Welcome to SOCVR!

Stack Overflow Close Vote Reviewers is a Stack Overflow chat room hosting a community of users who are dedicated to improving Stack Overflow through curation of posts on the site.

Curation activities focus on improving the content of individual posts where possible, and effectively using the community curation model of Stack Overflow.

Can we chat?

The primary purpose of the SOCVR chat room is to have company as you use your own moderating privileges on the site. Working as part of a supportive team is much more enjoyable than slaving on your own.

The chat room is public; all conversations are in the open, and any Stack Overflow user who has earned the required privilege can join in on the conversation.

Members are happy to help with questions about curation of Stack Overflow posts. Not sure what to do with a question or answer? Post a link and the team will take a look at it, and offer advice.

The conversation stays mainly on-topic, but is casual and quirky. Don't fear, though - the Code of Conduct still applies!

Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) so you know what chat behaviors are expected.

What is The Queue?

Curation means many things, but a significant portion of SOCVR efforts are related to The Queue.

When members refer to The Queue, they mean the Close Vote Reviews tool, sometimes referred to as the Close Vote Queue (CVQ). Users who have earned the privilege to Cast Close And Reopen Votes get access to queues of questions they can filter to review. Where appropriate, they can agree or disagree with the proposed action.

Initially, SOCVR was created to improve effectiveness of the queue, having observed that the vast majority of questions that started the close review process never completed it. For that reason, there are frequent room events during which team members filter their reviews to focus on specific tags. By doing this, both during events and at other times, SOCVR ensures that enough reviewers look at a cross-section of questions to complete the review process for them.

We've developed aids to help deal with The Queue; notably our 'bot Closey, who monitors and reports on SOCVR activity in The Queue. You don't need to know much about those things - for now, it's enough to know they exist! You can always read more in the FAQ.

Now what?

Thanks for taking The Tour! Hopefully that has given you an idea of what SOCVR is about, and you're ready to drop in to the chat room to say "Hi!", and see it live. If you have a question of any nature, just ask in chat - a member or one of the room owners will be happy to answer!