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Lately, it seems I am the only moderator who is really performing the necessary duties here. Last week I had a pretty rough week at work, and I did not have as much time as I usually do to address flags, the PotW, and other things here on PhotoSE. We've accumulated over 20 flags today, none of which have even been viewed by anyone but myself so far.

I am happy to continue serving as a moderator here, however I cannot handle the job 100% entirely by myself. It would be nice to have at least one other person who can regularly visit this site, check flags, evaluate posts, and take the appropriate action...at the very least. I have also been the sole moderator managing the PotW for quite some time, since Fall last year, and I do not always have time to update the header exactly on time. If I miss it, it would be nice to have a backup to update it.

Our site is increasing in popularity and volume as well. We have several new flags a day at least, sometimes as many as a dozen a day. We are getting a lot more new members, and along with that, a lot more insufficient answers that need to be addressed, which usually requires visiting those answers several times to add a post notice, add a comment, watch for edits that improve content, and if there are no edits, taking the appropriate action. I've been able to keep up so far, but my life does not have as much free time as it once did, and if we continue to experience increased moderator load, I won't be able to handle it entirely on my own.

I don't mean any offense to the other moderators, but I really feel left out in the dust, entirely alone, by each of you. You all took on a commitment to help maintain PhotoSE and keep it a clean, well oiled machine and a friendly place to be. If you no longer want the job, we should hold an election and bring in some new people who have more time and are enthusiastic about the job.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I know who's on my nomination list... @mattdm :D \$\endgroup\$
    – Joanne C
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 18:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ Matt is always on my list, but he always passes. I think he would make a GREAT moderator, but I don't think he wants the very responsibility I'm asking someone to step up to. :P \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista Mod
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 18:55
  • \$\begingroup\$ Maybe he could be nagged into it... \$\endgroup\$
    – Joanne C
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 20:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ JoanneC: Tag! Your it! \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista Mod
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 22:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm considering it. No promises, though, because I really do think Matt would be a better choice. \$\endgroup\$
    – Joanne C
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 23:23
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    \$\begingroup\$ A few weeks ago I noticed that none of the other mods had visited the site in for around 10 days. I agree we could use 2-3 mods, not just one. \$\endgroup\$
    – MikeW
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 23:35
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    \$\begingroup\$ I encourage all of you core group guys to consider. You already do a lot of work, and a lot of that would become easier when you become a moderator. It certainly comes with responsibility...your votes are immediate and binding...so you have to use them sparingly, but for easy things like migrating to AVP or SU could become immediate. \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista Mod
    Commented Mar 19, 2013 at 3:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ Just go ahead make mattdm a moderator, then let anyone else interested run in a proper election :) \$\endgroup\$
    – MikeW
    Commented Mar 19, 2013 at 4:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ @jrista in any case, thanks for the work that you put in this site. I've got a relatively low rep but I try to do some amount of maintenance jobs, in accord with my permissions (editing, flag, review queue and so on). I know very well that it's not quick, and can be difficult. \$\endgroup\$
    – Francesco
    Commented Mar 19, 2013 at 13:37

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FWIW: we actually had an election scheduled for Photography already, but it was still a few months out - given your current distress, we decided to bump it up. It starts in a couple hours: https://photo.stackexchange.com/election/3

Obviously, this doesn't solve everything, but hopefully it'll help to motivate some additional discussion here: as you say, the site needs a moderator team to operate effectively; folks have lives, and can't be expected to be around all the time.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Thanks, Shog! Very much appreciated! :) \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista Mod
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 18:55
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I should apologise on this one a little- I've got a massive project on at the moment during my day job (SAP migration, if you want to empathise), so whilst I am checking as often as possible, it's not as often as I'd like - this project is likely to consume my time for the next six months(!).

Given we've had another moderator having to step back for work commitments as well, I'd second that we "probably need another, at least for the time being"

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  • \$\begingroup\$ No need to apologise, we all get busy. Just a lot of people have happened to get busy at the same time. \$\endgroup\$
    – MikeW
    Commented Mar 19, 2013 at 4:54
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What makes a group of moderators a team is communication. It is just professional courtesy to let the other mods know when you'll be out of circulation for a while and then to notify them when you're back. One thing mods on other sites have done is to set up site-specific private chatrooms to discuss these and all other moderation issues: only moderators may join. If you don't have this facility, now would be a good time to create one and use it.

SE knows how to handle extended absences, too.

A truly important adjunct to the moderator team is the group of high-rep users. I see we now have 21 with over 10K rep. (Congratulations to you all!) Just a little help from these users can take most of the burden off the official moderators. Obviously I cannot speak for the mods here, but as a mod on two other SE sites I will attest that what I am most grateful for--in addition to having great fellow mods to work with--is the ongoing help of the rest of the community. I would be thrilled if these communities wanted to do all the moderation work :-)--then I could just sit back and enjoy a well-run site. If you're part of this group--or if you are a newer but enthusiastic participant--please consider stepping up with more regular reviews and edits. Every little bit helps and you can start at any time.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Thanks, Whuber. There is no doubt we have a very strong core group here. There are quite a few members who help out a LOT, and members in general take care of the majority of things. I generally try to leave flags or potentially troublesome posts be if it looks like there will be a community consensus on it anyway, and more often than not, there is. Its just that the volume of things members cannot take care of directly, or don't have enough visibility on to know it needs to be addressed, is growing. \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista Mod
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 22:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ The review queue is almost always empty, so the core users are taking care of most things. Just the occasional spam that can take awhile to clear, where a mod could instantly sort it out. \$\endgroup\$
    – MikeW
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 23:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ I can see that, @MikeW, and it's also apparent that you have personally been very active. I am glad to see your nomination for moderator. \$\endgroup\$
    – whuber
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 23:59

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