Okay guys, I have a question that pretty much only an FEG can answer (as I said in my topic). What do the E4 look for when promoting someone to a Gym Leader or Frontier Brain position? ((Please note, I'm not angling to try to get one of those, although I wouldn't refuse it if it was offered. I'm just curious as to what the reasoning is.)) Do they promote solely on a basis of merit, solely on a basis of numbers of FEG's active (IE, someone just retired, we need a new Gym Leader to replace him/her), on some combination of those two, or for some other reason I haven't even thought of?

A new GL is chosen based on how they act in the community; the mature (mostly), active members are the ones considered.

New GLs are chosen when a new GL is needed, either because one has stepped down, been promoted, or a forum becomes more popular.

The forum(s) that need(s) a new GL also play a role. GLs are chosen from and assigned to the forums they frequent. A GL may also volunteer to take on a forum (such as T&A, Help, etc).

There is no big secret process to decide who gets to be a GL: we get as many of us together as we can, throw out some names, second some of them, shoot others down, and in the end come up with the right number of names to fill the needed positions. Personal opinions of people are not a factor; we evaluate based on behavior and potential to do the job well.

It should also be noted that in the above process of throwing out names, one of the quickest ways to have the name shot down is "Yes, but <insert name here> was begging to be a mod." Looking at the current list, I don't see anyone I remember begging. In fact, most people's first reaction is "I never expected to become a mod."

While I'm at it, I'll throw in a history lesson as best I can. Someone else can fix it up as needed.

The original mod team consisted of the "veteran" members; those who had been a part of the community for years and stuck with the chats even when that was all we had. You'll also find them first on the memberlist. IIRC, they included: Nido, TheCyberMew, JBs-Pikachu, Darkkend, Jigglypuff, and Mr. Saturn. In addition, FrostFire and Achilles were mods.

With the addition of more forums came RaichuLatias, Star, and psycho_freak. It should be noted that Flaming_Wuzzle's name showed up at this time, but for some reason it was decided that he "didn't want to be a mod." As it turns out, that was wrong, but I'll get back to that later.

At this point, FrostFire stepped down to focus more on the forums of one of our affiliates. In his place, papersun, a mod at a former incarnation of the forums, was appointed.

Enter sN0wBaLL, just a mod at the time. He was by far one of, if not the, most popular mod.

Then came the interesting stuff. The rest of the "General" Forums (Music, Sports, Games) were made, but no mods were appointed. The E4 had to manage the situation for a while. To fix this, Nido and Darkk were made global mods, and Skull Kid, Crosman, and Sneaky_Sneasel were modded. I believe it was around this time that we lost Achilles.

Next came a rise in the arts, and with it came new forums and Gryphflame and Mr. Minish.. er, their modding. Myuutsu also joined the team somewhere in here, I think.

Galar and Tom (a veteran member previously not terribly inclined to moderate) were modded, and TheCyberMew was made a global mod.

Then things get a little hazy. Flaming_Wuzzle, a veteran member, was finally modded when it was cleared up that he was, in fact, not deathly opposed to being a mod as had been previously thought.

With the Netbattle forum came FireStarter, as well as the re-modding of Star and Crossman, who had disappeared for a while. JBs-Pikachu vanished, and I believe it was around the time Star returned.

The next bit of action came from team forums. Mods got shuffled on to them, and somewhere around here papersun and psycho_freak disappeared. (Interestingly enough, papersun is technically still a mod!)

sN0wBaLL became a global mod, and shortly after that Krisp and tiger10x joined the team. Gryphflame disappeared for a while and came back.

After that, Nido stepped down and FireStarter stepped up.

That brings us back to the present, where Flannery was just welcomed to the team and dropped in on Role Playing.

And there you have it; a reasonably accurate overview of the history of Psypoke's mods. You should find that all those users possess the characters given above; they're mature (most of the time - we like to have a little fun once in a while ;P), active in the forums they moderate, helpful, and good, fun(ny) people in general. In addition, you'll notice that they were chosen for the team, not begging to be on it.

Thank you, Jigglypuff, that was precisely the answer I was looking for. And, like I said, I'm not asking to be a Mod, although I'm likewise not asking to not be a Mod either.

Actually we use http://www.randomnumbergenerator.com and pick out people's ID numbers.

Jiggz is 100% accurate with the process. Another factor I find important is how well you get on with other people, especially other FEGs, and often I myself will ask a few of the Gym Leaders and Frontier Brains for their opinions.

I was also just wondering is there at least a limited number of posts for a person to be a GL or a FB. Or does it depend if that person behaves properly and is mature?

Necsessary Criteria? No one says you need to go on the chats to be a mod

OK, at the risk of repeating what I said in my above post...

First off, everyone makes mistakes. We don't kill you for messing up once.
Second, going to the chats is not required, but it does help us get to know you better.
Third, no one on the administration or most of the moderating staff could possibly care less about their own post count or yours. Post count is in no way a factor in choosing a mod, aside from a hinderance. (IE; "Well, that person has 25 posts per day" "Right, they're not becoming a mod.")
And finally, there is little to no actual criteria to becoming a mod. As I said before, we get together and throw out names. We don't all get an email saying "We'll need a new mod soon. Pick 5 people and evaluate them according to the following criteria so we have some names to work with." It's literally a gathering of as many of the FEGs as possible and then a simple conversation:

<TK> We need a new mod
<TCM> [Insert Forum Member Here]?
<Amphy> Spams too much
<Jigglypuff> [Insert Another Forum Member Here] then?
<TK> PMs me incessantly
<Darkk> Me too
<SK> How about [Insert Still Another Forum Member Here]?
<Jigglypuff> That was my next pick
<TCM> Yeah, they'd do good
<Darkk> Sounds good to me
<Amphy> Anyone disagree?
<TK> Right, it's settled. Thanks. I have class in 2 minutes. Bye.

And thus a new mod is chosen. There's no list, no points-system, no check boxes; your actions here on the forums and on the chats leave an impression (be it good or bad) on the E4 and the mods. When we're suddenly asked to pick a new mod, those impressions are what we think about.

And, for the curious, one such impression is "clearly trying desperately to be a mod," and it's never helped anyone make it, and probably never will.

I do NOT want to be a Gym Leader or up, but could your actions in the sub forum All Glory to the HypnoToad affect your chances? (Sorry for bumping this topic)

Edit: Ooh, that Number site is SO FUN!!! That's now another great site to visit!

Your actions in any forum affect your chances. See above. I think this thread clearly details our staff nominations process without leaving anything out.