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As someone with similar experience, 100% agree. Free, competent, altruistically interested Pick two when looking for leaders. The "volunteer leader problem"
by ethbr0 3y ago
As someone with similar experience, 100% agree.
Free, competent, altruistically interested
Pick two when looking for leaders.
The "volunteer leader problem" boils down to looking for an altruistic individual who's capable and willing to put up with a ton of shit for... love of X.
There aren't many. There shouldn't be any, but some people are awesome.
In reality, you end up having to substitute some package of incentives (prestige, authority, etc.) in order to entice on-the-fence candidates, and then ride herd on ensuring they don't succumb to their baser instincts.
So when mods say mod tools are important, what they're really saying is: "I put up with a lot of shit, to make you money, and I don't get paid. Give me something in return that makes me feel like you're thankful."
Reddit's been pretty bad, historically and presently, at doing that.
- InSteady 3y agoI don't have personal experience with this online, but IRL when you volunteer the people you are helping face to face (and others who see your actions) tend to be pretty vocal about thanking you and otherwise showing that they respect and appreciate what you are doing. I imagine online the vast majority of personal interaction is people who are aggrieved, angry, or just plain hate mods on an ideological level. I often wonder how many people go out of their way to directly contact the mods and say "thank you for what you are doing" on a regular basis. I tend to stick up for mods when I see people mindlessly bitching (r/science was terrible for this, because it's actually heavily moderated as it should be), but I only DMed a mod to say thanks on maybe one occasion... All that is to say, it's one thing to feel like the ratio of hate:love you are getting from users is pretty tilted towards the negative... but getting only empty words and no support from the institutional level is actual injury not just insult. That's why I stand with the mods, and after 10 years or so of daily usage I have left reddit for good (or until reasonable accommodations are made). Although I'll admit, I've been wanting to break my reddit habits for a long time, so this decision does include some self-interest on my part.
- ethbr0 3y agoI've volunteered as leadership in mixed IRL/online groups, and agreed that the online components were far more toxic. People who can't avoid being assholes to other people tend to avoid actually being around other people, but god knows they'll post a lot online. Or as a quip I once heard said, "You have a higher floor of politeness to people who can punch you in the face in reply."
- enw 3y agoYet, as expected, when threatened to take their online “authority” away so many Reddit mods buckled and opened the subreddits in a hearbeat.