This is the first of our Meta Votes articles, designed to explain the options in a meta vote, simplify the arguments for and against and help you to reach an informed decision. It is important to note that in Moderator Elections we report on what both sides say as a reason to vote for/against, rather than cold facts as moderator elections are highly subjective. Let us know if it was helpful in the poll at the end.

TL;DR at the bottom.

After Doxgate, there was a vacuum of power. The entire top-level top mod team had resigned (and were eventually banned) and a crisis had developed.

In steps /u/CincinnatusoftheWest as Head Mod of an interim administration, in one fell swoop he filled his top team with picks and began to set about the work of attacking the problems of ModelUSGov.

Now comes a crunching time for him as on the 18th of December 2017 he faces a crucial Vote of Confidence in his tenure as Head Mod. This should have been a fairly uncontroversial vote, if not for his triumvir picks and some constitutional dubiousness.

As we understand it there will be two options in the upcoming vote,

Yes I have confidence in him No I do not have confidence in him

Here’s what each one means to you and to people voting;

Yes

A yes vote will give ModelUSGov a Head Mod with a huge history in the sim and a lot of experience as a former mod.

Those voting for him cite his moral code, his untarnished reputation, his experience as a long time member of the triumvirate team. He is completely clean as far as Doxgate goes and people believe voting for him will provide the most clarity for the Sim going forward.

Some also believe that he (and by extension his mod team) deserve a chance, that they are best placed for the job and their experience and enthusiasm will carry them and ModelUSGov out of the fires of Doxgate. In essence it appears that CincinnatusoftheWest is seen as a safe pair of hands, akin to Timanfya in MHOC.

No

A no vote will cause the constitutional crisis to get even worse as there is no selection method from here. Primary opponents to CincinnatusoftheWest as Head Mod don’t actually cite him as the reason they are voting against, they cite his triumvir picks.

Interim Head Censor WaywardWit is the one that draws the ire of most people, his actions and policies during his short time as Head Censor have upset some members. A lot of this stems from his recent application form for new Discord Mods which included ‘loaded questions’ about the banning of certain words.

Unfortunately people are not (yet?) able to vote against WaywardWit individually, so instead of waiting they are voting against CincinatusoftheWest as a form of proxy vote on WaywardWit, a short strawpoll* done in Main Chat illustrates how split the community is on this.

Some other state that they are voting against CincinatusoftheWest as they believe he should not of been installed (interim or otherwise) without a vote initially, as he currently wields full Triumvir powers with no accountability. There is also a dispute on the use of the word interim as no leaving dates have ever been given. There is a huge constitutional issue here as there is no precedent or clause for Interim teams.

TL;DR. So there it is, on one hand people are voting for a mod of former triumvir experience and proven stability, on the other they are voting against a mod because of his fellow moderators and a dubious constitutional situation. I hope this article has been helpful in understanding both sides.

*We cannot verify any of the votes in the Strawpoll