* hyc: "I think surae's quote is being used without sufficient context. Did he do the work anyway, and just choose not to ask the CCS for funds? Or did he abandon the work?" <--- if you want context, look at surae's messages starting at 19:47 UTC on 26 September. He did not state on Saturday whether or not he did the work anyway.
But that question is irrelevant anyway; he's made his position on the gatekeeping clear, and that's the context that matters:

quote from selsta 19:53 UTC on 26 September:
> rehrar: "selsta: there have been several complaints, publicly and privately, from people who feel the CCS has become a place of gatekeepers that stifles innovation and passion" <--- I will freely admit I'm one of these people. there has been at least one project in the last year that got shut down whose goal was basic exploratory research. if that sort of basic level research stuff experiences a gate, it makes it that much harder for someone interested in doing what sarang or I was doing. less basic data to work with, less productivity, hamstringing researchers, and making it even harder to advertise productivity for future CCS requests. this leads to a research death spiral