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I proposed one action (which I drastically edited in response to comments) that was not favorably received. I am now editing again, in response to further comments. I think I have adequately addressed the close-reasons, and request that this Q be reopened.

There continues to be protest at SE's reprehensible act and on the proposed new processes, but it is becoming clearer that Monica will be forced to apply for reinstatement via the new policy when she was ousted -- ousted without going through any policy at all.

We see some response from SE in the form of processes and FAQs, but the mountains of questions, answers, comments specifically about Monica are sliding off SE like they are written in an ancient Vulcan dialect. It's not just privacy concerns, because Monica herself says that SE has not responded to her questions.

Moreover, I sense that the volume of protest from users is tailing off. Understandable, because everything that can be said based on actions so far has been said, five or six times.

So, does anyone have any suggestions to keep Monica, specifically, in center place in SE's consciousness? I'm not talking about escalation or usurping Monica's prerogative to take whatever next step she feels serves her purpose (as a couple of comments assumed), but making sure that SE is aware that we still care as much as we did when this whole mess started.

One possibility: Change your user name to: oldusername ReinstateMonicaNow, or some such variant. This preserves your identity, lets people know who you are and keeps SE on the hook (as much as we can).

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    People have spent the past few weeks passionately arguing that allowing anyone, even as a temporary measure, to mention their own pronouns in a question they post would be extraneous noise that must be cleaned up at once, and now you want to end every question and answer with a Cato reference?
    – onetothrowaway
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 0:30
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    Not a reference, just a statement about Monica. She is going to be forgotten.
    – user540056
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 0:32
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    The most likely result is that people will edit it out for being noise just like they would for "Thanks!", and depending on how insistent you are on having that line, you might get your posts locked or a mod message because you're creating extra cleanup work for the community.. I seriously doubt SE staff responsible for communicating with Monica would a) see it and b) speed up the process as a result.
    – Em C
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 0:33
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    Well, we should do something. The discussion about Monica has not budged SE on the subject of Monica, as far as I can tell.
    – user540056
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 0:37
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    Considering the legal liability the company has exposed themselves to -- I doubt the community will have much impact on their decision process. A reinstatement would be looked at as an admission of wrong doing that can be used against them in court.
    – charlietfl
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 1:15
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    I think this is neither feasible nor appropriate. The only person who can and should choose to escalate is Monica, and she will decide for herself.
    – Solveit
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 2:05
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    SE seems to care more about opinions on Twitter. Maybe try tweeting about her
    – dustytrash
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 13:54
  • Is this not a duplicate of How to put pressure on Stack Exchange Inc. without damaging the community?
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 14:24

1 Answer 1

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I think asking for reinstatement of a specific moderator is a bit of a hurdle for a lot of people (myself included). I (and I think others too) aren't familiar enough to make that big a judgement on the case.

That said, I think the way this has been handled lacks transparency and that is a valid thing to ask for.

One possibility: Change your user name to: oldusername ReinstateMonicaNow. This preserves your identity and lets people know who you are.

I think having an on-platform call for something is good. That can be done by adding something to your username, profile picture and bio. Since there's strength in numbers, the thing to decide is what the message should be.

I think the message should:

  • have wide support in the community, e.g. a call for transparency

  • be actionable, some concrete points to ask for, preferably

  • not be offensive to other users or staff

  • stand out, people should notice the message

  • inform, e.g. with a link to a meta post in bio to explain the problem to those unfamiliar and explain what we think should be done about it

To get wide support it's best to discuss what we want to achieve. The points above are general, mostly relating to the form, not the content of the message. I don't know enough to have concrete action points. Perhaps it's better to create a chatroom to discuss that in.

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    I changed mine to "stop harming Monica" because the ongoing harm from their public attacks is an even bigger problem than their profound process failures.
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 14:50