It's happened to me before, with seemingly unimportant things, and yet it really did hurt. For instance... Feeling like a part of the community of a small, indy computer game; a vibrant community, made up of people who loved the game and supported each other beautifully. Then the game was sold off to some big company and taken in a new, flavourless but "easy", direction, so as to attract more players, even though the original spirit of the game and its community was lost. Of course both the old and the new owners wanted to maximise the profit from their product. I even still play the thing sometimes for kicks. But those of us who were emotionally invested in the game's community, and who had contributed to the success that made its expansion possible, were hung out to dry. Conclusion: don't invest emotionally in a product that will be managed according to profit-maximisation priorities.

The current kerfuffle on Stack Exchange has made me ask the same question about SE. I've only started being active since a few months ago, but I had started to become emotionally invested in being a part of the writing.stackexchange community. This even made me feel more at home when finding information on other SE sites, to which I'm not able to contribute answers.

And then SE Inc. shows that it really does not care about its community. I don't actually know what happened with Monica Cellio; perhaps she did exhibit some bigotry that I would find utterly unacceptable if I knew the details. But even in that (seemingly unlikely) case, SE Inc. has still treated all of us like low-value drones that make up a small, replaceable part of their product. At least, so it seems to me. No accountability, no communication with the community, violation of trust, and, most importantly, we have no agency when it comes to determining the future of our community.

Why should I engage with a community that is owned by a for-profit company that treats it as a part of its product and will always prioritise it less than its profits?

I'm kinda hoping somebody can provide a convincing counterargument...

It's happened to me before, with seemingly unimportant things, and yet it really did hurt. For instance... Feeling like a part of the community of a small, indy computer game; a vibrant community, made up of people who loved the game and supported each other beautifully. Then the game was sold off to some big company and taken in a new, flavourless but "easy", direction, so as to attract more players, even though the original spirit of the game and its community was lost. Of course both the old and the new owners wanted to maximise the profit from their product. I even still play the thing sometimes for kicks. But those of us who were emotionally invested in the game's community, and who had contributed to the success that made its expansion possible, were hung out to dry. Conclusion: don't invest emotionally in a product that will be managed according to profit-maximisation priorities.

The current kerfuffle on Stack Exchange has made me ask the same question about SE. I've only started being active since a few months ago, but I had started to become emotionally invested in being a part of the writing.stackexchange community. This even made me feel more at home when finding information on other SE sites, to which I'm not able to contribute answers.

And then SE Inc. shows that it really does not care about its community. I don't actually know what happened with Monica Cellio; perhaps she did exhibit some bigotry that I would find utterly unacceptable if I knew the details. But even in that (seemingly unlikely) case, SE Inc. has still treated all of us like low-value drones that make up a small, replaceable part of their product. At least, so it seems to me. No accountability, no communication with the community, violation of trust, and, most importantly, we have no agency when it comes to determining the future of our community.

Why should I engage with a community that is owned by a for-profit company that treats it as a part of its product and will always prioritise it less than its profits?

I'm kinda hoping somebody can provide a convincing counterargument...

[EDIT] So, the answer has been a rather clear yes, and after a few months of high SE activity, I'm mostly out now, just checking now and then to see if anything has changed (not hopeful)

It's happened to me before, with seemingly unimportant things, and yet it really did hurt. For instance... Feeling like a part of the community of a small, indy computer game; a vibrant community, made up of people who loved the game and supported each other beautifully. Then the game was sold off to some big company and taken in a new, flavourless but "easy", direction, so as to attract more players, even though the original spirit of the game and its community was lost. Of course both the old and the new owners wanted to maximise the profit from their product. I even still play the thing sometimes for kicks. But those of us who were emotionally invested in the game's community, and who had contributed to the success that made its expansion possible, were hung out to dry. Conclusion: don't invest emotionally in a product that will be managed according to profit-maximisation priorities.

The current kerfuffle on Stack Exchange has made me ask the same question about SE. I've only started being active since a few months ago, but I had started to become emotionally invested in being a part of the writing.stackexchange community. This even made me feel more at home when finding information on other SE sites, to which I'm not able to contribute answers.

And then SE Inc. shows that it really does not care about its community. I don't actually know what happened with Monica Cellio; perhaps she did exhibit some bigotry that I would find utterly unacceptable if I knew the details. But even in that (seemingly unlikely) case, SE Inc. has still treated all of us like low-value drones that make up a small, replaceable part of their product. At least, so it seems to me. No accountability, no communication with the community, violation of trust.

Why should I engage with a community that is owned by a for-profit company that treats it as a part of its product and will always prioritise it less than its profits?

I'm kinda hoping somebody can provide a convincing counterargument...

It's happened to me before, with seemingly unimportant things, and yet it really did hurt. For instance... Feeling like a part of the community of a small, indy computer game; a vibrant community, made up of people who loved the game and supported each other beautifully. Then the game was sold off to some big company and taken in a new, flavourless but "easy", direction, so as to attract more players, even though the original spirit of the game and its community was lost. Of course both the old and the new owners wanted to maximise the profit from their product. I even still play the thing sometimes for kicks. But those of us who were emotionally invested in the game's community, and who had contributed to the success that made its expansion possible, were hung out to dry. Conclusion: don't invest emotionally in a product that will be managed according to profit-maximisation priorities.

The current kerfuffle on Stack Exchange has made me ask the same question about SE. I've only started being active since a few months ago, but I had started to become emotionally invested in being a part of the writing.stackexchange community. This even made me feel more at home when finding information on other SE sites, to which I'm not able to contribute answers.

And then SE Inc. shows that it really does not care about its community. I don't actually know what happened with Monica Cellio; perhaps she did exhibit some bigotry that I would find utterly unacceptable if I knew the details. But even in that (seemingly unlikely) case, SE Inc. has still treated all of us like low-value drones that make up a small, replaceable part of their product. At least, so it seems to me. No accountability, no communication with the community, violation of trust, and, most importantly, we have no agency when it comes to determining the future of our community.

Why should I engage with a community that is owned by a for-profit company that treats it as a part of its product and will always prioritise it less than its profits?

I'm kinda hoping somebody can provide a convincing counterargument...