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Update 2019-12-03

Since SE insists on ignoring the community, has refused to retract the harmful statements made to the post or even address our questions about the legality of the licensing change, since in short, SE is showing every sign of wanting to continue along the same path, I have decided to step down as a moderator on two of the three sites I moderate(d). I will stay on as a moderator of Unix & Linux, for the moment, because I am not read to abandon all of my communities and I still feel I might be able to do more from within than from without.

However, I will essentially be doing my best to pretend SE does not exist. I no longer have any hope that the company even cares to bridge the gap between it and its users, nor that the company is anything but the latest unethical US tech corporation. At this point, the only difference I can see between SE and the "evil" tech giants is size.

So I will go back to my corner of the Network, close my eyes and do my best to pretend there is no company. I will no longer expect anything from SE. I'll just do my best to moderate a single community and try to keep at least that from being destroyed by the company's bumbling, malicious ineptitude.

tl;dr I am a moderator on Unix & Linux, Ask Ubuntu and Bioinformatics. I am stopping all moderating activity until further notice.

I too will be suspending modly activities for a while. I am 100% in favor of just about any measure I can imagine that would make any marginalized group feel more welcome. This is a position dear to my heart in real life and on SE. I have no issue with any of the points in the current or forthcoming CoC. I do, however, take issue with the way SE has behaved.

For me, the straw that broke the camel's back was the non-answer copy-pasta response that was posted under so many resignation notices across the network. It was obviously boilerplate, impersonal, and graceless. It blithely dismissed people who've done their best to help these sites grow and flourish, some for almost a decade or even more.

Most importantly, its very vagueness allows people to come to their own conclusions about what actually happened. It allows folks to assume the very worst, as humans are so good at doing. And when you say a moderator "violates [...] a spirit of inclusion and respect", it's like you're asking people to assume the worst.

And all this about a user who participates here under her own name! A user who is now put in danger because SE seems to be running from one desperate, knee-jerk reaction to the next. In the past, SE reacted with more decorum and decency when a moderator had actually been arrested for one of the ugliest crimes a human is capable of.

When I first became a moderator, I felt that the SE had my back. I still have enormous respect for the wonderful team of Community Managers it has been my privilege to interact with. They are decent, kind, intelligent, articulate, and a pleasure to be around. But I no longer feel that their character is representative of the company they work for.

It seems SE has come to the point of considering its faithful users as nothing more than a resource, and a renewable one at that. I am not resigning my diamonds. I care very deeply about the communities I belong to. I don't know how I will continue from here, but I do know I feel I needed to make some form of public protest. This is it.

Update 2019-12-03

Since SE insists on ignoring the community, and has refused to retract the harmful statements made to the press or even address our questions about the legality of the licensing change; since, in short, SE is showing every sign of wanting to continue along the same path, I have decided to step down as a moderator on two of the three sites I moderate(d). I will stay on as a moderator of Unix & Linux, for the moment, because I am not ready to abandon all of my communities and I still feel I might be able to do more from within than from without.

However, I will essentially be doing my best to pretend SE does not exist. I no longer have any hope that the company even cares to bridge the gap between it and its users, nor that the company is anything but the latest unethical US tech corporation. At this point, the only difference I can see between SE and the "evil" tech giants is size.

So I will go back to my corner of the Network, close my eyes and do my best to pretend there is no company. I will no longer expect anything from SE. I'll just do my best to moderate a single community and try to keep at least that from being destroyed by the company's bumbling, malicious ineptitude.

tl;dr I am a moderator on Unix & Linux, Ask Ubuntu and Bioinformatics. I am stopping all moderating activity until further notice.

I too will be suspending modly activities for a while. I am 100% in favor of just about any measure I can imagine that would make any marginalized group feel more welcome. This is a position dear to my heart in real life and on SE. I have no issue with any of the points in the current or forthcoming CoC. I do, however, take issue with the way SE has behaved.

For me, the straw that broke the camel's back was the non-answer copy-pasta response that was posted under so many resignation notices across the network. It was obviously boilerplate, impersonal, and graceless. It blithely dismissed people who've done their best to help these sites grow and flourish, some for almost a decade or even more.

Most importantly, its very vagueness allows people to come to their own conclusions about what actually happened. It allows folks to assume the very worst, as humans are so good at doing. And when you say a moderator "violates [...] a spirit of inclusion and respect", it's like you're asking people to assume the worst.

And all this about a user who participates here under her own name! A user who is now put in danger because SE seems to be running from one desperate, knee-jerk reaction to the next. In the past, SE reacted with more decorum and decency when a moderator had actually been arrested for one of the ugliest crimes a human is capable of.

When I first became a moderator, I felt that the SE had my back. I still have enormous respect for the wonderful team of Community Managers it has been my privilege to interact with. They are decent, kind, intelligent, articulate, and a pleasure to be around. But I no longer feel that their character is representative of the company they work for.

It seems SE has come to the point of considering its faithful users as nothing more than a resource, and a renewable one at that. I am not resigning my diamonds. I care very deeply about the communities I belong to. I don't know how I will continue from here, but I do know I feel I needed to make some form of public protest. This is it.

Update 2019-12-03

Since SE insists on ignoring the community, has refused to retract the harmful statements made to the post or even address our questions about the legality of the licensing change, since in short, SE is showing every sign of wanting to continue along the same path, I have decided to step down as a moderator on two of the three sites I moderate(d). I will stay on as a moderator of Unix & Linux, for the moment, because I am not ready to abandon all of my communities and I still feel I might be able to do more from the inside than from the outside.

However, I will essentially be doing my best to pretend SE does not exist. I no longer have any hope that the company even cares to bridge the gap between it and its users, nor that the company is anything but the latest unethical US tech corporation. At this point, the only difference I can see between SE and the "evil" tech giants is size.

So I will go back to my corner of the Network, close my eyes and do my best to pretend there is no company. I will no longer expect anything from SE. I'll just do my best to moderate a single community and try to keep at least that from being destroyed by the company's bumbling, malicious ineptitude.

tl;dr I am a moderator on Unix & Linux, Ask Ubuntu and Bioinformatics. I am stopping all moderating activity until further notice.

I too will be suspending modly activities for a while. I am 100% in favor of just about any measure I can imagine that would make any marginalized group feel more welcome. This is a position dear to my heart in real life and on SE. I have no issue with any of the points in the current or forthcoming CoC. I do, however, take issue with the way SE has behaved.

For me, the straw that broke the camel's back was the non-answer copy-pasta response that was posted under so many resignation notices across the network. It was obviously boilerplate, impersonal, and graceless. It blithely dismissed people who've done their best to help these sites grow and flourish, some for almost a decade or even more.

Most importantly, its very vagueness allows people to come to their own conclusions about what actually happened. It allows folks to assume the very worst, as humans are so good at doing. And when you say a moderator "violates [...] a spirit of inclusion and respect", it's like you're asking people to assume the worst.

And all this about a user who participates here under her own name! A user who is now put in danger because SE seems to be running from one desperate, knee-jerk reaction to the next. In the past, SE reacted with more decorum and decency when a moderator had actually been arrested for one of the ugliest crimes a human is capable of.

When I first became a moderator, I felt that the SE had my back. I still have enormous respect for the wonderful team of Community Managers it has been my privilege to interact with. They are decent, kind, intelligent, articulate, and a pleasure to be around. But I no longer feel that their character is representative of the company they work for.

It seems SE has come to the point of considering its faithful users as nothing more than a resource, and a renewable one at that. I am not resigning my diamonds. I care very deeply about the communities I belong to. I don't know how I will continue from here, but I do know I feel I needed to make some form of public protest. This is it.

Update 2019-12-03

Since SE insists on ignoring the community, has refused to retract the harmful statements made to the post or even address our questions about the legality of the licensing change, since in short, SE is showing every sign of wanting to continue along the same path, I have decided to step down as a moderator on two of the three sites I moderate(d). I will stay on as a moderator of Unix & Linux, for the moment, because I am not read to abandon all of my communities and I still feel I might be able to do more from within than from without.

However, I will essentially be doing my best to pretend SE does not exist. I no longer have any hope that the company even cares to bridge the gap between it and its users, nor that the company is anything but the latest unethical US tech corporation. At this point, the only difference I can see between SE and the "evil" tech giants is size.

So I will go back to my corner of the Network, close my eyes and do my best to pretend there is no company. I will no longer expect anything from SE. I'll just do my best to moderate a single community and try to keep at least that from being destroyed by the company's bumbling, malicious ineptitude.

tl;dr I am a moderator on Unix & Linux, Ask Ubuntu and Bioinformatics. I am stopping all moderating activity until further notice.

I too will be suspending modly activities for a while. I am 100% in favor of just about any measure I can imagine that would make any marginalized group feel more welcome. This is a position dear to my heart in real life and on SE. I have no issue with any of the points in the current or forthcoming CoC. I do, however, take issue with the way SE has behaved.

For me, the straw that broke the camel's back was the non-answer copy-pasta response that was posted under so many resignation notices across the network. It was obviously boilerplate, impersonal, and graceless. It blithely dismissed people who've done their best to help these sites grow and flourish, some for almost a decade or even more.

Most importantly, its very vagueness allows people to come to their own conclusions about what actually happened. It allows folks to assume the very worst, as humans are so good at doing. And when you say a moderator "violates [...] a spirit of inclusion and respect", it's like you're asking people to assume the worst.

And all this about a user who participates here under her own name! A user who is now put in danger because SE seems to be running from one desperate, knee-jerk reaction to the next. In the past, SE reacted with more decorum and decency when a moderator had actually been arrested for one of the ugliest crimes a human is capable of.

When I first became a moderator, I felt that the SE had my back. I still have enormous respect for the wonderful team of Community Managers it has been my privilege to interact with. They are decent, kind, intelligent, articulate, and a pleasure to be around. But I no longer feel that their character is representative of the company they work for.

It seems SE has come to the point of considering its faithful users as nothing more than a resource, and a renewable one at that. I am not resigning my diamonds. I care very deeply about the communities I belong to. I don't know how I will continue from here, but I do know I feel I needed to make some form of public protest. This is it.

Update 2019-12-03

Since SE insists on ignoring the community, has refused to retract the harmful statements made to the post or even address our questions about the legality of the licensing change, since in short, SE is showing every sign of wanting to continue along the same path, I have decided to step down as a moderator on two of the three sites I moderate(d). I will stay on as a moderator of Unix & Linux, for the moment, because I am not read to abandon all of my communities and I still feel I might be able to do more from within than from without.

However, I will essentially be doing my best to pretend SE does not exist. I no longer have any hope that the company even cares to bridge the gap between it and its users, nor that the company is anything but the latest unethical US tech corporation. At this point, the only difference I can see between SE and the "evil" tech giants is size.

So I will go back to my corner of the Network, close my eyes and do my best to pretend there is no company. I will no longer expect anything from SE. I'll just do my best to moderate a single community and try to keep at least that from being destroyed by the company's bumbling, malicious ineptitude.

tl;dr I am a moderator on Unix & Linux, Ask Ubuntu and Bioinformatics. I am stopping all moderating activity until further notice.

I too will be suspending modly activities for a while. I am 100% in favor of just about any measure I can imagine that would make any marginalized group feel more welcome. This is a position dear to my heart in real life and on SE. I have no issue with any of the points in the current or forthcoming CoC. I do, however, take issue with the way SE has behaved.

For me, the straw that broke the camel's back was the non-answer copy-pasta response that was posted under so many resignation notices across the network. It was obviously boilerplate, impersonal, and graceless. It blithely dismissed people who've done their best to help these sites grow and flourish, some for almost a decade or even more.

Most importantly, its very vagueness allows people to come to their own conclusions about what actually happened. It allows folks to assume the very worst, as humans are so good at doing. And when you say a moderator "violates [...] a spirit of inclusion and respect", it's like you're asking people to assume the worst.

And all this about a user who participates here under her own name! A user who is now put in danger because SE seems to be running from one desperate, knee-jerk reaction to the next. In the past, SE reacted with more decorum and decency when a moderator had actually been arrested for one of the ugliest crimes a human is capable of.

When I first became a moderator, I felt that the SE had my back. I still have enormous respect for the wonderful team of Community Managers it has been my privilege to interact with. They are decent, kind, intelligent, articulate, and a pleasure to be around. But I no longer feel that their character is representative of the company they work for.

It seems SE has come to the point of considering its faithful users as nothing more than a resource, and a renewable one at that. I am not resigning my diamonds. I care very deeply about the communities I belong to. I don't know how I will continue from here, but I do know I feel I needed to make some form of public protest. This is it.

Update 2019-12-03

Since SE insists on ignoring the community, has refused to retract the harmful statements made to the post or even address our questions about the legality of the licensing change, since in short, SE is showing every sign of wanting to continue along the same path, I have decided to step down as a moderator on two of the three sites I moderate(d). I will stay on as a moderator of Unix & Linux, for the moment, because I am not ready to abandon all of my communities and I still feel I might be able to do more from the inside than from the outside.

However, I will essentially be doing my best to pretend SE does not exist. I no longer have any hope that the company even cares to bridge the gap between it and its users, nor that the company is anything but the latest unethical US tech corporation. At this point, the only difference I can see between SE and the "evil" tech giants is size.

So I will go back to my corner of the Network, close my eyes and do my best to pretend there is no company. I will no longer expect anything from SE. I'll just do my best to moderate a single community and try to keep at least that from being destroyed by the company's bumbling, malicious ineptitude.

tl;dr I am a moderator on Unix & Linux, Ask Ubuntu and Bioinformatics. I am stopping all moderating activity until further notice.

I too will be suspending modly activities for a while. I am 100% in favor of just about any measure I can imagine that would make any marginalized group feel more welcome. This is a position dear to my heart in real life and on SE. I have no issue with any of the points in the current or forthcoming CoC. I do, however, take issue with the way SE has behaved.

For me, the straw that broke the camel's back was the non-answer copy-pasta response that was posted under so many resignation notices across the network. It was obviously boilerplate, impersonal, and graceless. It blithely dismissed people who've done their best to help these sites grow and flourish, some for almost a decade or even more.

Most importantly, its very vagueness allows people to come to their own conclusions about what actually happened. It allows folks to assume the very worst, as humans are so good at doing. And when you say a moderator "violates [...] a spirit of inclusion and respect", it's like you're asking people to assume the worst.

And all this about a user who participates here under her own name! A user who is now put in danger because SE seems to be running from one desperate, knee-jerk reaction to the next. In the past, SE reacted with more decorum and decency when a moderator had actually been arrested for one of the ugliest crimes a human is capable of.

When I first became a moderator, I felt that the SE had my back. I still have enormous respect for the wonderful team of Community Managers it has been my privilege to interact with. They are decent, kind, intelligent, articulate, and a pleasure to be around. But I no longer feel that their character is representative of the company they work for.

It seems SE has come to the point of considering its faithful users as nothing more than a resource, and a renewable one at that. I am not resigning my diamonds. I care very deeply about the communities I belong to. I don't know how I will continue from here, but I do know I feel I needed to make some form of public protest. This is it.