Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you're fully aware of [the problems plaguing the network right now](https://softwareengineering.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/9000). 

Effectively, **this site is now un-moderated.** Two moderators have resigned, and the third has stated his intention to cease all moderation activity except for handling the severest of incidents.

I would therefore ask that anyone who has close privileges and who visits the site on either a regular or occasional basis: **Please make use of your close votes.**

If you have been visiting for awhile, you may have noticed that the front page has stayed reasonably clean during my tenure as a moderator. While I moderated this site, I averaged **300 closed questions per month.** It was rare to see any post on the front page with a negative score.

Not everyone agrees completely with my aggressive approach. But I think everyone can agree that the site started to become a more interesting place. Deep questions, the kind we like to see about software design, began to emerge. There was greater participation, and a higher quality of answers. And it happened in no small part because the front page was clean. 

**That's what we want.**

So. Without a diamond taking up the cause, this is going to be a bit more challenging. As you all know, it takes five votes to close a question. I have reason to believe that [we might finally get three votes to close some day](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/390083/threshold-experiment-results-closing-editing-and-reopening-all-become-more-eff), but that's not the situation now. Many posts that should be closed in a timely fashion are not, because there aren't enough community members casting close votes.

So I implore you: **Use your close votes.** Use them aggressively. You don't have to explain them to anyone, or get into discussions about them. Just cast them on the unwanted posts. You're one out of five; you still need consensus from four other people to get a close. Look at the front page right now, find the posts with a negative score, and cast your votes appropriately.

**This is a great site.** If everyone with close privileges spends a small amount of time policing the front page, you won't need a moderator to do it for you anymore, and you can preserve this site in the manner this great community deserves.