Hey everyone,
The Fedihosting Foundation is looking for a new site-admin for Lemmy.World, to help our busy team. This moderator will help with reviewing and acting on reports, weighing in on user content, and helping foster our local communities while acting as a friendly neighbor to other fediverse instances.
You also DO NOT need to have an account on one of our FHF services but WILL have to create an account after joining. Users from other sites WELCOME!
Benefits:
- You’ll get to work with a great team of passionate kind, goofy individuals from all over the (lemmy) world!
- We have weekly virtual hangouts where we brainstorm new ideas and catch up with each other. Community for us is not just a buzzword.
- We can also provide work and personal references, as we are a registered legal non-profit.
- While not a technical role, you will also gain exposure to best-in-class industry tooling and processes for large-scale hosted applications (aka modern DevOps).
- We also run a small blog, that we’d love to have folks contribute to.
- Join in on the editorial voice for our featured communities.
- We also understand this is a hobby and that family and work come first
- If you’re having a hard time finding time or are busy, we will always do our best to help and support you.
Applicants should have the following qualities:
- Experience moderating a diverse group of individuals from many geographic, religious, and LGBTQ+ backgrounds.
- Able to commit to at least 5-10 hours a week.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and communication.
- Solid background in conflict resolution.
- Must be able to speak English.
- Works well asynchronously with remote teams.
- Grammar skills optional 😛
Bonus skills (which you will learn if you don’t already)
- SQL / Business Intelligence software skills.
- N8N workflow automation
- Web Design (Hugo + GitHub Pages).
- Python scripting
Application process:
- It goes without saying that we will only be considering applicants with a significant positive history of online posts and/or comments, no trolls, please.
- Applicants must be okay with sitting for a video interview and must pass a basic background check.
- While not strictly required, a CV with relevant work and volunteer history will help during the application process.
- We are an international team that works from both North America EST time (-4) and Europe CEST (+2), so we would ask that candidates be flexible with their availability.
Please apply HERE https://forms.gle/epTdTy9Xh9kNFKsQA
(Edit: Updated post, thanks Donuts!)
(Edit2: Thanks for all the feed back on this post, it’s much appreciated 💗💗💗)
(Edit3: If you feel like you’d fit in, apply, the req’s that we posted are more of a suggestion, then a hard yes or no)
My job didn’t even require a video interview, this unpaid role has more strict requirements than half the jobs in the US haha.
My guess is it’s because it’s a similar role to a Reddit Admin, which is to say they’re basically a global moderator. Also, having access of any kind to the site’s SQL server requires an element of trust. That’s probably why they require the video interview.
Folks that would be brought in would be part of the admin staff and have access to quite a lot. You’re on target with that for sure!
Yep I wish them well but it’s a bit much for a volunteer position
My job didn’t even require a video interview, this unpaid role has more strict requirements than half the jobs in the US haha.
It’s an IT job for a role with big responsibility. Unpaid or not, the role is the role. Filling up the shelves in a grocery store comes with a bit less responsibility.
My job is also an IT job with big responsibility. I wouldn’t have compared the 2 jobs otherwise. Not sure where you got filling grocery store shelves from.
Thanks for understanding, we’re just trying to be careful 😟
Thanks for understanding, we’re just trying to be careful 😟
People who complain aren’t the applicants you would have wanted anyway.
Thank you for being careful.
I’m glad there’s an effort to avoid weirdos who have our worst interests at heart. Hope some heroes apply and go through the process!
Yes, but for your job you’ve given to your employer your ID and your home address. If you mess something up they know ehere to get you. These guys can’t get these warranties and they need to know you better.
What stops you from lying during a video interview? It’s not like they have some crazy virtual lie detector.
Nothing, it’s just an extra check.
Sour grapes
I’m not applying but I have a comment / suggestion:
A pattern I’m seeing here, in activism and open source is that you basically want the full package right now. While I understand that that is what you need, people like that don’t grow on trees.
It would be good if there was a “trainee” position for people to gain the kind of experience you are asking for. And guidance, by you to make sure they learn the right lessons. Possibly including a private-ish best practices handbook or whatever. I know that that means additional work in the short term.
Thanks for reading, all the best wishes!
(Compare to linux’ kernel team asking for kernel devs and the policy of “pick any topic you’d like to work on”. Do I expect a fully course on everything, bringing me from “high school knowledge” to “kernel dev professional”? No, of course not. But a few book recommendations would be great. In that case. Not sure if you can learn moderation from a book.)
It’s not exactly uncommon for a listing to advertise the person they want, but to accept applicants with significantly less on the basis that they can get there. Nearly every job I’ve ever got I was not at the level advertised in something or other.
…do you have any idea how many times I DIDN’T EVEN APPLY because they said “must have X skill”, and I was like “oh…then I better not waste everybodies time.”
I’d say if you have 80% of the requirements you might as well apply. I would frankly ignore years of experience more or less entirely.
So that’s why employers asks for 18 years of Go and 12 years of Rust experience!
I’ll be honest, I’ve tried it both ways, turns out I’m just useless.
No one is useless 💗
Worst case you just get told no. It NEVER hurts to apply. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
I know you are pointing out that the end result is almost always better if you keep taking shots, but keep in mind that for some, the whole process is worse than average and can be an extremely exhausting and negative experience.
Yeah it’s pretty common in IT jobs where they’re like “we want 25 years experience in these ten different technologies” and then you talk to the hiring manager and they admit that those qualifications are ridiculous.
All job posting overstate the requirements somewhat. It makes sense to start with the ideal vision of what you want and then work backwards from the applicants you get. I know a big puffed up job description is daunting and we think they won’t talk to anyone who is not perfect. But they will talk to lots of people. They will let go of some requirements they thought they cared about, and find some new qualities in someone that they didn’t think to ask for. This is how it works 100% of the time.
Agreed, I think it’s a lot to ask for in a volunteer position and kind of a dumb idea for the Lemmy Admins to hand over “the keys to the kingdom” to some random dude(tte) because they passed a video interview and submitted a (possibly forged) resume.
I nominate FlyingSquid.
Oh, trying to make me put in an honest day’s work, huh? Okay then, just for that, I nominate BonesOfTheMoon!
I’m woefully under qualified but you and I keep Lemmy hopping.
I’m as unqualified as you, I’m sure. I don’t fit any of the bonus skills and I have no background in conflict resolution. I apparently am a cause of conflict if anything.
Anyway, I don’t think either of us is getting the gig, but I’m glad we both try to make Lemmy a better place.
We really do! We keep it lively.
Third
Second!
I’d be happy to apply, but requiring a CV and full background check in addition to a video call interview is a bit steep for me.
Just the video call I’d absolutely be applying, I genuinely believe in Lemmy and want to see it succeed, but not to the point that I’m willing to put this much information into non-employment hands.
Good luck on the search.
This is just Lemmy.World. You don’t have to be an admin here to help out Lemmy as a whole.
You are correct, but the topic is applying as an admin, so I replied to the topic.
It says the CV isn’t required.
While not strictly required
Technically true, but verbiage leads me to believe its more required than not.
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Thanks for the feedback, we only ask for a CV to help the process, but all of us on the admin team are on a first name basis.
We’ve all know each other quite well <3
As you should be!
After quite a long while working with someone to this capacity, it would be strange not to be on first name basis, but I haven’t worked with you.
I’ve been on the internet for a very long time, and it takes quite a bit of rapport to build before I’m comfortable giving out my first name, let alone my full name.
I definitely understand where you’re coming from, just a stretch at the start for me personally.
Really love the admin team though!
Not trying to tell you what do do (I bet there’s heaps of people that would see it the same way as you)
But it seems kind of odd that people are happy to give a background check to a corporate employer who doesn’t give shit about them (and who they don’t care about or feel any responsibility towards), but wouldn’t do the same for a community org position that necessarily involves more responsibility to the broader community.
So the issue here for me is lack of pay.
Asking me this through straight employment is an agreement that protects both the worker and employer in some capacity.
Asking this through volunteer work makes me uneasy.
I’m completely happy to volunteer my time to an org that I believe in, Lemmy being a ptime example, but not willing to do so in the case of requiring this information up front.
I think it’s because you can “largely” trust business to protect this information, this isnt even really a business.
That’s kind of a myth though, isn’t it?
Like, OK, they probably have more mature security systems in place (but that’s definitely not guaranteed, especially with anything middle tier or smaller), and at least they have cash reserves so you might get something if you can figure out how to sue them.
But most businesses would be well happy to make a quick buck off selling whatever private data they managed to get their hands on.
I’d be surprised if someone hasn’t already tried to make a business out of redistributing background check information, now that I think about it…
Its because they have laws they have to follow, and if they break them I can take them to court. My last employer had to send out checks to make up missed wages over 5 years recently. It happens here regularly. Companies make mistakes and people take them to court. Its only the absolutely giant ones that might even have a way around it. I wouldnt even expect any of the big tech companies to keep any of my information private though to be honest.
I probably check all the boxes. Currently a cyber security engineer have worked in infrastructure for the last twenty years and currently head up the compliance team of the cyber division of the company I work for, I focused mainly on NIST, CMMC, and SOC II compliance. I’ve modded a few forums and discord servers over the last 20 or so years. There is no way in hell I’m dropping private info on a random google doc that’s open to the public. If there is a more secure way send my info send me a message.
The Google form results go only to the management team of our parent non-profit, no one else sees the responses. If you feel that this is not secure enough, you can send a secure PGP email to our security disclosure address. We DO provide it for folks that need more security.
I believe you.
Currently have CyberSecurity degree. I’m finding it difficult to get a job in the field without relevant experience of having a job in the field. How can I get experience to get the job that requires experience?
Apply for those jobs as if they didnt ask for prior experience. Simple trick.
Lol I have been and so far, have only been auto-denied
"We thank you for applying for our position of $position, unfortunately we have decided to move forward with other applicants at this time. We will keep your application on file for $applicationDuration days. If you see another position that interests you, please apply again!
Thank you, $companyName"
Think smaller? Company-wise that is.
I’ll give it a go! Another issue I’m facing is that I alredy make more money than what I think smaller companies would offer. I would love to change my career because I’m so tired of this track.
Well maybe theres other ways you can make up the difference. Smaller companies might be in lower cost of living areas. even if working from home it can be nice to live near work. I’m not too sure how all this remote work stuff has changed hiring though.
I 100% agree with your point about security and private information, but you are way over qualified for this “job”. ;)
It’s kind of weird to ask someone to have all that mod experience and then expect them to just post their private information publicly, though. Surely if they have enough experience they’ll already know what a bad idea it is to publicly post people’s information, and it’ll be hard to get them to apply.
It reminds me of a past job recognizing that I have a lot of cashier experience, but then not being able to understand why I refuse to share a till with anyone else. Duh, because I’ve been through that pain before and any smart office will want to avoid it, too.
I feel like „site admin“ is a bit misleading. Then again, lemmy doesnt have a proper distinction between local and site wide moderators afaik.
I‘d be interested to help with real admin stuff like docker containers, dns and firewalls. Let me know if that interests you.
Excellent interpersonal skills
Oh well.
I mean, as long as you don’t put fish in the break room microwave, we’re cool…
Dont tell anyone but there is a possibility that i already did that /s
Serious question, why would anybody do this? These are the requirements of an actual job but without any of the pay. If someone is putting in this much effort, they might as well just apply for a real job and get paid for it.
I understand that you guys want to screen people first, but lmao are you guys going overboard. The people who view this as hobby aren’t going to put themselves through such unnecessary and worthless hassle, and the people who want a job won’t apply because there’s no money involved. The only people who would qualify and want to do something like this are people who literally have no life. These are people who have no family, jobs, or a social life.
I take offense to some of that, but I applied to be an admin back in Q3 of last year. After the video interview I got ghosted. Thought I would give this a shot, had another video interview, and yeah I’m not expecting much. So yeah, I’m not even sure the process actually does anything other than waste time.
I do have a very well paying job, family, but you may have called me out on the “no life” thing… Though I do have a car that’s become a bit of a project so I don’t waste as much time on “IT” shit.
Let me ask you this, as someone with a life, why did you even entertain the idea of wasting time on something this pointless in the first place? Do you find it fun? What’s the thought process? Personally, after I finish working I want to spend my free time hanging out with my friends, family, go on a vacation, etc. If I really do have extra spare time on a consistent basis, I would much rather practice guitar, play ball, or doing things like you’re doing now with your car. I see no benefit whatsoever from becoming a committed unpaid admin in general, let alone for an irrelevant site.
Why are you taking the time to tell us about this? You should be off playing with your dog or whatever.
👍
I’m an unemployed Linux System Engineer and even though I spent most of my free time right now messing with my home server I wouldn’t wanna do it for free for something that actually “mattered” (aka something that people use).
Probably just grabbing your personal data for sale later.
I would do it!
I’ll have to learn all those skills and I might be a bad mod, but why not?
Yep, I work in IT as a Linux System Engineer and I’m currently unemployed. I could do it, but there’s a lot involved for zero pay. You really have to love Lemmy or admin work to want to do this for free.
Exactly, they’re trying to pass off the responsibilities of an actual job as a hobby. I don’t see how normal people can justify putting in that much time and effort for something that’s not paid. This type of commitment has to come from people who have a lot of spare time and are on Lemmy so much that it wouldn’t change much for them.
one trying to change careers into DevOps/SRE with no/little experience; using this volunteer work to throw into a resume?
I work in the industry actually, this wouldn’t really help you unless you completely lack any sort of experience. If you want to break into the field, you’ll need a few things: Bachelor’s in CS, a couple of coding projects that you do in your free time or during undergrad, and an internship related to the field. That’s how I got started, but I get your point
If a potential candidate doesn’t understand why there’s a strong vetting process then then don’t understand the changing paradigm of human communication. Teaching that is an unacceptable liability. The OpSec is on point. Great work. And, thank you for everything, including tolerance of those that don’t yet understand why.
You don’t get people with 5 years of experience if no one is willing to give you experience.
There was a line on 3rd rock from the sun that was so relatable to me as a teenager in the 90s.
Tommy, the oldest alien, now trapped in the teenagers body, is trying to get a job at a fast food place. The manager turns him down. And when Tommy asks why, the manager says “I can’t hire you, you have no experience!”
And when Tommy asks how you get experience, the manager says “First you get a job”. Tommy asks how you get a job, and the manager says “You need experience!”
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You don’t start a career as a CEO.
But they often start as “executives” which is a huge problem.
Very few modern CEOs have ever actually worked a day in their lives. They move around between various different industries with no knowledge of what’s important.
Their only concern is making stock price go up over a short timeframe
Their only concern is making stock price go up over a short timeframe
To be fair, that’s why the Board of Directors is hiring them. Everything else is secondary to line go up.
Thanks, we are just trying to be careful.
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Honest question; why does this have to be a volunteer role? Is there any room in the Open Collective fund to pay towards renumerating someone for something like this?
At this time, our current budget only provides room for operational costs, such as hosting. We’re all volunteers, even Ruud.
Thank you for answering, and for the work you do. I will increase my donation amount :)
Always appreciated ❤️🙏
Yeah I REALLY doubt they could truly not afford to pay someone at least a bit for something like this. I am a former team member and I get the feeling someone or two are getting paid at least a bit.
I offered my informal CV. Lemmy and the Fediverse the largest group I’ve ever offered any service to. My largest group is just over 1,800, but it’s a relatively homogeneous group needing little mod activity. The commuinity is free to comment on my history, stupidity (lol) and bias. I figure it’s fair considering he job app. I’ll offer that I respect and enjoy (even if it’s verbal sparring) the prospect of opposing reasonable views on Lemmy vs the bots, tropes, reposts, and crabs-in-a-bucket karma-whores on Reddit.
Awesome!
Must be able to speak English
Ah, fuck, I’m out. It’s one of the only languages I haven’t learned. Were this a post seeking Sanskrit, Mayan, Akkadian, or High Valyrian language speakers, I’d be just the right candidate.
Pop quiz: which of the above is not a historical language? If you guessed Klingon, your reading comprehension skills are for shit. The answer is English. It’s completely made up and only appears in Fantasy genre stories – along with birds and flying spaghetti monsters and hobbits.
Wow, I’m really bored at work, I guess. Glad it’s Friday. Hope you all have a nice weekend.
who asked
That story with the greek guy named Nobody, but they’re named Who instead
Are you intoxicated?
Admins over here wanting mid level job stuff then paying diddly fucking squat…
I mean, Lemmy.World doesn’t make enough money from their donations to cover much more than operating costs currently. Operating a site this size is not cheap. Would you prefer to see a ton of advertising and monetization like reddit?
I have heavy doubts they could not afford to pay.
The pay is the satisfaction of a job well done. It’s like a family. We work hard and we play hard. Make sure to read the company policy on appropriate flair. Don’t miss the meeting to decide how to form the committee for defining the best means of communication between committees for accounting, finance, and those troublemakers from the moderation committee.
Well, we cannot pay folks, but we can offer work references, some neat tech, and to be part of a team that’s trying to make a difference online. (Yes, I get the /s 🙄)
Heya. I’m not interested in that position, but I’m open to moderating another community or two if you need to fill in any gaps for a less demanding role.
Thanks for your interest in moderation. If you want you can always ask either a popular community if you can help out or request a unmoderated community takeover and if anything isnt working for you, you can always create a new community!
I miss the piracy communities. The recent changes have pushed me back to reddit. Do with that what you will.
Edit: point taken, don’t criticize instances or their moderators for anything they do unless you want to be crucified. They are above the law, their decisions to be made without criticism. Thanks for the lesson, assholes, you’re really selling the return to reddit hard right now.
These are volunteers, that have day jobs, that have to spend their own time and money to deal with the legal ramifications of that. These aren’t people with legal teams and millions to blow on risk mitigation. These are hobbyists doing this after work, after helping the kids with homework, after cooking dinner for the family, etc.
Good news is that other instances exist. This is just what one group of volunteers is offering to the world.
Why not just make an account on a different instance?
Yeah, every time the mods get power hungry just migrate all your subscriptions. Super easy. Better hope the next instance isn’t also blocking some of your communities.
Oh please. Power hungry? I have no problem with piracy, but you bet your ass I wouldn’t want the legal liability of hosting a piracy community. Do you know that in many countries, mods/admins are risking jail time when they participate in stuff like that? God forbid, some people don’t want to have to worry about going to jail. Get over yourself. There are plenty of other piracy communities all over the internet you can find on your own.
I literally said it pushed me back to reddit? I’m just not going to do the manual work of migrating to a new instance every time the current one’s mods get rid of a community I’m interested in, simple as that.
This is like telling your neighbor that you like pie, and after work, and after the kids are put to bed, they spend the night baking you a pie using the apples that grow in their yard.
When they come over with the warm pie that they went out of their way to bake, you say that you prefer cherry pie, then complain about having to go to the same old bakery to get a cherry pie.
Just say thank you, take the pie, and give it to someone who will appreciate it. And if you want cherry pie, offer to help out when they bake next and bring some damn cherries.
Nah, right now, using your analogy, it’s a pie stand. Like a lemonade stand, but for free pie. The neighbors can come around if they want for free pie. As I’m walking by, they’re asking the neighbors for help: too many people want free pie, they can’t make pies fast enough. I like their pies, I like that they’re free, but lately they just haven’t been having what I’m looking for.
I say to one of their neighbors, “their pies tasted better when they were using real sugar, but they’re scared the kids’ mommies will be mad because their kids are up all night so they just took the sugar out. Didn’t even replace it with anything. The Johnson’s still use real sugar, they don’t care.”
I start to walk away to get a Johnson pie and now all the neighbors are angry with me that I prefer pie with sugar. They say I should be THANKFUL for the charity work from the neighbors I didn’t fucking ask for. That, just because it’s volunteer work, that makes them above criticism. Everyone else is happy with it, so I should be too.
I’m thankful for the mods and their volunteer work. I can still disagree with decisions they make. Really not hard to understand.
I say to one of their neighbors, “their pies tasted better when they were using real sugar, but they’re scared the kids’ mommies will be mad because their kids are up all night so they just took the sugar out. Didn’t even replace it with anything. The Johnson’s still use real sugar, they don’t care.”
Actually, I would say that unless it impacts you negatively, you shouldn’t criticize what others are giving freely. If they ask for criticism, that’s fine. But you shouldn’t volunteer it.
That “free pie stand” didn’t do you wrong. You dumped a heap of negativity on them for something they did out of the goodness of their heart, spending their time, energy and hand-earned money on. And you were negative about it, staining their memory of that event for your own selfish desires.
If they had asked you, “why don’t you want this pie?” you could have answered, nicely. But they didn’t ask you.
Instead, you should have just left and gone to the Johnston’s pie stand instead.
Poor analogy.
When instances get big, it gets really hard for volunteer admins to manage communities with controversial content. You end up having to deal with legal BS and lots of reports.
Admins and mods putting restrictions in place has more to do with keeping the community maintainable. Dealing with all of that stuff is tough when it’s after work and out of your own pocket.
I wish folks had a little bit more empathy for people volunteering their time and money to offer a free service. Lemmy.world’s head admin isn’t Zuck. He’s just a regular Joe Shmoe doing this in his free time.
We’re all just a bunch of nerds, spending our free time, trying to build something neato.
Fuck livejournal, fuck facebook, fuck digg, fuck reddit and probably eventually fuck lemmy.
livejournal
It’s been 84 years…
Constant migration to combat enshitification
I can’t stop thinking about this so I made this to hopefully get it out of my system.
Seems easier than going back to Reddit. Especially since the apps make it so easy to switch between accounts.
Sure, once you’ve migrated all your subscriptions. Oh, you know, except for the ones that are blocked on whatever instance you’re migrating to.
Ya that’s why I don’t like all the instances that like defederation 😩
It takes two clicks since version 0.19.3.
Lemm.ee would probably be a good fit for you. They made again their stance for defederation very clear “Why defederation is extremely rare on lemm.ee” https://lemm.ee/post/35472386
Oh really? I’ll have to see if I can find how to do that so I can get off world
People are down voting you when you are just expressing a feeling. I don’t think that’s right, but I hope you stay for the other great content on Lemmy and only go to Reddit for the missing stuff.
So far that’s what I’ve been doing, but apparently that’s the wrong move according to some people lol. I guess you can take the redditor out of reddit, but you can’t take reddit out of the redditor XD
