> *1\. Super User's broad scope overlaps with several other Stack Exchange sites, including but not limited to Ask Different, Ubuntu, Server Fault, Unix & Linux, Software Recs, and others. How do you intend to handle issues of scope overlap? How would you handle a flag suggesting that a question about OS X be migrated to Apple.SE, or a question about bash migrated to U&L?* I'll go with established policy here: [do not migrate if the question is on topic for Super User][1]. Migration would send a confusing and wrong message to the OP about what is considered on topic here. Super User is for questions about computer hardware and software and home networking, and OS X and bash questions are entirely within this scope. If the question is not getting any answers or poor answers from the community, I may post a comment suggesting that it may be better on another site, making sure that the user is advised not to cross-post: > While your question is on topic for Super User, you may get better answers if you posted it on [*site*]. If you'd like, you can delete this question and repost it there, or you can raise a moderator flag asking me to move it there for you. However, please don't cross-post the same question on multiple sites. --- > *2\. Stack Exchange has established quite a few norms over the last years, which dictate the default action to be taken in several situations. After a few weeks of moderating, you find yourself in strong disagreement with one of these policies. Would you take different actions and deviate from the norm based on your personal assessment of the situation, or would you follow the established rules in order to keep the moderation coherent? If you thought a policy needed changing, how would you approach that?* In general, I won't act against policy unless the situation truly demands it or if there is consensus among the moderators or by the community to do so. If I disagreed with a policy for a particular situation, I would try to evaluate all options, take the appropriate action, and explain in detail, either in a comment or a Meta post, why I made a particular decision. If I disagreed with a policy in general, I would bring it up on Meta for further discussion with the community to determine whether it is a good idea to change it. I normally consider established policy to be a standard which should be followed as much as possible so that the community can rely on it. Moderators represent their communities, so I will always seek community input before making any major policy changes. --- > *3\. Super User is a community of people, and often people disagree (whether on the topicality of the question, correctness of an answer, etc). While many users discuss things civilly, some don't. What is your approach on handling arguments that get out of hand, or are distracting from the original topic?* A key part of being a moderator is to *moderate* discussions among users, so dispute resolution is core to the job. There are many tools at the moderators' disposal to handle these situations, and I will use them judiciously. In the event an argument occurs, the first thing I would do is politely ask the users to stop arguing. I may delete any messages that are obviously offensive or are flagged by the community as such. Where chat or Meta are more appropriate venues for the discussion, I'll consider moving the comments and direct users to continue the discussion there. In more serious cases, I may delete some or all of the comments in the argument without them being flagged and move the discussion to Meta to obtain community input. I may also temporarily lock the post, but since locking the post prevents voting and other normal activity, I would prefer not to have to do so. Where the subject of the dispute is of a borderline nature (such as a question which can be seen as both on- and off-topic), I will exercise caution in making a decision and may seek community input via Meta, knowing that the statements I make as a moderator can have a substantial long-term impact on the site. In any case, I will always treat users fairly and respectfully, because moderators set examples of how users should behave on the site. --- > *4\. A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?* While there may have been a few missteps in posts I've previously made, I've always taken the quality and accuracy of my contributions very seriously. I fully understand that as moderator, my words can and will be seen as authoritative and representative of the community, so I will exercise added care when contributing content to Super User. It's an honor to have this opportunity for my work to truly shine and to represent the community I know and love. --- > *5\. Topicality (that is, whether a question is on-topic or off-topic for the site) is broadly described in the Help Center, but there are often questions that test the boundaries of the topicality guidelines, causing some users to disagree on the topicality of a question. Describe in a few sentences your personal view on the topicality rules of Super User, and how you might apply them as a moderator. You may cite other content on the network as a reference for your answer, but answer in your own words.* Most questions which in some way intrinsically involve a computer (whether a desktop, laptop, Windows 8 tablet, or home server) or equipment used primarily with computers (including keyboards, mice, printers, scanners and other peripherals) are on topic, with certain notable exceptions such as for questions primarily involving programming or shopping recommendations. Generally, questions about other devices such as smartphones and DVRs are off-topic unless a computer is integral to the question. If a question is mainly about a non-"computer" device but intrinsically involves a computer in a non-obvious way (which I've run into several times), I may edit the question to make it clearer that a computer is involved or post a comment advising users not to vote to close to avoid confusion. For devices which behave like traditional computers but differ in significant ways (such as PC-based embedded systems), I will generally decide based on whether the question is of a nature which can be accurately answered by the Super User community and how similar the device is to traditional computers. In borderline cases, such as using Python scripts to automate system maintenance or other administrative tasks, I will prefer not to move the question unless the community believes otherwise. Once again, I may use chat or Meta for community input before making a final decision. --- > *6\. How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?* I'd probably start by posting a comment reply to one of that user's comments, like the following: > @user, you've contributed great answers to Super User, but many of your recent comments have tended to be argumentative or were flagged by the community. We expect all users to be civil here, so please be nice and stay on topic. For guidance, see the [help center](http://superuser.com/help/behavior). If the behavior continues after several similar comments have been made, I would send a moderator message to the user about the issue. As an (absolute) last resort, I may suspend the user for an appropriate period of time. It's vital that users are treated fairly and respectfully throughout the process. As I've written in [this Meta Stack Exchange post][2], civility is expected of all users, whether beginner or veteran. It's my goal as moderator to be a role model and set an example of how we as a community should communicate to users, especially to newcomers who may not understand how the system works. --- > *7\. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?* I would bring it up in chat to discuss with the moderator who took that action to understand why the action was taken and see how the community feels about it. If the best action to take is still unclear, I'll solicit community input on Meta as appropriate. Of course, in the rare event the action was *obviously* incorrect, I may act to reverse it before notifying the moderator who originally did so. --- > *8\. What will you do to breathe life back into <s>Kronos's</s> the Super User Blog?* There are two major reasons for this issue. 1. The blog hasn't been given much attention in the website UI. The only link to the blog is in the Stack Exchange dropdown box (the link in the footer goes to the Stack Exchange global blog). Given this lack of attention, it isn't very surprising that the blog has become idle. 2. The blog hasn't received any interesting posts recently. Given the lack of proper attention to the blog, this isn't very surprising either. In addition, because of the broad scope of Super User, it's hard to pick a particular topic to write on. The main solution to this problem is to promote the blog. The [community promotion ads][3] provide an ideal venue to do so. A Meta post about the blog and how we can get it running again would also be helpful, and I would include suggestions about good topics to write about (the [tag:heartbleed] vulnerability, for example). --- > *9\. A user takes major offense at content in another user's profile (e.g. about me text, or avatar) and repeatedly flags posts by that other user within a few hours, demanding that you remove the offending content from the profile. You look at the user profile, and it doesn't appear to be against the rules. Neither user is available in chat. What do you do?* The flags would be handled as appropriate, and I would try to notify the users involved through the global inbox and discuss the issue in an appropriate venue (chat would be ideal, but we are assuming neither user can use chat). If the flagging continues, or if the user cannot be reached by more appropriate means, I would probably send a moderator message to the user about how the content isn't offensive, based on the content in the profile and my interpretation of the rules. If the user continues to raise meritless flags, I may send another message giving a sterner warning or possibly suspend the user. --- > *10\. What is your current approach, overall, to handling new users when they come into the site and appear not to understand our rules/customs/guidelines? If you became a diamond moderator, how would that approach change, if at all? For the purposes of this question, you may assume that the new user is not posting something worthy of the "Spam" or "Offensive" flags; that would make the question too easy to answer ;) Instead, just imagine that the new user has posted an answer with quality problems, or asked a question in an "Answer" post, or asked a question that has been asked many times before and is widely duplicated -- something along those lines. Pick an example and explain how you deal with it.* At present, I would add a comment to the new user's post explaining the problem, then vote to close or flag as required. I maintain a set of boilerplate comments which I customize as required to politely and accurately notify the user about the issue, and plan to expand these comments as needs evolve. As a moderator, I would continue to post such comments as before. Questions which should be closed will be closed immediately, but I won't delete them immediately unless completely unsalvageable. Answer posts that are not answers will be deleted quickly, but not before the user is notified about the issue through a comment. For more systematic cases, I may ping the user through through the global inbox and, assuming the user has sufficient reputation, invite the user to chat so that I can more easily help the user as needed. All too often, questions are closed and answers deleted without users understanding what went wrong. I aim to ensure users understand *why* this was done so that they can avoid the same mistake in the future. --- If you have any questions or comments about these responses, please let me know by posting a comment below. I welcome and value your feedback. [1]: http://meta.superuser.com/a/2968 [2]: http://meta.stackexchange.com/a/192759 [3]: http://meta.superuser.com/questions/7438/community-promotion-ads-2014