Who is the boss here?

Question

After a few weeks spent on this site, there is something I'd like to understand better and I think this is the place where to ask.

I understand the are a number of rules regarding how and what a question and an answer should be about. Whenever these rules are broken, or as supposed to be broken, a system of rejection of the question or of the answer involved is activated.

Reading comments both here and in the Q&A session I understand that the is often disagreement about the application of there rules, but in the end it appears to me that the stricter attitude gets the upper hand.

I've seen there are users who are more involved in this process (like users Rathoney and Sumelic for instance) but also many others.

What I'd like to understand is if there is a sort of "hierarchy" in deciding what is correct or wrong in applying the rules of this site:

Have the more active users on this front a sort of 'mandate' in suggesting or imposing their views?

or

are moderators those who have the last word ?

or

are users with more seniority and reputations those whose advice and views are to be followed?

Answer 1

_{The following is my personal view based on observation and experience. If users find any wrong data/fact, please feel free to edit it out.}

As far as EL&U is concerned (or any site under the parent SE network, for that fact), you are your own boss! There is no hierarchy in place and the entire site is community run. You'd have noticed that even anonymous users can suggest edits to any post. However, there are various levels of Privileges that are set(till 25,000) to which access is granted once you accumulate the requisite reputation points. This is part of the gamification model in this site that help it retain users and kindle interest among them. Higher rep directly translates to more Privileges (along with added responsibility, I should say).

Coming to your specific questions:

Have the more active users on this front a sort of 'mandate' in suggesting or imposing their views?

I don't think so. I consider myself an active user and here's waht I think. If I feel that a post doesn't adhere to the community rules (listed under the Help Center), I vote to close it. (It's a privilege I earned after hitting the 3k rep mark). Yet, my vote alone is not enough to close the post(It will be once I earn silver and gold tag badges). Four more community members need to agree with me in order for the question to be completely closed. Of course, if a post is closed, it doesn't necessarily mean that we are intolerant towards the question. It just means, it has the scope to be improved so that it can prove really useful for the community in general. If the OP (expected) or any other good Samaritan of this site(least expected, as OP's context and problem is seldom known) edits the post, then we can vote to reopen the post. Similar to close votes, you need 5 reopen votes to enable the question to receive more answers.

are moderators those who have the last word ?

Only in cases where the community is unable to arrive at a consensus. As you might be aware of, Mods have elevated privileges which gives them one-click powers to bring order if chaos prevails!

are users with more seniority and reputations those whose advice and views are to be followed?

It might appear so. The general tendency is that users with higher rep, badges or with more EL&U (or any other network site) experience (in terms of years active) command a certain degree of respect. However, even they probably make mistakes(very rarely though) but they are quick in correcting them.

To summarize, I'd profess that our community is like one big family (or a flat organization) where you are your boss. More experienced EL&U users act as navigators/mentors while newbie users learn the ropes under their able guidance. And everyone is just trying to solve each other's queries in one way or the other :)

Answer 2

Stack Exchange sites have moderators, identified by a diamond symbol next to their name, e.g. Andrew Leach. They do have powers to moderate posts and comments and to suspend users, but these powers are rarely exercised.

Instead, the community is tasked with most of the moderation privileges, earned by rep points and exercised by voting in most cases. Privileges are accessed when a user's rep points reach a predetermined level. Rep points are the only form of hierarchy among non-moderators on SE sites.

Having said that, any user can make a case on this meta site if they think a mistake has been made. This includes newly registered users, I think. This is the forum for raising issues that you can't sort out on your own. You may gain support from others to effect what you propose, or perhaps others may cast light on the subject in a way that makes you rethink your proposal.

Answer 3

I think this is a good and natural question, and if this is off topic (as per comments), then I do not know what is on topic here. It is also specific to this site because, even though one might in theory raise these points with any SE site, this question is inspired by behaviour observed here.

Privileges gained by rep milestones have been mentioned in comments and in other answers. In theory, the privileges gained by individual users offer them more and more access to running this site. In theory. In reality, though, there are, as you observe, perhaps only a few users at any given time who fully enjoy all of their privileges. People differ; some jump at new posts, some dig around old posts, some improve the site by editing, some go for rep, some go for a coveted badge, some spend the better part of their day here, some peep in occasionally, some come and go. I have not tried to get my hands at the stats, nor do I know if I can access it, but I guess that, while many users post questions and answers each day, activities such as closing, reopening, migrating, editing, deleting, etc., perhaps even voting, are, at any given time, in the hands of a few users. Users who care; users who can spare the time; users who have ambitions for this site. And, of course, users who have gained the necessary privileges. Moderators, too, are elected by the "community".

Management by being absent does not work here. Inevitably, the more active users push their views; not perhaps with each individual issue, but certainly in the big scheme of things. One can always raise this or that issue at meta, but many things that happen here simply go unnoticed by the "community". Who knows which posts have been migrated, and why? When the dust settles after the turmoil of today, it is already time to think about tomorrow.

This applies to the site rules too; they are shaped by the "community", just as language is shaped by the community using it. Just as with language, the behaviour (usage) you observe today will in all likelihood be forged into the rules of tomorrow. The more active will have the more say in it.

I've had a year of very modest and occasional participation here, and yet I think I've seen a bit of history. Even within this relatively short time, people came, shone, and went (apparently). I like to think, or I very much hope, that the best things each of us has given to this site will remain, while the dubious, the second-rate, the murky, the erroneous, and the nasty, will be wiped away. There are perhaps many things to be learned from experienced users, but one thing I am rather thankful for learning is peace of mind and a kind of statistical thinking and a belief (or blind trust) in collective effort.

In the best of possible worlds, each post here, including the halo of surrounding activity, gets the attention it deserves and is addressed appropriately. If not today, then let's hope tomorrow, or in a year perhaps. If a good question is deleted (by mistake, of course!), it will perhaps be asked again in time. If some wonderful new users get scolded with their first posts, they will (no doubt!) learn from their mistakes and increase their efforts in framing their questions and answers according to the Rulez of Thys Syte on future occasions.