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Moderators Responsibility

 
Ranch Hand
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There are many questions from ranchers for which there are no replies even after a week.So what happens to those.Is this a responsibility of the moderator to give answer in such situations ?
 
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The simple answer is "no".
The moderator's primary function is to "moderate", that is enforece any rules and keep out trouble-makers.
They MAY choose to answer questions in the forum they moderate, or another but they are not under and obligation to do so.
Don't forget, all moderators are volunteers.
 
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Originally posted by Angela Poynton:
but they are not under and obligation to do so.
Don't forget, all moderators are volunteers.



I'll take that one step further. Everyone on this site is a volunteer. And no one is obligated to answer questions. But that's what makes this site so special because so many volunteer their time to answer questions.
 
Rahul Bhattacharjee
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Thanks for your responses.

Are the moderators are appointed according to there expertise.
Example : moderator of servlet forum is exceptionally good in servlet technology.Is that so ?
In that case can I write a personal mail to the moderator for some queries?
 
lowercase baba
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Moderators were originally selected by Paul W., the owner. He has now delegated that responsibility to the moderator staff, although he is very much still involved in the process. The exact details are top secret, but there are chickens and pudding involved.

and Pie.

Seriously, moderators are (as far as i can tell, being a moderator) selected for being nice, being helpful, obeying the rule (Be Nice!!!), and generally being a good person. as you can see, it all stems from the "be nice" rule.

they are NOT required to have any special knowlege at all - not even Java. it'd be strange for someone with no knowlege of java to hang out here, but i don't think it's completly unprecedented.

and no, the moderator of forum XYZ does not have to have any knowlege of that technology. sometimes, there is a gap in filling the slots, and someone with no experience in it will step up to fill it.

if you have a question about java, we generally perfer you NOT write the moderator (or anyone else) privately. If you have a question, odds are that someone else has the same question. We perfer that the answers be out in public so that everyone can benefit from the answer.

Now, if there is a question about some post being inappropriate, or someone being not nice, then by all means contact ANY moderator, and we'll look into it.
 
Rahul Bhattacharjee
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Thank you very much; this explains a lot.
 
author and iconoclast
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Here are some reasons why a question will have no answer after a week:

1) No one who read the question understands what the poster is asking. "How green my wife compile chickens Win XP Pro sux0rs?" My guess is that this is the most common reason for questions going unanswered.

2) The poster is asking something very general, which can't be answered in a simple post; they should read a book instead. "Please explaining me OOPS thank you". No one had the energy to try to explain it all.

3) The poster is asking something that requires a lot of additional information to answer, and no one has the energy to ask them the needed questions. "I wrote a 96,000-line program. Why does it get the wrong answer?"

4) The poster is asking something trivially Googleable. "Where can I download Java?"

5) The poster is asking something very specialized, for which no one here knows the answer. "I'm using BobNFS on my Windows for Workgroups machine, with a modified version of the Kaffee JVM. Why can Runtime.exec() execute batch files located on my HP server, but not my AIX server, except on Tuesdays?"

6) Very rarely, the poster is asking something that truly has no answer. "When will Kathy and Bert get their own TV show?"

In every case, the appropriate action by the original poster would be to reply in the same thread, providing more information or a different wording of the question.
 
Gregg Bolinger
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Here are some reasons why a question will have no answer after a week:...

This really needs to go into the FAQ. Too funny. And too true.
 
author
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I guess I don't give away too much when I say that basically all moderators choose the forum they moderate. The reasons for choosing a forum are wide spread, of course - I know that some of use specifically choose topics they would like to learn more about.
 
ranger
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I try to choose forums that have the least amount of posts so I don't have to do much work, I am very lazy.

Sometimes I pick forums I have expertise and sometimes ones that I have none and want to learn from everyone.

Mark
 
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Number 3 is the main reason I sometimes don't reply. Too many questions in one thread is another reason. "Why can't I do this. But if I'd do that, why is it working ? And if I change that, it doesn't work either...."

I agree with Gregg for the new FAQ entry
 
fred rosenberger
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oh, i got another one...

The poster is asking something that has been asked about a hundred times before.

If i'm in a particularly good mood, i'll tell the person they can search and find it probably faster than waiting for an answer.
 
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Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
Here are some reasons why a question will have no answer after a week:
...


That's really a great post I have read in a while. I doubt whether this could have been conveyed in a better way ...
[ November 14, 2006: Message edited by: Varun Khanna ]
 
Rahul Bhattacharjee
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I think this should go to how to ask questions in javaranch faq.
 
Ilja Preuss
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Perhaps the list should be added to http://faq.javaranch.com/view?PatienceIsAVirtue ?
 
Ernest Friedman-Hill
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Originally posted by Ilja Preuss:
Perhaps the list should be added to http://faq.javaranch.com/view?PatienceIsAVirtue ?



OK. I put it there.
 
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