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>Makes sense. Reddit moderators are even more deluded about where the site's value is than they portray its owners to be. It is certainly not in the moderation

by TMWNN 3y ago

>Makes sense. Reddit moderators are even more deluded about where the site's value is than they portray its owners to be. It is certainly not in the moderation work, which many do to satisfy their need for power over others Context for others: There are powermods who "moderate" hundreds of subreddits. This is not an exaggeration. Hundreds. At least one has/had thousands. When questioned, they invariably say that they "just watch the incoming queue" or something, and the other mods "do all the work". While likely true in the literal sense (again, hundreds), such answers of course completely evade the question. Remember, "Most of What You Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People" <https://np.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most_of_what_you_read_on_the_internet_is_written/ https://np.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most_...>. This also applies to powermods, assuming they're not being paid on the side to push some ideology. Basically, losers who crave ruling a petty fiefdom because it's the only thing they can exercise agency over in their lives. And/or are mentally ill. >and for each moderator there are 100 sycophants and narcissists lined up to take their place Correct. Most mods know this, which is why so many surrendered and reopened their subreddits the moment admins told them that otherwise they would be replaced. /r/formula1's mods forthrightly said as much; those of /r/nba claimed that negotiations had progressed far enough to justify reopening, which the thousands of replies show that the userbase 100% disbelieves. >Closing subs to protest takes that choice out of the hands of the user. Make organic posts to the site to raise awareness of any particular issue or cause you like, and let those get viewed and voted as they will. Even worse, a) /r/nba's top mod made more than 150 comments to six other NBA teams' subreddits during the blackout. b) /r/nba mods posted secret threads—including the Game 5 discussion that they denied from their own users—and made comments during the blackout. When users discovered the threads the mods of course scrubbed the comments, but there is no way for mods to actually delete (as opposed to hiding) posts, so evidence of their hypocritical behavior will live on forever. >I wouldn't be too upset to see a few get their comeuppance for it. We may yet see more than a few indeed get what they deserve, given the number of still-closed subreddits. I hope that when it happens it will be a ban on both accounts and IPs, so that as mods desperately log into alts each one get flagged and banned too. Bonus: Speaking of getting what they deserve, the classic post in which a mod thinks what he does is worth $175K a year <https://np.reddit.com/r/35orquit/comments/qw1v3e/what_do_people_here_think_of_reddits_moderators/ https://np.reddit.com/r/35orquit/comments/qw1v3e/what_do_peo...>. Be sure to read to the end, where he explains how he "saves lives".

worrycue 3y ago
So the only ones staying are the power tripping losers? That will bode well for the health of the platform. /s Then again, maybe such platforms were never “healthy” to begin with. Instead of healthy open discussion, the karma system creates a scenario no different from the Black Mirror episode “Nosedive”.
- Gigachad 3y ago
  I’m thinking the actual outcome of this protest is that reddit has to replace all moderators with paid staff. Since free mods are all insane. The altruistic mods left when it became clear they aren’t building a community, they are doing unpaid janny work for a corporation that hates them.
  - TMWNN 3y ago
    > I’m thinking the actual outcome of this protest is that reddit has to replace all moderators with paid staff. Since free mods are all insane. Paid staff would indeed be a huge, huge improvement over ideologically driven no-lifes. What tipped me over to Reddit's side regarding the API change is the possibility that it will end the practice of mods sharing automated block lists (if you post in a wrongthink subreddit, many other subreddits will preemptively ban you regardless of your actual activity in them, if any). If so, and if there are fewer handfuls of powermods that control dozens/hundreds/thousands of subreddits, I'm all for the change. This is not to say that I condone what /u/spez did regarding editing /r/The_Donald comments, or misrepresenting what happened on the call with Apollo's owner. Paid staff can and do unduly push their own ideological bents. But when there is a name and a face attached to a company employee, there is some hope of holding people to account. The Challenor mess should never have happened, but at least the person was fired by Reddit. I have never, ever seen any evidence in more than a decade on Reddit of any level of accountability from faceless, nameless mods when they misbehave.
    - Gigachad 3y ago
      Oh I agree it might be a good thing for the site. But it will be an incredible expense that I’m not sure the company can even afford. As well as the fact the site might not even be compatible with paid moderation. Every other social media lets users just post whatever they want as long as it’s not a site wide rule violation. But reddit thrives on moderators curating communities to a certain quality level. It’s easy for paid mods to remove abuse and illegal content. But it will be much harder for them to filter out off topic or low effort posts.

by TMWNN 3y ago

worrycue 3y ago

So the only ones staying are the power tripping losers? That will bode well for the health of the platform. /s Then again, maybe such platforms were never “healthy” to begin with. Instead of healthy open discussion, the karma system creates a scenario no different from the Black Mirror episode “Nosedive”.

Gigachad 3y ago
I’m thinking the actual outcome of this protest is that reddit has to replace all moderators with paid staff. Since free mods are all insane. The altruistic mods left when it became clear they aren’t building a community, they are doing unpaid janny work for a corporation that hates them.
- TMWNN 3y ago
  > I’m thinking the actual outcome of this protest is that reddit has to replace all moderators with paid staff. Since free mods are all insane. Paid staff would indeed be a huge, huge improvement over ideologically driven no-lifes. What tipped me over to Reddit's side regarding the API change is the possibility that it will end the practice of mods sharing automated block lists (if you post in a wrongthink subreddit, many other subreddits will preemptively ban you regardless of your actual activity in them, if any). If so, and if there are fewer handfuls of powermods that control dozens/hundreds/thousands of subreddits, I'm all for the change. This is not to say that I condone what /u/spez did regarding editing /r/The_Donald comments, or misrepresenting what happened on the call with Apollo's owner. Paid staff can and do unduly push their own ideological bents. But when there is a name and a face attached to a company employee, there is some hope of holding people to account. The Challenor mess should never have happened, but at least the person was fired by Reddit. I have never, ever seen any evidence in more than a decade on Reddit of any level of accountability from faceless, nameless mods when they misbehave.
  - Gigachad 3y ago
    Oh I agree it might be a good thing for the site. But it will be an incredible expense that I’m not sure the company can even afford. As well as the fact the site might not even be compatible with paid moderation. Every other social media lets users just post whatever they want as long as it’s not a site wide rule violation. But reddit thrives on moderators curating communities to a certain quality level. It’s easy for paid mods to remove abuse and illegal content. But it will be much harder for them to filter out off topic or low effort posts.