The last weeks and days have seen some erratic behaviour by Stack Exchange Inc., such as likely illegal changes to the content license and the firing of an upstanding community moderator with no explanation except copy-pasted responses, leaving many to believe it was for no good reason. It would be nice if those just were examples of ill judgement, but the disturbing alternative is that SE has given up on cooperating with the community.
An increasing rate of incomprehensible actions
There's a long history of Stack Exchange alienating more engaged community members, and I know many that have already left as a result. That neglectful approach is regrettable, but not outright malicious. This seems to have changed for the worse.
On September 5th, SE announced without prior discussion that the content license was being retroactively changed. Even though that change might be desirable, it was widely questioned as being illegal. It took three weeks to get any response from SE, and even that doesn't address any concerns the community raised.
On September 27th, SE fired community moderator Monica Cellio from all sites for... I'm not really sure, since I'm not a mod, but it seems to have been over an unrelated disagreement. De-modding isn't a proportional response to disagreements and goes against Stack Exchange principles. This is extremely concerning: is disagreement no longer allowed? Does SE now demand unquestioning loyalty from community mods? This is really odd, since Monica was otherwise known for being a prolific and reasonable moderator. (Update: a community-maintained neutral accounting of events has been created in the meanwhile.)
The following mods have been fired or resigned in protest over the way this was handled:
fired: Monica Cellio on Judaism, The Workplace, Worldbuilding, Writing, Beer Wine & Spirits, and Meta Stack Exchange (provides background)
resigned: Gilles on Computer Science, French, and Emacs (provides background)
resigned: Snow on The Workplace, requested reinstatement, confirmed reinstated by SE, resigned again November 15, unrelated to any one specific event. Subsequently deleted all Stack Exchange accounts, see Meta answer for details.
resigned: Jane S on The Workplace
resigned: Dennis on Code Golf
resigned: Robert Harvey on Software Engineering and Stack Overflow, later also temporarily suspended on main meta for a week, and then again suspended for a year
resigned: GlenH7 on Engineering and Software Engineering (later, left these sites completely having the account deleted)
resigned: Nathaniel on Christianity and Latin Language.
resigned: Caleb on Christianity and Biblical Hermeneutics (provides background)
resigned: anonymous2 on Internet of Things
resigned: Mister Positive on The Workplace(later requested reinstatement, confirmed reinstated by SE)
(only one moderator active on Workplace)resigned: Ed Cottrell on Stack Overflow and Ebooks
resigned: DoMiNeLa10 on Emacs
(only one moderator left on Emacs)resigned: a CVn on Worldbuilding and Writing
resigned: Neil Fein on Writing
resigned: Glen_b on Cross Validated
resigned: Seth on Ask Ubuntu
resigned: Hohmannfan on Space Exploration (previously suspended activity)
resigned: Mego on Code Golf, with the request to remove all network content
resigned: ColleenV on English Language Learners, previously took a break
resigned: Stéphane Gimenez on French Language
(only one moderator left on French Language)resigned: terdon on Ask Ubuntu, and Bioinformatics (still a moderator on Unix & Linux).
Additionally, others have taken other actions:
suspended activity: Paul White on Database Administrators
suspended activity: James on Worldbuilding
suspended activity: HDE 226868 on Worldbuilding, Astronomy, History of Science & Mathematics, and Mythology & Folklore
suspended activity: Rand al'Thor on Science Fiction & Fantasy- Return to moderation on October 31.suspended activity: Null on Science Fiction & Fantasy- Return to moderation on October 31.stopped activity before new election ends: Tensibai on DevOps
suspended activity: Rory Alsop / Doktor Mayhem on Information Security, Music, Parenting, The Great Outdoors, Sound Design, and Video Production
suspended activity: anongoodnurse on Parenting- Return to moderation on October 27.suspended non-critical activity: AviD on Information Security
suspended non-urgent activity: Anton Menshov on Computational Science– Return to moderation on November 14 with a very heavy heart. Supports the fundraiser campaign.suspended non-urgent activity: Thomas Owens on Software EngineeringReturn to moderation on October 12.suspended activity: Kevin on Science Fiction & Fantasy and The Great Outdoors
(only one moderator active on The Great Outdoorsand Science Fiction & Fantasy)taking a leave of absence: Cyn on Writing
(no active moderators left on Writing)suspended activity: Xander on Beer, Wine & Spirits
(only one moderator active on Beer, Wine & Spirits)suspended activity / resigning soon: Mad Scientist on Skeptics
suspended activity: jonsca on Web Applications and Chemistry
suspended activity: nicoguaro on Computational Science
(only one moderator active on Computational Science)suspended activity: lois6b on Stack Overflow en español
suspended activity: eykanal on Academia- Return to moderation on 11/26.suspended non-critical activity: AJ Henderson on Photography, Video Production, Sound Design and Community Building. Same reasoning as Rory Alsop / Doktor Mayhem
(only one moderator active on Sound SE and Video SE)suspended activity: Michael Hampton on Server Fault
suspended activity: Sven on Server Fault
staying away from queues and reduced activity: Bhargav Rao on Stack Overflow
Suspended activity: David on Blender
Suspended activity: Duarte Farrajota Ramos on Blender
Suspended activity: gandalf3 on Blender
Suspended activity: iKlsR on Blender
(no active moderators on Blender)Suspended activity: gung on Cross Validated
Suspended activity: Hatchet on Language Learning
Cashed in his chips: J.R. on English Language Learners
Deleted his Stack Moderators Team account and his Meta account (including access to the new Teachers' Lounge): Loong on German
Additional resignations that are related to the incident, but for their own reasons:
resigned: Aza on Literature, worth reading, predates other events; later wrote an update that's even more worth reading.
resigned: Journeyman Geek only on Meta, remains a moderator of Super User (later requested reinstatement under the new policy)resigned: Keelan on Philosophy
resigned: PashaPash on Stack Overflow на русском
resigned: rolfl on Code Review
resigned: Tensibai on DevOps
resigned: Jack Douglas on Database Administrators
(only one moderator active on Database Administrators)resigned: Diego on Spanish Language
resigned: George Stocker on Stack Overflow (later posted what SE should do to resolve the current situation)
resigned: Sklivvz on Skeptics
resigned: user58 on Literature
(only one moderator left on Literature)resigned: Jon Clements on Stack Overflow
resigned: fedorqui on Spanish Language
(only one moderator left on Spanish Language)
Finally, some moderators and community projects have written commentary or taken action as a result of the situation:
disappointed: StrongBad on Academia and Expats
declared support for Monica: Cyn / Writing mod team
SOBotics has taken down Reports along with Rodgort and Higgslater Reports came back up and Rogdort with Higgs were hosted by Das_Geekdisappointed: called2voyage on Space Exploration and Astronomy
on the brink of being done: J.R. on English Language Learners
disappointed: El'endia Starman, Peter Turner, and Mason Wheeler on Christianity
voiced support for Monica and stopping participating inside TL: yagmoth555 on Server Fault
disappointed: Mister Positive on The Workplace
disappointed: Ganesh Sittampalam and JoeTaxpayer on Personal Finance & Money
Company and Community
I understand that Stack Exchange the company is under a lot of stress right now. They are transitioning to a new CEO and somehow need to finally become profitable, which might be the reason for odd statements about ad policies or aggressively pushing the Stack Overflow Teams product everywhere. But stress is no excuse for waging war on the user base.
Stack Exchange is not only a company but also a community. While the company provides the platform, the community provides the content that makes the platform valuable. Either party can only be successful by cooperating with the other. But at this point, it looks Stack Exchange Inc. has given up on communicating with the community and is taking an adversarial stance.
Is Stack Exchange Inc. still interested in cooperating with the community? What is the vision for this relationship?
If SE would like to start engaging with the community again, the incidents above are likely just regrettable mistakes. How will SE prevent this string of mistakes from continuing in the future? What will SE do to mend these issues?
If SE wants to continue on this path towards an unyielding Corporate Overlord role, the community will likely bleed engaged members at an increasing rate. How will SE ensure continued high quality of the network sites? Just trying to grow faster will only exacerbate those problems.
I for my part expect to stop writing answers or participating otherwise until I see a good-faith effort towards mending the rift.
2019-09-29: 1st official response — Answer on Monica's resignation (copied elsewhere)
2019-10-01: Comments to the press — The Register publishes an article about the firing with comments provided by a Stack Exchange employee.
2019-10-03: 2nd official response — An Update to our Community and an Apology (net score < -2k)
2019-10-05: Monica's Timeline of the Situation — As a blog post
2019-10-06: 3rd official response — An apology to our community, and next steps
2019-10-06: Open letters from moderators — Dear Stack Exchange: a statement and a letter from your moderators, and The second letter addressing more specifically the issues the LGBT+ community feels it is necessary to address.
2019-10-10: Official FAQ on gender pronouns and Code of Conduct changes (deleted at net score -1930 (+449 / -2379), archived version)
2019-10-15: CM team member Shog9 comments on moderator removal and reinstatement process work
2019-10-18: Status Update from the Community Management Team
2019-10-21: Moderator Warning and Removal process, Moderator Reinstatement Process.
2019-10-21: Moderator process feedback post
2019-10-22: New pronouns FAQ
2019-10-22: New pronouns FAQ feedback post
2019-10-24: Monica posts a response to the situation Stack Overflow is doing me ongoing harm; it's time to fix it!
2019-10-28 Monica sets up a GoFundMe page to help pay for combating this issue. Defend Monica from Defamation by Stack Overflow
2019-10-31 Monica discussing current events in an audio interview. TTP #1 | Monica Cellio On The Fallout At Stack Exchange
2019-11-15 SE staffer JuanM states that under legal advice, there will be no further comment on the Monica situation; also direct links to her GoFundMe page are being actively removed by SE staff from posts and profiles. Community ads for the GoFundMe are also being removed. Why is SE removing links and community ads about legal issues?
2019-11-25 Sara Chipps and Juan Garza introduce the loop, a new way of obtaining user feedback and a moderator advisor group.
2019-12-11 Donna Choi introduces the first chapter of the loop, a deep-dive into research approach: what it used to be, what it is now, and how it continues to evolve.