<h1>@amoeba (<a href="https://stats.stackexchange.com/election/4#post-297900">my nomination post</a>)</h1>

<p><strong>Disclaimer: please do read my nomination post linked above; I am not a perfect candidate and I list some important reservations there.</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <ol>
  <li>Several tag-related tasks require moderator attention. How well do you feel our community deals with them presently? Would you be able &amp; willing to improve the situation (if it is needed)? How? Related links regarding tag burnination <a href="https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3031">1</a> <a href="https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3147">2</a>, tag synonym implementation <a href="https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1200">1</a>, and tag synonym merging <a href="https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2790">1</a></li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>Disclaimer: this was my own question.</p>

<p>I consider tag management an important part of the moderator job, which has been a little neglected until now. If I become a mod, this is one issue where I am planning to make a difference. Apart from simply paying attention to the upcoming tag issues, I would like to work out some guiding principles/policies of tag moderation. In particular I hope we will be able (through discussions on Meta) to decide on how we are merging tag synonyms, how we are burninating bad tags, etc., and then I can use the diamond powers to implement these decisions.</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol start="2">
  <li>What do you see as the biggest problem facing our site and what would you do to help address it?</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>The biggest problem is probably a large amount of poor questions that are not really answerable but are not closed either. A partial solution would be to close more, but we don't want to close hastily whereas often such questions are long and intricate and require substantial effort to triage. I am not sure much can be done about it. And frankly, I doubt I will be able to make a difference here.</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol start="3">
  <li>Do you have any Meta posts that you're particularly proud of, or that you feel best demonstrate your moderation style?</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>I have been <a href="https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/search?tab=votes&amp;q=user%3a28666">relatively active</a> on Meta. Not sure if there is anything to be "proud of", but a cursory glance through the list of most upvoted posts should show what kind of meta-topics I have been interested in. Many are about tag-related issues.</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol start="4">
  <li>One of the issues which crops up frequently on this site is the dividing line between a statistical question and a computing question. At the moment custom and practice is that requests for code or package suggestions are seen as off-topic. Do you think we have the boundary in the right place? If you do not what is your suggestion for the new boundary?</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>I believe that the boundary is in about the right place, at least in theory: if the question needs statistical expertise to answer then it is on-topic. In practice I sometimes see threads closed (or left open) inappropriately, but I guess some mistakes, as well as some grey zone, are inevitable. Several recent Meta threads when on-topic Qs were either closed or migrated away to SO come to mind; we have usually been able to resolve such cases.</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol start="5">
  <li>How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>As I have no experience in disciplinary measures on this forum, I would discuss such a case with other mods. My impression is that such cases are quite rare.</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol start="6">
  <li>How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>Ping that mod and discuss it with them.</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol start="7">
  <li>There is some controversy surrounding our use of Community Wiki status, see <a href="https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2953/">What is and what should be our policy on making questions community wiki?</a>. Our current policy is not sufficiently clear, is not being consistently implemented, and is arguably suboptimal (though opinions might differ). What is your opinion on all that? Do you see any of that as a problem? What is your preferred policy? Would you be willing to work towards formulation of some consensus policy and enforcing its consistent implementation?</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>Disclaimer: that was my own question. Also, the linked Meta question was mine.</p>

<p>I have been annoyed by our use of CW and, personally, I might prefer to approach it differently, but it is <strong>not</strong> my intention to push against the consensus. What I would perhaps like to do as a mod, is to get back to that Meta discussion and try to extract/formulate/discuss some consensus view. I'd like it to be written down, and then I can try to make sure that it's implemented (more) consistently.</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol start="8">
  <li>What do you propose to do about the host of unanswered questions?</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>See above. I don't think I will be able to do much about it.</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol start="9">
  <li>Do we close questions (for any reason) too much, or too little? Why?</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>See above. I think on average about right.</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol start="10">
  <li>In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>I already am above 20k. Some tasks, e.g. tag-related tasks, require diamond powers.</p>

<hr>

<p>I endorse @gung who is IMHO an ideal mod candidate and should be everybody's first choice. I will be happy if @Tim wins the second place; as I said elsewhere he is much more active in both answering and moderation than I currently am. If they win, I will pester <em>them</em> with all the tag issues :) Both of them demonstrated their interest in moderating tags.</p>
