2015 Moderator Election

I like statistics and finance, which I also studied at Bachelor and Master level. Therefore I would like to also become a moderator for the site with a focus on undergrad questions.

As Cross Validated grows ever larger and the need for moderation skyrockets, subgroups begin to speckle the site; one such group is students. As an undergraduate myself, I have grappled with the challenges of learning the basic concepts of statistics and machine learning. A huge number of new posters are students, and their questions are quickly closed for being in the wrong format. I agree with the rules in place, but I think that Cross Validated here is failing the users who might need it the most. As the moderator team must be representative of its community, a stronger core of students must be established in order to serve and assist this group.

Thus, I present myself to your judgement. I am not the most experienced user on the site, nor the most decorated. I am, however, passionate about change and accommodation for the marginalized groups on Cross Validated. An underused and slightly intimidating chat system and no information for students self-study questions on the "tour" page are just two places that immediately demand attention and improvement. I owe a lot to this community; being able to give back through donating my time to moderate would be a dream come true.

I think I too would be able to help out our present moderators as the work-load increases. I've been a member for two years & three months, & as I've gained reputation, & the consequent privileges, have tried to improve many questions & answers through voting, editing, & commenting; I hope I've shown some tact & common sense in doing so. I've followed & contributed to discussions in Meta as to how the site ought to work: in my opinion CV is already on the right track.

I'm nominating for moderator because I want to do more to help the present moderators than I can otherwise. I think I'd make a reasonable choice for moderator:

• Familiarity with tools: I've been using moderator tools for almost two years; gold tag badges give me some additional privileges above even trusted user level. I'm active but cautious with them. I try to use privileges responsibly.

• Presence, coverage, experience: I've been here every day for the last two years. I'm in a different time zone to the most active moderators. Besides being on CV since the public beta, I have had some outside moderation experience (held two moderator-like positions outside SE).

• Good relationships with the moderators and the other active high reputation users who help keep the site running smoothly. Issues are handled in a positive and productive way. (See many comment threads, meta posts, and chat discussions about site issues.)

Cross Validated has worked very well since its early days, yet site traffic has doubled just since the last moderator election. I want to do what I can to help keep the site as clean and responsive as its first 4-and-a-half years while it continues to grow.