This is a comment I wrote elsewhere on this subreddit. I realised we haven't clearly articulated this part of our plan before, so figured it should be given more publicity.

Ever since the megathread fell through we've decided to temporarily take a back seat on things and consolidate ourselves. As much as it pains me to take a back seat it is essential that we do it for a whole because the way we were operating beforehand was and is unsustainable.

There were two major problems. One, was our lack of actual active moderators capable of fulfilling tasks on a daily basis. This is the primary reason the megathread failed. The way it was setup, it required constant oversight and management which we did not have the resources to do. It was doomed the moment we made it, even if it was (in my opinion, as the lead mod on that project) a fundamentally good medium term solution. Secondly, the way we mods manage ourselves is poor. We lack a hierarchy and clear decision making procedures. This is the reason for the subreddit going private for a few minutes before TheSkyNet left and the megathreads were ended. I'm not going to go into detail on this because it requires divulging information which we shared with each other in confidence, so you will have to take my word for it that the management structure is poor. So we were (and are) essentially impotent to deal with the various problems facing the subreddit.

It is impossible for us to moderate without addressing these fundamental problems in the way our subreddit operates, and fortunately we are addressing these problems and here's how: we are working on a moderation charter so that all mods know their position, responsibilities, et al and how to resolve disagreements. We've already got part of that completed (the voting mechanism) which is already in use and we're currently using it to rebuild the rest of our management. Personally, I think the second step is to create a hierarchy within the mod team to aid speedy decision making and direction. So that addresses our management issues.

The second major thing we're doing is vastly increasing our number of mods through the application process. We're going to be adding between five and ten new mods which will enable us significantly to deal with our labour crisis.

In addition to these we're also working on some side projects such as revamping our rulebook, launching a regular Friday thread (headed by dClauzel) for discussion of cultural topics instead of the endless news cycle and launching several AMA's (headed by myself) and completely reworking our auto moderator system from the ground up (by Ivashkin). We also launched this subreddit (which has been led by various mods at various times) which I think is an achievement and solves one of the problems of the main subreddit. I think this is a pretty impressive number of things.

Getting back to the main project, of consolidating ourselves so that we can moderate effectively again, I understand that it is frustrating that it's been weeks and nothing has visibly happened. I wish things worked faster too, but you've got to remember that these things just do take time. It's not like getting a submission on the front page. We're trying to radically rebuild the way we moderate from the ground up.

My only request is that you bear with us and check out the subreddit in a couple of months, which is when (I estimate) the projects we're piloting now will start to seriously bear fruit. I think you'll be amazed with what can be done when we address our fundamental problems

I hope this has reassured you that we are working hard, and intelligently, to ameliorate the current new problems of the subreddit. I know this doesn't solve it, but hopefully it will reassure you that they will be solved.

This is probably also a good idea to share any long term visions you may have for the subreddit, or any specific ideas for improving the quality of discussion and content.