Update 1/20/2020: called2voyage has resumed moderation, more info here.
I’ve wrestled for some time with how to approach this issue, but I’ve finally come to a decision. The bottom-line is that it appears SE is becoming unhealthy, and I don’t feel it would be wise for me to continue to invest my energy in the duties of a volunteer position on the site. If there were more transparency from SE about their goals, I might be able to give them the benefit of the doubt, but now that it appears large changes are on the horizon with no prior community discussion, I have nothing to put my faith in.
If SE’s intentions here are good, I will be sad to have departed just before those changes went in place, but their recent history of action is too mired in problematic moves for me to cross my fingers and hope for good intentions. I have enjoyed helping build Space Exploration and Astronomy through the moderator role, and I continue to enjoy those communities today. However, I cannot overlook the bigger picture in the platform hosting those communities.
So due to all of this, I have decided to take a leave of absence from Stack Exchange—I will be marking myself as inactive on Space Exploration and Astronomy. The leave may eventually transition into a resignation, but I’ll give time for community response and the possibility of SE making a rapid fundamental shift in communication surrounding the changes (seems like it would take a miracle at this point).
More details about the changes that precipitated this are on Meta Stack Exchange.
