I'm nominating myself for SOCVR RO.
Being an RO is both a responsibility and a commitment. It's important to be a role model for how people should participate in the room, while also moderating the participation of the other users. It also means making a commitment to sustaining and growing the room for the foreseeable future.
As a user, I already help by answering questions about procedure, and pointing out to others where something might be done better or where I see there are issues which need to be resolved, both in the room and in our interactions with other users (when it's something that reflects upon the room). As an RO, I will continue to do so.
Why me? This question really has two parts: Why do I want to be an RO? and Why should I be an RO? At the highest level of abstraction both of those questions have similar answers: A) I care about the room, both that we're doing something beneficial and how we're perceived on SO; and B) I'll do a good job. Saying "I'll do a good job" may sound a bit flippant. It's not intended to be. It reflects both my confidence that I can be even more helpful to the room by being an RO and a commitment to working with the RO team to do a good job coordinating/moderating the room over time.
I think SOCVR already has a good group of ROs. I'd be honored to work more closely with all of you.
@rschrieken, There's a nebulous line between a reasonable amount of casual chatter and where it becomes a distraction from what the room's about. Where that line is, is something which should be discussed among the ROs, a consensus reached, and the room informed of any change prior to beginning to moderate it more aggressively. Some amount of off-topic chatter is good for the room. It helps build relationships and increases bonding between room members.
My personal opinion is that there are times when off-topic conversation does go beyond what we should have in the room, not because the conversation steps over the line of what's acceptable, but because it effectively changes the topic of the room (at least for a time). However, my desire to be an RO isn't to impose my own view. Thus, I'm interested in participating in forming the consensus on this issue (or any other issue), rather than "it must be 'this' way".
If it's the consensus among the ROs that the current level of off-topic conversation is too high, then it would be desirable to have a general announcement that the FAQ on this will be more strongly enforced, as people will see this as a change and should be informed rather than have the first indication of the change be an RO asking them to take the conversation elsewhere. This could be something along the lines of "Hey folks, the ROs feel there have been times where the level of off-topic conversation has exceeded what we find to be desirable. While we don't want to curtail all off-topic conversation, we are going to be a bit more proactive in asking people to move off-topic conversations elsewhere."
In addition to something like the above, perhaps we can suggest that people use a pattern similar to: "Hey, I've got a question about [general off-topic issue]. If anyone has a comment or opinion, I'd appreciate you joining in
[over here](some other room)."I would say that the first step in moderating such, at the time it's happening, would be a reminder to the people participating that The Ministry of Silly Hats is available for off-topic discussion or that the topic might be appropriate for a different room, and requesting that the conversation be moved there. If such a reminder/request was not sufficient, then stronger measures could be taken.