June 5, 2023
Stack Overflow, Inc. has decreed a near-total prohibition on moderating AI-generated content in the wake of a flood of such content being posted to and subsequently removed from the Stack Exchange network, tacitly allowing the proliferation of incorrect information ("hallucinations") and unfettered plagiarism on the Stack Exchange network. This poses a major threat to the integrity and trustworthiness of the platform and its content.
We, the undersigned, are volunteer moderators, contributors, and users of Stack Overflow and the Stack Exchange network. Effective immediately, we are enacting a general moderation strike on Stack Overflow and the Stack Exchange network, in protest of this and other recent and upcoming changes to policy and the platform that are being forced upon us by Stack Overflow, Inc.
Our efforts to effect change through proper channels have been ignored, and our concerns disregarded at every turn. Now, as a last resort, we are striking out of dedication to the platform that we have put over a decade of care and volunteer effort into. We deeply believe in the core mission of the Stack Exchange network: to provide a repository of high-quality information in the form of questions and answers, and the recent actions taken by Stack Overflow, Inc. are directly harmful to that goal.
Specifically, moderators are no longer allowed to remove AI-generated answers on the basis of being AI-generated, outside of exceedingly narrow circumstances. This results in effectively permitting nearly all AI-generated answers to be freely posted, regardless of established community consensus on such content.
In turn, this allows incorrect information (colloquially referred to as "hallucinations") and plagiarism to proliferate unchecked on the platform. This destroys trust in the platform, as Stack Overflow, Inc. has previously noted.
In addition, the details of the policies issued directly to moderators differ substantially from the guidelines outlined publicly, with moderators barred from publicly sharing the details.
These policies disregard the leeway historically granted to individual Stack Exchange communities to determine their policies, by making changes without the input of the community, overriding community consensus, and outright refusing to reconsider their position.
Until this matter is resolved satisfactorily, we will be pausing activities including, but not limited to:
- Raising and handling flags.
- Running SmokeDetector, the anti-spam bot.
- Closing or voting to close posts.
- Deleting or voting to delete posts.
- Reviewing tasks in the various review queues.
- Running various other bots designed to assist in moderation, such as detecting plagiarism, low-quality answers, and rude comments.
Until Stack Overflow, Inc. retracts this policy change to a degree that addresses the concerns of the moderators, and allows moderators to effectively enforce established policies against AI-generated answers, we are calling for a general moderation strike, as a last-resort effort to protect the Stack Exchange platform and users from a total loss in value. We would also like to remind Stack Overflow, Inc. that a network that entirely relies on volunteers for its moderation model cannot then consistently ignore, mistreat, and malign those same volunteers.
Signed,
Nofate
♦
Jun 3
Ryan M
♦
Jun 5
Baum mit Augen
♦
Jun 2
Wrzlprmft
♦
Jun 3
Maximillian Laumeister
♦
Jun 5
Zoe
♦
Jun 2
rene
♦
Jun 2
Bryan Krause
♦
Jun 2
terdon
♦
Jun 2
Zanna
♦
Jun 4
MX D
♦
Jun 4
ArtOfCode
♦
Jun 2
Makyen
♦
Jun 2
Canadian Luke
♦
Jun 2
Ry-
♦
Jun 3
gbianchi
♦
Jun 2
C. Lange
♦
Jun 3
curious
♦
Jun 2
Andy
♦
Jun 3
mickmackusa
♦
Jun 4
Clive
♦
Jun 4
Paramanand Singh
♦
Jun 3
Rubén
♦
Jun 3
Robotnik
♦
Jun 5
DavidPostill
♦
Jun 3
Cody Gray
♦
Jun 2
Joachim
♦
Jun 4
andrew.46
♦
Jun 2
Timmy Jim
♦
Jun 4
Machavity
♦
Jun 2
Pedro
♦
Jun 2
ChrisF
♦
Jun 2
nitsua60
♦
Jun 5
Alexander Gruber
♦
Jun 2
Ward
♦
Jun 3
Undo
♦
Jun 2
Scortchi
♦
Jun 3
Aloizio Macedo
♦
Jun 4
Wipqozn
♦
Jun 4
Luke Sawczak
♦
Jun 3
Mad Scientist
♦
Jun 2
Rob
♦
Jun 4
Ganesh Sittampalam
♦
Jun 2
Mast
♦
Jun 2
cag51
♦
Jun 3
Mokubai
♦
Jun 3
Kusalananda
♦
Jun 2
Thomas Owens
♦
Jun 2
Anton Menshov
♦
Jun 2
Stephen Rauch
♦
Jun 3
sideshowbarker
♦
Jun 2
Ben Webster
♦
Jun 5
Mithical
♦
Jun 2
thesecretmaster
♦
Jun 2
HyperNeutrino
♦
Jun 5
random
♦
Jun 4
Stephen Ostermiller
♦
Jun 5
journeyman geek
♦
Jun 3
Stephie
♦
Jun 4
blackgreen
♦
Jun 2
David Roberts
♦
Jun 5
Pikoh
♦
Jun 5
Sathyajith Bhat
♦
Jun 3
RoryAlsop
♦
Jun 3
Samuel Liew
♦
Jun 2
AncientSwordRage
♦
Jun 5
Ian Campbell
♦
Jun 2
Massimo Ortolano
◊
Jun 3
user9517
◊
Jun 4
El'endia Starman
◊
Jun 3
Caleb
◊
Jun 3
Loong
◊
Jun 3
Jon Clements
◊
Jun 2
Jon Ericson
◊
Jun 4
Shog9
◊
Jun 2
Martin Tournoij
◊
Jun 4
doppelgreener
◊
Jun 2
Balarka Sen
Jun 3
Oli
Jun 2
Starship is go for launch
Jun 4
Makoto
Jun 2
loloof64
Jun 5
Nordine Lotfi
Jun 3
Adriaan
Jun 5
Marco Bonelli
Jun 2
Gypsy Spellweaver
Jun 2
Stargateur
Jun 3
Wolgwang
Jun 5
snkecharmerb
Jun 4
antimeme
Jun 5
Ilja Everilä
Jun 2
JR Ong
Jun 3
Deestan
Jun 5
Sophie L (Rexogamer)
Jun 2
Joseph Sible
Jun 2
Clonkex
Jun 5
Vogel612
Jun 4
Oleg Valter
Jun 2
cigien
Jun 2
Steven E. Kelly
Jun 5
Chris W. Rea
Jun 4
Frizlab
Jun 2
Miles Sabin
Jun 5
Ander Biguri
Jun 2
Rovanion
Jun 5
drmuelr
Jun 4
gnat
Jun 3
Phil
Jun 5
Shadow Wizard
Jun 3
van dench
Jun 4
StormFoo
Jun 2
das_
Jun 2
Josh Junon
Jun 5
Antti Haapala
Jun 2
Ethan
Jun 2
Pablo
Jun 2
double-beep
Jun 3
Shaido
Jun 5
Christoph Kepler
Jun 5
ldrg
Jun 2
Spevacus
Jun 2
NeERAJ TK
Jun 5
Kamil Maciorowski
Jun 4
KEMONO_PANTSU
Jun 2
Ian Kemp
Jun 5
Anonymous M
Jun 2
lamak
Jun 2
Pat
Jun 5
David Heffernan
Jun 4
userless
Jun 4
Alon Eitan
Jun 3
Dugnom
Jun 5
HolyBlackCat
Jun 4
Blastfurnace
Jun 4
Elements in Space
Jun 4
Uwe Raabe
Jun 4
jmoerdyk
Jun 2
starball
Jun 2
JG
Jun 4
Suraj Rao
Jun 2
ad absurdum
Jun 4
4b0
Jun 2
Paul Enta
Jun 4
mustaccio
Jun 2
Didier L
Jun 4
Bill Tür
Jun 4
philipxy
Jun 4
E_net4
Jun 2
kmdreko
Jun 3
Kirk
Jun 5
qharr
Jun 3
feribg
Jun 4
polaris
Jun 5
nmpennypacker
Jun 2
janw
Jun 3
tripleee
Jun 2
Zhenya Kovalyov
Jun 2
Tomerikoo
Jun 5
cody
Jun 4
lus
Jun 2
Muhammed Abiola
Jun 2
Petra Minaler
Jun 2
thebrettd
Jun 2
Candid Moe
Jun 2
Mikko Ohtamaa
Jun 2
Dan Mašek
Jun 3
Denys Séguret
Jun 3
Ars_Codicis
Jun 4
Bobble
Jun 5
Steve
Jun 5
The Thonnu
Jun 4
Félix Adriyel Gagnon-Grenier
Jun 4
LW001
Jun 2
Erel
Jun 4
nmath
Jun 4
gre_gor
Jun 4
Adrian Mole
Jun 2
ofou
Jun 2
Shu-Wai Chow
Jun 2
vidarlo
Jun 3
Joey
Jun 5
VLAZ
Jun 2
John C Franke
Jun 2
François G. Dorais
Jun 5
QBrute
Jun 4
ocodo
Jun 3
justANewb stands with Ukraine
Jun 5
Renate Schaaf
Jun 4
emanresu A
Jun 5
kaya3
Jun 5
Christopher Moore
Jun 5
Nick
Jun 2
fedorqui
Jun 4
Jeremy Banks
Jun 2
samkart
Jun 5
user202729
Jun 5
Peter Cordes
Jun 3
S.L. Barth
Jun 2
ATaco
Jun 5
roganjosh
Jun 3
Andreas O. J.
Jun 2
Erik Reed
Jun 2
BeastOfCaerbannog
Jun 3
冥王 Hades
Jun 3
Akme
Jun 5
Double Anon
Jun 5
ggorlen
Jun 4
CDR
Jun 4
markalex
Jun 2
D.C. the III
Jun 3
jq170727
Jun 2
ivan_pozdeev
Jun 4
Tapio Peltonen
Jun 5
Thom A
Jun 4
Peter Kolosov
Jun 4
Vickel
Jun 2
Ted Shifrin
Jun 3
Steven Tran
Jun 5
Destroy666
Jun 3
Jesse
Jun 2
Elikill58
Jun 5
Akixkisu
Jun 3
NullDev
Jun 4
M--
Jun 3
metatoaster
Jun 4
Silvio Mayolo
Jun 3
Anders
Jun 5
Cerbrus
Jun 5
M.A.R.
Jun 3
MMM
Jun 5
Jasmijn
Jun 2
Daniel Widdis
Jun 5
Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight
Jun 2
jcsahnwaldt Reinstate Monica
Jun 4
Thierry Lathuille
Jun 3
Monomantle82
Jun 3
L3viathan
Jun 5
President James K. Polk
Jun 4
Artur Meinild
Jun 4
PM 2Ring
Jun 4
bad_coder
Jun 4
turing85
Jun 4
Mark Rotteveel
Jun 4
Tim
Jun 2
kromster80
Jun 4
Henrik
Jun 5
RocketNikita
Jun 2
JürgenStr
Jun 4
user16217248
Jun 5
Dalija Prasnikar
Jun 2
Pete TNT
Jun 5
Aquatica
Jun 2
mplungjan
Jun 3
Elias
Jun 3
radeklew
Jun 2
duplode
Jun 4
dan1st
Jun 2
ollitietavainen
Jun 5
khelwood
Jun 3
Danis
Jun 2
Natejb
Jun 2
Arnis Lapsa
Jun 2
Ken White
Jun 4
Lino
Jun 2
Thomas Markov
Jun 2
AdrianHHH
Jun 3
schrodingerscatcuriosity
Jun 3
Vylix
Jun 5
cocomac
Jun 3
Sineofthetime
Jun 3
Dada
Jun 5
Ross H
Jun 4
Alan Pope
Jun 5
Robby Cornelissen
Jun 5
Kevin B
Jun 2
mousetail
Jun 2
Max Burgess
Jun 5
xle
Jun 5
celsius narhwal
Jun 2
njord
Jun 2
jps
Jun 2
greg-449
Jun 4
Andras Deak
Jun 2
CodeCaster
Jun 2
FAQ
Why not judge AI-generated content by the same standards as other content?
Content by generative AI like ChatGPT is a special blend of garbage: While superficially well written, it often embeds incorrect answers in correct but irrelevant waffling, made-up references, and non sequiturs. The primary intended mechanism against such content is downvoting and editing, not deletion – moderators don’t act based on correctness for a good reason. However, AI content often bypasses the voting system by tricking inexperienced users into upvoting and accepting due to its superficial quality.
Moreover, while humans occasionally produce content with similar properties, this requires some effort. By contrast, an AI can produce such content in seconds, while still causing the same effort in fact-checking and moderation – at least as long as we are required to handle it by the same standard as human answers.
What metrics do mods really use other than unreliable automatic AI detection tools to suspend users?
Just one tool saying one answer is AI is not enough to get a suspension. Mods combine their own intuition as well as multiple tools together to form a conclusion. While any one method can be unreliable, when an answer feels like AI written and multiple automated tools agree, mods can be quite confident that the post is indeed AI generated.
Mods already err on the side of lenience. If they are unsure something is AI written no suspensions are issued.
The new policy bans use of all manual and automatic detection methods, even when combined, leaving no options. Mods will be unable to remove even obvious AI content, and thus it will flood the site.
I am not a moderator on any stack exchange site, how can I help?
Even if you are not a moderator you can participate in the strike by:
- Not voting on posts
- Not submitting edits
- Not reviewing in the review queues
- Not commenting
- Not flagging posts
DO NOT purposefully submit AI-generated answers during the strike. While we will not be removing them during the strike you may be suspended afterwards. We anticipate plenty will get posted anyway without purposefully submitting more.