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This site started private beta before July 2012, so it is no longer "beta", it is a full site by our definition. We've removed the word "beta" from your site banner because we believe that you aren't really a beta site any more, even if you don't get ten questions per day.

Banner that reads "Congratulations" in three-dimensional white text with red, yellow and blue confetti.

What this means for you:

  • the "Beta" is removed from your banner
  • the site is moved to the "Launched" sites list on Area 51 - which will also remove the A51 info box from the right sidebar
  • retain beta reputation levels
  • full-site elections will be delayed but will be scheduled eventually

This is the start of a process that we are already discussing internally and will be bringing to the network for public discussion once the plan is finalized. My hope is that this will mean the end of the monolith we currently refer to as "Graduation" in favor of a well-defined set of small targets to achieve the various elements that made up "Graduation".

I'm sure you have many questions, please feel free to ask and I'll answer what I can. It helps me out a lot if you can limit answers to focus on a single question/subject rather than asking a dozen questions in one answer.

Please feel free to follow the MSE discussion for more background on this decision. You can ask questions either here or there; I'll try to keep up with all of them. Your mods also have some info, so they may be answering in my stead.

Thanks so much for your patience and stay tuned!

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  • What... ?!!!! What did we do to convince you guys?! Our site statistics are not up to standards (although we really did the very best we could!), so yeah, I am really happy, but I am really curious what brought about this great graduation?! Is it because we exist for like 6 years?
    – AliceD Mod
    Commented Aug 1, 2019 at 21:40
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    The 10 QPD standards pretty much guarantee that most sites will never "Graduate"... as such, we feel it's necessary to find another way. Y'all don't need to have the "Beta" label forever just because your site is low volume. We think you're great just the way you are. :D I cover some of this in the MSE post, too.
    – Catija Staff
    Commented Aug 1, 2019 at 21:42
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    Why, thank you!!!!! I mean, I, and all the die hard users here with me, have been trying the best we could to push the site statistics up :)
    – AliceD Mod
    Commented Aug 1, 2019 at 21:44
  • Does this mean there will be 'official' mod elections?
    – AliceD Mod
    Commented Aug 1, 2019 at 21:44
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    We can't support 29 elections at once, since elections are a purely manual process. As we figure out the plans, we'll slowly start scheduling the mod elections, which will require any mods who would like to keep their diamonds to run again but also allow others to step up and volunteer. :D
    – Catija Staff
    Commented Aug 1, 2019 at 21:45
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    OMG, I hope folks like me here haha. I'm really fond of this site. Another push to give the best I have :) Thanks again for this wonderful news. You made our day!!!
    – AliceD Mod
    Commented Aug 1, 2019 at 21:47
  • just imagine how users of this site had been working hard to make the site no longer beta, and one day out of the blue it graduates for a completely irrelevant reason
    – Ooker
    Commented Aug 3, 2019 at 18:37
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    @Ooker Well, that is a very pessimistic way of thinking about it. Beta sites do also tend to get closed down. The reason we weren't closed down for so long, is the reason for our graduation.
    – Steven Jeuris Mod
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 11:51

2 Answers 2

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A full post is also posted in https://meta.stackexchange.com about this listing us with many others who are to lose their beta status. I have also asked at https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/331817 whether we are to be able to have our own identifying icon.

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I have one question: what if because of the low interaction rate of the site, its moderation from the community (upvote, downvote, closevote, etc) cannot function properly? I mean, the threshold 10 questions per day is not a random number, it's perhaps a minimum requirement to assure that community moderation can work properly. If we allow sites to graduate sooner, would that mean questions are not voted early voted often?

Also posted on the MSE announcement

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  • I don't see how this is relevant to leaving beta. You've already raised the issue of the particular question you seem interested in on meta here, raising it again obliquely on MSE seems a bit rude to me.
    – Bryan Krause Mod
    Commented Aug 19, 2019 at 20:22
  • but as said in the other MSE post, I just want to ask for a generalized problem, not about that particular question
    – Ooker
    Commented Aug 20, 2019 at 3:04
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    I think you think something is changing. They cleared out Area51 (presumably so they can show investors they are successful at launching things), removed the beta label at some point they might run elections. Some people really wanted the beta labeled removed so for them it is great for everyone else, nothing changed. The other thing to note is that they were very careful to say that the sites did not "graduate", instead they changed the process.
    – StrongBad
    Commented Aug 20, 2019 at 21:56

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