Nothing fishy going on here! Nope, not at all

Question

Following Mat's resignation as moderator yesterday, I, too, have informed the Stack Exchange community that I am yielding my position as moderator.

I know that it may be natural for many of you to speculate that there is some kind of crisis with the moderation team on Code Review. I'd like to assure you that quite the opposite is true.

As per Stack Exchange policy, moderators, once elected, may serve for life. I have no intention to hold on to my position for nearly that long. I don't want to become synonymous with the site, and I want to make sure that the community stays healthy without becoming dependent on me. In fact, I did state in my campaign questionnaire that I would aim to be more like George Washington than Lee Kuan Yew. Mat's resignation has simply reminded me that — if I include my time as pro tem moderator — I will soon have served two terms over a total of four years. That's a long time already. Mat's resignation simply provided a convenient opportunity to trigger some election excitement!

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with my fellow moderators. I'd like to thank…

• @Jamal for single-handedly raising the standard of quality for questions on this site, by editing nearly all of them into shape. He has also closed many hopelessly bad questions before many of us become aware of their existence!
• @rolfl for his guidance in handling tough moderation situations, and for the sacrifices he made to help push this site towards graduation.
• @Mat for making this a vibrant, successful community, and for helping me deal with the C# questions that I couldn't make sense of.
• @Simon for making @Duga, which has helped to prevent so many of the moderation messes that we used to have as a result of inappropriate referrals from Stack Overflow and answer-invalidating edits to questions.
• @janos for handling an extraordinary number of moderator flags with efficiency, consistency, and fairness.

Most of all, I'd like to thank the Code Review community for their confidence that they have given me during some tense situations. Moderators inevitably get involved in conflicts sometimes, and it's reassuring when I see other members supporting my decisions.

I'll be looking forward to taking a break from moderating, and seeing some fresh faces take a turn at leading the community. I do have 1595 days of consecutive visits, though, and I don't think I'd like to end that record anytime soon.

Answer 1

It has been an honor!

I've always looked up to you - even before you were appointed a pro-tem, your selfless and continuous involvement in this community was inspiring, not to mention your wide and deep expertise and the thousands of souls you saved in the process! When you were appointed by SE community team, it really felt natural to see you in that position.

You've been an inspiration - mine anyway - both for moderators-to-be and, I hope, the whole of this wonderful community.

Working with you has been an absolute honor. Enjoy the break, you earned it!

Answer 2

I don't even know where to begin with how much you've changed this site. Okay, maybe I do: you were the first to hit 100k and are pretty much the Jon Skeet of this site. :)

Seriously though, you'll very much be missed and your vast contributions won't be forgotten. You've pretty much taken the lead on this moderator team, at least from my perspective. I see so much experience from you, including your slew of answers (so, um, just admit you're Jon Skeet already).

It'll certainly feel different not having you around, but I'm excited to see who will be next to help moderate this site. I still hope to see you around these parts, maybe with a bit more free time now that you won't have to deal with flags and such.

Thank you!

Answer 3

I'll miss you, 200. You are a great person, truly remarkable. You are one of the smartest people I've ever met (of course we're talking about a group of highly intelligent people here, so most of them are some of the smartest), and you are a truly remarkable human-being, moderator, and friend.

You'll be truly missed. I wish you the best of luck (and hope you still hang around from time-to-time!).

Answer 4

Ahhhh, I understand your sentiments. As for thanking me, you're welcome, though I feel the same about you. You show a remarkably level head in tough situations and you taught me a bunch about how to handle sensitive and volatile issues by being a great role-model.

Like Mat, you have also added huge value to Code Review and a large part of its success is due to you and your dogged determination and attention to detail.

Oh, you may be on a long streak (it is both a great, and a concerning record...), but I have missed only 13 days since I Joined.... in October 2013. ;-) - (all of them since the site graduated and I was no longer a mod).

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Answer 5

Thank you for being a great mod

You've been a great mod and a great member of this site. I don't think I've ever been on a day where I've not seen some in-human modding by you. I regularly check the python tag, and before I've even seen an off-topic question you've closed it. Never mind you do that to all the tags!

You've had great ideas, even if we don't agree all the time. You've taught me to be a better user, and person. You've been a great mod and a great user, and whoever takes your place has some very large boots to fill.

I wish you the best, whether you decide to break the 1595 days of consecutive visits or not.