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For a company that claims to be dedicated to inclusivity and community, the policy proposed by staff seriously misses the boat.

The post claims that:

By insisting upon unfeaturing Madara Uchiha's resignation post on Stack Overflow over the strident objections of the current moderator team, the company has disrespected, in particular, Madara himself, but also the rest of the community who has tirelessly built, nurtured, and advocated for these sites over the past decade.

As an attempt to justify this new "policy", the post notes:

Even putting on my cynic's hat for a moment, trying to put aside any emotions that this brings up for me and think about it strictly from the perspective of financially-motivated stakeholders in the company, the desire to suppress criticism of and negative publicity for the company is an understandable instinct. Yet, a policy like the one the company announces serves only to make the problem worse. The phenomenon is well-documented, and known as the Streisand effect. By trying to censor these posts, the company's actions have created a veritable firestorm—including this very discussion, this other one, and several more over on Meta Stack Overflow—all of which reflects far more negatively on the company than the resignation post itself.

For a company that claims to be dedicated to inclusivity and community, the policy proposed by Juan seriously misses the boat.

Juan claims that:

By insisting upon unfeaturing Madara Uchiha's resignation post on Stack Overflow over the strident objections of the current moderator team, Juan has disrespected, in particular, Madara himself, but also the rest of the community who has tirelessly built, nurtured, and advocated for these sites over the past decade.

As an attempt to justify this new "policy", Juan notes:

Even putting on my cynic's hat for a moment, trying to put aside any emotions that this brings up for me and think about it strictly from the perspective of financially-motivated stakeholders in the company, the desire to suppress criticism of and negative publicity for the company is an understandable instinct. Yet, a policy like the one Juan announces serves only to make the problem worse. The phenomenon is well-documented, and known as the Streisand effect. By trying to censor these posts, Juan's actions have created a veritable firestorm—including this very discussion, this other one, and several more over on Meta Stack Overflow—all of which reflects far more negatively on the company than the resignation post itself.

For a company that claims to be dedicated to inclusivity and community, the policy proposed by Juan seriously misses the boat.

Juan claims that:

By insisting upon unfeaturing Madara Uchiha's resignation post on Stack Overflow over the strident objections of the current moderator team, Juan has disrespected, in particular, Madara himself, but also the rest of the community who has tirelessly built, nurtured, and advocated for these sites over the past decade.

As an attempt to justify this new "policy", Juan notes:

Even putting on my cynic's hat for a moment, trying to put aside any emotions that this brings up for me and think about it strictly from the perspective of financially-motivated stakeholders in the company, the desire to suppress criticism of and negative publicity for the company is an understandable instinct. Yet, a policy like the one Juan announces serves only to make the problem worse. The phenomenon is well-documented, and known as the Streisand effect. By trying to censor these posts, Juan's actions have created a veritable firestorm—including this very discussion, this other one, and several more over on Meta Stack Overflow—all of which reflects far more negatively on the company than the resignation post itself.

For a company that claims to be dedicated to inclusivity and community, the policy proposed by staff seriously misses the boat.

The post claims that:

By insisting upon unfeaturing Madara Uchiha's resignation post on Stack Overflow over the strident objections of the current moderator team, the company has disrespected, in particular, Madara himself, but also the rest of the community who has tirelessly built, nurtured, and advocated for these sites over the past decade.

As an attempt to justify this new "policy", the post notes:

Even putting on my cynic's hat for a moment, trying to put aside any emotions that this brings up for me and think about it strictly from the perspective of financially-motivated stakeholders in the company, the desire to suppress criticism of and negative publicity for the company is an understandable instinct. Yet, a policy like the one the company announces serves only to make the problem worse. The phenomenon is well-documented, and known as the Streisand effect. By trying to censor these posts, the company's actions have created a veritable firestorm—including this very discussion, this other one, and several more over on Meta Stack Overflow—all of which reflects far more negatively on the company than the resignation post itself.

By insisting upon unfeaturing Madara Uchiha's resignation post on Stack Overflow over the strident objections of the current moderator team, Juan has disrespected, in particular, Madara himself, but also the rest of the community who has tirelessly built, nurtured, and advocated for these communities over the past decade.

High praise, indeed. It's difficult to see how content like this is creating a problem. Perhaps the concern is the posts that cite missteps on the part of Stack Overflow management. However, these are not personal attacks on any individual. One of the purposes of Meta has always been to discuss site policies, and that includes disagreement with them, as long as said disagreement is civil. I submit that it has been.

Even putting on my cynic's hat for a moment, trying to put aside any emotions that this brings up for me and think about it strictly from the perspective of financially-motivated stakeholders in the company, the desire to suppress criticism of and negative publicity for the company is an understandable instinct. Yet, a policy like the one Juan announces serves only to make the problem worse. The phenomenon is well-documented, and known as the Streisand effect. By trying to censor these posts, Juan's actions have created a veritable firestorm—including this very discussion, this other one, and several more others on Meta Stack Overflow—all of which reflects far more negatively on the company than the resignation post itself.

By insisting upon unfeaturing Madara Uchiha's resignation post on Stack Overflow over the strident objections of the current moderator team, Juan has disrespected, in particular, Madara himself, but also the rest of the community who has tirelessly built, nurtured, and advocated for these sites over the past decade.

High praise, indeed. It's difficult to see how content like this is creating a problem. Perhaps the concern is the posts that cite missteps on the part of Stack Overflow management, linking them to the resignation. However, these are not personal attacks on any individual. One of the purposes of Meta has always been to discuss site policies, and that includes disagreement with them, as long as said disagreement is civil. I submit that it has been.

Even putting on my cynic's hat for a moment, trying to put aside any emotions that this brings up for me and think about it strictly from the perspective of financially-motivated stakeholders in the company, the desire to suppress criticism of and negative publicity for the company is an understandable instinct. Yet, a policy like the one Juan announces serves only to make the problem worse. The phenomenon is well-documented, and known as the Streisand effect. By trying to censor these posts, Juan's actions have created a veritable firestorm—including this very discussion, this other one, and several more over on Meta Stack Overflow—all of which reflects far more negatively on the company than the resignation post itself.