I was asked, whoa.. whats up with CF's leadership. So here goes:

CF currently operates under a highly vertical command and control structure... Its light years easier from a sr staff pov, and it leads to a ton less observable drama on the part of members and staff. And by less observable drama, things don't build to such levels, that innocent bystanders get hurt. The negative parts include: unobservable drama may still be building, roadblocks are in place when it comes to negative feedback more so than positive, and such an approach can lead to staff and members feeling unappreciated. Whether the positive aspects outweigh the negative, and whether it will be beneficial long term to the community are questions yet to be answered.

Its far different than the horizontal community model favored by herev and myself... Also, I must admit the change did happen on my watch (14-18 months ago), and while I disagreed and argued furiously against it, I finally came to the conclusion to disagree, but willing to support. Knowing it was in place upon my return, I obviously had to agree to support it once again.

For those members who left CF, and recently returned, the limits on free discussion in staff announcement type threads, and intense moderating/opening/closing of such threads may seem very strange. It is intentional, it can keep things from spirally downward, or it other cases, its random. Ie a staffer had to attend to other activities, and shut it down etc.