2y ago

[VOTE] - Agora Moderators

Hey all,

As discussed here, I am looking for 3 new moderators to help with this community.

Please review this post and vote for the candidate you would like to see help on this community.

In no particular order, the candidates are:

I invite you to review users post history when deciding on voting.

This thread will be open for 72 hours (until Friday June 23rd, 8PM ET) at which point voting will stop. Any votes after this time will not be counted. I will try to lock this thread after that time so people do not accidentally continue voting.

Everyone gets 1 vote, including the users being considered. The top 3 will be given mod powers of this community to help with organization of discussions and votes.

Please vote by calling the persons name. For example, if I you wanted to vote for TheDude you would reply with: TheDude

120 comments

Yea @imaqtpie, Yea @annegreen, Yea @Seraph089.
From account history they have good engagement.
Nay @Apytele, Nay @sweetholymosiah.
Limited engagement. Can't really comment on them yet.
Nay @goat, Nay @difficult_bit_1339.
Actively enshittening Agora and flame warring since its inception. @goat is evidently some manner of troll and "controversy" isn't a selling point for moderation. This is an alt for his burggit account; he's butted heads with admins over there because not allowing gore isn't "free".
- That wasn't my argument at all.
  My entire argument on burggit was that I found it hypocritical for the admins there to be banning gore-related content because they personally found it unsavory, while still allowing Loli-content which many others find equally unsavory and many who have asked them to tone it down.
  Your link is broken, this is the link to my Burggit account (Be warned, Burggit has Loli porn and content similar to it)
  Controversy isn't a selling point of moderation in most cases, true. However, the prime function of Agora is to encourage diverse debate, even when that means challenging views you disagree with. Having a bias in moderation will cause nothing but a multitude of issues down the line.
  As for "flamewarring" -- I don't insult other members or tell them they're wrong, despite often being the crux of insults and ridicule myself. I believe I've proven that I can handle being challenged, something that most other candidates have not shown yet (with the exception of Imaq and Bit, of course)
  You can also only vote once.
  Your vote will be thrown out if you don't narrow it down, I recommend @imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works
  
  My entire argument on burggit...
  Your argument was that an unsavoury instance was against hosting your personal flavour of unsavoury content; hence you felt the need to browbeat instead of simply finding a better instance.
  This appears to be your main method of "engagement" in discussion: incessantly hammer on your point, making persistent bad-faith invitations to "debate," then when you rile up the user to the point of them flaming you, you claim that you're remaining civil. It's called sealioning, it's a common enough trolling phenomenon that there exists an often cited web-comic about it..
  Co-existing in a space isn't an open invitation for you to repeatedly argue the same point past a persons point of comfort, for the sake of your personal definition of "debate". When it's clear the debate has run its course and the person is clearly being emotionally effected, if you persist then you're acting in bad faith.
  
  I'm actually going to have to agree with you there as I've personally flip flopped on this issue a few times, but I look at it like some gore is acceptable, whereas a lot more Japanese anime porn tends to hit the creepy-crawlies mark
- clarify on difficult bit pl0x
  
  Here he is actively flaming/trolling in Main Community and Agora. He even states he's willingly losing sleep because he likes arguing so much. Just because the person you're disagreeing with is being salty doesn't mean you have a free ticket to stoop to that level. It's not moderator-worthy conduct.
  https://sh.itjust.works/comment/282908
  https://sh.itjust.works/comment/291136
  https://sh.itjust.works/comment/291609
  https://sh.itjust.works/comment/303830
- admins on burggit actually allow "guro" which is kinda gore but anime version
  your link to goat's profile is wrong, here's a second try

@goat@sh.itjust.works Nay.

Everyone else on the list, Yay.
Especially >@imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works
I nominate imaqtpie due to their activity and chillness.
- They are trying to infiltrate
  
  Infiltrate? No.
  I'm providing dissent and lively discussion. It's important to have diversity, especially in communities that are centred around fairness and equality.
- Nay for me too, way too controversial.
  
  It's important to have diversity, especially in your moderators. Not having diversity is a death curl for any community.
- Hopefully your message doesn't count for a vote for goat...
  
  No, it doesn't.
- Why not?
  I follow the rules very strictly. Is it the Donald posts you dislike? Those are satire. I figured that'd be obvious.
  Regardless, I've generated a lot of controversy despite following the rules, and I think that's a good thing. It's important to have dissent and opposition. Otherwise, you devolve back into the problem of Reddit, where the mods have a certain bias that makes fair discussion and arguments impossible.
  If you're going purely off downvotes or upvotes, my account's been bombarded by certain users who really don't like me. Dunno why they felt the need to downvote my profile and downvote my music threads, but whatev~
  
  I follow the rules very strictly. Is it the Donald posts you dislike? Those are satire. I figured that’d be obvious.
  It's not satire.
  Let me be clear, I'm not questioning whether you believe it's satire. I'm saying that after 7 years of edgelords coming up with worse and worse posts and memes to one up eachother, and now politicians saying things that were once "just a joke", it's not satire or a joke anymore. It's becoming truth to some people, and that's a problem.
  I'll also point out that r/the_donald also followed the rules strictly. That usually meant pushing the rules right to the line, and making the admins have to adjust the rules that were more ambiguous. I hope you're not following that example.
  
  Just like the original subreddit, am I right?

(Limiting the vote to 1 person and not allowing us to rank is severly limiting, especially for a consensus-based community decision making system as what I remember being described in the post that announced the creation of the Agora.)
@imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works I support, while Goat's method of engagement I think is fine for a member of the community but isn't mod-material. Not a chill dude, and seeing how people have reacted to him already he would be starting from a position of adversity with too much of the community.
- I agree I wish we'd have a top 3 ranked vote, but I can appreciate thats more work for all involved.

Vote: imaqtpie
Additional commentary: goat in particular seems based on activity to be trolling/sealioning/derailing discussions
- How?

Aye @iamqtpie, aye @annegreen aye @Seraph089

@annegreen@sh.itjust.works
- Thanks!

Hard to choose between seraph089 and apytele. Both active in the Agora (an important qualification), both with well thought-out comments there that I think show they're putting real serious thought into the community...
I flipped a coin between them, it said @Seraph089@sh.itjust.works.
EDIT: Just went more seriously through Difficult_Bit_1339's comment history, should have been a d3 :P Plenty of votes for them though, so I'll stick with my vote.
EDIT2: Oh, I'm dumb, should probably do my vote as a separate comment so it's easier to count.
- Seraph089, Difficult_Bit_1339, and apytele are my top 3 too. I don’t mind most of the others and I only have one clear No amongst the other candidates which is a good sign for this place I think.

@Difficult_Bit_1339@sh.itjust.works
If I could vote for more, I'd also vote for imaqtpie and annegreen.

imaqtpie
My first order of business would be developing a more organized way of voting here. No offense to TheDude, he's got a lot on his plate.
- Agreed. I think we need to separate the discussion from the vote. It’s confusing to have amendments take place on voting posts as discussion develops. We also need clear parameters on how to draft a vote and then how the vote gets resolved.
  
  I think a parliamentary system could work well, though that's complicated.
  Maybe some strawpoll site that requires authentication? Link your account, have it approved, then vote.

@annegreen@sh.itjust.works gets my vote. Though @Difficult_Bit_1339@sh.itjust.works is a really close second, wish we could vote for more than one candidate.
- Sorry, dude, but this vote is primarily for Sh.it. users
  feel free to make an account though~!

Seraph089
Of course I'll vote for myself, but I'm happy to see that it's a close race. Win or lose, I'll be here trying my best to help our budding democracy flourish.

@imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works

@Seraph089@sh.itjust.works

@annegreen@sh.itjust.works

My vote is for: annegreen@sh.itjust.works
My honorable mentions are qtpi and seraph. They both currently have more votes than anne so anne gets my vote.
- Thanks!

annegreen

@Difficult_Bit_1339@sh.itjust.works

@Difficult_Bit_1339@sh.itjust.works Aye

@Seraph089@sh.itjust.works

@imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works is my vote

Difficult_Bit_1339
I read a few profiles, i like this one more: @Difficult_Bit_1339@sh.itjust.works
that's my vote

imaqtpie

@Seraph089@sh.itjust.works

annegreen

@Difficult_Bit_1339

@Seraph089@sh.itjust.works

@Seraph089@sh.itjust.works is my vote.

Seraph089

@Apytele@sh.itjust.works

Difficult_Bit_1339

@Apytele@sh.itjust.works

imaqtpie
Is my vote

imaqtpie

@Apytele@sh.itjust.works is my vote
@imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works close second
lots of good candidates, thanks to those who volunteered

@annegreen@sh.itjust.works
Hey, it’s me! For what it’s worth, I’m excited to see this community grow and would be happy to be a part of the mod team helping guide it. Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for this community. I don’t have a lot of experience with online moderation, but I do a lot of conflict resolution and strategy, which I feel are valuable skills for a moderator. If you choose me for a mod, I commit to helping make sure this instance and this community hold to their original vision of being friendly, chill, and democratic. I feel like I’ve already been able to bring some valuable contributions to the table, like the idea to use the [vote] format, and I believe I’ve got a lot more to offer the community. Thanks!

imaqtpie

Difficult_Bit_1339 @Difficult_Bit_1339@sh.itjust.works

My vote @Seraph089@sh.tjust.works

I don't know if Lemmy orders moderators the same way as Reddit or not (1st > 2nd > 3rd) but if so:
@imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works
@Seraph089@sh.itjust.works
@Difficult_Bit_1339@sh.itjust.works
If not, than disregard my ranking.
Also I wasn't certain if I can only make a single choice or three for my vote, maybe I'm just dumb. My first pick is imaqtpie, But I guess if votes are tied, my runoff pick for second mod would be Seraph089 and Difficult_Bit_1339 in that order. goat was also in the ranking but I don't know if there was a spot for 4th pick.
- I'm pretty sure all the mods will have equal power (not as much as TheDude tho)

Hard to pick...do you go purely off engagement? The fact some actually Moderate something already? Computer knowledge? Vibes?
I'll do a bit of everything and go Apytele
@Apytele@sh.itjust.works
Let's go feral, but be flaky about it.

imaqtpie gets my vote

@Difficult_Bit_1339@sh.itjust.works
I'll vote for me of course, or abstain, either way.
e: added name in case TheDude is scraping comments.

@Difficult_Bit_1339@sh.itjust.works
That's my vote

@Difficult_Bit_1339@sh.itjust.works
- I also vote for @Difficult_Bit_1338@sh.itjust.works
  
  Thanks folks

I vote for imaqtpie and Apytele

@Difficult_Bit_1339@sh.itjust.works

@goat@sh.itjust.works has my vote
- Thank you.

@goat@sh.itjust.works Especially in a place for voting and unbias, its good to have people from all sides of politics to prevent the deletion of votes because mods dont agree with them.
- Oh, I wasn't expecting to get any.
  Thank you.

@goat@sh.itjust.works
Naturally a controversial selection.
My post history is quite extensive and varied. I recommend you sort by Top. Unfortunately, my account has been mass downvoted, so do be aware.
As for experience:
I used to be a moderator on /r/watchpeopledie for Reddit, roughly 150k members before it got banned. Seeing gratuitous content and horrible psychotic comments isn't anything new to me.
I also worked alongside /r/AgainstHateSubreddits during my time on WPD, particularly on dealing with /r/CringeAnarchy, which I assisted in shutting down.
I've had active accounts and was well-known on all reddit alternatives. Voat, Said.it, Ruqqus, Drama, Tilde and now Lemmy (which is the best thus far). So I'm very familiar with the sort of development that communities need to grow and the typical shortcomings that occur in these types of communities. One of which, like all things, is a lack of diversity.
I went to College for Journalism and worked for my local area's newspaper. Meaning experience with documentation, information and quality control.
Currently, I'm in Law, working my way up the Lawyer Ladder (hopefully). So I naturally follow the rules and will moderate fairly. I'm also a professional writer.
I'm from Australia, meaning my time zone is most likely the opposite of yours. I think this is a plus, as it means there won't be any downtime in the community where no moderators are on duty; think of it as the night shift. From what I've seen of the other candidates, it seems like most are from the same location.
Politically? I'm an environmentalist. I don't really use the left-right political spectrum as being Australian -- it doesn't really apply, meaning you can ensure my moderation will be unbiased and fair, which is required for communities such as these.
As you can probably see from my profile, I'm the most active of the candidates.
I also come equipped with ^knowledge~~~
Simply downvoting or upvoting doesn't affect the vote. It's purely on a comment basis, though I'm unsure if replies to existing comments count.
Please ask me any questions you have!
- @goat is a good egg
  
  u too! :3

120 comments

You can also only vote once.