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Earlier this year, we hired Philippe to join me on what was the newly created Trust & Safety subteam of the Community Team. He then promptly left me alone again and became VP of Community instead. Jokes aside, Philippe was of great help and has been a great person to work with, and we got many things kick-started together. But today I’ve got new friends in town, I’m very excited to announce that we have two new CMs joining me on the team.

Bella_Blue

Bella has been working in Community Management for 15 years. Starting her career with Myspace, Bella moderated the Religion and Philosophy areas, as well as the Arts and Literature forums until their close. She continued to manage multiple communities - both large and small - throughout her career. In her most recent position, she managed a community of over 1 million unique users dedicated to comics and movies. Bella is passionate about how online communities mold the real world around us, and believes they are to be protected and tended with care and respect.

In her free time, she likes to read and study languages. She is currently learning Korean, and has spent some time answering questions on both the Korean Language and Language Learning Stack Exchange sites.

Salmon_of_Wisdom

Salmon is only a little new to Stack Overflow. They have made use of the site’s vast stores of knowledge in their studies (including the very last Flash course given at their school), but have only recently begun to add to the hoard here.

Their community management career began with volunteer moderation and eventually community management for game platforms, but they have a long career in caring and customer service roles as well. Salmon also volunteers for a few small gaming conventions and cannot wait to be part of those communities again.

They leap from interest to hobby quite frequently, but they can currently be found learning to work with deaf dogs and playing bluegrass standards. Past hobbies include playing music journo, chainmailing, and dog photography. (Yes, they would like to see a picture of your pet.)

Both Bella_Blue and Salmon have been incredible during onboarding so far and I’m looking forward to getting to work more with them. If you’re curious about what the Trust & Safety team is responsible for, here’s a nonexhaustive (nor exclusive!) list of things we’re looking at: compromised accounts, spam waves, code of conduct violations, technical investigations, improvements to tooling, policies and enforcement process, as well as consulting on privacy, data handling, and compliance. Bella and Salmon will report to me in my new role of Manager, Community Trust & Safety.

Please give them a warm welcome, and to quote Philippe, new CMs are friends, not food!

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    Now I want to know: who is valued associate #1000?
    – Thomas Markov
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 14:01
  • 12
    Bella and Salmon are such a joy to work with. We're so happy to have them here. :)
    – Rosie StaffMod
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 14:03
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    Welcome to the team! I am really happy to have other two incredible colleagues. It’s a blessing to be in this team and getting to know such interesting people. ❤️ But I am disappointed that Salmon didn’t mention their baking skills! Smh. 🧐🤨
    – Charlotte StaffMod
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 14:04
  • 23
    Employees who deal with spam waves? There's some folks who'd love to meet them
    – Machavity
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 14:05
  • 17
    @Machavity Does waving hello in Charcoal HQ count as a spam wave?
    – Ryan M
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 14:10
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    Salmon doesn't want to brag in any way they can be held accountable =P
    – Salmon_of_Wisdom Staff
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 14:12
  • 36
    @ThomasMarkov: Someone from a different department (that isn't really an external-facing role).
    – V2Blast Staff
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 15:30
  • 12
    Psyched to see the cadence; hope it continues!
    – Shog9
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 15:38
  • 22
    Psyched to see @Shog9 around :)
    – Luuklag
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 17:17
  • 8
    I truly feel honored to be part of this team and to work alongside such brilliant people. But even more than that, I am excited to help serve this amazing community. Thank you all for such a warm welcome. :)
    – Bella_Blue StaffMod
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 22:01
  • 11
    Myspace? Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time...
    – caird coinheringaahing
    Commented Oct 29, 2021 at 4:33
  • 3
    @BoltClock'saUnicorn Hello, yes, you wanna write some ActionScript, like the cool kids used to do?
    – Salmon_of_Wisdom Staff
    Commented Oct 29, 2021 at 17:49
  • 3
    @JonH Apparently the firing happened right before a pretty big change in management. New hirings have roughly been a mix of folks finally realising the current situation was untenable, and actually having the resources to hire again. Frankly the internal workings of SE are opaque, even to the folks who follow what they do closely \o/
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Oct 30, 2021 at 9:21
  • 4
    Does Salmon not want to disclose their gender, or is "they" their preferred pronoun? They might want to state that on their profile page.
    – Bergi
    Commented Oct 30, 2021 at 20:17
  • 8
    Given the location of the salmon in @Salmon_of_Wisdom's profile pic, I'm currently contemplating the wisdom of that particular pictured salmon... Is that too meta for this exchange?
    – SO_fix_the_vote_sorting_bug
    Commented Nov 3, 2021 at 19:52

10 Answers 10

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Congrats and welcome to both of you!

As a semi-new CM myself, I'm glad to see the company continuing to hire more CMs and invest in the community. I'm sure Cesar is happy to have an actual team working with him instead of just handling Trust & Safety stuff all by himself, too :)

I'm looking forward to seeing what y'all do in your time here! I'm especially glad to see the company bringing on others with a long history in community management (whether professionally or as volunteers) to the CM team - I'd love to hear a bit more about your backgrounds if you're willing to share (publicly or privately).

Welcome to the team!

(PS: Sorry, I don't have any pets to share pictures of...)

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    “I don't have any pets” BLASPHEMY! BUUURRN HIIMMMMM!!1!!1!!1!!I!! <\joke>
    – Ekadh Singh
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 15:39
  • 2
    @EkadhSingh-ReinstateMonica: I didn't have any growing up because my mom's allergic to both cats and dogs... And she vetoed my request for a snake :P
    – V2Blast Staff
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 15:40
  • 2
    @V2Blast I'm sorry I only give information in exchange for cute animal pictures. But I understand your dilemma so, I'll make an exception. It doesn't have to be your own personal pet. Animals in hats are my favorite. *see I'm very magnanimous* :P
    – Bella_Blue StaffMod
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 22:08
  • 2
    @Bella_Blue: How's this?
    – V2Blast Staff
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 22:10
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    @V2Blast I love it!!! Message me for my lengthy memoirs. A CM's Life: We're All Mad Here, and We Like it!
    – Bella_Blue StaffMod
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 22:19
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    You stole my book title!
    – Philippe StaffMod
    Commented Oct 31, 2021 at 0:34
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+100

A warm welcome to you both!!

This is Charlie. 5 year old Labrador who we puppy-walked for the Guide Dogs Charity. He was withdrawn on potential health issues, so we gave him our forever home.

enter image description here

This is Mollie, a 13 year old Miniature Schnauzer. Partial to fish, sweet potato, cheese and kibble.

enter image description here

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    Just a quick FYI: Although it is not part of my announcement (terrible oversight on my part) I too would appreciate all the pet photos!!! :D
    – Bella_Blue StaffMod
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 14:05
  • 2
    @Bella_Blue Please feel free to take emotional ownership of whichever photo you'd like. My dogs are both willing to share their affections (as long as you smell vaguely of biscuits!).
    – user960635
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 14:07
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    No self portraits, please!
    – terdon
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 14:09
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    @Bella_Blue My favorite pet: i.sstatic.net/gYg8q.png
    – Ollie
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 14:25
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    Uh-oh... A dog that is partial to fish? This could be dangerous for a Salmon, wise or not.
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Oct 29, 2021 at 3:32
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Welcome to the team, both of you!

I'm very excited about this part:

If you’re curious about what the Trust & Safety team is responsible for, here’s a nonexhaustive (nor exclusive!) list of things we’re looking at: compromised accounts, spam waves, etc.

We're very happy to hear that. There are plenty of spam waves to deal with. The system is already efficient, but with more CMs on the job the spammers will be deleted in droves. Hope to see you in Charcoal HQ often, then!

Good luck to both of you.

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11

Welcome aboard!! It's great to see even more new faces among the CM team.

This is Finley. He's 3 years old now and loves snuggles and produce that's on the verge of going bad. (click for larger images)

Fin_Pic_1 Fin_Pic_2

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  • 1
    Where y'at? I'll send you all the tomatoes we screwed up this year ;)
    – Ollie
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 19:20
  • 1
    Haha too many tomatoes and I may not be able to fit on the couch with him anymore! I'll have to turn you down this time, @Ollie :)
    – scohe001
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 19:35
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    Oh wow! He's grown a bit since I last saw him!
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 19:50
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    He's definitely come a long way, @Tink! I think we're finally done with the growing though. Just need to keep him away from nice strangers with tomatoes so he doesn't overeat :p
    – scohe001
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 20:22
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    Finley is just as precious as I remember him
    – Magisch
    Commented Oct 29, 2021 at 11:40
  • He looks like Donald Rump!!
    – FriendlyFire
    Commented Oct 29, 2021 at 13:19
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    Please tell Finley that I love him
    – Salmon_of_Wisdom Staff
    Commented Oct 29, 2021 at 14:17
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    I believe that Finley may be one of the most handsome pets that I've seen in a very long time.
    – Philippe StaffMod
    Commented Oct 31, 2021 at 0:36
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🎉 🎊 🚀 ❤️ → 🔔 & 🐟❗

But on a different note: how did you both happen to have underscores in your names? 🤔

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    Thank you for the warm welcome! I can't speak for Bella_, but I'm used to assuming that spaces aren't allowed and default to underscoring.
    – Salmon_of_Wisdom Staff
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 15:38
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    @Salmon_of_Wisdom: That was my guess as to the reason as well.
    – V2Blast Staff
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 15:51
  • 2
    Oh, I see. Well, the good news is, you can have spaces in your display name. In fact, display names on SE sites are rather permissive about what you can have in them. :)
    – user1091571
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 15:56
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    I just happen to be partial to underscores. Matching @Salmon_of_Wisdom is a happy bonus. :)
    – Bella_Blue StaffMod
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 22:11
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Welcome Bella_Blue and Salmon_of_Wisdom.

<\joke>For Salmon_of_Wisdom, I would recommend avoiding Security SE, lest you get eaten <\joke>

Dog photos coming as soon as I can find them. (ETA 9 p.m. UTC)

dog

dog

This is Simba, a 1.5 (iirc) year old miniature Australian Shepard. He likes to run, eat bones, and pee (a lot).

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    I can promise to be patient o_o
    – Salmon_of_Wisdom Staff
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 15:34
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    @Salmon_of_Wisdom dog photos added :)
    – Ekadh Singh
    Commented Oct 28, 2021 at 21:00
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    Well, The Bear doesn't frequent SecSE these days, so there shouldn't be any problem in splashing by :)
    – nobody
    Commented Oct 29, 2021 at 1:52
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    Ekadh - Thanks for the photos! They're unbearably cute Nobody - Maybe it's time for me to dip my toes into the waters of security!
    – Salmon_of_Wisdom Staff
    Commented Oct 29, 2021 at 14:16
  • Eating the Salmon of Wisdom leads to foresight, of course. I'm not sure that any of the bears need it.
    – TRiG
    Commented Nov 1, 2021 at 12:16
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Congratulations Bella_Blue and Salmon_Of_Wisdom. Good to see more and more CMs. Best of luck for future.

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Congrats to both of you!

Bella_Blue: Your resume and depth of community management experience is very impressive, and managing a community of 1 million users ought to have almost prepared you for helping to manage the StackExchange network of > 16 million users!

Salmon_Of_Wisdom: Your love of volunteering, bluegrass, wisdom, and salmon makes me instantly happy to have you as a new friend :)

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Welcome both.

The first thing Blue and Salmon brought to mind was:

enter image description here

(Images taken from here and here.)

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Congratulations Bella_Blue & Salmon_Of_Wisdom! Good to see now 1001 CMs!

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