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For Stack Overflow, the new model, along with highly subjective ideas of “quality” opened the gates to a kind of Stanford Prison Experiment. Rather than encouraging a wide range of interactions and behaviors, moderators earned reputation by culling interactions they deemed irrelevant. Suddenly, Stack Overflow wasn’t a place to go and feel like you were part of a long-lived developer culture. Instead, it became an arena where you had to prove yourself over and over again.

This reminded me of a comment that a friend made to me about StackOverflow. Notably, he has been on the tough end of over-eager moderation.

I do think that the moderation changes were bad. I don't know what problems they were trying to solve, or if it worked. But I watched so many good-faith questions and answers get absolutely smacked down by the moderators… Not how I think beginners should be treated.

Related: StackOverflow is Almost Dead