The moderator team responsible for maintaining order in the NixOS project forums and repositories has announced its resignation in protest against the Steering Committee (SC), which is interfering with the moderators' work and attempting to influence their decisions. The moderators view the committee's actions as abuse of authority, and since the project rules do not address such situations, the moderator team has decided that it cannot perform its duties conscientiously under the current circumstances.
The disagreements arose because the steering committee and the existing moderators hold different views on community governance. The committee is sensitive to criticism and discourages discussion of the community's fundamental conflicts. The moderators, however, believe that such discussions are essential for the project's growth and that controversial topics should not be avoided or suppressed, but rather maintained in a healthy and constructive manner, without resorting to personal attacks.
Examples of unacceptable actions by the steering committee include attempts to overturn certain moderator decisions, pressuring moderators to take action against individual participants and discussion topics, requiring moderators to report and justify their actions, and attempts to appoint and remove moderators without a vote (the committee explained its actions as an attempt to achieve diversity of opinion and eliminate bias within the moderation team).
The protesting moderators called on the governing committee to resign before the elections scheduled for October 15 to November 1 and to make way for new members elected by the community. The community is urged to seek transparency and accountability in the governing board's work, as well as the introduction of checks and balances to prevent abuse of power.
Update: Robert Hensing of the steering committee explained that the committee attempted to collaborate with the moderation team to understand moderation decisions, guide moderator behavior toward objectivity, and ensure fair moderation. The main complaint about the moderators was that moderation was conducted not based on a code of conduct, but rather on personal opinions and compromises. More drastic measures were taken because the moderators did not want to report to the steering committee, to which they directly report in the project hierarchy.
Source: opennet.ru
