Journal RobertB-DC's Journal: Well, what a nice surprise. I'm M1! 2
Well, I'll be. After just two rounds of Meta-Moderation (M2), I hit Slashdot today and see this:
You have 5 Moderator Points! Use 'em or lose 'em!
Have you Meta Moderated recently?
What a nice surprise! I was wondering how long I would have to slog through M2, or if M2'ing was even a prerequisite for M1. Clearly, the 90% threshold hasn't been reached (see the previous Journal Entry and its comments). How did I get Mod Points less than a week after getting M2?
Well, there are several possibilities.
Maybe I had been qualified for M1 for weeks, but didn't see it because of the IP Banning I brought on myself (see previous journal).
Maybe I was on the fringe of qualification, but just needed a few "reads" to become "active-not-obsessive" as described in the M1 FAQ.
It's possible that the system does a behind-the-scenes M3 on my M2's... I'm not throwing out a lot of "Unfairs", so maybe I'm an ok guy.
Or perhaps it helped that the system saw me spending a good bit of time reading the negatively moderated messages to see if the moderation was fair. That does imply doing a bit of sub-zero browsing, which is one of the things Moderators are supposed to do.
In any case, for good or ill, I'm a moderator! So, let's mod.
On suggestions from the FAQ and replies to my other journal entries, I'm looking in the corners. My first moderations were in the Science section, in an article on Swimming Robotic Cockroaches. You have to re-log-on to get full access to sections like science.slashdot.org, so I figure they lose some would-be moderators right there. I sorted the comments with "newest first" to counteract the First Post effect -- the first messages seen get all the mod points, and later messages get lost in the shuffle. I found one Funny and one Informative... but just realized I should have checked the link in the Informative mod. What if it was a hidden goatse link?
Alright... I have three days to use up these points, no sense using them all up at once. I'll see what comes up tomorrow... and I'll be sure to M2 every time I get the chance!
Update: I got more Mod Points! It was strange... I logged in to Slashdot and had M2 to do. I read a story, browsed some comments, went back to the home page... and poof, there's 5 bright, shiny mod points waiting! Too cool.
When I used one of the mod points just now, I got an interesting message:
For Slashdot's moderation system to properly function, we need as many users as possible to Meta-Moderate. You are currently eligible... why not hop over and help? Meta-moderating well (not blowing it off) can help you get your mod points back faster.
So, my suspicions were correct... you've got to pick up the sticks if you want to get the carrots. Alrighty, then, it's off to M2 land for me!
You don't need to M2 to before M1. (Score:2)
At least, I got my first M1 points before I got M2.
Personally, M2 is a hassle, but M1 rul3z!
You're getting *way* to into this (Score:2)
But now that I get mod points almost every week, the fun's wore off. I see it as more of a burden than a godsend. And I only metamoderate when I have time.
But still....have fun.
Orange