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There is no conspiracy here. Anyone saying there is simply doesn't understand the dyanmics of moderating large subreddits. Moderating sucks. It's thankless volu

There is no conspiracy here. Anyone saying there is simply doesn't understand the dyanmics of moderating large subreddits. Moderating sucks. It's thankless volunteer work babysitting a bunch of children and adults acting like children. The biggest subreddit I manage has 6000 subscribers, 1000x smaller than some of these, and I've had to ban people for harassing users, being racist, and posting NSFW content when one of the rules is literally don't post NSFW content. It's not a fun job. It's janitorial work. Voluntary janitorial work. It's not easy managing a community of several million users. I doubt many of you would actually want the responsibilities it requires to do at minimum a decent job of it. In regards to the users in the OP, I've personally talked to cyXie, Gallowboob, awkwardtheturtle, and siouxie_sioux, and they all seem to be nice people who simply enjoy participating on reddit [1]. I don't necessarily agree with all the things they do or decisions they make (particularly in regards to moderation) but it really is not malicious. If you start moderating one big sub it means you can be trusted at least enough to do it for another sub. If you think this alone is evidence of a conspiracy then you don't have enough experience with content generation on reddit. [1] My source is anecdotal; I have several hundred thousand karma so I run in some of the high-karma circles.

evgen 6y ago
tl;dr member of illuminati wishes to remind us that the illuminati does not exist.
- blunte 6y ago
  Reddit-worthy comment there!
archived22 6y ago
>> Voluntary janitorial work. How many hours people spend, as they also have jobs which actually pays them?
- nsilvestri 6y ago
  >they also have jobs bold assumption ;) other options include being retired or having a partner provide for them >how many hours people spend I'm not one of them, but I'd probably guess it's anywhere from 2-6 hours a day. Depending on job, one could easily can work that in before/during/after work. /u/GallowBoob, the user with the most karma on reddit, actually managed to turn it into his job. He was originally a landscape architect whose reddit habits got him a job at those awful viral licensing companies, although now he does social media directing at an eSports company.
Fleetingreef 6y ago
>It's not a fun job. It's janitorial work. Voluntary janitorial work. In fact, 4chan officially refers to their analogous role as "janitors." "Moderators" on 4chan would be closer to Reddit admins.
warranty 6y ago
So “there’s nothing to look at here, look away?” Covering the power you have over millions of people’s by portraying it as janitor work is treacherous. A janitor doesn’t get to ban people from a building.
valuearb 6y ago
If there is no conspiracy, how did they immediately ban the poster from all their forums, and delete the post?
- nsilvestri 6y ago
  The /r/InterestingAsFuck mod, /u/ibleeedorange, says this [1]: >I really don't know every sub he was banned from and if/what he did, but from looking at his post history he seemed to have just posted his QQ in a bunch of subs which then got him banned because he broke rules there, then he harassed mods and posted misleading comments like the ones I had to remove in IAF. It's worth noting that /u/ibleeedorange is a high-profile user, but does not moderate the same subreddits as those mentioned in the OP. [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/gjedc1/urootintootin_putin_exposes_moderator_monopoly_of/fqkovrw/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/gjedc1/uroo...
  - lucideer 6y ago
    It's not only the user who was banned from a broad range of subs, the mass deletion of comments (which from reading them on ceddit are not objectionable) is additionally egregious. I haven't even started referencing the pretty inarguable range of referenced personal accounts of behaviour of these mods. There's a point at which the idea of this being emergent and unproblematic is still plausible. We appear to be beyond that point.
y-c-o-m-b 6y ago
Honestly your post comes off as pretentious. If it sucks so bad then why take charge of so many subreddits? > I doubt many of you would actually want the responsibilities it requires to do at minimum a decent job of it. You'd be wrong. I'm sure there's no shortage of people willing to help moderate, so pretending there's a small pool of people available or brushing them off under your own arbitrary definitions of "less qualified" definitely comes off as condescending. > a bunch of children and adults acting like children. Which is exactly what these mods are doing now by banning that user from all the subs, so your point doesn't hold water and further highlights a superiority complex.
- nsilvestri 6y ago
  >If it sucks so bad then why take charge of so many subreddits? I mean, having lots of big subs under your control definitely does give you a little feeling of power, which some people like. Personally it doesn't outweigh the responsibilities, which is why my subs are <10k. >I'm sure there's no shortage of people willing to help moderate Probably true. But with every new mod you run the risk of getting one who goes rogue or otherwise _seriously_ abuses power. This is simply a self-fulfilling prophecy: 1. conspiracy that a small network of mods have censorship power* 2. mods censor posts because it inevitably leads to a witchhunt 3. goto 1 *mods do have basically unchecked power in subreddits, so it's not really a conspiracy. For a very long time, /r/xkcd was squatted on by white nationalists and admins refused to step in for months.
  - y-c-o-m-b 6y ago
    I think the debate in this thread is the current moderators are abusing their power and furthermore are being paid (suspected - no proof yet I don't think) for their positions thus it's no longer a volunteering gig and now more susceptible to corruption. I've been a forum admin and forum moderator in the past and yes there's always a risk of people going rogue or power-tripping, but that can happen with literally anyone. If it happens, it also tends to end very rapidly as the other moderators clean-up the actions of the rogue quickly. That's why you vet people based off their history and hope it works out. In my experience it's better to have a larger group of trusted moderators to maintain a balance of power then for a small group to act in an authoritarian manner; the latter of which seems to be the case here. If there's a perception of a witch hunt then the moderator action of ultimate banishment only fuels that fire, seems counter-intuitive for people supposedly acting in good faith. EDIT: Clarified statement on paid mods
stronglikedan 6y ago
> My source is anecdotal From my anecdotal source, I've been banned a few times, and only once was it justified. The other times, the mods not only could not tell me what rule I violated, but resorted to insults just for my asking. There's entire subreddits dedicated to this type of piss-poor and outright abusive behavior from the mods. I'd wager that, from the perspective of the average user, the mods are the "bunch of children and adults acting like children". To me, they're like the DMV or TSA - small people who "volunteer" just for a small amount of power to make themselves feel like big people by abusing that power. Unfortunately, thus far, I have very little evidence to the contrary.
- valuearb 6y ago
  I got permanently banned from r/space for posting a funny comment. It didn't demean anyone, and I didn’t even know the sub banned jokes. Total power tripping there.

evgen 6y ago

tl;dr member of illuminati wishes to remind us that the illuminati does not exist.

blunte 6y ago
Reddit-worthy comment there!

archived22 6y ago

>> Voluntary janitorial work. How many hours people spend, as they also have jobs which actually pays them?

nsilvestri 6y ago
>they also have jobs bold assumption ;) other options include being retired or having a partner provide for them >how many hours people spend I'm not one of them, but I'd probably guess it's anywhere from 2-6 hours a day. Depending on job, one could easily can work that in before/during/after work. /u/GallowBoob, the user with the most karma on reddit, actually managed to turn it into his job. He was originally a landscape architect whose reddit habits got him a job at those awful viral licensing companies, although now he does social media directing at an eSports company.

Fleetingreef 6y ago

>It's not a fun job. It's janitorial work. Voluntary janitorial work. In fact, 4chan officially refers to their analogous role as "janitors." "Moderators" on 4chan would be closer to Reddit admins.

warranty 6y ago

So “there’s nothing to look at here, look away?” Covering the power you have over millions of people’s by portraying it as janitor work is treacherous. A janitor doesn’t get to ban people from a building.

valuearb 6y ago

If there is no conspiracy, how did they immediately ban the poster from all their forums, and delete the post?

nsilvestri 6y ago
The /r/InterestingAsFuck mod, /u/ibleeedorange, says this [1]: >I really don't know every sub he was banned from and if/what he did, but from looking at his post history he seemed to have just posted his QQ in a bunch of subs which then got him banned because he broke rules there, then he harassed mods and posted misleading comments like the ones I had to remove in IAF. It's worth noting that /u/ibleeedorange is a high-profile user, but does not moderate the same subreddits as those mentioned in the OP. [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/gjedc1/urootintootin_putin_exposes_moderator_monopoly_of/fqkovrw/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/gjedc1/uroo...
- lucideer 6y ago
  It's not only the user who was banned from a broad range of subs, the mass deletion of comments (which from reading them on ceddit are not objectionable) is additionally egregious. I haven't even started referencing the pretty inarguable range of referenced personal accounts of behaviour of these mods. There's a point at which the idea of this being emergent and unproblematic is still plausible. We appear to be beyond that point.

y-c-o-m-b 6y ago

Honestly your post comes off as pretentious. If it sucks so bad then why take charge of so many subreddits? > I doubt many of you would actually want the responsibilities it requires to do at minimum a decent job of it. You'd be wrong. I'm sure there's no shortage of people willing to help moderate, so pretending there's a small pool of people available or brushing them off under your own arbitrary definitions of "less qualified" definitely comes off as condescending. > a bunch of children and adults acting like children. Which is exactly what these mods are doing now by banning that user from all the subs, so your point doesn't hold water and further highlights a superiority complex.

nsilvestri 6y ago
>If it sucks so bad then why take charge of so many subreddits? I mean, having lots of big subs under your control definitely does give you a little feeling of power, which some people like. Personally it doesn't outweigh the responsibilities, which is why my subs are <10k. >I'm sure there's no shortage of people willing to help moderate Probably true. But with every new mod you run the risk of getting one who goes rogue or otherwise _seriously_ abuses power. This is simply a self-fulfilling prophecy: 1. conspiracy that a small network of mods have censorship power* 2. mods censor posts because it inevitably leads to a witchhunt 3. goto 1 *mods do have basically unchecked power in subreddits, so it's not really a conspiracy. For a very long time, /r/xkcd was squatted on by white nationalists and admins refused to step in for months.
- y-c-o-m-b 6y ago
  I think the debate in this thread is the current moderators are abusing their power and furthermore are being paid (suspected - no proof yet I don't think) for their positions thus it's no longer a volunteering gig and now more susceptible to corruption. I've been a forum admin and forum moderator in the past and yes there's always a risk of people going rogue or power-tripping, but that can happen with literally anyone. If it happens, it also tends to end very rapidly as the other moderators clean-up the actions of the rogue quickly. That's why you vet people based off their history and hope it works out. In my experience it's better to have a larger group of trusted moderators to maintain a balance of power then for a small group to act in an authoritarian manner; the latter of which seems to be the case here. If there's a perception of a witch hunt then the moderator action of ultimate banishment only fuels that fire, seems counter-intuitive for people supposedly acting in good faith. EDIT: Clarified statement on paid mods

stronglikedan 6y ago

> My source is anecdotal From my anecdotal source, I've been banned a few times, and only once was it justified. The other times, the mods not only could not tell me what rule I violated, but resorted to insults just for my asking. There's entire subreddits dedicated to this type of piss-poor and outright abusive behavior from the mods. I'd wager that, from the perspective of the average user, the mods are the "bunch of children and adults acting like children". To me, they're like the DMV or TSA - small people who "volunteer" just for a small amount of power to make themselves feel like big people by abusing that power. Unfortunately, thus far, I have very little evidence to the contrary.

valuearb 6y ago
I got permanently banned from r/space for posting a funny comment. It didn't demean anyone, and I didn’t even know the sub banned jokes. Total power tripping there.