an easy one, i have seen many people who are normally very level headed, tern into Forum Nazis as soon as they become a Moderator. A mod should definitely not be able to 'ban'. A mod should be able to edit/remove posts, and thats about it.

Regards

[ElektroQuark]

A Mod may not post useless posts, also.
Beware of multi-zillion post posters.

[Mechatrommer]

LOL, ok Shafri is my second nomination. Shafri and Simon both seem to be level headed and knowledgable on forum topics.

no i mean, i was suggesting Simon first, but later i removed from the list coz he already did, but still, i'm the first suggesting him, so you are the second to do that. So you should said "Anyone third that?" . And sorry i have to disagree about the knowledgable part for myself. I'm here more towards asking and questioning things and ranting nonsense

[PeterG]

LOL, ok Shafri is my second nomination. Shafri and Simon both seem to be level headed and knowledgable on forum topics.

and ranting nonsense

Yeah, but your rant so well Shafri....

[Mechatrommer]

A Mod may not post useless posts, also.

useless is relative to your understanding, if you keep filtering junks, u'll end up banning most of us here and EEVBlog is not as Cheerful as it was anymore if it has to be "Only Useful Posts". IMHO i'm not agree with this, useless for you may not useless for others.

Beware of multi-zillion post posters.

who got it? i only have thousand and i can pretty much tell the personality of regular posters and long time members (with no regular posts) here. and it should be Beware of multi-zillion post mods... to members only, not to Admin

Yeah, but your rant so well Shafri....

is it really? Thank you very much! but i can assure you (and it is proven) some might not like it

and one aspect i forgot for a mod, is that Dave can communicate and keep in touch with him (her?) easily and comfortably.

[ElektroQuark]

It's my personal opinion, shafri. Please, don't take it personal.
Dave is making something great and big from the videoblog. It includes this forums. He has to take care, a forum can easily explode, I have seen it many times.
A forum can't be a Mods playground.
So, as I wrote in my first post in this thread: Dave, read the latest weeks posts of the moderation candidates (check behavior) before make the selection.

[FreeThinker]

Just my 2 cents
Dave should choose someone he knows and trusts (Even if he/she is not a forum member!!!).This is HIS blog and potentially his source of income in the future.He is the one that will have to pick up the pieces if the whole thing goes pear shaped and It's his rep on the line, maybe Chris Gammell could keep a weather eye on the place until he returns? It would be a great shame if some Dickhead screwed up the place while he was away just because every one thought he was a nice guy.Remember....absolute power corrupts absolutely.

PS This is just a general comment and NOT aimed at any one person, but I've seen it happen before and would not like to see it here, people can change when moderating and Without Dave at the Helm he may come back to Mayhem

[Kiriakos-GR]

My vote goes to shafri  and Simon too ..   

[ElektroQuark]

Just my 2 cents
Dave should choose...

I second that.

[Excavatoree]

I would like to be considered as well.

My philosophy is simple - act as the board owner would act.  My personal opinion is irrelevant.

I've been the moderator of several message boards, with good results.

[Simon]

the only mod tasks this board really needs is removing spam posts and/or spam signatures, so far I've never seen a thread go nasty or people insulting each other which is what I like about this board, I have practically completely moved away from another forum because i got fed up with the board having the mods personality (I could guess oh so easily how a thread would go) and the nastiness some thread used to produce needless to say the ever more poor quality of it's content and membership despite it's huge size. The board admin not really taking part on the board is probably a major part of it.

Here I've found a not too large forum (sometimes I'm scouting for topics I've not yet read) but with quality membership (yes, yes you included kirakos  ) and content in discussions. We have discussions and sometimes heated ones but it never gets down to that very low level of needless insults such as I've seen before and we all go away a bit wiser.

err sorry to ramble

[Mechatrommer]

It's my personal opinion, shafri. Please, don't take it personal.

not at all, just my 2 cnts opinion. i hope the same to you

maybe Chris Gammell could keep a weather eye on the place

yea! that guy! they have shared things heart to heart. is he around?

Just my 2 cents
Dave should choose...

I second that.

of course he should... and will. he only ask suggestion here. whether he accepts or not, thats totally 100% within his power.

[JohnS_AZ]

Honestly, Chris Gammell is the first guy I thought of.

[Simon]

Chris would be an obvious choice being Daves "partner" in the venture or at least part of it

[Kiriakos-GR]

Here I've found a not too large forum (sometimes I'm scouting for topics I've not yet read) but with quality membership (yes, yes you included kirakos  ) and content in discussions. We have discussions and sometimes heated ones but it never gets down to that very low level of needless insults such as I've seen before and we all go away a bit wiser.

err sorry to ramble

You can ramble as much you like ..  

To all:

From my current attempts to coexist in this specific community ( full of differences in a social level),
I have learn the two basic base lines .
1) Debates that gets hot to boiling temperatures are allowed ,
and that's an sign of  " freedom of expression " , something that I value more than anything.

2) Do not ever say to some one , of what to say or not..( Another sign of " freedom of expression ")  

Dave if you ever  go for president , I will vote you too  
Your home are an democratic one ...  

[Simon]

freedom of expression is fine, but that does not extend to insults or blatent bending of the truth to prove a point and win a lost cause.

Unfortunately the UK has so much free speech that nobody is worth listening to, yea I'd vote Dave prime minister any day, oh wait a minute - I should be the prime minister 

[Mechatrommer]

Debates that gets hot to boiling temperatures are allowed ,
and that's an sign of  " freedom of expression " , something that I value more than anything.

There is limit. as long as it is within the domain of "intelligent reasoning" and not touching some sensitive issues, then it is still allowed... that is how i see it. Dave tried to be as generous as he can, but if its too much, i believe he will do what he should do.

Do not ever say to some one , of what to say or not..( Another sign of " freedom of expression ")

yes. Dave wouldnt comment or warn, he will just silently ban, suspend, delete or even kill the member. We should know the limit on our own, we are grown up "kiddies". the 8 criteria i mentioned above should be maintained not just by mods or admin, but for the fellow members as well. An advice for myself as well

[Simon]

well I'll tell you how free free can get, in the uk some nutter founded a charity aimed at telling people not to jog but to drive because driving a car makes less CO2 than jogging, naturally because of freedom of speech nobody could get up and tell him to go back to school and stop being a cretin. If I was the government I'd have taken him to court for defamation unless he could scientifically prove his assertion. Luckily here we have more sense than this anyway that's off topic - sorry

[Kiriakos-GR]

Hey people ... did any one noticed that shafri had start to act as an moderator ?  

The forum started to fill up , with comments over comments ..

shafri pull the dogs in , we are the same people that was here and yesterday..  

[Simon]

well if he starts suggesting Dave may quietly kill a disruptive member that's worrying    This board does need any brute force moderation, just keeping tidy

[TheDirty]

It's a thankless job and even the best made decisions that help 5 people annoy 2.

[Kiriakos-GR]

well if he starts suggesting Dave may quietly kill a disruptive member that's worrying    This board does need any brute force moderation, just keeping tidy

I bet that he acts like that from the excitement ..   

Its time to split ( ala Americanish )     ( bed time )

[Mechatrommer]

shafri pull the dogs in , we are the same people that was here and yesterday..  

i dont have any dog.

The forum started to fill up , with comments over comments ..

when i saw people fighting, to become a judge i will always ask the first question... who started it?

It's a thankless job and even the best made decisions that help 5 people annoy 2.

i dont get it. english translation plsss. does it mean... "pls jump out of the airplane"?

[Time]

He means nobody is going to thank you for doing a good job.  As a moderator, a good decision that helps 5 people is going to make 2 other people not like you.


Where did you get jump out of the airplane? LOL

[TheWelly888]

My thinking is that this forum could do with more than one moderator permanently to share the workload with our Dave.

A forum I'm on ( www.rmweb.co.uk ) is VERY active yet very well moderated. The secret? Only the adminstrator is named, the other 6 moderators are all anonymous ( ie Mod1, Mod2 to Mod6 ) and they have all been very active in dealing with spammers and troublemakers. The adminstrator chose the Mods himself.

I doubt this forum needs as many as 6 anonymous moderators but is it worth considering at least one anonymous Mod here, Dave? It will give that Mod the freedom to make ( sensible! ) posts in his own name and any moderation posts anonymously.

[Mechatrommer]

Where did you get jump out of the airplane? LOL

well, thats a long story from a friend that he told me twice. about an italian and english stewardess, if i'm not mistaken.

anonymous mods could be a way. but if we got banned unjustified, its hard to appeal to Dave as we dont know who ban us. but, i'm not sure how its really works.

[TheDirty]

i dont get it. english translation plsss. does it mean... "pls jump out of the airplane"?

That was English.

A forum I'm on ( www.rmweb.co.uk ) is VERY active yet very well moderated. The secret? Only the adminstrator is named, the other 6 moderators are all anonymous ( ie Mod1, Mod2 to Mod6 ) and they have all been very active in dealing with spammers and troublemakers. The adminstrator chose the Mods himself.

At first thought, anonymous moderation seems like a terrible idea.  Maybe Model train people are just a well organized bunch.

Actually this forum has done fairly well with essentially 0 moderation to this point.  Maybe there's more threads/posts going into the trash bin than I hear about.  I administer a medium sized forum already and it's always a juggling game with some people thinking you are too hard and some you're too soft.

All I can say is if you have a moderator, make sure you have absolutely clear behavior and posting rules in order to minimize the judgments they have to make.  It's much easier if they can point to the list of rules when moderating posts/users rather than saying they've crossed some gray line.

[David]

I would put myself down to be one. 

[DJPhil]

Wow, I've been nominated by name! Thanks guys, it really does mean a lot to me to be noticed.

We have so many good folks already willing to help, so I think I'll bow out of this one unless I'm desperately needed. My spare time could drop to nothing overnight if I catch some work, and I wouldn't want that to have an effect on the forums.

There have been two great suggestions so far that I think will help make the job easier for anyone that does it . . .

Multiple moderators supporting each other will help a great deal in decision making and helps split the workload.

Moderator anonymity comes as close as possible to allowing mods a normal life on the forums when not moderating. The key to staying anonymous (assuming you want to be and take basic precautions) is keeping posts short so that you don't give yourself away by typing style.

[Mechatrommer]

i just noticed. away for a few weeks? oh no! there will be no videos for the weeks!

[migsantiago]

The power of moderation is given... not requested.

[EEVblog]

i just noticed. away for a few weeks? oh no! there will be no videos for the weeks!

Hopefully there will be.
Some stuff from the Renesas Devcon event I'm going to, and maybe some electronics places of interest I visit along the way!
All dependent upon edit time approved by Mrs EEVblog of course!

Dave.

[Simon]

well if he starts suggesting Dave may quietly kill a disruptive member that's worrying    This board does need any brute force moderation, just keeping tidy

I bet that he acts like that from the excitement ..   

Oh dear this get worse, Dave started by killing members out of defence now for pleasure ? I wonder what next.

The idea of being anonymous is not a bad one, but again on this board it's just a case of removing stupid and spammy posts/thread/sigs

[EEVblog]

Sometimes someone with less knowledge is better because they are less likely to have a strong opinion about something.

I have a few questions:

Is the moderation temporary? Will it be revoked as soon as you're back.

How much power will the moderator have? Will they just be able to edit/remove posts or will they be able to remove spam signatures or ban?

It would be permanent, unless something goes horribly wrong.
The default setting is just to edit/remove/move etc, no banning of profiles, that seems reasonably enough to me.
Although the issue is the spammers, I simply remove their account and all posts, but that requires the ability to ban profiles.

Dave.

[Simon]

I think most spammers drop a couple of posts and then leave so not a huge issue, something you can sort out once your back

[ElektroQuark]

A good Mod will never ban anyone if you don't want him to. I will only use that "power" with spammers. Don't worry.

[EEVblog]

I think most spammers drop a couple of posts and then leave so not a huge issue, something you can sort out once your back

Yeah, they seem to dump and then go.
At least they help with the stats! 
Still have no idea how they get past the human questions, they are obviously very clever bots or poor humans earning well below minimum wage.

Dave.

[Simon]

well owing to their drop and walk away tactics I'd say that they are real people doing the spamming, you know when you've got a bot, it automatically delivers a new spammy thread to each category and it is generally blatant spam as it's not aimed at any particular subject as it will infest any forum it runs across on the net

[Mechatrommer]

i just came across a horrible experience with a "pakistani" guy recently, that he thought i've deleted his account (do i have mod power? ) and then he back with different username and shoots me from everywhere and i have to act like Neo Matrix to avoid the bullets. luckily somehow he realized, and settled the fight before Dave wake up. Until now, i still dont have any idea who deleted his account/posts/thread for multiple posts of the same message, it happened so quickly and quietly. is it Dave? or other Anonymous Mod? i dont know!

[Kiriakos-GR]

It looks that some one "got the stripes"  overnight ....    ( global time lag )

I bet that if the forum grows in size a bit more , shafri will follow as well.

Moderation its an extra responsibility , that if you get it , you are obligated to spent more of your free time,
in the forum ..

Lets hope that Simon will be able to handle the pressure  

Congrats ..  I expect an " celebration diner "  tortellini ala cream and beers        

[EEVblog]

Until now, i still dont have any idea who deleted his account/posts/thread for multiple posts of the same message, it happened so quickly and quietly. is it Dave? or other Anonymous Mod? i dont know!

That was me. Multiple people reported his posts so he got the boot.
The "Delete Account" option kills all their existing posts too 

Dave.

[Mechatrommer]

That was me. Multiple people reported his posts so he got the boot.
The "Delete Account" option kills all their existing posts too  
Dave.

poor guy, if it was me, i only delete his redundant posts, maybe he just too excited with his new DSO. he got so angrily and re-create his DSO thread
i didnt report anything before, and it was me he is shooting at! really a poor guy.

[EEVblog]

As you may have noticed, there are now two moderators, Simon (from the UK) and TumutBound (from Australia), thanks guys!
Still want to appoint a third from the US/Canada to even out the timezones.

No special rules, just don't be evil. Spammers and really offensive posts get the boot, everyone else gets to thrive in the chaos that is online forums!

Dave.

[Mechatrommer]

congrats to nominees! support EEVBlog!

[GeoffS]

Hello EEVblog,

I've changed my display name from tumutbound to GeoffS so as to be a bit more user friendly.
Hope this doesn't cause any confusion.

Regards
Geoff

[Mechatrommer]

Hello EEVblog,
I've changed my display name from tumutbound to GeoffS so as to be a bit more user friendly.
Hope this doesn't cause any confusion.

do you wear a neck tie? sorry kidding! dont ban me!

[EEVblog]

Oh, I forgot Chris Gammell, he's got god like powers now too, but doesn't frequent the forum much.

Dave.

[Simon]

Lets hope that Simon will be able to handle the pressure  

Congrats ..  I expect an " celebration diner "  tortellini ala cream and beers        

and please throw in some boiled lobster and I'll be right over - can i trust your cooking ?

[Kiriakos-GR]

Lets hope that Simon will be able to handle the pressure  

Congrats ..  I expect an " celebration diner "  tortellini ala cream and beers        

and please throw in some boiled lobster ...

That's expensive I will get shrimps      

[Simon]

ok if you make it up with nice local wine 

[Mechatrommer]

ok if you make it up with nice local wine 

thats bribery!

[David]

Congratulations Simon 

[rossmoffett]

I lurk a lot, and I'm in US Central time zone.  I'd be glad to help out with spammers, though I can't promise constant guard because of away missions for work.

[FreeThinker]

Congrats to one and all!!!
Just remember your job is to safeguard the forum and NOT impose your opinions on others.I like Star wars not Flamewars  Good Luck

[Simon]

ok if you make it up with nice local wine 

thats bribery!

No it's called compensation 

[Simon]

Congratulations Simon 

for what ? oh you mean taking on yet another voluntary job ?, just another one. We are 3 by the way or maybe 4

[FreeThinker]

Congratulations Simon 

We are 3 by the way or maybe 4

The Holy Trinity....

[FreeThinker]

Congratulations Simon 

We are 3 by the way or maybe 4

The Holy Trinity....

Or maybe The four horsemen of the apocalypse 

[Simon]

3 musketeers ? they because 4 in the story

[Zad]

I never understood why they were called Musketeers anyway, they used swords not muskets!

[FreeThinker]

I never understood why they were called Musketeers anyway, they used swords not muskets!

The Three Swordsmen......Hmm! don't have quite the same ring does it?

[FreeThinker]

Bill and Ben and "LittleWeeeD"?....... No NO Stop! It's getting out of hand

[Mechatrommer]

ok if you make it up with nice local wine 

thats bribery!

No it's called compensation 

most politicians here called it "gift"

[Simon]

ok if you make it up with nice local wine 

thats bribery!

No it's called compensation 

most politicians here called it "gift"

but when you call it compensation you can demand what you like however unreasonable it may be 

[Simon]

Bill and Ben and "LittleWeeeD"?....... No NO Stop! It's getting out of hand

sounds like we need to draw lots to find out who will be little weed

[PeterG]

I think it is fair and reasonable for a Moderator to accept 'donations' to ensure his/her continued fair services to the forum.

Now, reading that back, i should be in politics....LOL

Regards

[GeoffS]

I think I can be fair without donations.

Of course with a 'donation' I could be as fair as you want me to be. 

[Simon]

well i spend time here anyway and lots of it so it's not really anything extra, just means I have the power to ditch spammy posts

[PeterG]

So if we find an evil post, do we get to say "Sick'em Simon"...?

Just kidding.

[Simon]

So if we find an evil post, do we get to say "Sick'em Simon"...?

not sure of the reference, bear in mind I'm ignorant of TV (if it happens to be with reference to some show)

[PeterG]

"Sick'em" is an Aussie thing.......
Kind of like saying "Go Get Em" while releasing the dogs.....
Hope that makes sense.

No offense intended.

Regards

[Simon]

right understood, yea, I'll go get em, pant pant pant..... (with a drooling tongue  )

[GeoffS]

As the Aussie moderator, you can tell me to sick'em and I'll understand. 

Actually, the way it works is that you click on the 'Report to Moderator' link in the post and all moderators will leap in to action simultaneously, sort of like the Justice League!*

[* Except those Moderators who are in the wrong time zone and are asleep. Or in the right time zone and are asleep]

[Simon]

No sleeping on the job allowed 

I'm generally on weekdays from 7:30 - 8:00, 12:30-13:00 and after 17:00 although I will be out some nights but get a good hour in before hand, during the weekend uh well if I'm home the PC is on and I'll be checking from time to time

[GeoffS]

As I'm not currently working, I'm on the computer pretty much all day.

If I'm in the workshop (machine tools, not electronics), then any mail from this forum will cause a popup on the computer I use for CNC stuff.

Pretty sad I know, What can I say? I'm just a geek with too much time on my hands 

[Simon]

thats pretty neat, I'm actually home friday afternoons so hence you'll see a lot of me usually (not slacking at work after all  )

[PetrosA]

Does anyone else find it interesting that Google ads thinks it appropriate to advertise Clinical Anesthesia on this thread?

[GeoffS]

Are you suggesting that we're boring?

I should warn you, I have moderator powers and I'm not afraid to use them!

[PetrosA]

lol, no I was suggesting that maybe this is meant to be a handbook for new moderators!

[GeoffS]

In that case, I'm not going to respond further to this thread. 

The next you'll hear from me is when your posts start to mysteriously disappear. Then you'll be sorry! 

[Simon]

Does anyone else find it interesting that Google ads thinks it appropriate to advertise Clinical Anesthesia on this thread?

fortunately it's not advertising cynical anaesthesia, yea they can be random, I think that there is also some way they track your interest in topics, for example I've put some adds on a couple of websites I run and I've been getting ads for oscilloscopes which have nothing to do with the sites, but then I spend a lot of time here. I bet the adds you see are not the same as what other see.

So what's your little secret then ?