The time has come for me to resign

Question

It's been an honor to serve as a moderator on Parenting all these years, so first and foremost, thank you for that. The rest of this post may or may not resonate with you. Either way, it's fine.

Ever since a highly respected and admired moderator, Monica Cellio, was unethically demodded in September of last year, I have had growing doubts about the people who own Stack Exchange. The way Monica was demodded and subsequently treated by some SE employees was of deep concern to me. A failure to respond to Monica and the needs of the community led to a user-funded lawsuit against SE (since settled.) That it took a lawsuit spoke volumes.

Nothing has happened to allay my fears since; in fact, the departures of many mods, users, SE employees and the firing of respected CMs has exacerbated the sinking feeling I've had about the company. The last straw for me was the new CEO's blogpost, in which it is clear that the interests of the company and its leadership are diametrically opposed to my own. I cannot in good conscience moderate here any more. Whether I will continue to participate as a user is something I need to figure out.

Moderating this site has been a great experience for which I'm grateful. Many in the community have been a joy to interact with, and I hope I've helped people with my answers. I am also grateful for the guidance and support of my long-time, insightful, selfless and even-handed fellow mod, @Rory Alsop. Rory, it's been an inordinate pleasure.

If you enjoy the site and find it helpful, use it in good health!

_{I would thank a couple of CMs as well, but they've left or been fired.}

Answer 1

Anongoodnurse, thank you for your service for the site. It's unfortunate that circumstances are as they are these days, but very much understandable that you feel as you do.

We haven't always seen eye to eye on things, but you've always had the site's best interests in mind while serving as moderator, and your efforts have been very important in keeping the site afloat. Your answers are very thoughtful and detailed, and your comments always helpful and focused on helping posters improve their posts.

I hope you're able to stick around in some capacity, but of course understand that you will do what is right, as we all must. Either way, I wish you the best in your undertakings, and wish you and your family the best! Anon!

Answer 2

You are outstanding in every respect and one of the few true experts on the Stack Exchange Network. I fully understand why you resign, the events also made it impossible for me to contribute to SE any longer. But it's no doubt a huge loss for SE.

Your answers are exemplary, with persoanl anecdotes and backed up with research. Always full of insight and compassion, geared towards helping other people. I learned much from reading them, even though I'm not even a parent.

And as a moderator, you put so much work and dedication into making this stack better, a useful resource for everyone with high quality advice. And you succeeded! In most cases, I agreed with your decision and I always understood them. You always acted in good faith and are exactly what SE needs, also thanks to having been a medical professional. You criticzed where criticism was due and gave praise where praise was deserved. You remained friendly and professional even when the other people were rude and quite rude they could become. I always admired that quality in you. Your human qualities also made you a role model for me.

You were the best that could happen to SE and were one of the reasons I enjoyed hanging out on Parenting.SE. I wish you the best and hope we see each other in chat from time to time!

Let me conclude this post with a song - I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan

Answer 3

I haven't been here for long, but it's clear that your imprint on this site is huge. Losing you as an administrator, the quality of the site content will clearly deteriorate, but if we lose you as a participating user, I think it is hard for anyone to even picture what the site will be.

That being said, as much as this will be to the detriment of a website I've so far enjoyed, I fully understand and support this move. Volunteer your time where you feel appreciated.

Thanks for your hard work and your thoughtful answers.

Answer 4

I always appreciated your contributions, even as a sporadic user. I would also be interested,if possible, if you could elaborate more in particular on what in the CEO post you link is wrong. Not that I disagree with you (and I agree about everything else you mention), but I am curious about what is wrong with the particular post (I am probably missing something I am trying to find, again, it is not that I disagree with you). Thank you!

Answer 5

I'll sign back in and post just for you. It's sad to see you go but I understand. I think it's the natural order of things in internet business though. Eventually a community driven site gets destroyed for the sake of the almighty dollar. StackExchange was the last safe haven from such stupidity. It seems now that that is not the case.

Thanks. For all your hard work. It's never gone unnoticed.