Recently there has be a lot of discussion regarding Firing mods and forced relicensing: is Stack Exchange still interested in cooperating with the community?. A number of moderators have resigned or are taking time off in relation to issues that arose out of SE's incompetence in instituting changes to be more welcoming to LGBT+ users. Some of the issues LGBT+ users face are well expressed by Aza in their Resignation Notice. To prevent people who do not care about these issues from having to read on, the bottom line is that I will NOT be resigning or taking time off because I think I can be a positive influence in helping support the needs of our LGBT+ users. That said I am extremely disappointed by the SE team in their lack of support for our community and in particular the LGBT+ members.
The SE team is proposing changes to the Code of Conduct that I think will make it harder for moderators to ensure LGBT+ members are respected. SE employees removed stars from dissenting comments in the private moderator chat room where the changes to the CoC were being discussed. Further, the most strongly dissenting moderator was fired and other moderators step down (e.g., Gilles) in support of her. While I do not believe the fired moderator was without fault (in my opinion her behavior unintentionally hurt LGBT+ users/moderators), what SE employees have shared with us and how they went about her removal (including the timing on the eve of one of her most holy holidays) makes me feel betrayed because they have muddied the waters regarding their efforts to support our community.
About a year ago, SE revisited their theory of moderation and promised moderators Trust. Support. Agency. Accountability. Autonomy. The SE team has yet again failed to deliver on this promise and is again letting our LGBT+ users and moderators down. The SE team has lost an opportunity to proactively provide us with the support we need.
