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Greeting all! It's time to see if we can get some Moderators for this site!

Most Stack Exchange sites (like Ask Patents) are generally self-moderated by the community. The combination of voting, wiki-style editing, and control over your content makes this all possible. But when something happens that the community cannot take care of themselves, that's where the Moderator team comes in. They're the "exception handlers" with the little diamond♦ next to their name and access to the tools to help keep this site humming.

Ideally, Moderators are elected by the community. But until this site becomes big enough to be self-sustaining, we hope to appoint a few provisional moderators to fill the leadership vacuum we have today.

That's where you come in. This blog post talks about the process:

Moderator Pro Tempore

If you would be interested in helping moderate this site, here's how this works:

  • Please 'answer' with your username below. Include a link to your profile and anything you would like to add to help us make an informed decision.
  • If you would like to nominate someone else you feel would make a great Moderator, feel free to suggest their name below. I would ask that the nominee please 'accept' or 'decline' the nomination in the comments following the answer.

That's about it.

I can't make any promises just yet. There are very few people who visit this site regularly enough to become an effective moderator… so this may take awhile. But I want to get this process started to let folks know the positions are available and to start thinking about where this site is headed. When we have a sufficient field of candidates to move forward, we'll make our selections and post an announcement here.

Good luck!

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  • May I wonder, who is Micah Siegel? Why he has a diamond?
    – nicael
    Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 18:37
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    @nicael He was our resident expert working closely with Stack Exchange to get this site started.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 19:46
  • Given our current Mod has been absent for 6 months can we have another election? I can think of 3 users that would be qualified canidates.
    – A. K.
    Commented Oct 1, 2018 at 14:07
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    @A.K. Unfortunately, this site doesn't have 1/10th the participation we would need for an election.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Oct 1, 2018 at 14:13
  • @RobertCartaino fair point. Would it be possible to get another moderator Pro Tempore?
    – A. K.
    Commented Oct 1, 2018 at 14:15
  • @A.K. I don't know. I've been hesitant in normalizing the mod/pro-tem assignments to this site where it becomes subject to being shut down if representation cannot be found... per Graduation, site closure, and a clearer outlook on the health of SE sites. I've been taking on those roles.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Oct 1, 2018 at 14:20

3 Answers 3

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I'd like to nominate George White - accepted (see comment).

profile for George White on Ask Patents profile for George White on Meta Ask Patents profile for George White on Stack Exchange http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/2244314.png

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    I would be happy to be a moderator at Ask Patents. To balance the positive factors listed by @nicael I would say that I am not heavily steeped in the general SE culture and also that some might consider my general pro-patent stance as counter to Ask Patent's original charter.
    – George White Mod
    Commented Oct 8, 2014 at 18:56
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    @GeorgeWhite I've been trying to contact you regarding this appointment. Please contact me at the email address in my profile. Thanks.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Dec 5, 2014 at 17:53
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As I mentioned over on Should we appoint pro-tem moderators?, I would love to be considered.

profile for Matthew Haugen at Ask Patents, Q&A for people interested in improving the patent system profile for Matthew Haugen at Startups Stack Exchange, Q&A for entrepreneurs starting and running a small business profile for Matthew Haugen on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/1325646.png

I'm not usually wont for self-nomination like this, but I really feel strongly that we can build this site out to reach, as Robert said in his answer to my above-linked meta post, a wider and more devoted audience. I hope my having started that meta post is found as proof of that excitement. I agree that Ask Patents needs a cleanup, and I recognize AP's unique position as a site with few regular, high-rep users, and its scope which tends to be misunderstood by some new, in Robert's words, "drive-by" users. That said, I'm more than ready to start working with the community team at Stack Exchange, my fellow appointees, and the community here at Ask Patents to do that cleanup, and to develop it into a resource for inventors and anyone else interested.

I'm also, as of a few weeks ago, a moderator pro-tem on Startups, where we're beginning to grow pretty successfully. And unfortunately, as the keen observer will note, I am relatively new to Ask Patents, and as such still have a fairly low reputation score on the site (although for what it's worth, I'm ranked fifth of the year from my three months here). But I am a regular here, and I think my field knowledge is evidenced by the few questions I've answered and, even more so, the fact that three of my five top-scoring answers on Startups are IP-based, and I hope my interest is shown via the presence of Intellectual Property as one of the two Area51 proposals I currently advertise on my profile. I also believe that my position on Startups could prove mutually beneficial, as AP and Startups each have--potentially--similar audiences. I can imagine opportunities for migrations or even cross-promotions that would be made simpler by sharing a representative between the two.

So yeah, before I ramble on too much, it would mean a lot to me to be considered as a pro-tem.

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    The thing that you are a mod somewhere else on SE really matters, yes.
    – nicael
    Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 20:10
  • @nicael Being a mod elsewhere doesn't generally disqualify someone from moderating another site (some of our best moderators have multiple sites). It depends on the workload. It's not generally an issue, but something to consider.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 20:14
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    @RobertCartaino There was no sarcasm in my comment :) I said that it really matters.
    – nicael
    Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 20:15
  • @nicael I agree with what I think you're saying, that experience speaks positively? If so, yeah! On the other hand, if you are, in fact, as Robert implied, concerned about my workload, I assure you that won't be a problem, combining the fact that each site has multiple mods, and the fact that my schedule is...generous, I have confidence I can handle these two sites with equal and necessary care.
    – Matthew Haugen
    Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 20:25
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    Mod experience is is surely positive and important, thats what I mean.
    – nicael
    Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 20:27
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I expected to see more candidates there, but seems that no one else wants to nominate anyone, so I'll add me.

http://stackexchange.com/users/flair/3548243.png

I don't have really much rep there, moreover, most reputation I have is from suggested edits.

I earned some reputation (except of association bonus) on 23 SE sites and have large participation on Meta Stack Exchange, earning >5k (I offered some bounties so it has fallen to 3.5k, but anyway my total rep with offered bounties on MSE is 11,709) there, therefore I know how do things work a bit :)

I am relatively active reviewer since I started to participate there, also I have Strunk & White badge which is rare there - till now I have edited 95 posts.

Maybe matters, maybe not, but I have Enthusiast badge.

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