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I won't sugar-coat this.

I will be leaving my moderator position soon. I have contacted the administration and I will coordinate with them on how to proceed: I might remain as mod until new elections are run and my replacement is elected, or I might leave within days.

I got elected 5 years ago (almost, we're missing a few days at the moment) in our second election.

I got that election started complaining about some flags of mine not getting handled for 40+ days, I thus aimed at reviewing all user flags in a timely manner during these years, as I felt it was my duty towards the community.

This has not been an issue when the review queues were active, as I could focus on being what mods are supposed to be: exception handlers, dealing only with the corner cases that are bound to pop-up now and then (and hunt down spammers and trolls, I'll miss that).

Sadly, the review queues have gotten significantly less active, requiring more and more moderation activity to handle flags in time. This seems to have put a strain on the relationship between me and the community. And it gets compounded with the community having seemingly evolved in a direction that I deem incompatible with moderation duties.

In addition, life goes on, and the time I had free to dedicate to the site in the past, has almost fully evaporated, and I need to reassess priorities.

So right now I am seeing that moderating this website for me is a major source of stress, a significant time drain, and the enjoyment of helping the community thrive is disappearing because of the constant push-back.

I don't need the stress, I need some time back, and there is only so much one can do while being criticized at every turn.

I am thankful to everyone that helped and contributed along the way.

I wish all the best to the community and to whom that will be elected to fill my spot.

I left a few mod-only observation in the mod chat room to give a head start to the new mod.

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    $\begingroup$ Am I supposed to upvote this :( $\endgroup$
    – Jamiec Mod
    Sep 12, 2022 at 16:19
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    $\begingroup$ "In addition, life goes on, and the time I had free to dedicate to the site in the past, has almost fully evaporated, and I need to reassess priorities." Reassess priorities is important and good, don't feel sorry or sad for that 🖖 $\endgroup$
    – sophit
    Sep 18, 2022 at 21:48
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    $\begingroup$ Thank you for your efforts. We all benefit from the service provided by volunteers such as yourself. I hope you are able to move to the next thing you do (even if it's just "a bit of rest") without regretting the time you put in here--it's ok for priorities to change and for people to change to other activities in their lives. Or even just to reduce them. Godspeed. $\endgroup$
    – msouth
    Sep 23, 2022 at 17:40

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I have said privately I hope you might reconsider this, based on not feeling like you need to moderate all the things all the time.

However, should you (as I expect you will) indeed step down all I can do is thank you profusely for your hard work and unwavering support.

So, Thank you. I hope one day you return to moderate here.

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    $\begingroup$ I'll answer you here. Thank you for the kind words and the thought, but the overall balance of my evaluation tips towards this, I think I need it for the time being. $\endgroup$
    – Federico
    Sep 12, 2022 at 16:52
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    $\begingroup$ Up voted, but I'll say it again: Thank you! Also, don't feel guilty - real life takes precedence over any online activity. $\endgroup$
    – FreeMan
    Sep 15, 2022 at 14:06
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Thank you, Federico, for having donated your valuable time and dedication to moderate this site.

I know it has been an ungrateful task at times; many of the good things you have done went unseen, and then the smallest things that were visible were scrutinised and sometimes critised (including by me on occasion) by people who could only see a small part of the whole picture.

Your unwavering commitment to improve this site's quality is really commendable.

Don't feel bad about choosing to step down to take time for new priorities in life. After moderating here for five years, you should feel proud!

I hope you stick around and do find the joy again in contributing here. I am looking forward to meet again, either here online or in real life!

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    $\begingroup$ Thank you :) It is my intention to try stick around. $\endgroup$
    – Federico
    Sep 20, 2022 at 15:35
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Even not having been nearly as active here in the past few years as I had been several years ago, I just want to say that I appreciate the effort that you've put in to help moderate the site. It definitely requires a lot of time and effort to do the job well and it's completely understandable to need to step back from it in order to focus time on more important things in life.

Thanks for the effort you've put in here over the years!

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From having seen what goes on the behind the scenes, thank you for all the time you've dedicated to this site over the years. A lot goes into moderation work that most people don't see. The site would not be as successful without your efforts. I also appreciate all that you've done to help me out in learning the moderator side of things. I would be happy to see you back as a moderator again sometime in the future if you wish. In the meantime, take care and enjoy a well-deserved break from the extra stress.

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  • $\begingroup$ thank you :) I don't exclude coming back as a mod one day, but I won't be setting any deadlines $\endgroup$
    – Federico
    Oct 28, 2022 at 17:49

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