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I was fortunate in that I had exactly the kind of role you described. Setting the design trajectory without having to manage people.
During the time that managing was part of my role, I wasn't good at it. To work for me was usually to be ignored unless you initiated a dialog. That was great for competent self-starters, but that's not everyone. Fortunately, a technical career path got formalized.
No more managing for me. No more time on hiring, buns on seats (do we have a cubicle, account, workstation...for this new hire arriving next week?), project or product management, performance reviews, or dealing with personal issues. Sure, I had to be involved in those things sometimes, but they weren't my responsibility. Being able to focus on where I could add the most value was a godsend.
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I don't know how you managed to avoid it. Maybe it's because I spent so much time as a contractor. Headhunters only called me for more and more senior positions, and those positions eventually all included managing people.
I couldn't even get work as a straight software dev. I had too much experience. I would have to have lied about that.
They basically were trying to force it on me, no matter what agency I went through or who I was going to work for. It was ridiculous. I eventually found I was having a hard time looking for work that I wanted to take, so I got out.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Maybe clueless employers are the norm. To make it work, a larger company needs a formalized technical career path so that it's allowed and becomes part of the culture. Without it, there's an idiotic attitude about pay scales: more senior levels mean managing, and no one at those levels should write code. Small companies aren't nearly as bound stupid rules, so it should be easier there. If you tell recruiters what you're open to, maybe they can bring you the right opportunities.
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It's moot recent years, as being around people causes me to have panic attacks, and I can no longer work full time, meaning traditional employment is off the table. I do have some really satisfying work I've been up to since so in at least one small way it has been a blessing.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Some people lack a sense of proportion. You mentioned "banning". I head no mention of suspension, warning, muzzling, etc.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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He was warned. And there's no muzzling or timeouts in that system.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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I've been a forum moderator where we had a specific area for Religion and Politics. We kept this out of the rest of the forum and only moderated out posts that were blatantly attacking other forum members.
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This website is political in nature, so it attracts a certain sort once the doors are swung wide open. I'm in the political minority on that blog, but I'm not in strict opposition to the dominant political thought there. And yes, there is one, simply because like seeks like and also the OPs tend to set a tone.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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The question I'd be posing myself is, how much would it matter to me if I stopped moderating and as a result, discussions turned into...well, something else?
I can only speak for myself, but I think life is too short to try to keep people on a leash as far as public forums go. If others want to dedicate their time/sanity to this sort of task - let them.
Do you owe the site owner anything? If not, just tell him you can no longer afford the time that moderation requires from you (that can't be hard to justify - even if you had to justify it, which you probably don't).
I think of myself as a relatively laid back individual, but I can't picture myself trying to moderate a forum. I'd take things personally and would get stressed out in very short order. Not for me, TYVM 
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For a long time all I did was read the posts in the lounge.
Learned so much.
This is due to excellent moderation and contributors.
Lately, I have decided to join in the conversation. Again learning.
Good job, all.
My 2 cents
As to moderating forums, it is more or less a requirement to provide order for the sake of the readers.
As to people management, it is more of less a requirement to provide order for the sake of the people being managed.
My 20+ years of experience in software development, management, etc.
1. listen, listen, listen
2. keep scaling appropriate, i.e. manage growth.
3. keep the people visible, the team in the background.
4. no pointing fingers, offer help, corrections, etc. but no blame.
5. stress professionalism, because our work will be depended upon by others outside the team and will reflect on us somewhere down the line.
6. cut people slack when they need it for health and family.
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BTW this was small staff of 5-7 include a couple of interns each summer.
1-2 hard-core programming loner types were included and were treated as such.
I was one of those except not a loner.
done.
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honey the codewitch wrote: I am probably not alone in terms of hating hierarchies of people.
You're certainly not alone there.
The Lord Acton quote comes to mind - "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely..."
It's what's kept me off the career ladder despite having many opportunities to climb it.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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It took me a long time to learn where and how I could express "leadership" qualities and succeed at it. I'm very good in a teaching role, fairly good at mentoring, and completely wretched as the traditional manager.
Like you I don't like hierarchies. This is ironic since I work for a relatively large company. Most of my life I've been intimidated by authority. I didn't overcome this until I was in my 40's (I'm 60 now). It's interesting that as I've become more adept at this, I've gotten better at the "people politics".
Software Zen: delete this;
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How many different nationalities do we have on here ? the time differences for the CCC posting time got me curious.
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Wales / UK here.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Same here although I live in England
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Here you are an Italian.
"In testa che avete, Signor di Ceprano?"
-- Rigoletto
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Aussie.
Edit:
Should point out that we have so many timezones here. Not just east/west, but for six months of the year we have a north/south difference.
// TODO: Insert something here Top ten reasons why I'm lazy
1.
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I think many accounts don't bother to change the default location, which is supposedly the US. I'm sure @OriginalGriff could enhance his software to go through Who's Who and only count accounts that have posted more than n times, be it a message, question, answer, or article.
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Better to ask Sean or Chris to do it directly on the DB - it'd use a lot of bandwidth to do it from individual pages and that wouldn't be fair on the rest of the site.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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70% of all those seeking homework help are from India.
Then you can add the Chinese, as they are the single largest ethnic population in the world!
😂😂😂
Are there any Papua/New Guineans, inquiring minds want to know.
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That surprises me. I would have thought *all* the homework help questioners were from the U.S. because we have so many functionally illiterate and/or lazy people here.
BTW, I'm from the U.S.>Eastern time zone.
Bond
Keep all things as simple as possible, but no simpler. -said someone, somewhere
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