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?

Polite warnings at first. If the issue persists, increasing sanctions, up to suspension or banning. This is a community as well as a Q&A site, and if someone's presence is damaging that community, that needs to be dealt with, even if they contribute valuable information to the Q&A.

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

If possible, let the community deal with it (by e.g. casting reopen votes). If that's not possible, discuss it with the other moderator in chat, and bring it up on Meta if we can't come to a consensus.

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

Moderators help with logistical issues that the community management tools can't handle. Most day-to-day issues can be dealt with through downvotes, close votes, and so on, but issues like a user making new accounts to circumvent their ban need to be handled as special cases. That's what the moderators are for.

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?

Hopefully none of my content is controversial enough for that to be an issue. I've given a couple incorrect answers, for example, but they were quickly downvoted and generally deleted.

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?

I can help deal with the edge cases that community votes can't handle.

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?

Linguistics.SE is not a high-volume site. It has been enough to deal with actions on a case-by-case basis. All the accounts I've deleted, I have done to deal with sockpuppet activities.

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

By explaining my position.

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

Handling flags, most of the time. Discussing policies on Meta. Modifying help pages. Writing an occasional letter to individuals who are crossing the line. Deleting accounts.

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?

👍

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?

I don't think I'll ever reach such a high rep here. These days, I tend to stick to questions where I can add a relatively uncommon perspective.

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?

All behaviour on this site needs to be considered. Valuable answers don't excuse bad behaviour. If they are being disruptive in comments then they will get a warning, and if they continue, then suspensions are warranted.

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

If it's something I feel strongly about, then I'd start a discussion on Meta so we and the community can work it out together.

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

Many things. Most importantly, they are janitors of the site, cleaning up after other users to ensure that the community-driven standards are upheld so that the site quality remains high.

But moderators frequently also lead meta-discussions on how the community should function, and if there are major debates, many users will look to the mods for guidance, so they should be prepared to explain their vision for the site for others in the community to rally around.

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?

Fine, used to it from many other sites.

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?

Being able to handle things faster, like removing spam, fixing tag synonyms, and closing blatantly off-topic questions.

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?

Not every flag has bad intentions behind it. Sometimes users mean well but they might not be familiar with the format of the site and its requirements. I think a simple conversation goes a long way and that's how I prefer to act first.

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

I trust, and have trusted, my fellow moderators in such occasions. When something like this happened, I asked them for the reasoning behind the closure, and that was enough to understand why it was closed.

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

Moderators don't actually do much, we handle exceptions. Most of the work is done by the community (thank you for this), and even high rep users can handle some flags. Moderators only take care of things that the community cannot handle.

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?

Having been a moderator since Day 1, I'm completely OK with that. I have a huge respect for words, and I choose mine carefully.

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?

I have known this community since the start, in some ways it works like other communities, but in other ways, it's its own community and I understand that logic. I think I would be more helpful as a Moderator if the need arises for one that knows this community well.

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?

Users that provide valuable users are very welcome but when they create disturbance in the community, they should be informed about their behaviour. My first action would be to give them a private warning. If they continue, they need to be suspended for a short period of time.

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

If it's a reasonable question, I would discuss it privately with the mod that closed/deleted/etc it or would start a discussion on meta.

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

Lots of exhausting things such as deleting spam posts, closing low-quality questions, purging irrelevant/rude/spammy comments, warning users about their unacceptable behaviour, marking flags as helpful/unhelpful etc.

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've never been a mod on any SE before so I'm kind of excited about the diamond. But as a mod, I'll be happy to help the community.

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?

Being a mod will enable me to:

• delete spam posts immediately

• mark flags as helpful/unhelpful

• purge rude or abusive comments

• close poor quality/ off-topic questions single-handedly