Graphic Design

2018 Moderator Election

On Stack Exchange, we believe the core moderators should come from the community, and be elected by the community itself through popular vote. We hold regular elections to determine who these community moderators will be.

Community moderators are accorded the highest level of privilege on our community, and should themselves be exemplars of positive behavior and leaders within the community.

Our general criteria for moderators is as follows:

  • patient and fair
  • leads by example
  • shows respect for their fellow community members in their actions and words
  • open to some light but firm moderation to keep the community on track and resolve (hopefully) uncommon disputes and exceptions

Every election has three phases:

  1. Nomination
  2. Primary
  3. Election

Please participate in the moderator elections by voting, and perhaps even by nominating yourself to be a community moderator!

This election ended May 29 '18 at 20:00.

The results of this election can be viewed online via OpaVote. Anyone may download the election data. Voters have access to pre-built OpenSTV software to audit the results; all others may use this source distribution


2,204 voters were eligible, 513 visited the site during the election, 351 visited the election page, and 187 voted

2 Candidates

I am Emilie, member of GDSE for 4.5 years. I've witnessed our graduation and multiple changes since. My background:

  • College degree + BA in graphic design (6 years) + Graduate degree in Higher Ed. Teaching and completing an MA in EdTech.
  • 18 years of varied experience in GD; freelancing, working in studios and teaching.
  • Since 2014, researching how StackExchange communities self-govern for my thesis. As a researcher, extra care would be taken with the information I would gain access to, in compliance with the moderator agreement.

I am concerned with integrating new valuable users to our community while retaining our experts.

  • I believe novice users (and questions) should be welcome, and that it is our duty to integrate and educate so newcomers can contribute and participate.
  • Some interesting questions in our field are often considered too broad. I think finding ways to accomodate various types of questions is critical to maintain the interest of some of our experts.

I welcome any questions the community may have for me!

link | history
reviews | meta posts
  • I apologize if my nomination sounds a bit dry as I had to edit out 3000 characters of it! – Emilie♦ May 15 '18 at 18:33
  • In a comment can you reflect on why your score is less then Welz's while you've been a longer standing member? Also, are you intending to answer the questions from this meta? – DᴀʀᴛʜVᴀᴅᴇʀ♦ May 15 '18 at 18:55
  • I noticed that you have quite low edits/flags/votes (including close votes). As a moderator, those actions are performed singlehandedly. Do you feel that you have enough experience within those areas to properly handle them? – WELZ May 15 '18 at 18:58
  • @DarthVader Yes, currently answering and will post either today or tomorrow. Will also follow up with the two other questions in comments here. – Emilie♦ May 15 '18 at 19:21
  • @DᴀʀᴛʜVᴀᴅᴇʀ My activity has had ups and down since I first got involved (had my first kid, finishing my courses, etc.). I’ve lurked a lot, engaged in discussions related to Meta but mostly in chat and less so on the actual Meta board. – Emilie♦ May 15 '18 at 19:37
  • @WELZ I am not worried about having enough experience to handle these issues as I have reflected on them for a while. I probably have more Leave Open reviews than I do have close votes, at least recently! I tend to take these kinds of actions only when I see a serious problem and I have not aimed at getting badges specifically, which definitely shows! For example, I would not tend to go through posts to correct spelling and grammar so much but you will see me edit if I feel a title does not represent a question well enough. – Emilie♦ May 15 '18 at 19:38
  • @Emilie i wouldnt worry about that too much honestly. Just as long as you communicate it. Since even i dont have more edit badges than WELZ and only one more moderation badges. This said you should be able to EASILY get Cleanup and Tag editor today and doing so would show good commitment – joojaa May 16 '18 at 9:31
  • @joojaa Done! (I already had Cleanup) – Emilie♦ May 17 '18 at 16:11
  • @Emilie yeah i noticed after i wrote this. – joojaa May 17 '18 at 16:20

Hey! I'm WELZ.

This is my official nomination.

My answers to your questions

I'd be honored to be a moderator for our great community!

Why you do want me?

  • I'm a reasonable guy and truly hope to contribute to this community.
  • I'm an active member at Charcoal.
  • I'm top user contributor on meta (that isn't yet a mod) and have been in the top few position for a while now.
  • I'm always looking for ways to help people out.
  • I have an open schedule and can dedicate more time than average to this community.

Reasons you may not want me:

  • I don't have much rep*.
  • I will sometimes disagree with you. (isn't that the case with everyone?!)
  • I don't have all the mod/edit badges (I do have most)

*I may not have much rep, but I do have a pretty great knowledge for how the (publicly documented) mod tools work and just an overall understanding of SE in general.

link | history
reviews | meta posts
  • Could you expand on what you mean by "I do have a great knowledge for how the mod tools work", since you don't have access to the mod tools (or the 10k tools)? – Cai May 8 '18 at 14:36
  • @Cai sure, although I've never actually used any of the tools. I understand how most of them work and when they should be used etc. (mostly from Charcoal and Meta.SE) – WELZ May 8 '18 at 15:13
  • well a lot of the mod tools are intentionally not public so I'll assume you mean "great knowledge" of the publicly documented tools :) – Cai May 8 '18 at 19:59
  • There are a very few tools that aren't publicly documented. And anyway, having worked with WELZ on Charcoal projects, I'm confident he can pick up mod tools in short order. They're pretty simple. – Undo May 8 '18 at 21:44
  • He must be a hacker... I can't trust him. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for moderator! – Joonas May 9 '18 at 7:50
  • @Joonas what? 🤔 – WELZ May 9 '18 at 11:37
  • Wow! Slim pickings this year! Only three days to go and ... hang on ... let me count ... one, t... Yes! One nomination. Out of interest, if we have to have WELZ for our 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices, does that mean he has to work three times as hard? – Paul May 11 '18 at 9:38
  • @Paul Well last time we didn't get more nominations until people got up to arms about it. But im fine with WELZ being a mod this time around so I don't care. On the positive side you will fit in top 30, just saying :) – joojaa May 11 '18 at 10:59
  • @joojaa: LOL! Thanks :o) – Paul May 11 '18 at 12:17

This election is complete.