Jalen Davenport
As a Craft CMS developer for many years now, I have had the privilege of gaining a lot of experience and knowledge in this field. My passion lies in giving back to the community by sharing my knowledge and helping others, with the hope that I can play a small part in contributing to its continued growth and success. I've also had experience as a moderator for several large developer communities on Discord, so the responsibilities of the role are nothing new to me. I believe that my expertise in Craft CMS, coupled with my ability to communicate effectively, would make me a good candidate for a moderator position on the Craft CMS Stack Exchange.
- 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 think this kind of situation can be a bit nuanced, but my typical approach would be to first have a private conversation with the user and thank them for their contributions to the community and encourage them to continue to contribute, but also explain how they are provoking issues and help them try to prevent that going forward. All users are expected to follow Craft's Code of Conduct, so it will definitely have a prominent place in the discussion.
Serious breaches of the Code of Conduct or an unwillingness to change behavior going forward should result in a more formal action being taken, whether that be suspension or a full-out ban. I believe suspensions should be preceded by a short discussion with the other moderators to make sure they are all on the same page, and a ban should involve a conversation between the moderators and Pixel & Tonic at some point during the process.
My goal as a moderator would be to foster a positive and inclusive community, which includes upholding the Code of Conduct to ensure everyone feels safe and is treated with respect. While a user's valuable contributions should be recognized, ultimately their behavior cannot be permitted to jeopardize the health of the community as a whole.
- How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc. a question that you feel shouldn’t have been?
First off, I think the wrong way to handle it would be to go behind their back and reverse a decision they had previously made. I would probably reach out and chat with them to compare thoughts and see if we could come to a resolution together, and if we were still in disagreement I would let it stand as initially decided by them.
- How long have you been using Craft CMS?
I got my Craft CMS Slack invite (back before the Discord community was a thing) in July of 2016, so it's been almost 7 years at this point.
- How frequently do you use Craft CMS? As a developer, or in some other role?
I've spent the last few years working as a web developer at a small local company where I used Craft CMS daily, and just recently switched to full-time freelancing/consulting where I plan on continuing to work almost exclusively on Craft projects.
- Are you also active on the Craft CMS Discord channel?
I was extremely active back before I started my full-time job in 2019, and while there, my participation dropped a bit because of my time commitments to that company. Now that I'm back freelancing, I'm excited to get back into the swing of things and become an active member of the community once again.
- What are the most important qualities of an answer on the Craft CMS Stack Exchange, and are those qualities consistent among other product-centric communities?
In my opinion, the most important qualities are clarity and thoroughness. Obviously, an answer should be accurate and relevant, but what I occasionally see in this community is an answer with just a code snippet that provides the solution. I think a well-crafted answer (see what I did there 🙃) is one that also provides a thorough explanation of the code and the different concepts at play, as well as linking off to any relevant documentation or source code that can enable the person asking the question to do further study on their own. When someone answers with just a code snippet, I think it can be unhelpful for someone with less experience or someone who needs to tweak the snippet a bit to fit their needs, leading to potential frustration or confusion.
I think this is something consistent with all communities, where an answer is a big opportunity to help someone else really learn and understand something that you know, and sadly, that opportunity is not always seized.
- In your opinion, what do moderators do?
In my opinion, they function as the "janitors" of the community, doing what is often a thankless job but one that requires a deep commitment to the community and a willingness to put in the time and effort needed to keep things running smoothly.
- 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?
It honestly does not affect me too much; I already strive to be respectful and act with integrity in all my communications, whether here on Stack Exchange, on Discord, or even in DMs.
- In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching enough reputation to access moderator tools or become a trusted user?
If I don't become a moderator, I'll still continue to use whatever tools are available to me here on Stack Exchange as my reputation grows, as I'm already very invested in the community. However, becoming a moderator will allow me to have a bigger impact on the community in a shorter timeframe.
