Why didn't we get a say?

[Moka]

Nah, we're a pretty small forum on the internet. We're not a city-state. Developing a set of rules for electing forum moderators would be excessive. The last staff elections were confusing enough. The staff elections were just a tryout as Ivan said. A few members were concerned that they weren't getting their say about who gets chosen to be a moderator. So, we decided to give a different approach a try. Now that we gave it a try, we believe that simply choosing moderators when we need more is a better approach. So I don't see us having staff elections in the foreseeable future.

And Annie, we weren't that desperate, otherwise we would've contacted you weeks ago ^^ The forum is a bit slower than usual I assume because of school and finals and such.

[Azdgari]

Poll involving members = popularity contest

Rule of thumb. ^^

[TheRoguePrince]

I will make no serious objections or comments, but as to comparing the length of this selection to the vote, I must say there wasn't that much time difference. I had the privelage of knowing (from Flip's comments in my den) that they were searching. It took quite some time for them to do so if I remember correctly. So, I won't say whether I prefer either type of decision, but that isn't really a decent factor to consider.

[Panda-chan]

No poll at all = we get no say

The whole point of staff elections was because members felt the staff had too much control. It was agreed upon that it would be fair to both the members and mod team if the decision was split 50/50.
I also don't see how the last elections were confusing. There were initially some people who were mad when Flip got chosen, but that disappeared after a while. I think the members are smart enough to pick their own mods is all.

[FlipMode]

[quote="Amanda"]No poll at all = we get no say

The whole point of staff elections was because members felt the staff had too much control. It was agreed upon that it would be fair to both the members and mod team if the decision was split 50/50.
I also don't see how the last elections were confusing. There were initially some people who were mad when Flip got chosen, but that disappeared after a while. I think the members are smart enough to pick their own mods is all.[/quote]

The fact that some people were mad that I got chosen (which I was not actually aware of so thanks for bringing it up), is undeniable proof that the system was flawed. Every other time a staff member was chosen, no problems, the one time we are able to vote and would you believe it, some people were not happy with the result.
See now I do not think my place on the staff was "earned" so much as it was "won", which is another reason why we should not have or even ever had elections.

No one is saying that members are not smart enough to choose the moderators and make good decisions and I think the poll statistics evidence that very well. But the fact still remains that the system of electing staff members is flawed. I have never seen it anywhere before outside of politics and there are reasons why not.
Plus the staff have to work with the new moderators, which IMO entitles them to more of a say.

[DGFone]

All decisions will always make someone mad. It's a compromise of do the mods want to make some members happy by having an election, or not leave it for debate, and let people deal with it. To inflate the problem a lot, but looking at governments, a democracy always takes a lot more responsibility to run correctly. You learn about governments in school in a democracy (as boring as it is), you don't learn about it in a dictatorship (apart from how great it is).

Just like here. If you want to have elections on the next mod, be prepared to lose and not have the mod you voted for winning. So if you know that you will get mad and call the system corrupt just because the opposition won, then elections are not for you. But do remember, that if the mods do hold elections again, your vote will count. Even if you lose, don't feel mad because it's not that you are wrong, but that simply more people thought differently. As for having a popularity contest, what else is to say other than try not to do it? When voting for a mod, try thinking about it as voting not for a good thing, but a bad thing (mods have a banhammer): therefore you will choose who you think will be most responsible, not necessarily because they are popular.

[Annie]

[quote="Moka"]And Annie, we weren't that desperate, otherwise we would've contacted you weeks ago ^^ The forum is a bit slower than usual I assume because of school and finals and such.[/quote]


Oooh ok ^^ Just an assumption


I don't really know what to say about this thread. It seems some of you don't want me to be a mod, but that might be another assumption, but since I got about 2 votes in the poll last time, I'm wondering if it's true?
Either way, I believe the mods made a good decision and I'll do a good job! I hope.

[Zeke]

I don't really see why this is a problem now when there was also no election for me . And this was also a situation where we did need another mod to help us because we not only recently lost 2 staff members, but KK is also taking a break from his position for a month. And it was never declared a rule, as Moka said, and like most new things we try to apply in the forum, it was temporary unless it was a completely successful idea. We try to do whats best for the forum here and as most people said, that most of the time voting for someone is a big popularity contest (not saying that Flip is not fit for the job because he's an awesome mod) and sometimes voting is plagued with flaws and complications. In this instance, Annie was the most logical choice to improve the forum.

[WildSimba]

I think a good idea would be to put up applications for being a moderator. I thinks it's more effective then just picking, because if you have a pool of applications, then you know who exactly would be willing to do the job. Instead of all the fighting it can be whoever wants to join in to be a moderators choice. I think if this is implemented, then the application should be rather lengthy, as to see who would be willing to put in the time in order to be a moderator on this forum. As it is the staff keep picking people who it seems don't even want the job in the first place.

And then if the members really want to vote, instead of nominating people, the moderators can post who sent in an app for a voting poll, and then the top 3 out of that poll can be choosen from. I'd also give the staff more room for who they were wanting to blacklist/not be a mod. Just a suggestion though.

[FlipMode]

^ I like that idea a lot, we do have interviews in most cases already to confirm that person wants to be a mod, could contribute and yada but applications could be pretty good.