Hello friends,

Our mission is to teach people about geology; and to do this, we help people identify their rocks and minerals. We have grown to be the #1 google search for countless variations on "what is this rock I found", but we can do better.

It is time to take our subreddit to the next level. I see three goals:

1. Make the "new user" experience better; easier to post, lower "barriers to entry". Many posts from new people don't provide the necessary information to let us help them, and many don't post because it's intimidating. We need to find to make it easier.

2. Improve the quality of answers. Often, we get answers to someone's submission like "another slag"; correct, but not that useful to the new visitor. We need to provide more information and we need to provide methods to make it easy to do so.

3. Recognition of community. Our community does so much; we need to notice it more. We need to recognize and praise those that help our new visitors.

How are we going to do this?

1. New moderators. We need new energy and new ideas to solve these problems.

2. The power of Wiki. We are going to turn on the subreddit wiki and use it as a tool. This is something we will have to build ourselves, but we should be able to point to a "slag" wikipage with a library of what slag looks like; with what concretions look like; and with what a meteorite looks like (among others). We have the best source of information of many of these things in the world: let's archive and use it.

3. Refine how we do things. We need to make it easier to submit; we need to make it easier to make a great post; we need to make it better for people who offer an answer. Let's improve.

So, here is what I am offering:

1. New moderator positions. If you want to be a moderator, post below with what you can help with and a SMART goal that you will accomplish. We need people who will make a difference; tell me what you want to do and we will give you the power to make it happen. If you want to help but don't know how, we will provide a task.

2. Internships: For that subset who are students, I will go farther and offer to structure an internship with you. We will design something that involves a serious project that can result in a letter of recommendation -- a real one, that you can use for graduate school or jobs. Ask questions via PM, but I am sure you will like what we give you. But don't it because of some recommendation: do it because you want to share your love of geology. Post here or send a message to the moderators.

We have a great community; I love being able to work with you every day. Together, we can take this to the next level. Let's be the best geology resource for non-geologists in the world.