Mi Yodeya

2017 Moderator Election

On Stack Exchange, we believe the core moderators should come from the community, and be elected by the community itself through popular vote. We hold regular elections to determine who these community moderators will be.

Community moderators are accorded the highest level of privilege on our community, and should themselves be exemplars of positive behavior and leaders within the community.

Our general criteria for moderators is as follows:

  • patient and fair
  • leads by example
  • shows respect for their fellow community members in their actions and words
  • open to some light but firm moderation to keep the community on track and resolve (hopefully) uncommon disputes and exceptions

Every election has three phases:

  1. Nomination
  2. Primary
  3. Election

Click the tab for each phase, below, to read a description of the phase in the right-hand sidebar.

Please participate in the moderator elections by voting. Note that votes can be changed after they are placed, so long as voting is open.

This election ended Feb 7 '17 at 20:00.

Anyone may download the election data. Voters have access to pre-built OpenSTV software to audit the results; all others may use this source distribution


774 voters were eligible, 236 visited the site during the election, 184 visited the election page, and 105 voted

3 Candidates

I'm Scimonster, and i've decided to run for moderator. You can view my answers to the questionnaire here.

I've been on Mi Yodeya for around 3 years. I am on the site nearly every day (~90%), and am one of only 30 users with the Fanatic badge.

I don't post a ton, but i try to take an active part in moderating the review queues. I also try to keep up to date with meta developments, and am currently listed as the 5th most active user. I've posted nearly 100 meta answers, and have a tag badge in [discussion].

I would be greatly humbled to be elected as moderator for Mi Yodeya. I'm running because i feel i could do a good job (and i was asked), but so would the other candidates. May the best candidate win!

link | history
reviews | meta posts
  • Scimonster's activity on meta, in reviewing, and in flagging help make the site better. He's also active on other sites, including being 10k+ on SO and Meta.SE, so he's likely learning things about the network there that could help here. He's welcoming and friendly, both in comments and in chat. – Monica Cellio♦ Jan 29 '17 at 22:11

I believe that I would be a worthwhile addition to the Mi Yodeya moderator team. Over the past seven years, as founder, administrator, moderator pro tempore, and now active member of this community, I have demonstrated, in my opinion:

  • A strong investment in the health, productivity, and growth of this community

  • The willingness and ability to speak my mind on both micro and macro levels, while maintaining a friendly and civil approach, focused on productive behaviors

  • Creativity in developing ways to enhance and promote the Mi Yodeya community and site

  • A long history of collaboration with other community members and moderators on everything from improving individual posts to large publication projects to moderating the community

My questionnaire responses provide some additional detail. I appreciate the opportunity to think and write about the important issues raised in the questions, and to read others' wise responses. Whether you're a candidate or not, I encourage you to think about what you'd write. This process should provide some great ideas for bringing Mi Yodeya from strength to strength.

link | history
reviews | meta posts
  • Chadesh Yamenu KeKedem!! :) – Shmuel Brin Jan 26 '17 at 17:07
  • Our beloved Patriarch Isaac, since stepping down from many years as a dedicated and effective moderator, has stayed true to his word, remaining active in all aspects of Mi Yodeya. His wise meta council, potent flagging, and signature warm welcomes have continued to help the site stay in shape. As the longest serving member of our community, Isaac has the experience to handle whatever comes our way with sensitivity and vision, and is well-suited to help Mi Yodeya flourish. – Double AA♦ Jan 27 '17 at 3:48
  • You don't need me to tell you all the good that Isaac has done for Mi Yodeya. He's warm and welcoming to newcomers, he's pleasantly helpful to all, and he follows the path of Aharon to defuse rising tensions. He's also the top promoter of the site, active on Twitter and key contributor/organizer for our publications projects, and is generous with bounties to encourage other users. – Monica Cellio♦ Jan 29 '17 at 22:17

I wasn't sure if I'd nominate myself for the moderator job as the thought of being able to take unilateral action to close or delete a post seems like more power than a mere mortal like myself should have. But given what I know about the current mods, I trust they wouldn't hesitate to educate me in the (hopefully rare) case that I misuse my power.

MY was actually not my intro to SE; I got started with Stack Overflow in 2011 and discovered SE and Mi Yodeya almost exactly a year later. It took about 7 months before my MY reputation overtook my SO rep and the gap has grown steadily ever since. But I have been an active participant on many SE sites with a reputation of over 1000 on three and participation (question or answer) on 26.

I have learned so much from reading questions and answers here. As a mod, I want to make sure that the posts which really provoke learning are the ones most easily found. I will encourage the community to use their powerto make that happen. That includes voting (up and down), flagging, and editing to make posts better. There are many users here who know more than I about Judaism, but I believe I have the skills to help make this site even better.

link | history
reviews | meta posts
  • Thanks for being our Nachshon and taking the first plunge here! – Double AA♦ Jan 23 '17 at 22:01
  • You'd make a great mod, Daniel! – ezra Jan 24 '17 at 4:19
  • Daniel has been a steady presence here, asking, answering, helping people improve their posts, curating, and engaging on meta. One of his top sites is ELL, where he has answered dozens of questions from people trying to learn English; that experience should help him in his goal of taming our jargon here. – Monica Cellio♦ Jan 29 '17 at 22:31

This election is complete.