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  <p><strong>1)</strong> What other sites on SE system are you active on, if any? Compared to these sites, how would you characterize the atmosphere and style on CV, if it is any different? How are you going to handle questions and topics that are borderline between CV and these complementary areas of expertise?</p>
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<p>I'm not very active on any other SE sites. I look things up on Stack Overflow from time to time, but I think any answers of mine there were migrated from Cross Validated. If a question is borderline, &amp; not simply misplaced, it's often necessary to clarify its statistical aspects by asking about them in comments; if it becomes apparent that it would be more suitable for another site, best to move it quickly.</p>

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  <p><strong>2)</strong> Do you have a vision for the future of the site that is different from how it is now? In other words, do you hope to move the site in a new direction in any respect? If so, what, and how would that be an improvement?</p>
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<p>There's been some discussion about what happens if the Data Science beta doesn't take off &amp; what will happen to the questions that are currently off-topic both here &amp; on Stack Overflow. First I don't think there are very many; second I'd be in favour of making them on-topic here: but in any case it'll be something to be discussed &amp; decided on by all CV members.</p>

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  <p><strong>3)</strong> <a href="https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2443/"><strong>The multiple objectives of any SE site create an inherent tension</strong></a>, forcing us to make decisions that trade off between accommodating askers, creating canonical resources, establishing discoverability of content, and rewarding community members for their participation. With many questions (and answers), there is no one best action to take. As a general moderation strategy, how do you believe we should act? Where do you plan to strike a balance among these objectives?</p>
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<p>I regard creating canonical resources as of prime importance, with establishing discoverability of content a close second. So I'd be trying to mitigate the effect of prioritizing these aims on accomodating the wishes of askers.</p>

<p>When a question's unclear, I don't think it's a kindness to the asker to keep it open&mdash;answers to different interpretations accumulate, important points are hidden in long comment threads, edits to the question render prior answers &amp; comments irrelevant &amp; confusing. But askers often need help to clarify questions.</p>

<p>When a question's a duplicate, the answer(s) in the duplicated post should help the asker. But it often needs an explanatory comment to explain why, or another link to address a subsidiary part of the question.</p>

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  <p><strong>4)</strong> In your opinion, is there a serious threat/challenge that Cross Validated currently faces? If yes what is it? Do you believe that as a moderator you could contribute more towards dealing with it, and if yes, how?</p>
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<p>@Glen_b's answer to this is spot on. I'd like to emphasize that improvement of questions &amp; answers comes more from dialogue than from anything else&mdash; it's easy to vote to close  a question as unclear; harder to explain to the OP in what respects it needs clarifying, but more useful. I'd encourage that &amp; try to set a good example.</p>

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  <p><strong>5)</strong> 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?</p>
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<p>I'd try to smooth things over &amp; patch things up, but if that didn't work I'd have no compunction in suspending or banning someone who was making others' experiences of the site unpleasant. The near-universal civility throughout CV is a cornerstone of its success &amp; no single person's contributions are nearly as important.</p>

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  <p><strong>6)</strong> How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?</p>
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<p>Most of the time simply by writing a comment explaining why; we don't have to to maintain a pretence of moderatorial unanimity or infallibility. There'd be exceptions where private communication would be more appropriate&mdash;mainly, I think, where the reason for closing concerns a member's conduct.</p>

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  <p><strong>7)</strong> In your opinion, what do moderators do?</p>
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<p>Day-to-day I think it'll be mainly dealing with the flag queue, merging duplicates, deleting spam, converting answers to comments, &amp;c. Sometimes it'll be more difficult: resolving disputes between members&mdash;&amp; I'd measure my success at that by how often I don't need to do anything beyond talking with them.</p>

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  <p><strong>8)</strong> A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?</p>
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<p>Not especially concerned. I've never found it necessary to worry about whether a moderator's speaking as just another CV member or ex cathedra, &amp; I imagine most regular users of the site feel the same way. I would however take extra care to recall that I'd be  representing CV, more so than before, &amp; also to avoid new users' taking suggestions as orders or being inclined to give undue weight to my opinions on statistical matters because of the diamond.</p>

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  <p><strong>9)</strong> In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?</p>
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<p>I'd be able to use sensibly the additional privileges moderators have in order to improve the site, as well as having another avenue of communication (e-mail) for dispute resolution in private.</p>
