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At some point, if they remain closed, Reddit will just take ownership of them, suspend the mods and reopen the reddits. They will however need to do it careful

At some point, if they remain closed, Reddit will just take ownership of them, suspend the mods and reopen the reddits. They will however need to do it carefully, probably after most others have folded and reopened, so as not to cause another blackout. But ultimately it's their platform, they can do what they want. Maybe they will just have to start actually employing the mods, which may actually end up a net positive from this fiasco.

wellthisisgreat 3y ago
the unmotivated mods will tank the subreddits and Reddit doesn't seem to be in a position to pay the mods
- zamalek 3y ago
  Even worse if the mods just walked away. Reddit is completely beholden to them, but the mods aren't beholden to Reddit at all (except for imaginary internet points). The likes of Voat are a good example of what happens with lax moderation.
copperx 3y ago
They can just disable the private subreddit feature without changing absolutely anything else.
Ataraxic 3y ago
Reopening is one thing but moderating an internet forum for no pay is not universally appealing. Losing the most motivated mods may be a big loss, or extremely active users who post and/or make content. Hard to know right now but I think we'll get an early glimpse when some reopen.
jtode 3y ago
Who will they give the job to, and what will they pay them?
fallinghawks 3y ago
Most of the reason Reddit works at all is because of the huge number of volunteers doing moderation because they're passionate about their sub. If Reddit had to pay for moderators they would be bankrupt in a very short time. And even if it did replace mods with its own people (whether paid or not) the quality of the sub will drop.
joecot 3y ago
The problem is that reddit's entire system depends on unpaid labor from volunteer moderators. And they just pissed a lot of those moderators off. Yeah, reddit can reopen those subreddits if they want to and kick the mods. But who are they going to get to moderate it? They can't afford to hire staff to moderate themselves, reddit is already unprofitable. Are they going to do an application process for scab mods? That will be an extremely unpopular fiasco. The end result is either reddit capitulating, or becoming an absolute shell of its former self. Most likely they will compromise, charging third party apps for API access but an amount that is feasible. That is capitulation, because the entire point was to kill the third party apps entirely. There's a reason that all their compromises so far revolve around still supporting the third party moderation and accessibility tools. They want the moderators, they need the moderators, they very much want to be done with third party clients.
- stcroixx 3y ago
  Moderation is the worst part of Reddit. If this succeeds in running off these folks, I’d consider that the best outcome.
  - danaris 3y ago
    Moderation is also the best part of Reddit. You just don't notice the moderation that's good—almost by definition.
    - dendrite9 3y ago
      I used to hang out on a forum where people regularly said they liked it because there was no moderation. Conveniently forgetting that if you woke up at 3am the boards had posts from Thailand, or India, or Russia and in the morning they were cleaned up. That board never had no moderation, it just managed it in a way where most people either didn't realize, or appreciated it. Then if someone crossed one of the few lines they would start screeching about how for X years there's been no moderation and the boar has gone to shit.
- Asdrubalini 3y ago
chung8123 3y ago
I am surprised people haven't just made new reddits. I am subscribed to a lot of alternate subs because the mods acted overpowering so there is no reason to think that new subs cannot be created until reddit decides to just remove the mods.

wellthisisgreat 3y ago

the unmotivated mods will tank the subreddits and Reddit doesn't seem to be in a position to pay the mods

zamalek 3y ago
Even worse if the mods just walked away. Reddit is completely beholden to them, but the mods aren't beholden to Reddit at all (except for imaginary internet points). The likes of Voat are a good example of what happens with lax moderation.

copperx 3y ago

They can just disable the private subreddit feature without changing absolutely anything else.

Ataraxic 3y ago

Reopening is one thing but moderating an internet forum for no pay is not universally appealing. Losing the most motivated mods may be a big loss, or extremely active users who post and/or make content. Hard to know right now but I think we'll get an early glimpse when some reopen.

jtode 3y ago

Who will they give the job to, and what will they pay them?

fallinghawks 3y ago

Most of the reason Reddit works at all is because of the huge number of volunteers doing moderation because they're passionate about their sub. If Reddit had to pay for moderators they would be bankrupt in a very short time. And even if it did replace mods with its own people (whether paid or not) the quality of the sub will drop.

joecot 3y ago

The problem is that reddit's entire system depends on unpaid labor from volunteer moderators. And they just pissed a lot of those moderators off. Yeah, reddit can reopen those subreddits if they want to and kick the mods. But who are they going to get to moderate it? They can't afford to hire staff to moderate themselves, reddit is already unprofitable. Are they going to do an application process for scab mods? That will be an extremely unpopular fiasco. The end result is either reddit capitulating, or becoming an absolute shell of its former self. Most likely they will compromise, charging third party apps for API access but an amount that is feasible. That is capitulation, because the entire point was to kill the third party apps entirely. There's a reason that all their compromises so far revolve around still supporting the third party moderation and accessibility tools. They want the moderators, they need the moderators, they very much want to be done with third party clients.

stcroixx 3y ago
Moderation is the worst part of Reddit. If this succeeds in running off these folks, I’d consider that the best outcome.
- danaris 3y ago
  Moderation is also the best part of Reddit. You just don't notice the moderation that's good—almost by definition.
  - dendrite9 3y ago
    I used to hang out on a forum where people regularly said they liked it because there was no moderation. Conveniently forgetting that if you woke up at 3am the boards had posts from Thailand, or India, or Russia and in the morning they were cleaned up. That board never had no moderation, it just managed it in a way where most people either didn't realize, or appreciated it. Then if someone crossed one of the few lines they would start screeching about how for X years there's been no moderation and the boar has gone to shit.
Asdrubalini 3y ago

chung8123 3y ago

I am surprised people haven't just made new reddits. I am subscribed to a lot of alternate subs because the mods acted overpowering so there is no reason to think that new subs cannot be created until reddit decides to just remove the mods.