Stack Overflow - The Software Community That Josh Heyer Built

These days I almost never login to participate on Stack Exchange, however, when I saw that Shog9 had been suddenly fired I felt compelled to authenticate and add my voice to the chorus of shocked supporters.

The one ray of light in all of this is that Microsoft's Scott Hanselman replied in less than an hour inviting Shog9 to speak to him (presumably about a position at Microsoft). I have always respected Hanselman, not just for his technical and blogging skills but because he is a dad and highlights the importance of his family. I raise my coffee mug to both Heyer and Hanselman as class acts and wish them success or finding a way to work together.

The specter this raises for me on the other hand is the shabby treatment of yet an additional long time community member by Stack Exchange. While nothing has been communicated by them, I am assuming (rightly or wrongly) that Shog9 was dismissed for not following the recent edict about the use of pronouns and specifically about banning gender neutral language use. There could of course be plenty of other reasons, but this is the recent hot button issue on Stack Exchange and has already lead to the ejection and/or resignation of a dozen moderators or more.

Every time I feel like Stack Exchange has reached a new low point they seem to go out of their way to dig deeper. It makes me kind of sad.