Internet Community Consultant
Formerly: Head of Community @collegeconfide and CM @StackExchange/@StackOverflow.
@jon@jlericson.com
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Nov 30, 2022 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
I've been looking around at a Twitter replacement and here's a thread about Mastodon. Also on how companies can succeed using the same technique some comedians use to succeed despite not having the best jokes.
The technique is called "committing to the bit" and it's what happens with a comedian continues doing something until either they run out of time or people laugh at it.
Jul 27, 2021 • 16 tweets • 5 min read
This is a problem and we talked about it kinda a lot when I was a @StackOverflow employee. It's a shame we didn't do anything then because the longer it takes to address the problem, the harder it will be to solve.
It might help to clarify why this happens. Stack Overflow (and Stack Exchange) have a concept of individual ownership of posts (they give you reputation, they have your name attached, you get notified when someone comments or edits) and community ownership.
Jul 26, 2021 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Last week there were three separate remote meetings at work that started well before I normally wake up. (East-coast bias. ;-) Since they were organized by different people, I got a a good idea of what works and what is less optimal for people working in distant timezones. 🧵
1. If you don't need feedback during the meeting (or can take asynchronous comments), be sure to record the meeting and let people know beforehand that the recording will exist. That way participants can decide whether or not to set their alarm.
Jun 24, 2021 • 22 tweets • 7 min read
I haven't looked too deeply into Collectives™ yet, but I think I can fill in some history.
As an aside, I kinda dig adding the ™ symbol to the product name. It mean everyone has to find the way to generate that glyph on their machine. Since I have, I am superior. ;-)
So the problem of how to slice off parts of SO to meet the needs of tech companies goes back to _at least_ to facebook.stackoverflow.com. (That link still works. Actually it works better than the original concept did!)
Jun 5, 2021 • 27 tweets • 8 min read
I used to write a blog detailing my investments. I haven't added anything to it in over a decade because I've shifted to being a passive investor.
But the recent sale of Stack Overflow to Prosus got me thinking about adding a new stock.
4of2.blogspot.com
Now I happen to think Prosus overpaid for Stack Overflow. Not by an irresponsible amount and I think it's probably justified by the strength of the SO brand. As we will see, this is a tiny sliver of the company's value.
I've talked with people who argue that they should be allowed to have the sort of conversations that might offend people because if someone is offended, they don't have to be part of it. It's a seductive idea, but it won't work.
meta.stackoverflow.com/a/311548/1438
Why? Because there's a ratcheting effect. If you could measure rudeness, a chat might start at 1. People who don't care for that level will leave. So now the chat can start moving toward rudeness level 2 with fewer people to object or moderate.
Jun 28, 2020 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
I'm gonna take this as an opportunity to chat about what it can be like to have total authority over a small part of someone else's life and how it's not nearly as hard as it might seem. Or if it seems like having this sort of authority is easy, how it's paradoxically impossible.
I used to tell moderators that there were only a handful of irreversible decisions they could make and they were all merges. Merging user accounts turned out to be so difficult to undo and so potentially harmful, we took that power away from mods (who can delete users and posts).
Mar 23, 2020 • 26 tweets • 5 min read
I let my sourdough starter die several years ago because I just didn't have the energy to bake. Last week I got the urge again and got a starter going. My previous starter was from a family culture I brought from Idaho, so I never started a culture myself.
On day one, I mixed equal weight water and flour into a jar. Since water is much denser, that works out to roughly double the flour by volume. For simplicity, I just use a half cup of flour and a quarter cup of water. Then I waited.
Feb 26, 2020 • 23 tweets • 4 min read
I just found out my current company has an RFC process. I was pleasantly surprised. But it also brought to mind the RFC process we had at my previous employer.
For those who don't know, an RFC is a Request For Comment and it has a venerable history on the internet. In addition to very serious work, such as defining a process for allocating IPs on a private network, RFCs can be . . . less serious.
This is the aspect of this whole thing that keeps me up at night even now. (Well, _tonight_ I couldn't sleep because of jet lag, but it has caused me to write about my old job in the middle of the night over the last few weeks.)
For me there are specific people who hurt my trust in the company. They played different roles and I believe most were acting out of what they thought was their duty rather than malice. Still, it's difficult to believe the company won't betray my trust again.
Feb 15, 2020 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
Digging into my memories a bit, I wasn't working on the day this agreement was announced. But I did log into chat from time to time even when I should have been with my family.
meta.stackexchange.com/q/340906/1438
What was surprising to me was the person letting us know internally seemed to think it was good news. Maybe not a direct quote, but something along the lines of "We can finally put this behind us."
Feb 14, 2020 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
I'm still trying to work out what happened when @MonicaCellio was forcibly demoded. In the past it was a rare event and one that was handled by Community Managers. Obviously we didn't take it lightly.
meta.stackexchange.com/a/269728/1438
For whatever reason, this action was driven by people fairly high up in the organization. When we asked, the reason given was that allowing a moderator who did not agree to use singular "they" harmed our diversity and inclusion goals.
Last fall, during a very rough week, I wrote a melancholy parable about Stack Exchange:
medium.com/@jlericson/emp…
I'm not sure if anyone read it and understood the significance, but that's ok. I do a lot of writing for my own benefit. Since then, I've thought of another parable that might be more hopeful.
Jan 19, 2020 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Something has been gnawing at me all week and I can finally put it into the form of a question today: Why wasn't there a communications plan for when Shog and Robert were let go? Two beloved employees (including employee #5) leaving the company and nothing to explain it?
Maybe there was a communications plan that I was not aware of, but it seems to me an answer to a user question on Meta and especially this answer is rather anemic.
Yesterday I visited some disabled inmates at Twin Towers Correctional Facility. These dads are on my mind today. I get big hugs from my kids daily, but inmates can only see there children over closed-circuit TV or behind glass if their children visit at all.
These dads worry about court appearances and whether their public defenders really care for their best interests. They worry they won't be able to get work when released. They can't do anything to support their children or help wives/girlfriends make ends meet from jail.
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