> (1) For pseudonymous candidates, Are you a professional mathematician? In what capacity? Not strictly applicable, but I work as a mathematician in industry. My previous jobs have been in (a superposition of) industry, government, and academia. > (2) Assuming a notion of "culture" [as explained here](http://meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/908/2013-moderator-election-qa-question-collection/918#918), what would a newly elected moderator do to preserve it? Will there be more efforts to preserve the culture, or more to steer it toward things nearer to "what a Stack Exchange forum should be?" I would prefer to preserve most MO culture apart from the points I have specifically enumerated on the [election page][1]. I would welcome input on efforts towards these ends. > (3) What time zone are you in? [Eastern Time Zone][2] > (4) 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? First of all, I would not deal with this user alone. My initial suggestion to the other moderators would be that they provide input on a gently worded message to the user (that I drafted, say) and presumably move forward with that. If this proved inadequate, I would consult with the other moderators on further steps. > (5) How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been? I view moderators as akin to judges, and would try to act accordingly. The first moderator's actions would be on "the facts of the case", and I would limit any subsequent actions I took to "questions of law", e.g., addressing failures in the moderation process itself. By this view (as there is no "court of appeal"), I would necessarily consult with all the moderators before taking concrete action. > (6) In your opinion, what do moderators do? IMO moderators ensure users follow the rules and norms of the community, and serve as the day-to-day managers of MO. To use a corporate analogy, moderators are officers rather than board members (the users of MO would be shareholders, and the board would be the corporate entity formed around MO). > (7) 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? Unconcerned. > (8) In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep? As I mentioned elsewhere, my interest in being a moderator is largely as a way for me to be more involved in MO in the first place. > (9) Do you think women are underrepresented in the MO community compared to the mathematical community as a whole? Is this a problem for MO? If so, what would you do about it as a moderator? See also: [1483](http://tea.mathoverflow.net/discussion/1483/) and [985](http://tea.mathoverflow.net/discussion/985/) It's clear that women are underrepresented on MO and in the community as a whole. It's clear that underrepresentation in the community is a problem insofar as it is at least partially due to external forces, and IMO the evidence here is convincing. It is also a problem because it limits discourse--i.e., this is a problem both for women who would be mathematicians, and for the community itself. It is likely that both problems "pull back" to MO. There have been (at least old) meta threads discussing this, with no resolution. I can only say that I will remain mindful of such issues and do what little I can to ameliorate them as opportunities that are (or that are made) obvious arise. > (10) As MathOverflow is growing, the diversity of the moderator team might become an issue of interest. As I understand, the present moderators have much in common, and women are, to say it that way, underrepresented. In which way do you think would you contribute to the diversity of the moderator team? I have addressed this in my statement on the [election page][3]. I am certainly demographically typical: a male in the eastern time zone of the US. Professionally, I am atypical for MO as a mathematician in industry/government whose research is generally focused on applied questions of physics and/or computer science. [1]: http://mathoverflow.net/election/ [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Time_Zone [3]: http://mathoverflow.net/election/