6 ms·

I do hope a good chunk of mods extend the blackouts indefinitely.

by mr_sturd 3y ago

BoorishBears 3y ago
[flagged]
- darkwizard42 3y ago
  I feel like maybe you mean this in good faith, but I think you might misunderstand Reddit. The site is moderated by volunteers (who this "extremely rich" company doesn't compensate) who help curate the information you then find useful. So perhaps when they feel the changes being made make their job harder (making unusable applications they use to assist in moderation and generally support due to the said big company's inability to make any progress on their asks), they withhold their help in keeping those communities moderated.
  - BoorishBears 3y ago
    You think wrong. The disconnect comes from the fact you're applying rational logic to an irrational mob. Mod tools were going to be made worse, sure, but what really drove up the frenzies masses was 3rd party apps. This is predicated by the app debacle, not the mod tools. The app debacle is (again very rich) app developers who had margins of like 99.999% getting shut down. It's too bad. I use some of those apps. It's a shame Reddit wants them to be shut down or made relatively expensive. - At the end of the day it's complete and utter nonsense that unpaid mods get to slam their fists in the pie because they don't like what the chef is doing. They should have walked out. Leave Reddit unmoderated and let it go to the dogs (or force Reddit to actually have to gasp pay for mods). Instead they decided that their will is ultimate because the de-facto person who becomes a Reddit moderator is not to be trusted with any sort of actual power.
- Goronmon 3y ago
  They don't deserve to have the power to shut down sources of useful information because a company had a spat with some extremely rich app developers. Why shouldn't the moderators have that power? They are the ones maintaining the subreddits they control. If the users don't like them having that power, they are free to move to a different subreddit with moderators they agree with. Nothing is stopping them.
  - BoorishBears 3y ago
    That's what they're doing, the issue is all the content that was already written. Years of content on interest specific subreddits and ages of communal knowledge locked away at the whims of some insanely tiny minority is indefensible. - When people posted the content in the first place, there was an implicit assumption that the moderators wouldn't throw a tantrum and hide away their content. And it's not like there weren't other options: they could have walked away. Left the subs unmoderated and make Reddit deal with the fallout. Instead the moderators decided to craft extra powers by weaponizing access to content they didn't make.
- Ataraxic 3y ago
  Framing this as a battle between the mods and reddit admins isn't correct. Many of the subs I subscribe to have asked for user engagement on whether or not to join the blackout and they're following what their participants requested. After all, the most vocal are by the users of the 3P apps and they vastly outnumber the mods.
  - BoorishBears 3y ago
    You just repeated my point. It's a battle between Reddit and rich app developers. It had almost nothing to do with the mod tools comparatively. The 3rd party apps aren't banned, they're just going from near infinity margins to still-very-good margins. But when you've spent years making millions for little to no cost, it's much easier to throw in the towel and then paint the guys who you built your moat on as the villains.
justrealist 3y ago
Reddit will simply replace the mods if this becomes more than an annoyance.
- Rebelgecko 3y ago
  For heavily moderated communities (eg r/AskHistorians or even dang here on HN), I think it's a mistake to treat mods as fungible. For better or worse, moderation sets the tone and timbre of the community.
  - justrealist 3y ago
    I agree, but what really drives their userbase numbers is the inane crap like r/AmItheAsshole and r/pics, and those mods are replaceable.
- adamc 3y ago
  They don't have a mechanism to easily find competent, committed mods. Incompetent mods will create evaporation of users.

I do hope a good chunk of mods extend the blackouts indefinitely.

BoorishBears 3y ago

[flagged]

darkwizard42 3y ago
I feel like maybe you mean this in good faith, but I think you might misunderstand Reddit. The site is moderated by volunteers (who this "extremely rich" company doesn't compensate) who help curate the information you then find useful. So perhaps when they feel the changes being made make their job harder (making unusable applications they use to assist in moderation and generally support due to the said big company's inability to make any progress on their asks), they withhold their help in keeping those communities moderated.
- BoorishBears 3y ago
  You think wrong. The disconnect comes from the fact you're applying rational logic to an irrational mob. Mod tools were going to be made worse, sure, but what really drove up the frenzies masses was 3rd party apps. This is predicated by the app debacle, not the mod tools. The app debacle is (again very rich) app developers who had margins of like 99.999% getting shut down. It's too bad. I use some of those apps. It's a shame Reddit wants them to be shut down or made relatively expensive. - At the end of the day it's complete and utter nonsense that unpaid mods get to slam their fists in the pie because they don't like what the chef is doing. They should have walked out. Leave Reddit unmoderated and let it go to the dogs (or force Reddit to actually have to gasp pay for mods). Instead they decided that their will is ultimate because the de-facto person who becomes a Reddit moderator is not to be trusted with any sort of actual power.
Goronmon 3y ago
They don't deserve to have the power to shut down sources of useful information because a company had a spat with some extremely rich app developers. Why shouldn't the moderators have that power? They are the ones maintaining the subreddits they control. If the users don't like them having that power, they are free to move to a different subreddit with moderators they agree with. Nothing is stopping them.
- BoorishBears 3y ago
  That's what they're doing, the issue is all the content that was already written. Years of content on interest specific subreddits and ages of communal knowledge locked away at the whims of some insanely tiny minority is indefensible. - When people posted the content in the first place, there was an implicit assumption that the moderators wouldn't throw a tantrum and hide away their content. And it's not like there weren't other options: they could have walked away. Left the subs unmoderated and make Reddit deal with the fallout. Instead the moderators decided to craft extra powers by weaponizing access to content they didn't make.
Ataraxic 3y ago
Framing this as a battle between the mods and reddit admins isn't correct. Many of the subs I subscribe to have asked for user engagement on whether or not to join the blackout and they're following what their participants requested. After all, the most vocal are by the users of the 3P apps and they vastly outnumber the mods.
- BoorishBears 3y ago
  You just repeated my point. It's a battle between Reddit and rich app developers. It had almost nothing to do with the mod tools comparatively. The 3rd party apps aren't banned, they're just going from near infinity margins to still-very-good margins. But when you've spent years making millions for little to no cost, it's much easier to throw in the towel and then paint the guys who you built your moat on as the villains.

justrealist 3y ago

Reddit will simply replace the mods if this becomes more than an annoyance.

Rebelgecko 3y ago
For heavily moderated communities (eg r/AskHistorians or even dang here on HN), I think it's a mistake to treat mods as fungible. For better or worse, moderation sets the tone and timbre of the community.
- justrealist 3y ago
  I agree, but what really drives their userbase numbers is the inane crap like r/AmItheAsshole and r/pics, and those mods are replaceable.
adamc 3y ago
They don't have a mechanism to easily find competent, committed mods. Incompetent mods will create evaporation of users.