I think you’ve failed to understand the graveness of your mistake. Since the outset of the SC, I’ve hoped that it would work to form new governance structures, not form a grip on decisions made community-wide. The recent nixpkgs-core team announcement is an example of what the SC should be doing: delegation. The SC’s job this year was to set up rules of governance such that teams of experts could form and carry out their intended purpose reasonably autonomously. Both Robert and the resigning moderators describe the SC’s approach to moderation as very different from delegation.
I don’t expect the SC to be experts on many of the subjects that they govern. Robert explained that he had a different opinion of how to approach moderation than the moderation team, but frankly Robert, I don’t think you were elected to ensure every moderation action met your approval. I think your job this year was to empower the mod team, yield to their expertise, and help identify the rules that need changing, not the decisions that need changing. If there was a problem with the mod team’s rules of engagement, that could have been a broader policy conversation, rather than having the SC assume direct control of the mod team’s actions. The constitution does give the SC power to control the membership of the teams it manages, but IMO this should be seen as an extraordinary measure for use when there is zero confidence in the team.
The consequences of overreach here are extremely steep. When you consistently bypass delegation, you will be left with no delegates. The teams the SC manages have to be able to trust the SC. When the SC erodes that trust, the teams will vanish. This matters much more than having the teams act the way the SC wishes they would. You guys really need to realize that a mass resignation of a team is an objective and dramatic failure of the SC. It doesn’t matter that you disagreed with them; it matters that you chose the wrong methods to address your disagreement.
I was approached last night by a member of the SC asking me if I wanted to be a moderator. In light of this mass resignation, I now find that disturbing.