Suggestion:Yearly Moderator Elections

[Nintendude]

Just a suggestion for the Admin. Why not have a yearly Moderator Election or bi-yearly Election for moderators. Keeping the current moderators in the election thread for re-election. The admin would also pick the other names that could be in the election or veteran members with a high enough post count and other recomendations such as the member would have to be on the 405th 5 out of 7 days or something like that and those members could send in a "application" to be considered for the election. This way the members of the 405th can pick who they want to have for a moderator, yet the Admin has supervision over who is selected to run in the election. Just a suggestion. Most moderators don't have enough time to be on here, due to school, work, etc. and there are some members that don't currently have a job or go to school that they might have more time to be on the 405th each week. You also have to look at if the member has any previous forum experience at being a moderator or admin and if they have any C++, Java, HTML knowledge. This is just a suggestion I would like to hear other members opinions on the subject, and I already know that one of the Admins will take a look at the thread there's no doubt on that, if anything for the curosity. Let's hear your thoughts.

 

[Unity]

With some thought, this could be somthing great !

 

[ventrue]

If the admins had an unlimited veto right (which they should have, it's their forum after all), they might just as well pick the winner directly. Organising a vote under such circumstances would be one big charade and maybe appease the masses, but not actually do anything.

But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I like the idea aside from that. Like in politics, elections would result in the "loudest", most prominent and active members being elected - and not necessarily those who are most competent and trustworthy. I also don't see the need for more moderators to begin with, moderator response time is pretty good from what I can see.

 

[Nintendude]

No not more moderators but some of the current ones might be tired of doing it after a long period of time. And I would be suggesting that if a election was to happen that the Admin would pick the people to be in the election that would be people trustworthy enough, active enough (some of the current mods are not that active due to personal constraints) honestly Ventrue I would like to see you as a moderator as much as you help people out.

 

[Roadkiller]

... Ventrue I would like to see you as a moderator as much as you help people out.

+1 on that!

 

[ImaGonnaGetYou]

I would agree, but we all know that it would be a ridiculous popularity contest that would simply detract from the site. Although I agree there are some people that would make excellent mods, I don't think a vote would do them any justice.

 

[SchizophrenicMC]

Your qualifications are arbitrary, Nin. I mean, I meet those standards. I'm on here several times a day, every day, I've co-run a forum before, and I'm fluent in all 3 of those languages. But I'd be a TERRIBLE choice for a moderator, despite my qualifications. Honestly, forum leaders have always been handpicked, and always will be. It's just how things roll, and that way works, most of the time. This isn't a democracy, it's a dictatorship, and that's the most efficient and fair way to do it.

 

[Unity]

I would agree, but we all know that it would be a ridiculous popularity contest that would simply detract from the site. Although I agree there are some people that would make excellent mods, I don't think a vote would do them any justice.

Thats true. I think if this were to happen , we would need some non-biast people to come up with the candidates .

 

[Ral Partha]

I would agree, but we all know that it would be a ridiculous popularity contest that would simply detract from the site. Although I agree there are some people that would make excellent mods, I don't think a vote would do them any justice.

I agree with what you're saying here. Being a moderator is not supposed to be a popularity contest, as in electing or voting for one. Being a moderator is about implementing the rules of the forum to maintain order and quorum. And that means sometimes that a moderator has to "punish" people for their wrongdoings, hardly something that will make a mod popular.

It's just how things roll, and that way works, most of the time. This isn't a democracy, it's a dictatorship, and that's the most efficient and fair way to do it.

I also agree with the gist of what you're saying here, although I probably wouldn't state it as harshly.

 

[Devious]

The current moderation system is quite good. Spase is doing an excellent job with the current mods, who may not be seen much but are equally as present.

IF the 405th were to select new mods, it should be a fair application process wherein the applicants would submit "resumes" to be considered, and even conduct interviews. The moderators would know what kind of person they would need to best suit their team.

A vote would just choose the most popular. IE the person who has a great suit, is building a Warthog, or unfolds many models. Just because they contribute a lot doesnt necessarily mean they have the judgement and problem solving skills necessary to be a moderator. A good moderator has to be able to see both sides of an argument, make a just fair decision, and be willing to admit to his own mistakes. Just because a person knows how to use the "delete comment" button doesn't make them a good potential moderator.

Nintendude, why don't you try the election system out on the 105th? As it is a new community it would be easier to instigate these ideas, as opposed to the 405th which is far more established.

 

[ventrue]

A vote would just choose the most popular. IE the person who has a great suit, is building a Warthog, or unfolds many models. Just because they contribute a lot doesnt necessarily mean they have the judgement and problem solving skills necessary to be a moderator. A good moderator has to be able to see both sides of an argument, make a just fair decision, and be willing to admit to his own mistakes. Just because a person knows how to use the "delete comment" button doesn't make them a good potential moderator.

That is what I meant earlier. And if the staff wanted another mod on the team, I'm sure they would have someone on their list already. No need to start a big contest just to say no to everybody but that one person.

I also agree with the notion that the forum is a dictatorship. Not with the negative connotation, but in the sense that only a few people pull the strings. That doesn't have to be a bad thing after all - I understand that a lot of the members here are probably very fond of democracy, but a good monarchy is better than a bad democracy, where every - excuse the term - idiot can vote for whatever he believes is best based on the small fraction of the big picture he can see. Just go out and ask people about political stuff and whether they know what they are going to or have been voting for - I bet that at least two thirds of them are completely ignorant and pretty much go by colour, or are unaware of at least a few of the consequences of their vote.

Also, thanks for the vote of confidence guys, but I doubt that a guy with no finished build who has been here for less than a year is going to become a moderator when there are other people around who are clearly more qualified

 

[Roadkiller]

I concur that the site must remain a benevolent dictatorship. It seems that on a regular basis we see complaints about the number of NOOBs on the board, and now there is discussion about giving everyone a vote on how the place is run? Oh my ...

However, I still feel Ventrue would be an excellent mod, status of his current work notwithstanding, this is about forum presence and activity.

 

[Varsity]

i think the mods are fine now, but i think this is a good system youre proposing.

 

[SchizophrenicMC]

Every month, Adam pays the bills to keep the server running, and for the amount of bandwidth we're eating. In return, he gets nothing from us. All he gets in return is to OWN this forum. And part of owning this forum is that he has the exclusive right to choose who runs it. Is that dictatorship? Yes. Is it fair? Close as it's gonna get, because none of us pay anything to the 405th or to Adam.

Now, perhaps there does need to be a new set of moderators, more moderators, or a rotation, but that's up to the administrators to decide. Thus far, I have to note all of the mods are level-headed, active, contributing members who we all respect. That sounds about ideal. It's a benevolent dictatorship, to quote Roadkiller.

Nintendude, why do I notice you're always trying to initiate anarchy against the administrators, here?

*This is all generalizations and I have no idea about how Adam and Walter's roles play into each other. As far as I know, you could have used their names interchangeably.

 

[ForgedReclaimer]

Every month, Adam pays the bills to keep the server running, and for the amount of bandwidth we're eating.

On that note. Maybe we should set up a donation section so the community can help keep the site running. I'm sure a lot of people here would be more than willing to chip in.

 

[Arioch]

I do not care how this place runs as long as it works. Now that that is over....

I have never seen Nintendude *start anarchy*. He contributes and has done generous things. I believe he, like many of us would like the mods to find a way to control if not end the bot spamming and other things. Posting an idea is not an attempt to start a revolution.

Ive talked to Spase a bit about the forums. They ARE going to change things. It just takes some time for admin and mods to agree on these things, work out implementation and execute their plans.

So, without picking at people, be aware that they are aware of issues here and are working on it.

Lets not say things that can cause resentment and if you need to continue to this discussion, please do it with no fighting.

 

[Liq]

Sounds good to me, but I'm willing to bet nothing will happen. Unfortunately this thread and idea will either slowly die or end up the same as the complaint thread from a few weeks ago with some of us wanting to remove elite section...whatever happened to that thread anyways hmmmm???

@ Schizophrenicmc your statement about funding is actually incorrect. I remember paying out a donation when we did the server swap awhile back. There are some of us who have helped fund the forums.

 

[spartan 847 david]

...whatever happened to that thread anyways hmmmm???

Still there,it just died out.
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/32310-Drawn-away

 

[tygo]

As a newer member I think there is a lot of potential to organize this forum and site to make it much more user friendly. One of the reasons new people arrive constantly but don't stick around is because it is so overwhelming to try and navigate this forum. With the exception of the elite topic it seems like every single topic has a combination of projects, ideas, how to's, file recs, random discussions, and more. And I've been a member of many forums and have never seen anything like the stickies in this forum. Its insane, there are a million stickies. This is such a unique topic and this is a place that people get sent to find out about halo costuming, I think there is a lot of potential to reorganize to retain new members. The more members we can retain, the more people we have working and developing new ideas, new files, new everything. Something needs to change for this forum and site to get to the next level. Some new mods to share the workload that are elected by members, or appointed by existing mods could help take that next step.

 

[SchizophrenicMC]

@ Schizophrenicmc your statement about funding is actually incorrect. I remember paying out a donation when we did the server swap awhile back. There are some of us who have helped fund the forums.

And since, there have been several months of server maintenance and bandwidth fees to be paid, as well as the domain name renewal, and all of those fees, in the past. Not to mention the cost of any forum software. We're on vBulletin, right? That goes as high as $200, depending on your version.

Some of us may have chipped in a small amount, but it's tiny, compared to how much the administration has spent to keep the site running.