4 ms·

Is there option for preapproving/hiding comments from new users in a subreddit? I'm thinking of a certain regional politics sub where on the main page, you'll s

Is there option for preapproving/hiding comments from new users in a subreddit? I'm thinking of a certain regional politics sub where on the main page, you'll see XX number of replies, open the thread and it be completely empty for a couple hours.

Scharkenberg 4y ago
Automoderator can be manually configured to perform actions on posts and comments that fit certain criteria, though as far as I know, it's not as extensive as, say, a bot that one would program themselves and tailor the needs of their own subreddit. There is also the "approved users" feature [1], but it requires manual intervention for every particular user, and I am not sure whether it practically serves any purpose in public subreddits. Reddit claims it does, but when we tested it a few years ago, it did not work correctly. In any case, I do not recommend it for public subreddits with more than 1k daily users. [1] https://mods.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009164452 https://mods.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009164452
- rhaksw 4y ago
  That's nothing. There are far more powerful removal tools than automoderator these days, and that was already very dystopian itself. See: https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/sxpk15/fyi_my_thoughts_on_the_new_true_block_and_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/sxpk15/fyi_my_tho...
  - Scharkenberg 4y ago
    Hmm, doesn't seem very flexible, so it's not of much use to our subreddit. No wonder no mod has bothered to turn it on.
    - rhaksw 4y ago
      > no mod has bothered to turn it on. Glad to hear it. Some of this, such as the way user blocks now work, isn't controlled by mods.
rhaksw 4y ago
> Is there option for preapproving/hiding comments from new users in a subreddit? Yes, I mention this in the talk at 14:50 [1]. A year ago Reddit upgraded its "Crowd Control", which once only collapsed comments from new users. The feature was bad enough in its initial form. Now it can also remove comments. When they announced it, I said it was like automod on steroids [1]. Now I call it Crowd Control with Prejudice [2], and it's only one of many dystopian tools. Subs can choose to turn it on, and more and more are doing it in order to make their jobs easier. Between mods acting largely based on user reports, and tools like Crowd Control removing all commentary from new users, there is an absolutely massive amount of content authored by real people being secretly removed from Reddit every second, and that's a single platform. The irony is, the more they secretly remove, the more people stay put and the bigger the groups get. So, there is then more content for moderators to review which means more work for unpaid volunteers. Or maybe it isn't irony because a bigger userbase is better business. I have no problem with platforms making money, but I do take issue with their systems which lie to millions, perhaps even billions users about the visibility of their own authored content. [1] https://youtu.be/aCadmiIfbcI?t=890 https://youtu.be/aCadmiIfbcI?t=890 [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/qi1r55/fyi_crowd_control_can_now_remove_comments/higolif/ https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/qi1r55/fyi_crowd_... [3] https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/sxpk15/fyi_my_thoughts_on_the_new_true_block_and_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/sxpk15/fyi_my_tho...

Scharkenberg 4y ago

Automoderator can be manually configured to perform actions on posts and comments that fit certain criteria, though as far as I know, it's not as extensive as, say, a bot that one would program themselves and tailor the needs of their own subreddit. There is also the "approved users" feature [1], but it requires manual intervention for every particular user, and I am not sure whether it practically serves any purpose in public subreddits. Reddit claims it does, but when we tested it a few years ago, it did not work correctly. In any case, I do not recommend it for public subreddits with more than 1k daily users. [1] https://mods.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009164452 https://mods.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009164452

rhaksw 4y ago
That's nothing. There are far more powerful removal tools than automoderator these days, and that was already very dystopian itself. See: https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/sxpk15/fyi_my_thoughts_on_the_new_true_block_and_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/sxpk15/fyi_my_tho...
- Scharkenberg 4y ago
  Hmm, doesn't seem very flexible, so it's not of much use to our subreddit. No wonder no mod has bothered to turn it on.
  - rhaksw 4y ago
    > no mod has bothered to turn it on. Glad to hear it. Some of this, such as the way user blocks now work, isn't controlled by mods.

rhaksw 4y ago

> Is there option for preapproving/hiding comments from new users in a subreddit? Yes, I mention this in the talk at 14:50 [1]. A year ago Reddit upgraded its "Crowd Control", which once only collapsed comments from new users. The feature was bad enough in its initial form. Now it can also remove comments. When they announced it, I said it was like automod on steroids [1]. Now I call it Crowd Control with Prejudice [2], and it's only one of many dystopian tools. Subs can choose to turn it on, and more and more are doing it in order to make their jobs easier. Between mods acting largely based on user reports, and tools like Crowd Control removing all commentary from new users, there is an absolutely massive amount of content authored by real people being secretly removed from Reddit every second, and that's a single platform. The irony is, the more they secretly remove, the more people stay put and the bigger the groups get. So, there is then more content for moderators to review which means more work for unpaid volunteers. Or maybe it isn't irony because a bigger userbase is better business. I have no problem with platforms making money, but I do take issue with their systems which lie to millions, perhaps even billions users about the visibility of their own authored content. [1] https://youtu.be/aCadmiIfbcI?t=890 https://youtu.be/aCadmiIfbcI?t=890 [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/qi1r55/fyi_crowd_control_can_now_remove_comments/higolif/ https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/qi1r55/fyi_crowd_... [3] https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/sxpk15/fyi_my_thoughts_on_the_new_true_block_and_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/reveddit/comments/sxpk15/fyi_my_tho...