Jon Pretty

I said there is no excuse for a mod who abuses their power in the online scala community to not know how to handle it. Those mods don't own the scala community. Your argument, while flippant and "funny" (being generous here), does not add anything to the conversation.

No dude, those mods own the Reddit channel, which is in fact not representative of the "Scala community". The "Scala community" you're talking about does not exist. Also, I'm not trying to be funny, I'm just stating a fact.

I have been concerned a couple of times during this thread about the gentle conflation of this subreddit (and its moderators) with "the Scala community" and Lightbend, EPFL or the Scala Center. I'm not aware they have anything to do with moderating the subreddit.

fwiw, I have moderator powers on /r/scala, but I haven't actually used them. I wanted them in case the other moderators disappeared (as sometimes happens, as the years pass)

Hey Seth. As one of the mods, have you had any discussions privately with the others about whether banning Sam was the right call? Or if it was OK to let people denigrate him in that thread (‘Like the song said, “How can we miss you if you never go?” ‘) without calling it out?

I’ve got nothing to add here beyondhttps://twitter.com/SethTisue/status/1086366880992976896 …

To be honest, the optics here aren't good either way. A Lightbend Scala dev is part of the /r/scala moderator team that is banning people for having a discussion, while ignoring others who mock them. Or he's keeping mod power while distancing himself from mod duties.

I think @SethTisue's stance is reasonable, though. He's saying he's a backstop on the moderation, should it be required. As there's no technical provision for this sort of role, he's making best use of what Reddit does provide.