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I'll start off by addressing the elephant in the room. It's been the better part of a year since the announcement that Code Review was graduating. In all those months, there haven't been any visible indications of change from us on the team. There are a few reasons for that, but they all come down to "it's our fault." I know that we've generated a lot of anxiety over what should have been a happy event, and on behalf of the entire team, I sincerely apologize.

Part of the problem is that under our current system, graduation is heavily tied to site design, and we have a backlog on getting designs to sites. We're currently working on decoupling those two events, in response to the pain you've felt on Code Review and the feedback we've gotten at Graduation, site closure, and a clearer outlook on the health of SE sites (a recent post on the network meta site about how we view the site lifecycle generally). Most of those changes aren't ready to be rolled out yet — keep watching meta over the next several weeks for updates — but I do have one bit of good news for you now.

We recently did a trial run of an election on a site without the rest of the graduation features in place, and it was a success. So, I'm happy to announce that Code Review's first moderator election will begin on Monday, June 29, 2015! Please join me in thanking 200_success, rolfl, Jamal and the pro tem mods who served before them for all their hard work in getting Code Review to where it is today.

One other note to be filed under "graduation update": I've noticed over the past few months, in a few places on chat and meta, some concerns (both explicit and implied) that Code Review's graduation might be (or at least appear to be) somehow diluted or irregular. I want to be absolutely clear that that is not the case. There is no asterisk next to CR's graduation. The team completely agreed that this site deserved to graduate based on the regular review process. For that matter, the site clearly continues to qualify under the current criteria, as well.

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    \$\begingroup\$ What about the reputation requirement increase? When will that happen? \$\endgroup\$
    – Simon Forsberg
    Jun 23, 2015 at 21:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't have a firm date for that yet, but it is part of the group of things that we're actively working on. There should be a new update on meta in about a month. \$\endgroup\$
    – Pops
    Jun 23, 2015 at 21:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ Apologies accepted :-) \$\endgroup\$
    – Mathieu Guindon
    Jun 23, 2015 at 23:12
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    \$\begingroup\$ Will candidates also have to answer moderation scenario questions, or is that only done with the larger sites? \$\endgroup\$
    – Jamal
    Jun 24, 2015 at 17:32
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    \$\begingroup\$ This election will be run in exactly the same way as an election on any other Stack Exchange site. Nominations first, primary if there are enough candidates, then final round. We'll set up the usual Q&A from the community to the candidates as well. \$\endgroup\$
    – Pops
    Jun 24, 2015 at 18:15
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    \$\begingroup\$ Part of the problem is that under our current system, graduation is heavily tied to site design, and we have a backlog on getting designs to sites. Why not ask site users for design input. Not everyone is a graphic designer, but lots of folks have good ideas about what they're passionate about and that can serve as fodder for the in-house design team. Heck, there are a lot of people out there who do all sorts of web design as a side interest/business that are probably reasonably decent at it. They could provide a full mock-up that might significantly reduce the work load. \$\endgroup\$
    – FreeMan
    Jun 25, 2015 at 19:27
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    \$\begingroup\$ Just wondering... when you say Monday, do you mean Monday Monday, or StackLand Monday? \$\endgroup\$
    – Mathieu Guindon
    Jun 27, 2015 at 4:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ Will these elected moderators be pro tem or will they be full fledged, and is there really a difference? \$\endgroup\$
    – Malachi Mod
    Jun 27, 2015 at 4:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Lyle'sMug: This is an official election, so they will be considered elected mods. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jamal
    Jun 27, 2015 at 5:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Pops Are there any badges required in order to run? \$\endgroup\$
    – Ethan Bierlein
    Jun 27, 2015 at 16:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ @EthanBierlein: According to this answer, the badge requirements are only enforced on SO. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jamal
    Jun 28, 2015 at 16:55
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Mat'sMug what's StackLand Monday? UTC Monday? \$\endgroup\$
    – h.j.k.
    Jun 29, 2015 at 1:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Mat'sMug StackLand Monday. The answer is always StackLand. Well, we might run April Fools' "features" in local time, but that's the only exception I can think of offhand. \$\endgroup\$
    – Pops
    Jun 29, 2015 at 1:18

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Thank you 200_success, rolfl, Jamal

Thank you for moderating us! And thanks to all the moderators that we had before you.

I bet we'll see at least some of you as moderators again soon!

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A big thank you for our moderators, who by the way I will vote for in the upcoming elections, and I sincerely hope they want to continue!

Part of the problem is that under our current system, graduation is heavily tied to site design, and we have a backlog on getting designs to sites.

I'm really sad to learn that the first thing you mention as the excuse for the delay of real graduation is your backlog of site design. This shouldn't have been a blocking point. I agree that the user interface and user experience is extremely important, but not to such extent. In real life, I tell a lot of my friends and colleagues about Code Review, and sadly, nobody even knows about this really awesome sister site of Stack Overflow. That's a shame, and I really think that proper graduation (officially, no more "beta status" stuff) could make a difference.

What's done is done, it's alright. I'm really happy for the renewed promise of graduation. I just want to gently signal to you that this site has more than met the usual requirements, and proper graduation shouldn't be blocked by inconsequential technicalities. Please go all the way, let's get this site properly graduated, or let us know what more you need from us, and our truly vibrant community will respond.

Thank you for helping us move forward, please go all the way!

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    \$\begingroup\$ Yeah... I know this probably doesn't help much, but we don't feel good about that reason either. We incorrectly, though honestly, believed for a long time that the design backlog was a problem that we were just on the edge of resolving. At this point, you guys have already done the biggest chunk of the work by building a great community; you don't need to do anything (other that continue to be awesome). We're ironing out the last details of how to implement the changes associated with graduation, and once that's done, you'll be hearing from us about -- to use your words -- going all the way. \$\endgroup\$
    – Pops
    Jun 24, 2015 at 18:26
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    \$\begingroup\$ For the record, it's not just Code Review that people haven't heard about. Very few people seems to know the extent of the Stack Exchange network. There are way too many who just know about Stack Overflow. \$\endgroup\$
    – Simon Forsberg
    Jun 24, 2015 at 22:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Pops Side question about stuff, but will we have information about the blog system anytime soon? \$\endgroup\$
    – Morwenn
    Jun 26, 2015 at 7:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Pops I see no reason why some of the design work couldn't be outsourced TO THE COMMUNITY. There are a number of beautiful designs here any of which would be superior to the vanilla beta. One could be chosen, and then the actual design team at SE could improve it / redo it when they do have time. \$\endgroup\$
    – durron597
    Jun 26, 2015 at 13:22
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Pops it helps that you care, and please keep it up! About blog system, outsourcing design, etc, I think we can talk about later. I want the "beta" gone from the top, and "Public Beta" changed to "Launched!" on this page, and everything else that implies. A loud and clear warm announcement on the SE blog would be nice too ;-) \$\endgroup\$
    – janos
    Jun 26, 2015 at 14:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Morwenn do you mean a community blog, like this one? \$\endgroup\$
    – Pops
    Jun 26, 2015 at 21:59
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Pops Yes, that's exactly what I mean. We asked for one a long time ago and were told that the system needed to be redone from scratch and are still waiting for updates :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Morwenn
    Jun 26, 2015 at 22:01
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Pops - catching you up: The blog has been indefinitely postponed - with a promise that the whole thing was being redone, and we would be early adopters of whatever came next. I have not seen anything, anywhere about any progress on that, I suspect blogs are "gone" as an option.... but would love to be wrong. Blogs were identified as a way to grow and galvanize our community, and would still do that, if available. \$\endgroup\$
    – rolfl
    Jun 27, 2015 at 0:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @rolfl There is no progress on blogs. They still remain, as you put it, "gone" as an option, which hasn't functionally changed since over a year ago when the official decision was made in May. \$\endgroup\$
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Jun 29, 2015 at 17:24

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