1. 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 have had to deal with this as a moderator on U&L. The bottom line is that useful contributions are not an excuse to act like a $#%&!@#$. While I am prepared to take the user's contributions into account and would be more willing to take the time to chat with the user and try to explain the situation to them, at the end of the day, the rules are the same for everyone and suspensions are an option no matter who the user is.

So, I would first try to talk to the user and explain that their behavior is detrimental to the site but, if they kept up their shenanigans, I'd start doling out suspensions. No user, no matter how technically knowledgeable, is worth disrupting the smooth working of the site.

2. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc. a question that you feel shouldn’t have been?

I'd talk to the mod in question. Failing that, I'd talk it over with whichever other mod is available. If I'm reasonably certain that the mod closed it by mistake (yes, mods make mistakes), I'd undo the action. If it looks like it was on purpose, I'd leave a comment to the other mod asking them to explain their reasoning. Presumably, we'll be able to sort it all out. If not, and the other mod insists, I guess I'd probably leave it be. Unless it is some sort of egregious mod abuse, it isn't worth having a public disagreement over a closed question.

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

Ideally, very little. On a healthy site, moderators are pretty much invisible. They work behind the scenes, cleaning up the trash and handling flags. The first role of a moderator is janitorial. Then, if an issue arises, the mod should step in and sort it out. I guess you could say that a mod is a cross between a janitor and a kindergarten teacher\1. That's how it feels sometimes anyway :)

To use the SE terminology, moderators are human exception handlers. They should hover invisibly, doing their janitorial work when everything is working smoothly, but be ready to step in and ensure the calm and constructive nature of user's interactions on the site when necessary.

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\1\This is not to say that users are like children. Only that *problematic users* often behave as children. A moderator has little reason to deal with normal, constructive users. It's the ones who act like squabbling children that are the problem and those can make one feel like a kindergarten teacher. \

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?

I have been a moderator on Stack Exchange sites since 2014. I am very used to this kind of scrutiny and I don't see much reason why this would change my behavior here, on this site. In any case, since I was appointed as a pro-tem moderator when the site first launched, my first year here was as a moderator so, again, I don't expect any change in my behavior if I am re-elected a mod now.

5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

Since we are still a relatively young and small site, we don't have many people with enough rep to do all review tasks so we still need some help from moderators who get a binding vote for certain things. As a mod, I would be able to single-handedly close and reopen questions as required. That said, my personal moderation style tends towards the hands-off: I would only step in to do things single-handedly if it is a 100% clear-cut case (e.g. question is blatantly off topic) or if the community hasn't managed to handle it (a post that has bene languishing in the review queues for several days).

1. 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 am a prolific comment deleter, because the StackExchange guidelines indicate that comments should be transient and only used to improve questions or answers. If people want to have arguments or lengthy discussions, the chat rooms are a better place for that.

Having said that, I would welcome anyone who wants to provide answers, as they can then be upvoted or downvoted by the community. A "convert comment to answer" feature would be very helpful for me, but unfortunately only the reverse is available at the moment.

2. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc. a question that you feel shouldn’t have been?

In almost all cases I will respect the decisions of another moderator. Sometimes there are disputes around deletion, etc., in which case one of the moderators or users would create a meta post to help get guidance from the community. When this happens, I attempt to make decisions based on the community preferences, as long as they are consistent with the StackExchange guidelines about conduct and behaviour.

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

In an ideal world, the moderators help long-term users make appropriate decisions around maintaining their own community. Due to the smaller size of our current community, moderators spend a lot of time doing that maintenance work themselves, which has been draining for some of the other moderators. This is work that I enjoy doing, so I'm comfortable keeping the fires burning while better people help to build and develop our community.

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?

I feel less comfortable answering questions as a moderator, because I don't think that increased importance should be placed on my own answers for that reason (but I still answer anyway, if I think I have something different to add to the discussion). Otherwise, I'm okay with the diamond. For the majority of users, it doesn't seem to affect how they interact with me (relative to other users).

5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

Instant comment and question deletion work wonders in stopping destructive or wasteful discussion. I appreciate the time people spend in asking and answering questions on this site, and feel that being part of the moderation team helps me to make sure that users have a good experience when using Bioinformatics Stack Exchange.

1. 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?

Summary. The buzzword is encouragement. Why do you think I've given so many upvotes? However, its scenario specific.

Scenario 1, the most likely situation is simply strong technical bias, for example Perl vs Python, data pipeline languages (which are an industrial standard) versus sub-processing or shell. There's also machine learning versus deep learning, but riots haven't broken out here on that ... Its a simple equation,

proponent of method 1 + proponent of method 2 = dispute

My answer: code is code and we all have to see that from different angles. I'm originally from a Perl background - enough said 😉. On this site its happened and dealt with in comments by past Mods. Their example is the model to follow.

Scenario 2, protecting the user from abuse. Whilst I've been here I've been called 'a nerd' (maybe 'a total nerd') and an 'Oh deary, deary me'. I don't know what a 'deary' is - but doubt its a complement 🙂. However, abuse is cyclic, unhealthy and positively unwanted. I hold the (outside) experience when to delete, quell, or else escalate so here an abuser is accountable to the SE rules. The key is vigilance and speed.

Scenario 3, lingering historic offence but its rare. As a hypothetical example, OP receives a good answer, posts their own answer and marks theirs as accepted. Being a nerd helps, because you know where its all started. One amongst the sensitive scenarios and needs patience, neutrality, thought and encouragement.

2. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc. a question that you feel shouldn’t have been?

First of all, I'd examine my own perspective. I get things wrong. Secondly, I'd ping them in confidence and come to an agreement. In exam marking its run-of-the-mill.

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

A mods role here is to provide the healthiest possible environment for furthering biological understanding via informatics both to the OP and to those kind enough to dedicate their time answering.

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?

I am cautious about what I say and write. I rarely pick sides and keep cool. My posts reflect those principles.

5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

Summarising my intro: I really like the community (see stats), enjoy biological code-based problem solving and I'd like the site to be busier still. The site is now established, no longer beta, has more potential and I want to do my bit having been a part of it for so long.