I'm one of the moderators that helped draft, and then signed this letter. I'd like to offer my personal take on things.

I joined Stack Overflow in 2008, in one of the first Beta waves when you needed to be invited. I was involved in Area 51 in the definition of some of the earliest sites in the Stack Exchange network, primarily Software Engineering (where I'm user ID 4 and was elected as a community moderator in 2012).

When I became a moderator, the role of moderator was described in two different ways. Moderators were called "janitors" or "garbage collectors" or "human exception handlers". A large part of our role was to resolve issues in our community that the others could not. We had binding votes to handle the worst posts quickly and the ability to suspend users who could not follow the rules and norms of the community. However, there was also another part to our role - liaisons to the company. We had easy access to the community team and were expected to help them understand the nuances and details of the communities that we serve.

Over the years, especially in the almost 8 years that I've been a moderator, I've seen a lot of change. The network grew from 1 site to 3 sites to over 170 sites covering so many topics. However, in that same time period, the environment also changed. The company, naturally, grew up as well. There were a lot of growing pains. The engagement between staff and moderators was very high when I joined the moderation team, but decreased over time. Feature requests and bug reports and even discussions weren't as well addressed by staff as they used to be. And, as moderators, our role as liaisons decreased, I feel because of the lack of engagement between staff and moderators.

The past year or so, in my opinion, has seen the most disengagement between staff and moderators (and the broader community), with most interaction happening in proclamations of changes or in emergency situations.

I believe that this disengagement is the very root of many of the problems that the network has seen over the past months and years.

Unfortunately, at this moment in time, there are pressing concerns from various individuals and groups that need to be addressed. However, as they are addressed, I hope that we can return to a spirit of collaboration between the company and the users, with the moderators that have been appointed from or elected by each community returning to their roles as liaisons and community builders in addition to custodians of their sites.

Based on the announcement that Stack Exchange staff have made, the next week or two will be pivotal in demonstrating the first steps in a restoration of this fundamental collaborative relationship that has made Stack Overflow, and the rest of the Stack Exchange network, so successful. I truly hope that we can repair these issues.

Personally, I will be watching the words and actions of Stack Exchange very closely over the next weeks and months. I hope that their most recent apology marks the beginning of a new chapter and a return to what brought so many of us to Stack Overflow and the Stack Exchange network.

I'm one of the moderators that helped draft, and then signed this letter. I'd like to offer my personal take on things.

I joined Stack Overflow in 2008, in one of the first Beta waves when you needed to be invited. I was involved in Area 51 in the definition of some of the earliest sites in the Stack Exchange network, primarily Software Engineering (where I'm user ID 4 and was elected as a community moderator in 2012).

When I became a moderator, the role of moderator was described in two different ways. Moderators were called "janitors" or "garbage collectors" or "human exception handlers". A large part of our role was to resolve issues in our community that the others could not. We had binding votes to handle the worst posts quickly and the ability to suspend users who could not follow the rules and norms of the community. However, there was also another part to our role - liaisons to the company. We had easy access to the community team and were expected to help them understand the nuances and details of the communities that we serve.

Over the years, especially in the almost 8 years that I've been a moderator, I've seen a lot of change. The network grew from 1 site to 3 sites to over 170 sites covering so many topics. However, in that same time period, the environment also changed. The company, naturally, grew up as well. There were a lot of growing pains. The engagement between staff and moderators was very high when I joined the moderation team, but decreased over time. Feature requests and bug reports and even discussions weren't as well addressed by staff as they used to be. And, as moderators, our role as liaisons decreased, I feel because of the lack of engagement between staff and moderators.

The past year or so, in my opinion, has seen the most disengagement between staff and moderators (and the broader community), with most interaction happening in proclamations of changes or in emergency situations.

I believe that this disengagement is the very root of many of the problems that the network has seen over the past months and years.

Unfortunately, at this moment in time, there are pressing concerns from various individuals and groups that need to be addressed. However, as they are addressed, I hope that we can return to a spirit of collaboration between the company and the users, with the moderators that have been appointed from or elected by each community returning to their roles as liaisons and community builders in addition to custodians of their sites.

Based on the announcement that Stack Exchange staff have made, the next week or two will be pivotal in demonstrating the first steps in a restoration of this fundamental collaborative relationship that has made Stack Overflow, and the rest of the Stack Exchange network, so successful. I truly hope that we can repair these issues.

Personally, I will be watching the words and actions of Stack Exchange very closely over the next weeks and months. I hope that their most recent apology marks the beginning of a new chapter and a return to what brought so many of us to Stack Overflow and the Stack Exchange network.