In no particular order, the traits we are looking for in an ideal candidate would include the following principles:
Commitment to Diversity:
Mafiascum is an amazing community, with people from many different walks of life, cultural and economic backgrounds, genders, sexuality, levels of ability and disability, and different levels of neurological mapping gathering together. An ideal Discussion moderator will be a user with an interest in protecting diverse members of the site both in helping to develop better policies and in insuring users who present a danger to diverse members of the site are efficiently reprimanded. Ability to Work as a Member of the Community:
An ideal Discussion moderator will be a user who is able to interact with the community in a friendly and tolerant way. This is a site dedicated to playing a game where passionate debate is part and parcel of the experience and users often display that same passion in sharing their opinions on site policy. Passionate feedback is a good thing and should be fostered. An ideal Discussion moderator must be able to accept criticism from the community and reply in a calm, neutral way. They must have a dedication to engaging with the community on a regular basis to assure the community’s concerns are heard and reflected upon.Ability to Work as a Member of the Moderation Team:
An ideal Discussion moderator will be someone who can integrate well into the existing structure of the moderation team. Even within the moderator team, there is often a diversity of opinion and an ideal Discussion mod will be able to calmly make their case for why they believe a certain mod action or inaction is the correct one but also be willing to accept if the position of the team as a whole differs. The mod team publicly speaks with one voice on official matters, so an ideal Discussion mod must be able to represent the mod team as a whole when it comes to announcing and explaining mod decisions, even if they had disagreed with making that decision. They must understand and respect the limited veil of privacy required for moderators to be able to speak freely when discussing potential mod actions and not share private mod discussions or positions publicly.Commitment to Innovation:
Mafiascum is an old ship and while it still functions well, there is always room for improvement. An ideal Discussion mod will come with an open mind towards increasing the Discussion experience for the user base, making it easier, safer, and more entertaining to be a part of. They will be willing to engage in discussion of potential renovations and offer their insight as well as put in the work to bring those projects to competition. While we do still have old applications, they are stale enough that I don’t know how much value they have in giving a picture of applicants as they stand now. If users truly feel their old application is still their best representation, please PM me and inform me of as much, but otherwise, interested users should answer the following questions and PM/Discord DM them to me for consideration.
One thing I want to be clear about, since it was an issue of dispute in the past, is that The Hive (formerly where retired mods could give feedback on decisions such as this) hasn't been functioning in over a year and, as of this morning, has been archived completely. The only users who will see the applications or be permitted to offer feedback are myself, current Mish Mash mods, current List mods, and current Discussion mods, as well as mith. Kison and borkjerfkin will have access to the applications as part of their official tech duties but their advice or input will not be solicited or considered. Retired moderators and administrators, however, will not have access to these applications at all nor will their advice or input be solicited or considered.
Spoiler: Discussion Mod Application Questions