Electrical Engineering

2011 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 11 '11 at 20:00.

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.


397 voters were eligible, 95 visited the election, and 54 voted

8 Candidates

Nomination Primary Election

I'm markrages -- Change you can believe in.

Vote for me to change the direction of the stack exchange site.

I believe:

  • Questions about selecting and sourcing electronic components should be considered on-topic and encouraged.

  • Questions about non-design but related items (how to solder, etc.) should be allowed.

  • Lazy, "send me the codez" questions should be closed quickly.

  • Respect the Electropus

Only vote for me if you agree with the above ideas.

About me: I have an engineering degree and have been doing electronics design professionally for fifteen years. I still type "chiphacker.com" to visit this site.

link | history
reviews | meta posts
  • \$\begingroup\$ Wow, bringing some controversy to the election! I disagree with you on the first two points: I expressed my frustration at bad shopping questions here, and the related questions issue is new, but I articulated my opinion on it here. I'm not sure what your action plan is for the last two. I think we do a good job of closing bad questions. I loved Electropus, but I'm not sure what can be done to bring the Chiphacker brand back and that's not a mod's job. \$\endgroup\$ – Kevin Vermeer May 3 '11 at 19:59

First and foremost, and I hope you forgive me for using this space, I would like to congratulate everybody on our graduation. I'd like to thanks also @RobertCartaino for the opportunity of being a pro term moderator. It was really fun and rewarding. I've learned a lot during these months.

And my special thanks is to @Kortuk for being a fellow patient and generous. There could be no better moderator.

I was a poor user here and didn't know right the philosophy of the Stack Exchange. Since I became a moderator, I have studied a lot the guidelines and whenever there is any doubt, I look for help from other moderators trying to avoid my decision being wrong. At the beggining I've committed some mistakes, but nowadays I like to think that I'm doing a good job.

My philosophy is that the moderator has to do the minimum possible, and whenever possible leave the community to be self-moderated.

We have to treat everyone with respect and patience.

And we have to keep in mind that this should be the best resource available for professionals in electronics in the world.

I would be honored to serve again.

Please, consider use Stack Exchange Elections Statistics Page to help you choose the best three.

link | history
reviews | meta posts
  • \$\begingroup\$ Glad to have you in the running. You're a bit overly self-depreciating in this post, or else my memory is poor. You've been a good contributor as far as I remember. Care to point out what it is you're specifically regretting? (Oh, and neat link, BTW). \$\endgroup\$ – Kevin Vermeer May 3 '11 at 19:53

I've been a member of Electronics Design for about 6 months now with daily(sometimes hourly) visits to the site to see what new interesting questions have come up. I am always interested in helping new members get an understanding of how the site works as its different from a forum site. Over the past couple of months my interest in electronics has grown from a hobby to something I can see myself doing as a job. This has largely been due to this community(Electronics Design).

If I read a question that is inappropriate I flag it. If I see a question that i'm unsure about then I also flag it to get someone else's opinion on what should happen with the question. I'm fair and don't judge people over the internet. If I have no knowledge on a subject then I will go research it and comment on the question if I have discovered anything that might be considered useful to the user asking the question as well as the community.

Being a moderator would allow me to put something back in to this community after I have taken so much out of it(check my questions against answers). If there is anything else you would like to know about me ask me in chat(just start your message @Dean and it will appear in my inbox).

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reviews | meta posts
  • \$\begingroup\$ in general, Good questions are harder to come by then good answers. There are definitely always a need for both. I can vouch that you regularly flag for attention and allow my job to be much easier. If you are not sure of the action, as when I am not, we have a mod channel to discuss. I think you could make a great mod. I heard you have complained that you feel you have a lack of technical knowledge, but this is not required for this job. I do however wish we could continue with 4 moderators instead of 3. I wish you luck. \$\endgroup\$ – Kortuk May 3 '11 at 4:02
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ I'm with Kortuk on this one. We need lots of good questions just as much as we need answers! Your 52 questions/28 answers isn't out of line. Also, as I said (or, rather, tried to say) in chat, You don't need to be an electronics genius to be a moderator! ... Character and attitude are far more important. Better a beginner who is fair, patient, and helpful [such as yourself] than a genius who is partial, dismissive, and unfriendly. \$\endgroup\$ – Kevin Vermeer May 3 '11 at 17:05

I am Kevin Vermeer. As my profile page says, I'm a university engineering student in electrical and computer engineering. I've been a member for 10 months, which includes the entire transition from Chiphacker to the graduated StackExchange site. In that time, I've been active in enhancing the site by creating content (primarily answers, not questions) and by improving the quality of the site through prolific editing, commenting, chatting, and participation on Meta.

My philosophy of moderation would have a primary goal of enhancing the community to be the best place on the Web for expert questions and answers on electronics engineering and computer engineering. Since I've not been an official moderator before, I would seek guidance from the community, the podcast, and other, more experienced moderators.

If you want some stats or name-drops, here you go:

As moderator, I would continue to use the tools which I previously used during the beta and during Chiphacker to improve the site. If I'm not elected, well, I'll keep doing that.

link | history
reviews | meta posts
  • \$\begingroup\$ in a perfect world there would be a moderator with enough time to give a large amount of attention to meta. I have tried to explain points there, but often the mod whom took the action is not the person people want an explanation from. You have stepped up and explained why actions were taken. Up until this point I have almost moderated alone, glad you are thinking of joining the ranks. The only surprising point to me is how long it took you to nominate. \$\endgroup\$ – Kortuk May 3 '11 at 1:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kortuk - As I said in chat yesterday, I just came off of a month-long hiatus from Electronics Design to finish up my school semester. It's purely coincidental that I came back the day before nominations closed! If nominated to be Moderator, though, I would be sure to check in more regularly. \$\endgroup\$ – Kevin Vermeer May 3 '11 at 12:22
  • \$\begingroup\$ I was really wondering why we had not seen you. I was quite confused by it. I assumed like many you were busy with school. \$\endgroup\$ – Kortuk May 3 '11 at 13:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Kortuk - Sorry to leave you wondering! I left a message in chat and a note on my profile. Good to know I was missed! \$\endgroup\$ – Kevin Vermeer May 3 '11 at 13:55

I am not much of one to "toot my own horn", because of that I am not going to go into much detail here. I think I have been around the community and expressed my opinions through comments, questions, answers, and chats long enough that you will either think I am suitable for the job or not.

If you want to know more about me go read my profile or @me in chat.

link | history
reviews | meta posts
  • \$\begingroup\$ you have had consistent flags. I have yet to get a flag from you that I did not consider valid and you are one of the more prolific flaggers. I can think of 3 or 4 top people for flags and you are on the list. I wish you luck, maybe you will be a toss up vote, but we will have to wait and see. \$\endgroup\$ – Kortuk May 3 '11 at 13:16
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Then I'll toot it for you! You've been a valuable contributor since the Chiphacker days, you're knowledgeable (7 months away from a Master's in electrical engineering), and you've been a valuable contributor in Meta. I wish you the best of luck. \$\endgroup\$ – Kevin Vermeer May 3 '11 at 17:08

Greetings. I am Nick. You may know me from places such as Stack Overflow, Gaming at StackExchange, or community-access radio in the Flint area. I'm an electrical engineer from Michigan (go Red Wings) who's been around on this site for a couple of months working to both add content by answering plenty of questions and perform some janitorial duties by waging small personal wars on tags that I find useless.

I would like to be your moderator so I can derive personal satisfaction by helping this site maintain a high level of quality and fostering a positive community. As a moderator I would take great care to avoid imposing my will on the site, but rather encourage and facilitate discussion on what to direction to take; moderators should take a moderate point of view. I like to think of myself as extremely pragmatic, open to whatever works. My goal would be to treat all users equally, but taking care to help new users (They Are Our FutureTM after all) along with nudges and/or turning their posts that may not fit our particular model into something more constructive.

If elected, I would probably be guilted into listening to the SE podcast regularly in order to keep up on the latest from Atwood & Co. I would also continue to work cleaning up useless tags, preferably without cluttering the entire front page with edits when I do so.

link | history
reviews | meta posts
  • \$\begingroup\$ I think you would take a bit to learn all of the ropes of moderation, but I think you would be excellent at handling the many different tag issues and just dealing with the number of flags we get in a day. I look forward to seeing if you make the cut. \$\endgroup\$ – Kortuk May 3 '11 at 1:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ We haven't always agreed on things, but we've had a lot of good debates. You're definitely an investor in the site! You also bring experience from other Stack Exchange sites to the table. You'd have to stop investing so much in Gaming, though, if you want to be a mod here (seriously? almost 3k rep in the past three weeks? Nice work!) Plus, you're a fellow Michigander. \$\endgroup\$ – Kevin Vermeer May 3 '11 at 17:15

I am Kortuk. I have been with the site for 1 year and 5 months. As a few others probably have, I started with the SE1.0 system and had no prior experience with stack overflow or the stack exchange system. I slowly picked things up on chiphacker and was promoted to moderator there with about 25 others before moving to Electronics.stackexchange.com

I have been a pro temp moderator with ED for a while now and hope to continue. I try to help steer the site in the right direction and with a large amount of help from "the teachers lounge." I have learned a large amount about moderation since, many decisions that go unnoticed, quite a few that at least a few members have shared their dislike of on meta. I only note this to say that I stand by my decisions but I am also open to criticism.

I stand behind my decisions and attempt to share when I think I have made a mistake. If I am unsure of a decision I ask other moderators. There are normally points we reach were a new problem comes to light, or an old problem is approached, at these points I seek advice. This forms what I consider a core part of moderation.

Patience for new and old users is key. I try to be both kind and heavy handed. I give warnings, I share when there is an issue, but I also fix the issue. I will close a bad question, but I attempt to leave a kind message for the user explaining the issue.

I am just taking a moment of my day and trying to give some basic background of my stances. I have been a mod already, I know many of the ins and outs already, and I feel that my wisdom will be valuable to any fresh blood that joins the ranks.

I am not great at just listing the many reasons I feel I am qualified and hope those with questions will just ask me. I am in chat and I check meta, just let me know.

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reviews | meta posts
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ You've been a diligent moderator ever since the diamond was awarded to you, and I hope you are given an opportunity to continue moderating. \$\endgroup\$ – Adam Lawrence May 2 '11 at 18:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ thanks so much for all you've done for the site, both during your pro temp moderator period and before. Your contributions to the site here in its infancy have incalculable value. I doubt that we would have even reached graduation without you. I'm not sure how the voting works, but I'll vote myself down and you up if that's what it takes to have you continue as a community moderator. \$\endgroup\$ – Kevin Vermeer May 3 '11 at 17:19

I've been a regular on this site for 7 months now, since the commitment phase. With the time I'm able to spend here (between work and family life) I have strived not only to answer questions to the best of my knowledge but to improve things in general - by editing questions to add equations, voting up/down as necessary, flagging posts, and contributing to tag wikis.

Being close to 40 (yikes!) gives me a great deal of life experience to draw upon when considering how to deal with people. I enjoy spending time on this site and would appreciate the trust of the community to participate in a more active role here.

Adam (madmanguruman)

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reviews | meta posts
  • 4
    \$\begingroup\$ Madmanguruman, you have been adding many tag wikis in the background and made many edits. These are things that most people do not know unless they are a mod and the one approving the changes. I think you would make an excellent mod and would like the community to recognize your behind the scene contribution. Good Luck, you have my full backing (not to imply I am not running myself). \$\endgroup\$ – Kortuk Apr 28 '11 at 0:58
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Your experience has been helpful not only in relations but also in your answers to questions (1, 2, 2, 3 4). Dean, Kellen, Nick and I are just student young'uns, but your experience is extremely important and brings a real-world element to this site. \$\endgroup\$ – Kevin Vermeer May 3 '11 at 17:30

This election is complete.