Following from Stack Overflow, and as other sites will soon have to (if they don't already have them, I have decided, with some approval, to announce the upcoming June 5 strike on this child meta. It has no scheduled ending, only when the goals are resolved. As the title suggests, there are 5 main questions about this that I would like to answer. So, let's start.
Who
You can see in this strike letter, although, it doesn't include everyone who is striking. It does have (as of 22:32 UTC June 4, 2023) 60 moderators, 10 former moderators, and 220 total users onboard at this time.
What
As is detailed in both the strike letter, discord, and the github, we will be suspending certain activities. Moderators will (in addition to what the normal users do):
- Stop handling flags
Normal users will:
- Stop flagging
- Stop reviewing
- Stop running charcoal
- Is it disputed if metasmoke will me stopped running
- It is disputed over whether they should stop posting on main sites
The goals are the following:
- To show SE that it needs its curators and moderators and contributors.
- To reverse the unbanning of AI generated content.
- It is disputed if reversing the vote arrows is a goal
- It is disputed if stopping the whole AI stack wants is a goal
- To get SE to listen to community feedback
- Clarity on policy
When
The strike begins on June 5 and will end when our demands are met.
Why
The Stack Overflow Meta post explains the why pretty well, but I'll summarize here. Stack Exchange has decided to make the following unpopular changes:
- Refusing to listen to community feedback
- Making an AI with the seeming goal of replacing us human contributors
- Wasting time on unpopular vote arrows
- Unbanning AI generated content
- Firing more of the workforce
- Vagueness on policy
A note on AI generated content:It was banned because it had a habit of making seemingly correct, but wrong, posts that were plagarized and took a lot of moderation effort with limit poster effort.
How to participate
You can join by signing onto the strike and agreeing to not do the listed moderation and curation activities.
Final notes
This is not meant to do any of the following:
- Pressure moderators or other users into joining if they don't want to
This is meant to do the following:
- Increase the visibility and inform users of the strike.
- Explain to SE what and why we are doing this.
