1. 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?

[Answer 1 here] timeout from participation

2. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc. a question that you feel shouldn’t have been?

[Answer 2 here] talk with the other mod

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

[Answer 3 here] help the community interact in a good way with each other

4. 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?

[Answer 4 here] There are no stupid questions. but sometimes I shoudlve just thought a bit more on my own...

5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

[Answer 5 here] more time needed for 10k..

1. 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?

It depends on the situation. SE has a Code of Conduct (CoC). If the comment contains "harassment, bigotry, or abuse" or is "unfriendly or unkind", it should be removed. If the pattern persists, I remind the user of the site's CoC. If that doesn't solve the problem, I consult with other moderators before taking a very severe action such as suspension.

2. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc. a question that you feel shouldn’t have been?

My primary objective is to understand their reasoning and explain my reasons as well. If this is a repeated pattern and the post doesn't clearly violate the site's guidelines for questions, I recommend creating a Meta post. Perhaps, that will resolve the confusion for other community members as well.

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

They help the site run more smoothly. They act as mediators when conflicts arise. Additionally, they lead by example to show old and new users how to interact with the site and one another.

4. 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?

Honestly, I don't think that has any effect on the questions I asked or the answers I provided and it won't change in the future either. That being said, I suppose that diamond has taught me to be more careful and think twice before hitting enter on my comments. As I said in response to question 3, moderators need to lead by example.

5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

I understand that despite having a lower rep, I have had privileges that come with higher rep. I intend to stay active on this site and help clear the review queues as much as possible. However, I know with a diamond, I can accomplish this quickly without adding to the moderator's workload.

1. 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?

[I would definitely talk with the user 1 on 1. Often times one warning works well. The problems arrives when there is no one to warn them. Also, simply removing the user from the community is not good. However, this can be thought about if the behavior persists after warning.]

2. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc. a question that you feel shouldn’t have been?

[The other person might be having a reason, just like I have mine. I would talk to the person 1 on 1 to discuss our viewpoints.]

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

[Moderators moderate the SE forum. They have a certain responsibility to fulfill eg. review flag posts, resolve conflicts, guard against abusive language or harassments, editing posts and tags etc. In a nutshell moderators have a very large contribution in making SE forums the first choice to ask questions.]

4. 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?

[I feel this adds even more a sense of responsibility and consciousness towards ones own conduct. I have not acted as a moderator for any of the SE websites, I would therefore learn very much 'on the job' and look forward to fulfilling my responsibilities if given an opportunity.]

5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

[I am not personally too attached with reaching a certain reputation level. If I can feel like I have contributed in a good manner towards making the OR.SE forum best that it can be, I would be satisfied with it.]

1. 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?

Any action taken must be proportionate to the relevance, validity and severity of the arguments and flags. If the dispute is irrelevant to the question or site policies the comments can be removed or moved to a chatroom. Assuming the flags are raised in good faith, these arguments would most commonly be due to a prolific answerer disputing the truth or validity of a certain post.

I would ask both sides to remain calm and remind them of the Code of Conduct. On-topic discussions are encouraged on this site so the discussions can stay as long as they are not excessive in length and non-insulting. Otherwise, I would explain the relevant guidelines to the answerer (and why they are there in the first place). Future violations of guidelines would be handled by warnings and penalties such as a temporary suspension, according to consensus and the SE framework.

Evidently the list above is not exhaustive and working on a case-by-case basis is something that moderators are expected to be able to do well. While the answers of the user are very welcome and appreciated, their behaviour must be treated in the same way as any other user on this site.

2. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc. a question that you feel shouldn’t have been?

I would discuss the case with the moderator(s) involved which can be done either in the public Operations Research chatroom or our moderator-only room. This would involve sharing our opinions on the status of that question and whether it fits within our site's guidelines and policies. Our meta site is always available to generate a wider discussion when it is deemed conducive to a resolution.

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

As a current moderator, I have been accustomed to the key roles a moderator should take part in, such as maintaining a positive community and respecting users; resolving flags; tackling review queues; participating in our meta site, editing posts and tags. To continue my moderating position means that I can keep doing all of these things efficiently.

4. 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?

N/A :P

(on a more serious note, I believe my answer to Question 3. covers this sufficiently, as there is no fundamental difference between a pro-tempore and a gamma-site moderator.)

5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

Moderators are in charge of site policies and direct management of site issues — sometimes involving community managers. They have greater access to site tools involving investigating patterns in the community that may need intervention; these tools have only been used when absolutely necessary. Reputation comes with knowledge (asking/answering questions), but whilst increased reputation comes with increased site privileges, these privileges cannot always fully accomplish tasks which involve exceptional circumstances.

1. 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?

If the arguments are polite and reasonably relevant ("my metaheuristic is better than your metaheuristic"), likely nothing need to be done. If a user posts valuable answers but is argumentative to the point of being rude, hopefully an exchange via private chat can make them reconsider their tone. I would consider banning them only as a last resort -- but if someone is really that rude, I think banning would be appropriate. We have enough solid contributors that the loss one person's answers would hardly be crippling.

2. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc. a question that you feel shouldn’t have been?

The first step would be to establish why it was nuked. Once or twice I have had a negative reaction to a question being closed only to discover that the mod had a valid reason based on something I had missed. Assuming I disagreed with the other mod, I would vote to reopen and maybe raise my concerns in a chat, to see if we could reach a common understanding.

3. In your opinion, what do moderators do?

First and foremost, mods are a line of defense against abuse of the platform (spamming, flame wars, students having others do their take-home exams one question at a time). Beyond that, mods need to maintain the value of the platform both for current users (by ensuring civility and promoting clarity in both questions and answers) and for future users (which to me is largely the clarity dimension).

4. 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?

I really don't think it will affect how participate (referring questions, answers and comments).

5. In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

One of my concerns, both on OR Exchange and here, has been to ensure that people new to OR have a welcoming place to ask questions. That includes a high tolerance for "naive", rather general and/or imprecisely worded questions, when the reasons for the imperfections are plausibly lack of background knowledge and/or use of English by a non-native speaker. (Lazy or half-assed questions are a separate matter.) Being a mod might empower me to help keep the door open to those people.