Summary: Bioacoustics Stack Exchange will begin the nomination stage for an election on September 26th to pick your inaugural pro-tempore moderators.
Since it looks like there's a consensus on when the inaugural election can open for nominations, I'm here to announce that it has officially been scheduled!
As a reminder, back in 2015, we established that having active moderators was one of the only active requirements for keeping sites around in the Stack Exchange network:
If there's enough moderation for a public beta site to consistently remain free of spam, for flags to be cleared, and for our Code of Conduct to be upheld, your site will remain open. However, if community leaders drop off, flags sit without being addressed, and we can’t find any suitable volunteers to step forward, the site gets closed.
Without a successful first election that results in 3 users being appointed as moderators, the site will not be able to progress, and will instead be shut down. As such, having a successful first election is a very important step for a budding community such as Bioacoustics.
Most of the details surrounding elections were explained previously, but as a reminder, here's what the timeline looks like.
The timeline:
Starting on September 26, users can nominate themselves on the election page. Users can also ask questions on meta for potential moderators to answer. (Use the discussion and election tags.)
On October 3, if there are 4 or more candidates, the election will move into the voting phase. If not, I'll extend the nomination period for a week. If, at the end of that extension period, there are 3 candidates, I'll simply appoint the candidates. (Bear in mind, users who have been suspended in the last year are not eligible to run and may be removed.)
- If there are still fewer than 3 candidates at the end of the nomination period even after it is extended, the election will be considered a failure, and the site will be shut down.
If the election moves into the voting phase, I'll announce the results on meta on October 11 (or October 18, if we need to extend the nomination period).
We recognize that the circumstances surrounding this election are uncommon, but I want to reiterate what I've said numerous times over the past weeks: there are many viable election candidates within this community who we hope will nominate themselves for the position — at least 4 of whom have expressed interest in doing so. The Community Team is confident that this community can be healthy and thrive.
The success of this site rests on the outcome of that election, and at least 3 moderators are required for it to be considered a success — for that reason, we encourage anyone who is eligible to nominate for the position once the nominations are open.
If you have any questions about the process, please ask them in an answer below.
