How common is it for moderators to quit the Sololearn platform?

Question

I guess users join and leave our platform all the time, but when moderators and members with high XP quit, everyone seems to notice. I have seen cases like Nikolay Nachev leaving due to the challenges and activities becoming not so challenging 😉 (maybe boring?) and recently Deepak Gautam making a hopefully temporary exit/de-activation due to personal or other reasons. Just wanted to know if this was common, whether mods get replaced when they leave; what sololearn could do to reduce this phenomenon; or whether the rest of us should care about cases like this.

Answer 1

Thanks qwerty that's the best answer I've heard so far. I had no idea some mods lose their badge either! So it seems like a 6-7% dropout rate for mods in your experience.

Edit: That's more like a 15% quit rate! 😨

Answer 2

Jan Markus you're the king of comedy/sarcasm here on Sololearn 😁. You've heard the expression "When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches cold"? Well, when a sack of rice falls over in China, you never know, it may have a ripple effect on the rest of the world including this platform. Maybe? 😐

Answer 3

I've only heard 4 mods quit. First mod that quit was Agus Mei.
Some people like me and Prometheus aren't mods anymore for being inactive.
But I think there are about 61 mods. 4 out of 61 of them quit so it isn't too much.

EDIT: I found 4 more mods that quit. quit as in inactive for more than 3 months.

Another edit: I also found 2 more. So 10 mods quit sl.

Answer 4

Excellent detective work qwerty. Damn that's like a 20% quit rate but I guess new mods are born every year as Anthony Quick mentioned. Thanks Kaveis for the compliment.

Answer 5

᠌ ᠌ ᠌᠌🐍 ᠌ ᠌ that's an interesting observation. He definitely has the badge in his profile but it doesn't appear next to his name. On the other hand, ⏩ Prometheus ⏪ and qwerty lost the badge due to inactivity.

Answer 6

Eldar Bakerman OMG a competitor to Sololearn! I can't wait to see the fruition of your development. I wish you and your team all the best! And thanks for the invite but I doubt I will be good enough for that. I am still pretty much learning stuff on here. Besides I am far too busy in my personal life for that type of commitment, I am already struggling with time management. Anyways let us know when you have the beta version ready or something so we can check it out. Good luck!

Answer 7

Thanks ⏩ Prometheus ⏪ what exactly is the extra responsibility? Is it compulsory that mods troll through all q and a and feed comments looking for inappropriate comments etc.? Is there no semi-automatic way of dividing this responsibility equally amongst mods? Could Sololearn use some advanced search, AI (natural language processing and pattern matching) to automate some of this?

Edit: I see Hatsy Rei mention in the post you linked that they now have better plagiarism detection tools etc. That's good.

Answer 8

I nominate BroFarOps🍔🍟🍕 for next mod. Although challenge focused, I believe he has the right attitude and set of values for it.

Answer 9

Mod burnout, I see two cases.

1: First mod tier lacks power. Grey mods, they have very little modding capability. In some sense they have less power than back when gold mod and plat mod didn't exist. Their job isn't even reporting really, but just pointing out there is a thing happening to higher mods, something normal users can do. That's not fulfilling, and they don't get enough chances to be promoted in my opinion. Many tier 1 mods have gone inactive due to this.

2: SoloLearn burn out. Real life happens, or simply the mod outgrows the beginner environment. This is the second biggest reason of mods leaving. This one is hard to fix, as it's part of what SoloLearn is. Need the right combo of free time and willingness.

Note about discord: Discord used to be NEEDED for coordination on reporting posts to bring them down. We couldn't mod without it. Now, and soon, that's not the case anymore. Still is useful though, especially Ciphers bot.

Answer 10

Well I don't see any major periods of inactivity on blackcat1111's profile in the last 12 months. ⏩ Prometheus ⏪ , maybe he told you that over a year ago? I'm not gonna waste my time looking that far back for inactive periods 😂. Maybe he lost the badge and regained it or he changed his mind about quitting. I'm assuming it's a he and not a she.

Answer 11

Thanks Ahri Fox. Point number 2 is very true. I guess it's naive for some of us to think that mods are here for the long term. I now think of SL as being similar to an online high school where people learn at their own pace and where mods are more like school prefects rather than administrators. Of course people graduate and have to leave for whatever reasons: completion of courses, going to university (or more advanced online learning platforms), getting jobs that are time consuming or focusing on their personal lives. Anyway, it's still good to see a minority stick around long term to become teachers, administrators (high level moderators) etc. whatever their level of activity.

Answer 12

Welp I found 3 more. 13 mods quit.

Here's a list:
Agus Mei
luka
Nikolay
Deepak
Full Gamer
Joe
Kamil
Jafca
Learnsolo
Daniel
Ranjan
Rrestoring Faith <- hasn't quit qwerty
David Carroll

Answer 13

Thanks Hatsy Rei I will keep that in mind.

Answer 14

Thanks Eldar Bakerman, your honest critique is commendable. I agree that Sololearn is far from perfect but I think that for a platform that's only 4 years old, it's doing a reasonably good job of teaching the fundamentals of programming languages to the masses with the support of content creators and the few hardworking moderators. Those unanswered questions may be a byproduct of the vast global reach that Sololearn has, especially over mobile devices. I agree that the Pro features are next to useless and Sololearn probably earns more from advertising than from pro subscriptions. But I like to think that the glass is half full and that we have the potential to improve over time.

Answer 15

Work has been slaving me lately, and there have been a couple of family emergencies that have begged my attention.

Nevertheless, I still pop on to check up on things as well as to review/resolve reports. If I'm pinged, I will usually see it, seeing as my phone vibrates and displays a notification.

We have had mods become unresponsive and resign before. We do pay attention to activity, etc., and SoloLearn usually revokes the badge/powers after so much time passes following a mod's inactivity. They make sure to make an attempt to check in with the mod before making any changes, though.

Anyway, I don't see myself quitting nor falling inactive. If I'm ever needed, I can be pinged or contacted here or in the Discord server, as others can.

Answer 16

droftor how do you know? How many out of how many mods have you seen do this?

Answer 17

Sonic As interesting as some of your questions are, I have to point out that a lot of them should be posted in the feed instead of Q&A. We have been constantly reminding people that Q&A is meant for programming questions only.

Answer 18

Thanks Zephyr Koo, Jonathan Pizarra and qwerty for your recent responses. I still don't know the difference between having the badge but no longer the title next to your name (I'm guessing inactive in moderation) and losing the badge completely like ⏩ Prometheus ⏪ (I'm guessing completely left Sololearn and returned with a new account). Also how many gold/platinum moderators do we have?

Answer 19

nonzyro

You can make a private code and ping me (or another mod) in the comments.

Answer 20

SL burn-out is one of the primary issues, as Ahri mentioned. However, I can guarantee that there is a select handful of high-level moderators that will never truly leave SL. Hatsy, Ahri, and Valentine (as well as a couple of others) were amongst the first selection of moderators crowned by SL (if not the first). I was invited to join several months afterward by SL via email. Years have passed since then (I can't recall how many, I'll have to check), and we're still here. Life does step into the way sometimes as a distraction for me in regards to actively engaging and interaction within SL. Even throughout the midst of those distractions, I still actively watch the community to ensure its well-being. The only thing that I can see causing me to permanently depart from SL and the community would be death. I'm just one of the few moderators who had SL become a part of their life. Checking up on SL is a habit for me. It isn't a burden, as some non-mods occasionally assume. In the long-run, it's fulfilling.