Ex-Moderator Madara Uchiha's resignation notice was recently untagged as featured by a staff member, which removes it from the featured box on the related community's sidebar. This is rather early for a moderator resignation.
Per a recent answer from Juan M. on a question regarding the above event, it is now becoming standard practice for moderator resignations to be untagged from featured after only 24 hours.
This is a rather large step away from the usual practice of letting elected moderators decide how long moderator resignations, or questions in general, should be featured.
Juan went on to explain, with my emphasis on one point:
Lately, we have had an increase of resignation posts that have served to host combative and hurtful words to attack Stack employees, other mods, and teammates. We need to be mindful of this and limit the time the posts are featured.
We still value people posting these when they're stepping away from the team. We also value folks being able to say their goodbyes and we want to continue to feature these resignation posts. But we need to keep an eye on the length of time that these featured posts can be in the sidebar.
Why can't the hurtful material be moderated, as is usual practice? Is it too much to moderate?
I feel what Journeyman Geek♦ mentioned here is particularly impactful:
We watch out for, and remember our own. If we're restricting this due to fear, we're lost. We have lost.
Featured posts, as noted historically, should be a reflection of what the community at large feels requires attention. I feel that a moderator resignation, given their extensive contributions to the community, should be a part of that - for a time that their fellow elected moderators feel is appropriate. They're very important moments in a community's history.
For what other reasons are we limiting these announcements now? Are there no other options?
