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> I remember when Reddit was caught paying trolls. I've been there for like 10 years and I don't remember this. Was it even before? Do you have a link or somet

by Contax 6y ago

> I remember when Reddit was caught paying trolls. I've been there for like 10 years and I don't remember this. Was it even before? Do you have a link or something? I tried some searches but didn't find any relevant result. Thanks in advance.

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
I'll remove the reference (I can't be bothered to spend the time to hunt down the sources), but it was a huge (but brief) stink. It wasn't that long ago. The guy was a paid subreddit mod, and an engineer in Arizona or New Mexico, or somewhere. The story destroyed his career. I know he was immediately fired by his day job. Maybe it's a good thing that the story is hard to find. We all deserve a second chance. I actually felt a bit sorry for him.
- Contax 6y ago
  Never mind. I was just curious.
- WolfRazu 6y ago
  > paid subreddit mod They used to pay moderators?
  - ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
    I don't know if he was a mod, per se. The scandal was that he received renumeration from Reddit, and had a direct reporting relationship with them. It probably wasn't much, and was probably loose enough to allow a speedy under-bus transition of the person, when found out. I am not much of a Reddit user, so I don't know the landscape well enough to be cognizant of the terminology.
    - emodendroket 6y ago
      You're getting it mixed up. He was running a bunch of shock porn and near-porn subreddits skirting really close to the line of illegality(most notoriously a number devoted to clothed but suggestive pictures of minors). Nobody was paying him. This was the piece you're thinking of: https://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-the-biggest-troll-on-the-web https://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-th...
      - Contax 6y ago
        And this might be why I didn't remember the case. So it's either a different one the GP is talking about -of which I couldn't find any relevant result, maybe my fault- or the GP is referring, like you suggest, to Violentacrez, a very different case that I still remember.
        emodendroket 6y ago
        Well, the personal details he gave about the mod sound like they match up, and the article does talk about him working closely with the admins.
      - ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
        Yes, that's probably it, and it does look like I was mistaken. The problem was that Reddit wasn't doing anything about it. People got quite upset over that. Thanks for the correction. I [honestly] appreciate it. I suspect this was what had me confused: > Violentacrez's privileged position came from the fact that for years he had helped administrators deal with the massive seedy side of Reddit, acting almost as an unpaid staff member. Reddit administrators essentially handed off the oversight of the site's NSFW side to Violentacrez, according to former Reddit lead programer Chris Slowe (a.k.a. Keysersosa), who worked at Reddit from 2005 to the end of 2010. When Violentacrez first joined the site and started filling it with filth, administrators were wary and they often clashed. But eventually administrators and Violentacrez came to an uneasy truce, according to Slowe. For all his unpleasantness, they realized that Violentacrez was an excellent community moderator and could be counted on to keep the administrators abreast of any illegal content he came across.

by Contax 6y ago

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago

I'll remove the reference (I can't be bothered to spend the time to hunt down the sources), but it was a huge (but brief) stink. It wasn't that long ago. The guy was a paid subreddit mod, and an engineer in Arizona or New Mexico, or somewhere. The story destroyed his career. I know he was immediately fired by his day job. Maybe it's a good thing that the story is hard to find. We all deserve a second chance. I actually felt a bit sorry for him.

Contax 6y ago
Never mind. I was just curious.
WolfRazu 6y ago
> paid subreddit mod They used to pay moderators?
- ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
  I don't know if he was a mod, per se. The scandal was that he received renumeration from Reddit, and had a direct reporting relationship with them. It probably wasn't much, and was probably loose enough to allow a speedy under-bus transition of the person, when found out. I am not much of a Reddit user, so I don't know the landscape well enough to be cognizant of the terminology.
  - emodendroket 6y ago
    You're getting it mixed up. He was running a bunch of shock porn and near-porn subreddits skirting really close to the line of illegality(most notoriously a number devoted to clothed but suggestive pictures of minors). Nobody was paying him. This was the piece you're thinking of: https://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-the-biggest-troll-on-the-web https://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-th...
    - Contax 6y ago
      And this might be why I didn't remember the case. So it's either a different one the GP is talking about -of which I couldn't find any relevant result, maybe my fault- or the GP is referring, like you suggest, to Violentacrez, a very different case that I still remember.
      - emodendroket 6y ago
        Well, the personal details he gave about the mod sound like they match up, and the article does talk about him working closely with the admins.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
      Yes, that's probably it, and it does look like I was mistaken. The problem was that Reddit wasn't doing anything about it. People got quite upset over that. Thanks for the correction. I [honestly] appreciate it. I suspect this was what had me confused: > Violentacrez's privileged position came from the fact that for years he had helped administrators deal with the massive seedy side of Reddit, acting almost as an unpaid staff member. Reddit administrators essentially handed off the oversight of the site's NSFW side to Violentacrez, according to former Reddit lead programer Chris Slowe (a.k.a. Keysersosa), who worked at Reddit from 2005 to the end of 2010. When Violentacrez first joined the site and started filling it with filth, administrators were wary and they often clashed. But eventually administrators and Violentacrez came to an uneasy truce, according to Slowe. For all his unpleasantness, they realized that Violentacrez was an excellent community moderator and could be counted on to keep the administrators abreast of any illegal content he came across.