Imo unless a thread is causing problems for the server or something that could bring a legal threat to the site is being done, restrictions on threads are a moderator/member issue and not an administration issue.
I suppose so. I’m not sure I think that throttling should ever happen though, which would make that moot. If you did have threads throttled because there was too violent an argument, then certainly mods should not post as posters (I did, but didn’t realize at first and since have PM’d at least one person I wanted to say something to as a member because I didn’t want to post in the thread), but posting as a mod, like this post is abusive, that post is abusive, dunno, that seems in line with the action.
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Mods can either resign when their term is up or whenever they want or it should require a well publicized, discussed and participated in vote to remove someone imo. I personally wouldn’t support a rule barring people from modding here who mod at 2p2.
Now that’s a vote I would definitely support! (terms for mods) I don’t think it would win at this point though. Maybe sentiment will move in that direction.
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I think the throttling is a good thing in this case, but I think @zikzak basically just declared himself to be the supermod of the site by taking this action.
This was an act of moderation taken by someone who is not a moderator. I suppose it’s trivial in that if zikzak wanted to be a mod nobody (or at least hardly anybody) would have an issue with it, but the way this went down seems a bit off to me.
I didn’t realize until just now that it was zikzak and he’s not a mod.
Zikzak do you want to be a mod or not? If not, why do you think this action was appropriate in your current role?
I don’t even want to be an admin. Position’s available if anybody’s interested.
I don’t mean that to be snarky or dickish. I really would like to step down and have wanted to for some time. In order for me to do so somebody else needs to step forward to take my place. Anybody who can work a command line is probably qualified.
I’ve been reading a lot about ancient Athens. They would select government officials by lot. Maybe we should try that here. Then again things didn’t go so well for Athens.
Maybe you should step up instead of down?
I can type stuff into a command line but I’d be terrified to screw up and I’d basically be functioning like a bot following step by step directions, with no clue how to handle a crisis or fix a mistake if I made one.
So maybe find someone to do the routine stuff step by step, knowing you’re available if something pops up and there’s a crisis or an issue?
(I definitely don’t think I’m the one to be involved in this though, enough people here distrust me enough that I should not have any leadership role.)
Sounds pretty reasonable, no idea whatever the drama is and probably don’t care if its tl;dr. I think there are probably at least 5 people who are qualified to admin if there is really a need. I could be meh if it involves reading forum dramas.
Qualifications and Procedure for Becoming UP Admin
Community Approval
- You’ll need it.
Initial Setup
-
Coordinate with simplicitus to get domain registrar access
– Point admin@unstuckpolitics.com to an account you control. -
Create an account on DigitalOcean, get invited to the UP Team, get assigned ownership of it.
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Create a developer account with Google to enable UP logon with Google credentials.
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Create a developer account with Twitter to enable UP logon with Twitter credentials.
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Get an account on the UP server with sudo permissions.
-
Get familiar with Discourse admin stuff.
-
Edit
/var/discourse/containers/app.ymlwith SMTP credentials for an email account that can be used for outgoing forum email. -
Do your very first
/var/discourse/launcher rebuild appto pick up theapp.ymlchanges. -
Read
/root/renew-cert.shso you know what’s up with all that
.
Regular Admin Stuff
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Logon to the server weekly-ish and see if you need to reboot for some updates. It’ll be right there in MOTD if you do. Happens about once or twice a month.
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Update the forum software whenever there are new releases. This also happens maybe once or twice a month. Can be done from either the command line or the admin web interface.
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Look at the DO giraffes once in awhile just to keep an eye on things.
That's pretty much it.
Why are you using DO?
It has to be hosted somewhere and I don’t know of another provider that would be significantly better. If a future admin wants to put in the work to move elsewhere they certainly can.
IDK what tier you have but DO is expensive compared to other providers.
We have 4 CPU’s, 8 GB memory and 160 GB SSD. The going rate for that seems to be about $40 everywhere that I’ve seen.
I think this is not an urgent matter and not something that has to be done like immediately, but I’m just going to throw out my thoughts.
My first hope would be rotating admin the same as I hope for rotating mods and that the community ownership would mean community responsibility. But, that’s not something that many people seem eager to do. But, maybe we could find new people to change once a year or something.
My second hope is that admin would be completely separated from modding and that a group of partners would administer the site and provide a service much like what proboards provides, only with this software, more control, and obviously domain hosting. If a modest number of people would share this, I would do it for no cost to the community other than maybe a banner ad that would be custom sold or given to groups that the community approves of and with the current funds going wherever the community decides - I would vote for split among zz and gregorio however they see fit. I’d also be willing to put the hosting in my name and stick my neck out for people to hate if something goes wrong. I’d like this group to possibly explore hosting forums for other groups for money, selling services/consulting, doing other software projects perhaps or anything else the group could do. And, I’d want people to join who knew a lot and people who didn’t and wanted to learn. I know there are some people on this site looking to possibly get into some tech/software and it could be an opportunity to learn and of course not all the work is IT stuff. And I mean like real business partners with real names and eventually maybe social security numbers and tax forms and stuff.
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I’m a bit disappointed to see so little response to an admin opening in the past 24 hours. I’ve done the job for 18 months and I’d really like to pass the baton to somebody else. If we’re going to be a self-run community then there needs to be a pool of people willing to step into various roles.
This seriously isn’t a difficult job. It takes maybe 30 minutes a month. I build decks and shit for a living and I’ve been able to keep this place going for a year and a half without major difficulties.
If no one else will do it, I will. I’m trying to put together a team of sorts. If anyone wants to be part of a team lmk or if anyone wants to do it solo or form their own team, speak up please.
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I will co admin with you as more of a “please do this” with some training and coaching. I am okay if that leads to expertise and comfort in me fully taking over the role one day. But I looked over the requirements and the learning curve is daunting in a way that’s in no way rational but makes me hesitate.
Is an arrangement such as this agreeable, micro? I will need you to take the lead as described for at least a while if I may otherwise assist as you need.
I would prefer to see someone else step forward but feel my duty of service cannot ignore this ongoing need.
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Recruiting specific people seems to work better than asking for volunteers. If you want to avoid the perception that you are hand-picking a team, set the criteria for who should be eligible (TL3?) and use some sort of randomizer to pick five people and ask them.
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