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What are you getting out of this? Not the OP, but most people just want to help a community that they are a part of and take a hand in making it better and hel

What are you getting out of this? Not the OP, but most people just want to help a community that they are a part of and take a hand in making it better and helping members of the community. You have to remember, this issue is played on pretty much every online community that has likely ever existed, in some form or another. Long before the term "social network" became used.

collyw 6y ago
Judging from most moderators that are active it would appear to be a power thing for them.
- Goronmon 6y ago
  Oh for sure, for some people that's definitely true. And honestly, the community itself self-selects for people for who that's true as well, since most reasonable people realize that being a moderator is actually kind of terrible in reality. So the people who last the longest tend to be the people who aren't just in it out of altruism (users work hard to drive that motive into the ground). But at the end of the day, you need moderators. And the job sucks and is unpaid, so you can't exactly select only the "perfect" candidates.
- eganist 6y ago
  This is absolutely true, which is why we tend to be pretty conservative with adding new rules - to reduce the risk of people getting carried away with the hammer. Some communities are the exact opposite - they'd rather people hammer away specifically because they're extremely selective with content, so people with a "power thing" are a better fit for those communities.
- goostavos 6y ago
  You're being downvoted, but GP directly lists one of his reasons for modding as "because Reddit will grow in influence" Being the invisible hand that shapes the narrative of an entire community to one that you see fit is surely an alluring power. Especially if you think the powers of that influence will grow over time. It's not crazy to assume that a portion of them are in it for the power. People love positions of minor authority. See: the fragmented history and (hilarious) mod power struggle that led to Seattle now having a bunch of differently managed subreddits.

collyw 6y ago

Judging from most moderators that are active it would appear to be a power thing for them.

Goronmon 6y ago
Oh for sure, for some people that's definitely true. And honestly, the community itself self-selects for people for who that's true as well, since most reasonable people realize that being a moderator is actually kind of terrible in reality. So the people who last the longest tend to be the people who aren't just in it out of altruism (users work hard to drive that motive into the ground). But at the end of the day, you need moderators. And the job sucks and is unpaid, so you can't exactly select only the "perfect" candidates.
eganist 6y ago
This is absolutely true, which is why we tend to be pretty conservative with adding new rules - to reduce the risk of people getting carried away with the hammer. Some communities are the exact opposite - they'd rather people hammer away specifically because they're extremely selective with content, so people with a "power thing" are a better fit for those communities.
goostavos 6y ago
You're being downvoted, but GP directly lists one of his reasons for modding as "because Reddit will grow in influence" Being the invisible hand that shapes the narrative of an entire community to one that you see fit is surely an alluring power. Especially if you think the powers of that influence will grow over time. It's not crazy to assume that a portion of them are in it for the power. People love positions of minor authority. See: the fragmented history and (hilarious) mod power struggle that led to Seattle now having a bunch of differently managed subreddits.