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Will a draft of the new moderator agreement (see The Q1 2020 Community Roadmap is on the Blog) be published on SE Meta to solicit feedback before it's implemented? After all, non-moderator users have an interest in what the people they elect as moderators are required to sign up to.

If not, why not?

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As far as I understand - no.

The original version of the moderator agreement, while significantly simpler and non controversial, wasn't either. It wasn't up for moderator comment either - granted that it predated any form of moderator organisation or disorganisation.

Some of it is things that aren't up for debate (but which get questioned anyway). Other things have gone through several versions of wording.

It's going to be impossible to have a version right now that everyone will be happy with. Its gone through a subset of moderators, the moderator team (with input from other sources for mods who have consciously chosen not to be on the team) and from what I understand several rounds of internal reworking before it even reached us.

I do realise that this puts future moderators, especially those that are currently standing in elections, knowing that there will be a new moderator agreement in a bit of a bind. However, practically - the moderator community is supposed to represent the community, and is directly affected by it.

So on this version, no.

As time goes on, we might find that aspects of it don't work. If you find a case where it doesn't, bring it up on meta.

Likewise and especially if you find some aspect of it onerous and abhorrent after it's up, and find evidence of it being detrimental to the community - speak up, and I'm pretty sure that it will be brought up, least amongst the mods.

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    Thank you. Better some than none get a chance to have an input, but I feel moderators must be hampered in representing SE communities by their being precluded from discussing the draft with them. The company needn't heed the views of non-moderators if they don't wish to - though I think they should - but whence the desire for such secrecy?
    – Scortchi - Reinstate Monica
    Apr 19, 2020 at 10:02
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    Well - no. Its just that at some point, we'd get not much done. Something set in stone would need to be perfect at the first go. Considering the atmosphere in meta and the network as a whole, that's.... not happening. It makes a lot of sense to get the input of folks directly impacted, ship it (hopefully not on a friday), then review how it works out for everyone as time goes on. Frankly, not much point of secrecy on a document several hundred people can see right now. If we were to 'blame' anything, its a desire to avoid complexity. You will see it. People will opine. We can work on it
    – Journeyman Geek
    Apr 19, 2020 at 10:13
  • "Its just that at some point, we'd get not much done.": I'm afraid I can't see what you're getting at there.
    – Scortchi - Reinstate Monica
    Apr 19, 2020 at 18:18
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    "Something set in stone would need to be perfect at the first go. [...] It makes a lot of sense to get the input of folks directly impacted, ship it [...], then review how it works out for everyone as time goes on.": Are you saying the agreement will be in some sense provisional at the outset? Is a review scheduled for before when moderators are required to sign it or quit? If not, & it's working out well for the company, why would they even consider changing it? Do you really think the most opportune time for communities to challenge any aspects they find objectionable is after its ...
    – Scortchi - Reinstate Monica
    Apr 19, 2020 at 18:20
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    ... signing has become mandatory?
    – Scortchi - Reinstate Monica
    Apr 19, 2020 at 18:20
  • "Frankly, not much point of secrecy on a document several hundred people can see right now": the company presumably see some point, else they wouldn't insist on secrecy. Or are you suggesting the draft has been or will be leaked?
    – Scortchi - Reinstate Monica
    Apr 19, 2020 at 18:23
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    The mod agreement's always been mandatory. It will be published in some form. However - between the preliminary working group and the broader mod community, one would feel there's a good enough idea of what concerns the community. These are the reviews before the mods sign it. It feels like a good thing for the pro-tem mod council to review after some time. And of course - There will invariably be meta posts discussing aspects of this. The fact that its not been leaked would presumably mean people are not that annoyed by it.
    – Journeyman Geek
    Apr 19, 2020 at 19:02
  • So if I've understood right there are the following mitigating factors: (1) moderators are likely to be able to conjecture what objections non-moderator members of their communities would make, were they allowed to see & discuss the draft, & can therefore represent them effectively; (2) the company may decide to amend the agreement in response to community pressure even after it's been put into place; & (3) any advantage accruing to the company from enforcing secrecy prior to implementation must be somewhat minor, as if they thought to thus obtain a major advantage they'd have to reckon ...
    – Scortchi - Reinstate Monica
    May 9, 2020 at 23:48
  • ... with a high likelihood of someone's nullifying it by leaking the draft.
    – Scortchi - Reinstate Monica
    May 9, 2020 at 23:49
  • But what's the positive reason for secrecy? "We'd not get much done" - who's we & why not? "A desire to avoid complexity" - what would be complex?
    – Scortchi - Reinstate Monica
    Jun 10, 2020 at 0:36

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