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Should the PLT be moderators? Or should this be more community led (not excluding PLT though, since they are community members as well.)?

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  • Could you explain "PLT" please
    – web-tiki
    Commented Apr 22, 2014 at 19:08
  • PLT is the Joomla Production Leadership Team - joomla.org/about-joomla/the-project/leadership-team.html
    – Don Gilbert
    Commented Apr 22, 2014 at 19:11
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    I probably would have thought it would be the CLT because I see this site as analogous to, and possibly a future replacement for our forum support. Whatever the case, I could see a specific working group set up for it, probably under the CLT, but make up of expertise from across the org.
    – Andrew Eddie
    Commented Apr 22, 2014 at 22:28
  • I guess I should have asked the question, is there or can we expect any official support from the LT, or does/should this site remain independent of the current project leadership? That said, I am coming around to the thinking that the PLT should have the role of providing end-user support and maybe that's something that has to change in the org. - that is a facet of production in my mind.
    – Andrew Eddie
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 21:55
  • I put my answer below, as Stack Exchange does have a system for appointing moderators. My thoughts are that PLT members would be an exceptional choice - but I'm also hoping that overtime the SE site will lighten, not increase, the burden on PLT members - in other words, Stack Exchange provides a great way for others to chip in and to provide and identify authoritative answers - as for moderation - SE's reward system does a lot of the heavy lifting (i.e. people will lose rep points and associated privileges), so moderation really only needs to be used to assist or in extreme circumstances
    – NivF007
    Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 2:26

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At this point, the answer is "no one" and "everyone" at the same time.

Before explaining further, here are the boilerplate help sections from Stack Exchange:

Where moderators will eventually be listed: https://joomla.stackexchange.com/users?tab=moderators

What the moderators do: https://joomla.stackexchange.com/help/site-moderators

It is likely that those who are most active in the next few weeks will be selected by Stack Exchange to moderate. After that, there will be elections, so no answer to this question will actually be the rule of the land.

To speak to the broader question of should the moderators be on the PLT:

I think that the PLT members could be moderators, but I don't think that they HAVE to be moderators. Either way, each of them can be a member of the community and can help shape its future.

I know that there are quite a few people that are pretty excited about this proposal who I don't think are PLT members (Dmitry and Nik come to my mind first. Lodder, who is super active on StackOverflow, also comes to mind). I think that the best moderators are those who are really excited about this site specifically, not necessarily those who are the most connected into the broader vision of Joomla as a whole. Lots of moderating looks like grunt work, so being excited helps.

Ultimately, I think that moderators should be the ones who are concerned with the success of this site. I would not want someone moderating with their PLT "hat" on. This site is built on the success of Joomla as a whole, but I think there is a slight distinction in moderating with the goal of good questions and answers versus moderating with the goal of improving Joomla. I have no doubt that PLT members could do that, but I don't think that being on the PLT gives them any additional qualification inherently from that membership.

(That being said, I would guess that all of them are very familiar with Joomla, a great resource for answering questions, and have an intimate knowledge in the future of the platform, which ARE additional qualifications for being moderators, so if you are on the PLT and want to be a moderator, go for it! If you are on the PLT and don't want to be a moderator, don't feel compelled.)

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Personally, I would prefer the active members who dedicate time to the Joomla tag on SO to be moderators rather than simply having PLT members.

I would definitely go along the lines of community based and have an election of some sort. How this election will be done, I don't know but I'm sure we it can be discussed.

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Right now, there are no moderators.

However, you can see a great explanation and example in action of how Stack Exchange approaches appointing moderators (voted by the community of Stack Exchange users) at https://gaming.stackexchange.com/election/4

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:

  • Nomination. Up to thirty candidates nominate themselves for the position.

    You need 300 reputation to nominate yourself.

  • Primary. The top ten candidates are chosen, if necessary, through voting.

    You need 150 reputation to vote candidates up or down.

  • Election. A final round of voting is used to determine the winner through Meek STV.

    You need 150 reputation to cast your preferences.

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

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    thx for the link, so in the end there are 3 moderators with a bit more power and the rest is done by users with high reputation.
    – Harald Leithner
    Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 8:49
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    Note that the elections only happen when a site graduates. During the public beta period, we on the Community Team will appoint temporary moderators to handle the site during the time, for the exceptions that cannot be handled simply by high reputation users.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 14:54
  • @GraceNote - Thank you - it's very nice to have your assistance.
    – NivF007
    Commented Apr 27, 2014 at 5:21
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If I understand StackExchange correctly you can't define a moderator, you will get this right if you have enough points.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

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    There are separate moderators that will be selected/elected down the line that will bypass the reputation requirements for permissions. But yes if you have enough rep/points you will get permissions that are very similar to what a moderator can do.
    – Spunkie
    Commented Apr 22, 2014 at 19:32
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    Ok thanks for the clarification.
    – Harald Leithner
    Commented Apr 22, 2014 at 19:34
  • I would guess that most of the ones that get elected will have the rep pretty quickly if they don't already. It just provides a little extra oversite and control, but any user with rep can do almost everything.
    – David Fritsch
    Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 21:29
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I think that PLT has hands full as it is. CLT could chip in but dont forget they also have things to do like managing Joomla sites, forums etc. Best match for mods would be the most experienced and most active users. They should get an invite from PLT/CLT and continue to contribute.

I rather not see this place replacing the Joomla forum. If it will be and we get same responses like in the forum than I think we are doing something wrong. Stack has always been for people who are more involved with extended applications use.

I sure hope we did not spent so much effort to get own place on stack to answer questions like "What is Joomla?"

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  • I've been telling people that the Joomla Forum is the best fallback channel to ask Joomla-related questions that are deemed off-topic in JSE. If a question is Too Broad, Opinion-based, or insufficiently developed/clear to fit the JSE guidelines, then Forum can field it. These types of questions end up becoming long, drawn out threads which can low-value/painful to read by researchers who merely want the "lean meat" solution. The beauty of JSE is the chatter-free, concise content, the searchability, and the reward system that is appreciative of quality over post count.
    – mickmackusa
    Commented Dec 9, 2018 at 13:03

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