Why does Jeff Atwood still have the diamond symbol? [closed]

Question

As far as I know, the diamond symbol is given to the folks who

• are the community elected moderators, for example, animuson
• are employees of the Stack Exchange, Inc., for example, Geoff Dalgas

In those regards, Jeff is neither a community elected moderator, nor is he a part of the Stack Exchange, Inc. since March 1st, 2012.

So my question is, other than the fact that he is the co-founder of the network, is there any other reason why he still has the diamond symbol next to his name and whether he can still exercise his moderation abilities? :)

Note: I do not have any problems with him having the Diamond Symbol. I just wanted to know the reason and whether he still has those privileges or not. In fact, I'd be very happy to know that he still has those privileges because, you know, he knows the site, the Best. :)

Note: as of October 2017, Jeff no longer has the diamond.

Answer 1

This issue has come up a few times in the past (here and on other sites, mostly progse) when Jeff unilaterally used his moderator powers against the community despite not being an employee or an elected moderator. Here's an example where Jeff just nuked a tag without allowing the community to cleanup the questions in the tag. From my comment discussion with him re: his role at SE and the reasons for his having a diamond, it became clear that Jeff will keep the diamond forever:

I thought about this and here is my answer. As co-founder and primary architect/designer of the Stack Exchange engine design, I will be an honorary all-site moderator essentially forever. As a moderator I may occasionally take moderator actions just like any other moderator, such as removing a tag that was already on the Tag Cleanup list that I feel is especially egregiously meta. [...]

For the record, I did not object to Jeff having his diamond powers, but to the fact that he was using it to override/get ahead of the community. A few months later, there was some discussion in TL on whether allowing Jeff to keep access to the moderator/developer tools and PII while being neither an employee nor an elected moderator was a violation of SE's own privacy policy. I asked Anna Lear about this, but her glib and rash response was that it is not anyone's business what SE decides to do or who they give access to our PII even if it appears to violate their own policy. Fortunately, Jaydles provided a more sane response (emphasis mine; March 2013):

So, there are a couple of ways a non-employee may have access to PII: They can be someone we've asked to do something for us who has signed a contractor's agreement that includes protection of PII, or they can be a moderator, (which, for clarity, is defined as anyone who's signed the mod agreement & has a diamond next to their user name). Currently, Jeff is a contractor.

I'm satisfied with that. I'd rather they be upfront about it and show us visibly (with a diamond) that he has access to PII, than hide it by moving him to a class of users that can access your PII without a diamond.

---

An update from Jaydles:

Jeff is not currently a contractor, but is a moderator. From a privacy perspective, the key defining aspect of being a (non-employee) moderator is that you've signed the mod agreement, which binds you to protect PII, etc. Jeff's signed it.

Answer 2

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

IIRC, legally speaking, Jeff is considered a "contractor" of StackExchange and under those terms is allowed to have a diamond

When we collect your personal information, we’ll tell you how we’re using it, any types of third parties to which we might disclose it, (other than moderators or “agents,” such as vendors or contractors, who are only processing such information for us or at our direction), and the choices we offer you to limit the use of your information.

There's basically a third kind of user that can have the diamond. AFAICT, Jeff and possibly Micah (on AskPatents) fall under this category.

As per this comment (10k only) Jeff will keep his diamond indefinitely.

Answer 3

Any moderation Jeff does is probably to this date going to be a highly accurate adjustment. Before he stepped aside he dealt with a wide swath of moderation across the entire exchange.

He also probably has the most experience moderating (aside from perhaps Shog9), even considering his departure, of any user on the exchange. His account is user #1, and according to Joel, that means he was in the database as a result of coding the exchange rather than being handed an account.

Officially it would seem he is a "contractor" for the company, but regardless of that fact, I think he still has an immense level of trust with a very large portion of the users of the exchange.

To answer your question, "why does Jeff Atwood still have the diamond symbol?" He is quite simply one of the most qualified people to have it.

Answer 4

Think about this: you came up with the idea of building such a community, and then spent years in your life building and polishing it and then watch it grow like your baby, until she finally became a Ms. Universe. Then you decided to pursue one of your other dreams, but of course, you sometimes are nostalgic and you want to go back to that community every now and then to see if she's doing okay and do some trimming. But you know what? You can't moderate it like you used to any more - just because you're not working in the company who built it at the moment.

How would you feel, then?