Hello users of Hexbear while we are always accepting moderation applications I would like to begin another formal volunteer drive.
Those of you interested in volunteering as a moderator, can send me your responses to the application questions below using either hexbear direct message or matrix message.
The answers may be as short or as long as you feel is adequate.
Application
What is your Hexbear username?
Do you have any preferred pronouns?
What are your thoughts on capitalism?
What are your thoughts on imperialism?
What are your thoughts on Palestine?
What are your thoughts on trans rights?
What are your thoughts on racial justice?
What do think about current and previous protests around the world?
What are your thoughts on Veganism and Animal Liberation?
Do you have any experience with other leftist online communities?
What did those experiences teach you?
What is your approach to moderation, and how do you work with teams?
How do you deal with online drama and people who try to start things for the sake of it?
What current communities would you be interested in moderating?
Would you like to create a new community?
Do you have any ideas for community engagement?
What is your general time availability? (Time zone, amounts, common browsing times, etc)
Element information
Element is a messaging app that lets you talk to people over the Matrix protocol.
To get started, check out this link, where you can choose to either download Element for your platform or, if on a computer, open it in a browser.
The instructions that follow are for the desktop application and the web application, but the process is similar on all apps:
Press “Create Account”
Fill in a username and password
Hit register, and you’re done!
deleted by creator
My support to all who answer the call, I’m ignoring it again
based and
-pilled
I would mod but I cant be trusted with all that power.The power would go straight to my head and I would eat all the beans
We’ll just post more
I want to but don’t feel like answering those questions right now
Good luck my friend, it would be great to become a supervisor. ❤❤
thanks habibi
The answers may be as short or as long as you feel is adequate.
thanks habibi
I think only seeking moderators who are willing/able to answer broad essay questions on vague political issue might not be the best selection method. They’re each one questions to which many people have devoted their whole lives.
Here’s some things I would think to ask about (
- are there any subjects, comms or dynamics you would recuse yourself from moderating?
- what time commitment can you make over the next 6 months?
- what do you think a moderator does?
- what should a moderator not do?
- in your opinion, what’s the best parts of hexbear that you want to encourage?
- if you were forced to delete 10% of comments on hexbear, how would you choose?
- how is hexbear different from other Lemmy instances?
- what kinds of people should not be on this site and how can you recognize them?
- what is the next struggle session?
- how should policy decisions be made on hexbear?
- find a comment you think requires moderation action and explain what you would do.
- what is one question you would add to this list? And one you would remove?
eta:
- what would put you off being a mod?
- what are the benefits of being a mod?
- how do/should/could mods evaluate themselves individually and collectively?
- why aren’t you a mod already?
- what emoji would you remove and why?
asking broad question like “what do you think of racial justice” invites a superficial answer, and its easy to tell what direction the “correct” answer would be. Do you want people who diverge from the obviously correct direction of answers? Like do you only want vegans as mods? maybe a more pointed question that gets at application of the ideas. This could be improved its just off the top of my head:
- many people are of the opinion that there is a lot of racism & white supremacy on hexbear
- How can it be the case given the “color blind” nature of the site?
- how can moderstors influence this?
- What is your understanding of current/past interventions to address this and their usefulness?
- How else can hexbear get better?
- Are some problems insurmountable in this context?
- What feedback mechanisms are available to assess efficacy?
Its too many in total. You probably want to have a small number of mandatory questions and then maybe pick from a list of other ones.
I think of your list of ism questions, maybe people choose 1 they think they are strong on and 1 they think they are weak/unsure on.
eta 2: why ask pronouns? It is already a feature of the site. Is there something else that is meant to imply? or maybe it’s left over from before.
Like do you only want vegans as mods?
I think the point of that question is that anti-vegan shit is against site rules. So if someone says “I don’t think it matters and vegans are annoying” they wouldn’t be eligible to be a mod
"I don’t think it matters
ambivalence isn’t the same as hostility
and vegans are annoying"
moderators aren’t allowed to be annoyed?
Here’s another question for the above list:
- Are there any recurring topics on hexbear/lemmy that annoy you? As a moderator, how might you deal with that?
Personally I would recuse myself from moderating anything having to do with “beans”.
ambivalence isn’t the same as hostility
You wouldn’t consider it hostility if someone answered that to one of the topics you think are important? Like, “I don’t think racial justice matters” wouldn’t be a disqualifying response for a moderator in your opinion?
I highly doubt that.
You wouldn’t consider it hostility if someone answered that to one of the topics you think are important? Like, “I don’t think racial justice matters” wouldn’t be a disqualifying response for a moderator in your opinion?
You equate veganism to anti racism.
CoC says
Volunteers, comments, and posts, should not be anti-vegan, although users and volunteers are not required to be vegan.
So in your opinion, would an appropriate equivalence be
Volunteers, comments, and posts, should not be racist, although users and volunteers are not required to be anti-racist.
??
Yeah but no one filling an application would say something like that because they know it’d be the wrong answer. I think instead of asking that kind of question, admins could explicitly state that anti-veganism is not tolerated, and give brief quotes on the other subjects like imperialism/racial justice and so on. The onboarding process could involve some very light reading on these subjects.
asking broad question like “what do you think of racial justice” invites a superficial answer
I agree with @hellinkilla@hexbear.net, and if people actually thought they are supposed to give a detailed and thorough answer then they’d be less likely to submit an application, who wants to write a bunch of short essays
Great comment and I’d like to take some time to read it again and respond appropriately
We ask pronouns in the event a user doesn’t want to display their pronouns publicly but wishes to be called by the pronouns in private conversations.
The more complicated the question process is more time we need to spend working through them. The current question responses cover areas of theory that has resulted in site wide struggle sessions. We have received vague answers and really in-depth answers to the current question list, then we look at the user’s profile and if there is any mod action against them.
I would like to share your questions with the other admins so that we can modify the mod question list for next time. It will take some time and effort to get the list down as you said with some of your additions it would be too large of a hurdle for people but I really like your questions. Thank you
Ya it’s way too much. But it was already way too much.
I understand it’s a mobius strip because you have to do the things that have been previously committed to in context of specific problems that arose. And that’ll only get longer and longer as time goes on. So you probably don’t want to add a bunch of BS from here.
Trying to think of questions that would elicit honest, complicated and partly-“wrong” answers.
Individual people don’t need to be perfect. In building a project committee it’s more important to balance the strengths so overall the collective can accomplish everything. So you need to know what you are already working with (which I can have no insight on) to decide what to focus on bringing in.
Or you just accept everyone who doesn’t say anything extremely fucked up? Realistically that’s probably what I’d do. Just start small in terms of responsibility.
We ask pronouns in the event a user doesn’t want to display their pronouns publicly but wishes to be called by the pronouns in private conversations.
A lot of the questions could be asked once you accept an application, that way the application would be shorter.
Do you have any experience with other leftist online communities?
What did those experiences teach you?
What is your approach to moderation, and how do you work with teams?
How do you deal with online drama and people who try to start things for the sake of it?
What current communities would you be interested in moderating?
Would you like to create a new community?
Do you have any ideas for community engagement?
What is your general time availability? (Time zone, amounts, common browsing times, etc)
For me these questions don’t seem necessary to decide whether you’d accept an application or not, but ofc you know better. After accepting an application an experience mod could ask them about online drama and moderation, and provide some guidance or even “approved answers”, call it training lol.
Suggestion: add a question about what the applicant thinks of zionism and the burning pissraeli flag emote to weed out the liberal zionists
like rhyming with orange. i can smell the smoke pourin out their ears already
Follow up suggestion: make the mod application answers public (unless there’s a reason not to that I’m not thinking of)
i think there’s no mods for c/hobby at the moment.
i would volunteer but i wouldn’t be a good mod cause i get decision paralysis pretty bad so yeah
Small comms tend to be extremely tame and low-maintainance.
AMAB!
(jk luv u
)
13·7 months agoAssigned
malemod at birth
Would it be possible to make a short reading list consisting mainly of articles, about the subjects in the mod application? Nothing too basic ofc, but instead it should address blind spots and add to their knowledge on these subjects. It would be optional reading ofc.
@Cowbee@hexbear.net don’t mean to single you out but you’re an expert in reading lists.
I don’t consider myself an “expert,” but thank you, that’s very flattering! I’d say a lot of these areas, such as veganism, are areas I personally support of course but don’t really have any “reading” I can recommend. I think other comrades may be able to speak up on what they enjoy reading about these.
If the mod team thinks it’s a good idea we could have a post for reading suggestions.
Great idea thank you
I was recently thinking about what @MLRL_Commie@hexbear.net said about unnamed roles and tasks, and I think keeping a comm active is one of them, and it should be its own volunteer position, with easier onboarding. You would volunteer to help keep a comm active, even if just by making those weekly/monthly threads. We sometimes completely forget about certain niche comms even though they have mods, who usually mod multiple comms anyway (which is very appreciated ofc), also its not their job to keep comms active or contribute to them or whatever.
We can call the position comm organizer or steward or something.
Take c/literature as an example, PM_ME_YOUR_FOUCAULTS had started a weekly series called Hexbear Reads and people engaged with it and asked to be added to the ping list and so on. So clearly people want something like that, even a generic weekly c/literature post where they talk about what they are reading. But since PM_ME_YOUR_FOUCAULTS’s ban no one made a post like that. To be clear this is not about “pumping up engagement”, which obviously doesn’t fit the site culture, instead it’s about addressing a need. People want these monthly/weekly posts but no one makes them!
This is not about c/literature mods or anyone else, they are doing a great job and they only signed up to moderate really. Also mods usually mod a couple of comms, but these hypothetical organizers should only be responsible for a comm or two.
It would be a chill volunteer position with no responsibilities or pressure, and the application for it should be small and easy to fill out.
I know that some mods fill this role perfectly, but it’s not a requirement of the job and it shouldn’t be one.
Thanks for the reference, did not feel like anyone understood what I was saying the first time and I’m glad to see someone did. I entirely agree with your idea! A perfect example!
great idea, i would encourage anyone that wants to start that to do so and I can happily community feature posts if you ping me
You should make me a moderator
Ok!
I started to fill some questions out, then realized I’d be doing everyone on our favorite Citations Needed fan forum a favor by not being a mod, im just a run of the mill liberal shitposter.
Many of the current mods are of a similar type if you want to help we would be grateful!
If we combine our liberal powers together we can become 1 complete communist
This is copy pasted from my notes, I think I saw it last week, I keep meaning to ask about it
Matrix is not a community-based software, it was born [00] in Amdocs [01], a multinational corporation founded in Israel.
On the Internet we find many pieces of information connecting Amdocs with Israel’s Intelligence
is this correct?
anyway, I think I’m still a mod for at least one comm (i havent checked in for a while though), I could potentially do some more but my health has been pretty bad lately and I have no confidence due to the bad vibes from a short stint in a community org
maybe ill be in touch
ps is your username the same on matrix?
my username is @carc0sa:chapo.chat
we self-host our homeserver and don’t share the mod application outside of encrypted channels
If we already mod a community, do you want us to submit the application for additional comms we’re considering modding for?
No need, please send me a message with a link to a post or comment in the communities you want to mod
I may submit an app but it would be on Monday or something. Will this post still be active by then?
sure!
