2013 Moderator Election

I have been a member of CrossValidated for a little over three years, visiting the site almost every day. I find it very valuable and would like to contribute more. In terms of knowledge, I view myself more as a data analyst than a statistician - more practical than theoretical; this suits some of the questions here more than others.

I've been a user & contributor to CV for a smidgen shy of 3 years, having been prescient enough to get on board during the public beta phase, but not enough to be involved before then.

I've been fortunate to benefit from the CV community in the form of excellent Answers to several of my own questions as well as those of other users. I've also contributed answers where I could help. But now I'd like to give back some more & hence I submit my nomination for community moderator.

I'm here regularly (as work and kids allows) and also on the SE sister site StackOverflow, primarily there in the r tag. I try to improve the CV site through edits, (a bit of) reviewing, and flagging as required.

I've honed my approach to be tolerant & patient; I'd far rather see a Q worked on & improved through helpful comment than closed immediately, for example.

I am conscious of the tension between seeing CV as a replacement for statistical software help fora and those that put greater stock in Qs supported by theory. I would work with the community to produce a clearer, consistent approach to the handling of software-related Qs, to make the site work for new users and old hands alike.

I joined CV in early 2011, after "lurking" for a week or so prior to that. Except in rare instances, I actively peruse the questions several times on a daily basis. I find the site very intellectually stimulating and am continuously impressed by the many insightful and deep questions that this site attracts. I have learned much from them, the many high-quality answers they receive and the interactions that occur as we seek clarifications and improvements.

As a prospective moderator, my goal would be to remain as invisible as possible. I believe this community has a solid basis (and much potential for growth) and I would plan to defer to their collective judgment unless extraordinary circumstances might warrant some additional action. I also believe our current moderators have been tremendously successful at managing the tenor of CV, without stifling constructive dialog, and I would hope to continue contributing to the maintenance of that atmosphere.

Finally, please accept my apologies for the late nomination; it was not a decision I could take lightly. Hopefully the intervening period before the election will be sufficient time to consider each of our candidacies.

I've been a member of CrossValidated for a little over two years now, and the site is set as my homepage on both my work and home machines. The answers I've gotten from this site were invaluable while I was working on my PhD, and some of the questions - and the answers to them - have helped spark some new thoughts in terms of data analysis and visualization in my own work.

I'd like to help give back a little.

I've attempted, in my answers (though like Peter, my top ranked answer is to a joke :/ ) to provide patient, approachable answers to the doing of statistics and data analysis, where my expertise lies (the mathematical details are best left to others - a good moderator knows their limits).

Thanks for your consideration, and good luck to all the others who have put their name in the hat.