On Stack Exchange, we believe the core moderators should come from the community, and be elected by the community itself through popular vote. We hold regular elections to determine who these community moderators will be.
Community moderators are accorded the highest level of privilege in our community, and should themselves be exemplars of positive behavior and leaders within the community.
Candidacy Criteria
Generally, moderators should have the following qualities:
- patient and fair
- leads by example
- shows respect for their fellow community members in their actions and words
- open to some light but firm moderation to keep the community on track, and resolve uncommon disputes and exceptions
For the Stack Overflow election, candidates must have all the following badges:
Civic Duty,
Strunk & White,
Deputy,
Convention
…and also cannot have been suspended during the past year.
Furthermore, all moderators must abide by the moderator agreement.
Due to the size of Stack Overflow, moderation is a significant responsibility. As a moderator you will need to dedicate part of your time (at least 30 minutes daily) to help shoulder the load of the moderator flag queue.
Election Process
Every election has up to three phases:
- Nomination
- Primary (active only if there are >10 candidates)
- Election
Their descriptions can be found in the blue notice boxes at the top of each corresponding page.
For questions about the election process itself, you can search Meta, or ask in the election chat room linked in the section below.
Please participate in the moderator elections by ranking the candidates, and perhaps even by nominating yourself to be a community moderator.
