I totally agree with Andrew’s points here, and just wanted to chime in with my own thoughts.
It really isn’t time to pop the champagne bottles yet (EDIT: But it was pretty damn close!), but it’s evident from the Strike Organization chat on Discord that some significant progress has been made during the negotiations. But still, SE is a large company, and it takes time for important decisions to be made.
However, I would encourage everyone to hold on for the strike until a final resolution is reached, but on the other hand to be prepared to get back to moderating duties as soon as this happens.
Here is my list of important activities that I would hope as many as possible would resume doing when the time comes:
- Handle review queues
- Work with Natty and Smokey when they’re(and if) they come back online
- Go through your own notes of spam and low-quality (including AI) posts and posters, and flag accordingly
- Generally have an increased focus on editing (for posts that can be salvaged) and flagging (for posts that can't be salvaged) - this will be especially true for old posts as well, since this has been let down for several months
- Increase focus on helping new users with constructive and helpful comments on their first questions or answers
- Resume use of Downboat chat to help keeping the site clean
- Resume use of General chat to increase the feeling of community
There is probably more – but the most important thing in my mind is that we start working together again as a community.
The strike has been tough on all of us, and I believe some of us have had the feeling that the community has been falling apart during this time. But I also believe this is an opportunity to rebuild a great community and make it even stronger, if we chose that path. I’m willing to do so, and I hope others will as well!
