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As some of you may know, StackExchange sites get "Pro Tempore" moderators just before the private beta goes public. These moderators are chosen by the StackExchange Community Team rather than being voted on due to the generally small size when the site moves from private to public beta but still really needing some users who can use all the moderator tools.

How do you become a provisional moderator for this site?

Soon after the site launches into "public beta," the Community Team will appoint provisional moderators from this community until the community is ready to hold its own elections (once it graduates from beta).

Deep engagement in the community's development is required for all temporary moderator candidates. All potential candidates must:

  • Have a reasonably high reputation score to indicate active, consistent participation.
  • Show an interest in their meta’s community-building activities.
  • Lead by example, showing patience and respect for their fellow community members in everything they write.
  • Exhibit those intangible traits discussed in A Theory of Moderation.

Bonus points for:

  • Members with participation in both meta and the parent site (i.e. interest in both community building and expertise in the field).
  • Area 51 participation, social network referrals, or blogging about the site.
  • Members who have already shown an interest or ability to promote their community.

Candidates will be contacted and three of them will be selected to act as provisional Moderators until the community holds formal elections after the Beta period. Besides the normal abilities of a Moderator, they will:

  1. Have access to a special chat room where we will collectively work through the challenges of moderation and community self-policing.
  2. Organize the process of selecting the site’s attributes (domain names, design issues, the [help center], etc.).
  3. Rally community support and drive the mission of getting publicity for the site.

Essentially, they will have the ear of the Stack Exchange team for anything we can do to help their sites succeed!

Nominating users to serve as moderators for the beta

For each user that you would like to nominate,

  • post an answer containing the URLs to both of the user's main and meta profiles on this site
  • optionally, link to the user's Area 51 profile or a profile from another site, or add a reason why you'd like him/her to moderate during beta
  • self-nominations (i.e. posting your own profiles) are allowed and even encouraged
  • post each user as a separate answer, and add multiple answers if you wish to nominate multiple users

Additionally, if someone nominates you, please edit the answer to indicate your approval (or declination). Optionally, add a paragraph or two about yourself.

If you downvote a particular nomination, you are encouraged to share why you did so in the comments, though you are not required to do so. Optionally, you may do the same for upvotes.

For more information, see this blog post.

Everything above is fairly standard. However I have a few extra notes:

  • being on this list does not guarantee being picked; it is just a good spot to gather community views on who we want as mods.
  • not being on this list doesn't mean you won't be picked.
  • In regards to being picked:
    • It is based on complicated metrics including history on other SE sites.
    • Not being picked should not be construed as the SE Team not liking you/not trusting you. It is most likely due to too many good potential moderators to fill the limited number of slots.
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    $\begingroup$ Sooo, are we going to get to know who these will be? This post says that they will be chosen right before the beta goes public. Or are they doing things differently this time? $\endgroup$
    – DonyorM
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 9:12
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    $\begingroup$ A minimum of 1 week but usually by around the end of the 2nd week of public beta $\endgroup$
    – Nick Dickinson-Wilde
    Commented Oct 4, 2014 at 14:48
  • $\begingroup$ Followup: meta.worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/417/28 $\endgroup$
    – Monica Cellio Mod
    Commented Oct 23, 2014 at 3:29
  • $\begingroup$ Now that we have graduated and are headed toward community moderator elections in the near future, I'm locking this because of its historical significance, to preserve it as-is (including answer votes) for the future. $\endgroup$
    – user Mod
    Commented Nov 30, 2015 at 21:38
  • $\begingroup$ 2016 community moderator election underway: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/election/1 $\endgroup$
    – user Mod
    Commented Feb 2, 2016 at 11:56

6 Answers 6

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I would like to nominate Monica Cellio -- Accepted (see below)

profile forMonica Cellio at Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, Q&A for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings profile for Monica Cellio at Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, Q&A for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings profile for Monica Cellio on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/505925.png

Monica is

an elected moderator on Mi Yodeya and The Workplace, and a pro-tempore mod on Writers

I've seen her good work on both Writers and the Workplace and would like her experience and guiding hand here. I've been very impressed with the quality of questions she's been asking both on the site. They're well thought out and have been well received. I feel it's important to have someone who takes the effort to ask good questions to encourage others (myself included) to do the same.

From Monica:

I've been on Stack Exchange for about 3.5 years, been an elected moderator for 2 and a bit, and participated in sites at all stages of development from private beta to mature graduate, though not "SO levels of huge". I'm active on MSE, the SE-wide meta, and a variety of other sites.

If chosen, I see my primary role as bringing broader SE experience, particularly with subjective-leaning sites. I am not a domain expert. When questions come up about whether something is on-topic per some nuance of our scope, I'm going to kick that back to y'all -- which I think is a reasonable thing for a mod to do especially in early beta, but if you're looking for somebody who will take a decisive leading role in deciding What This Site Is For, that's not going to be my strong suit.

On the other hand, I will strive to keep asking good questions, to poke at the boundaries to help firm up our scope from time to time, and to help keep us in sync with SE norms through meta discussion and guidance. Some of this might be bordering on the usual role for a site's assigned Community Manager, so maybe that's already covered.

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    $\begingroup$ I don't know a automatic way to post the flair; I just copy my own and change the link to point to the right user number/name $\endgroup$
    – Nick Dickinson-Wilde
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 16:40
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    $\begingroup$ Thank you for the nomination. One thing I want to make sure people are aware of: I don't bring a lot of domain expertise; as you can see, I have way more questions than answers and I don't expect that to change significantly. What I would bring to the site is SE experience (a fair bit of it), plus domain interest. $\endgroup$
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Sep 21, 2014 at 17:38
  • $\begingroup$ @MonicaCellio actually that's one of the reasons when I nominated you (but I didn't want to waffle). You bring much needed mod experience of young sites. $\endgroup$
    – Liath
    Commented Sep 21, 2014 at 18:38
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    $\begingroup$ @MonicaCellio Personally, I feel this is a site that is going to need moderators with a fair bit of experience to guide it through public beta. I like what I've seen of you on Writing (don't hang out too much on The Workplace) and was considering myself nominating you, but Liath beat me to it. $\endgroup$
    – user
    Commented Sep 21, 2014 at 19:29
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    $\begingroup$ Not having a lot of domain knowledge doesn't sound like a disadvantage. I'd expect a mod to be lightly supervising the process of a community making its own decisions, not making decisions for them. Your attitude to this sounds like just what we need. $\endgroup$
    – trichoplax is on Codidact now
    Commented Sep 27, 2014 at 14:02
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I would like to nominate Tim B. -- Accepted

profile for Tim B at Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, Q&A for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings profile for Tim B at Worldbuilding Meta Stack Exchange, Q&A about the site for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings http://meta.worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/flair/49.png profile for Tim B on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/3659411.png

Tim B. has been very active on both meta and the main site, and has managed to rack up quite a lot of rep. He has answered several meta questions well, and seems to keep an eye on everything. He also is very good at answering questions on the main site and has successfully answered many a question. He is knowledable of the SE model and I think he would make a good moderator.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the nomination - I accept - however if there are other people really keen to go for it I'm happy to step back and let them take their shot at it. $\endgroup$
    – Tim B
    Commented Sep 23, 2014 at 19:07
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    $\begingroup$ I got a badge for all the upvotes this answer got. $\endgroup$
    – DonyorM
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 11:28
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    $\begingroup$ Tim is active on main and meta and in chat. He leaves lots of helpful comments and is clearly knowledgable in world-building. I think he's an excellent candidate for pro-tem mod. $\endgroup$
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Oct 5, 2014 at 21:49
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I would like to nominate: Michael Kjörling -- Accepted

profile for Michael Kjörling at Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, Q&A for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings profile for Michael Kjörling at Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, Q&A for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings http://meta.worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/flair/29.png profile for Michael Kjörling on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/225818.png

Michael has been active on the meta with multiple really nice answers - a favourite of mine is his answer on tagging related to space topics. Michael also has prior moderator experience and is in general a a user we want active here and I think he could be a great moderator for us.

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    $\begingroup$ I don't have the rep to edit non-CW answers on Meta (how ironic) but nomination accepted. $\endgroup$
    – user
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 8:47
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    $\begingroup$ In the interest of full disclosure, I should probably point out that like Monica, I don't bring a whole lot of (worldbuilding) domain knowledge to the table (rather more like none, except perhaps curiosity and a willingness to learn new things). Then again, there are people with more knowledge (and lots more reputation) than myself on Amateur Radio, too. $\endgroup$
    – user
    Commented Sep 21, 2014 at 19:28
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I would like to nominate Liath: declined with apologies

profile for Liath at Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, Q&A for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings profile for Liath at Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, Q&A for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings http://meta.worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/flair/18.png profile for Liath on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/143675.png

Liath has strong participation on both main and meta. From the questions and answers on main it's clear that he has domain knowledge; from the participation on meta and the helpful comments he leaves, it's clear he cares about building the site and has good things to contribute there. He's been a Stack Exchange user for several years, mainly on SO and Movies & TV.

liath I'm flattered by the nomination and will continue to participate in site the but for personal reasons I'm unlikely to be able to dedicate the time I'd want to at the moment. I'm still hoping to be around, active and involved but I'd hate to take on a responsibility I didn't know I could honour.

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    $\begingroup$ Thanks for the nomination! I'm going to have to give it some thought, things are a little up in the air at the moment and I'm not 100% I'll be able to dedicate the time to the site I'd like to if I was modding... $\endgroup$
    – Liath
    Commented Sep 22, 2014 at 6:54
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    $\begingroup$ @Liath - No shame in that. The site needs dedicated users as much if not more than mods. $\endgroup$
    – Chad
    Commented Sep 23, 2014 at 16:10
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    $\begingroup$ @Liath thanks for considering it, and I hope we'll continue to see you participate in whatever ways work best for you. I enjoy reading your contributions. $\endgroup$
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Sep 28, 2014 at 14:34
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profile for Envite at Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, Q&A for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings profile for Envite at Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, Q&A for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings profile for Envite on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/1870957.png

Since (CITE) "self-nominations (i.e. posting your own profiles) are allowed and even encouraged" I'm daring to nominate myself. It is not that I would be a wonderful moderator (this should be judged by the community), but what I can bring here is expertise in the matter.

As you can see in the badge I'm user on Astronomy.SE.com, Scifi.SE.com and RPG.SE.com and I'm there because I love those subjects. I'm Astrophysicist (you can check that most of my answers here are about planetary issues), Roleplaying Master in lots of different game systems (from Middle Earth to Star Wars) and an very avid reader.

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    $\begingroup$ Expertise is a really good thing, and no matter which way the moderator appointment turns out, I for one hope that you will remain on the site and keep contributing. $\endgroup$
    – user
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 7:25
  • $\begingroup$ Sure I do. I'm not here for being appointed, just to help, and get help for my own worlds-to-be. $\endgroup$
    – Envite
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 14:46
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profile for DonyorM at Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, Q&A for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings profile for DonyorM at Worldbuilding Meta Stack Exchange, Q&A about the site for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings profile for DonyorM on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/3223020.png

I am a fairly new member to the whole SE network, but have spent time learning how it's worked. I currently GM a PBP RPG, and have created an earth-like world from scratch. I really enjoy building worlds and I've learned a lot answering and asking on this site. I'm fairly active here (in the top 10 according to Area 51), and would like to be able to help moderate the site.

I haven't been as much on the foreground in meta as some others, but this is because I have been waiting and learning. I have asked several questions, and answered a few too. But I've been around voting on a lot of things.

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