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One somewhat-related bit on the topic of moderators: does it bother anyone else that the stewards of some of these communities are effectively 100% anonymous? A

One somewhat-related bit on the topic of moderators: does it bother anyone else that the stewards of some of these communities are effectively 100% anonymous? Are we actually okay with these spaces that shape significant discussion/sentiment being guided by people who lack accountability? I want to be clear that I'm not saying we should be doxxing mods or anything, but if there is a significant changeover of moderators at Reddit, it would be interesting if this discussion was more of a sticking point. I have to wonder if there's not a world where Reddit shouldn't implement a policy of: > Look, you moderate a community above N size, we/your members need to know who you are I'm not entirely sure where my opinion on it even stands but figured it might make for interesting discussion. It does get tricky in the face of subreddits that deal in protest/whistleblower/etc matter though. I don't want to lose the anonymous aspect of the internet, especially when it's been effectively under assault for years - but at the same time, something that powerful and/or manipulate-able seems like it shouldn't get a free pass. Interested to hear what others think. (I am also fully open to being wrong on e.g Reddit themselves not knowing who mods are, and invite someone to correct me if I am - but I've not seen anything to date that suggests otherwise)

Simulacra 3y ago
Yes, and they seem to be absolutely 100% unaccountable.
- edgineer 3y ago
  Various mods have gotten plenty of heat over the years, like being grilled by andersen on CNN
hn_thrwn 3y ago
[flagged]
- SirSourdough 3y ago
  Is this supposed to be some kind of takedown? Why would I care that one of the moderators of a subreddit has a normal, common occupation? That article is so petty it deserves no one’s time.
  - hn_thrwn 3y ago
    [flagged]
manicdee 3y ago
A lot of moderators hide the moderator list because they get far too much abuse for decisions they make. It's dead simple: make a moderation decision based on the rules of the subreddit -> person affected by decision whines to the moderator and clogs up their inbox. Need to make more decisions per day -> inbox filled with more and more whining.
- throwawoday21 3y ago
  But a lot of the moderator decisions on reddit are personal in nature, not because of the rules. That has been one of the biggest issue with the reddit mods, they sit on these fiefdoms and punish anyone they disagree with. That makes for a bad, bad community. It's like if dang and YC rate limited your account because they personally disagreed with your point of view. This kind of behavior is routine on Reddit.
tester457 3y ago
> One somewhat-related bit on the topic of moderators: does it bother anyone else that the stewards of some of these communities are effectively 100% anonymous? It doesn't bother me one bit. If the community is that big a company should fork over cash and pay employees to moderate it instead, or keep an eye on the volunteer moderators for any suspicious actions. Instead of exposing identification I rather have moderators be subject to yearly votes. That way squatting is less of an issue.
- lamontcg 3y ago
  > Instead of exposing identification I rather have moderators be subject to yearly votes. The would just create a brigading problem. Political subs could encourage their members to join lists of hundreds of subreddits and all vote for picked candidates. Coordination could happen on some other site as well.
  - tester457 3y ago
    I thought of a similar issue. It could be limited to active high karma participants of the community, however anyone can game that with GPT powered bots. Another possibility is to have yearly oustings instead of voting mods in. At 90% disapproval mods get kicked out. This along with brigading detection should cover damage by bad actors for the most part.
    - lamontcg 3y ago
      Oh yeah, GPT pretty much ruins that. You don't even need humans to brigade now, you just need a bot army. The AI future is going to be amazing...
    - mozman 3y ago
      Any formula you can imagine will be gamed
    - rpbiwer2 3y ago
      If the bots are gaining enough karma to vote, maybe they deserve it. To prevent the use of bot farms (or people farms) to stockpile votes, maybe we could look to the field of sybil resistance and digital IDs? Stack Overflow has been holding moderator elections for a while. How do they do it?
wvenable 3y ago
> does it bother anyone else that the stewards of some of these communities are effectively 100% anonymous? No. Reddit isn't Facebook. The whole place is anonymous. Do you really think mods of large subreddits wouldn't get swatted, doxxed, harassed, etc?
- Klonoar 3y ago
  >Do you really think mods of large subreddits wouldn't get swatted, doxxed, harassed, etc? Did you... read my comment? I'm clearly aware that's a risk. It doesn't stop the question of "should these high-and-wide distribution channels be allowed to be run and controlled by people we know nothing about?".
  - wvenable 3y ago
    How does knowing someone is "John Smith" rather than "spezzy" change anything?
Accujack 3y ago
>Are we actually okay with these spaces that shape significant discussion/sentiment being guided by people who lack accountability? No, but there's no way to change this situation because Reddit won't create a situation where they have oversight capabilities for mods... that creates too much liability for them. In addition to getting value for the free labor of mods, Reddit also gets a legal shield.
- JohnBooty 3y ago
  Reddit won't create a situation where they have oversight capabilities for mods... that creates too much liability for them It's definitely interesting to watch how they walk that tightrope. Because they certainly do remove mods that are inactive or problematic, like how they are threatening to remove mods that have taken their subreddits dark.
JohnBooty 3y ago
does it bother anyone else that the stewards of some of these communities are effectively 100% anonymous Reddit communities fork and spawn offshoots regularly. So for those who "get" how Reddit works it's not an issue. However, yeah, considering the clout carried by big Reddit communities... it's a concern. I certainly don't think the answer is de-anonymizing those mods, though.
nearbuy 3y ago
What information do you want to know about them, and why? Their name? Address? How many children they have? The main thing I might want to know about them is their history of actions on Reddit. That is who they are - at least as far as we're concerned with respect to their role as a mod.
- Klonoar 3y ago
  I dunno, maybe some kind of idea of who they're affiliated with, etc.
  - nearbuy 3y ago
    Unless they're a celebrity outside of Reddit, you're not going to be able to get a list of their in-person (non-Reddit) friends.
yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
> One somewhat-related bit on the topic of moderators: does it bother anyone else that the stewards of some of these communities are effectively 100% anonymous? Are we actually okay with these spaces that shape significant discussion/sentiment being guided by people who lack accountability? That doesn't follow; just because people aren't going by their real-world names doesn't mean that they're not accountable. For that matter, what would their real name even tell you? Okay, user someusername1 is actually John Doe and lives at 123 Main St. What exactly do you know now that makes you more comfortable with them being a mod, that you couldn't tell by their history of moderation and interaction in the forum where they're a mod?
- Klonoar 3y ago
  Whether they work for an organization that's pushing a view, etc. You (like many here) seem to think I want full documentation of who a Mod is, when I'm fairly certain my comment implies otherwise.

Simulacra 3y ago

Yes, and they seem to be absolutely 100% unaccountable.

edgineer 3y ago
Various mods have gotten plenty of heat over the years, like being grilled by andersen on CNN

hn_thrwn 3y ago

[flagged]

SirSourdough 3y ago
Is this supposed to be some kind of takedown? Why would I care that one of the moderators of a subreddit has a normal, common occupation? That article is so petty it deserves no one’s time.
- hn_thrwn 3y ago
  [flagged]

manicdee 3y ago

A lot of moderators hide the moderator list because they get far too much abuse for decisions they make. It's dead simple: make a moderation decision based on the rules of the subreddit -> person affected by decision whines to the moderator and clogs up their inbox. Need to make more decisions per day -> inbox filled with more and more whining.

throwawoday21 3y ago
But a lot of the moderator decisions on reddit are personal in nature, not because of the rules. That has been one of the biggest issue with the reddit mods, they sit on these fiefdoms and punish anyone they disagree with. That makes for a bad, bad community. It's like if dang and YC rate limited your account because they personally disagreed with your point of view. This kind of behavior is routine on Reddit.

tester457 3y ago

> One somewhat-related bit on the topic of moderators: does it bother anyone else that the stewards of some of these communities are effectively 100% anonymous? It doesn't bother me one bit. If the community is that big a company should fork over cash and pay employees to moderate it instead, or keep an eye on the volunteer moderators for any suspicious actions. Instead of exposing identification I rather have moderators be subject to yearly votes. That way squatting is less of an issue.

lamontcg 3y ago
> Instead of exposing identification I rather have moderators be subject to yearly votes. The would just create a brigading problem. Political subs could encourage their members to join lists of hundreds of subreddits and all vote for picked candidates. Coordination could happen on some other site as well.
- tester457 3y ago
  I thought of a similar issue. It could be limited to active high karma participants of the community, however anyone can game that with GPT powered bots. Another possibility is to have yearly oustings instead of voting mods in. At 90% disapproval mods get kicked out. This along with brigading detection should cover damage by bad actors for the most part.
  - lamontcg 3y ago
    Oh yeah, GPT pretty much ruins that. You don't even need humans to brigade now, you just need a bot army. The AI future is going to be amazing...
  - mozman 3y ago
    Any formula you can imagine will be gamed
  - rpbiwer2 3y ago
    If the bots are gaining enough karma to vote, maybe they deserve it. To prevent the use of bot farms (or people farms) to stockpile votes, maybe we could look to the field of sybil resistance and digital IDs? Stack Overflow has been holding moderator elections for a while. How do they do it?

wvenable 3y ago

> does it bother anyone else that the stewards of some of these communities are effectively 100% anonymous? No. Reddit isn't Facebook. The whole place is anonymous. Do you really think mods of large subreddits wouldn't get swatted, doxxed, harassed, etc?

Klonoar 3y ago
>Do you really think mods of large subreddits wouldn't get swatted, doxxed, harassed, etc? Did you... read my comment? I'm clearly aware that's a risk. It doesn't stop the question of "should these high-and-wide distribution channels be allowed to be run and controlled by people we know nothing about?".
- wvenable 3y ago
  How does knowing someone is "John Smith" rather than "spezzy" change anything?

Accujack 3y ago

>Are we actually okay with these spaces that shape significant discussion/sentiment being guided by people who lack accountability? No, but there's no way to change this situation because Reddit won't create a situation where they have oversight capabilities for mods... that creates too much liability for them. In addition to getting value for the free labor of mods, Reddit also gets a legal shield.

JohnBooty 3y ago
Reddit won't create a situation where they have oversight capabilities for mods... that creates too much liability for them It's definitely interesting to watch how they walk that tightrope. Because they certainly do remove mods that are inactive or problematic, like how they are threatening to remove mods that have taken their subreddits dark.

JohnBooty 3y ago

does it bother anyone else that the stewards of some of these communities are effectively 100% anonymous Reddit communities fork and spawn offshoots regularly. So for those who "get" how Reddit works it's not an issue. However, yeah, considering the clout carried by big Reddit communities... it's a concern. I certainly don't think the answer is de-anonymizing those mods, though.

nearbuy 3y ago

What information do you want to know about them, and why? Their name? Address? How many children they have? The main thing I might want to know about them is their history of actions on Reddit. That is who they are - at least as far as we're concerned with respect to their role as a mod.

Klonoar 3y ago
I dunno, maybe some kind of idea of who they're affiliated with, etc.
- nearbuy 3y ago
  Unless they're a celebrity outside of Reddit, you're not going to be able to get a list of their in-person (non-Reddit) friends.

yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago

> One somewhat-related bit on the topic of moderators: does it bother anyone else that the stewards of some of these communities are effectively 100% anonymous? Are we actually okay with these spaces that shape significant discussion/sentiment being guided by people who lack accountability? That doesn't follow; just because people aren't going by their real-world names doesn't mean that they're not accountable. For that matter, what would their real name even tell you? Okay, user someusername1 is actually John Doe and lives at 123 Main St. What exactly do you know now that makes you more comfortable with them being a mod, that you couldn't tell by their history of moderation and interaction in the forum where they're a mod?

Klonoar 3y ago
Whether they work for an organization that's pushing a view, etc. You (like many here) seem to think I want full documentation of who a Mod is, when I'm fairly certain my comment implies otherwise.