3 ms·

Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible

11 points by rntn 2y ago

downrightmike 2y ago
"Moderators will now have to submit a request if they want to switch their subreddit from public to private. Thousands of subreddits went private as part of last year’s protests." Reddit hates all the people that make all the value their platform has
- josephcsible 2y ago
  IMO, saying Reddit "hates" anyone/anything is anthropomorphizing the lawnmower.
  - voisin 2y ago
    Obviously OP is using Reddit as shorthand for Reddit Executives.
    - josephcsible 2y ago
      In the original saying about Oracle, it was specifically Larry Ellison being compared to the lawnmower, so it would apply even to the executives as individuals rather than the corporation.
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    I'm sure there's at least a bit of disdain among executives. A lawnmower doesn't directly edit raw data on a server of some controversial subreddit.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
rglullis 2y ago
What baffles me: why do moderators still subject themselves to this? It can't be Stockholm Syndrome: Reddit is not forcing them to be around. They are free to go and take their communities with them. It can't be financial gain: Reddit is not paying these moderators. It can't be the tech: their client is to this day unusable. It can't be a lack of alternative: creating a Lemmy/Discourse/Flarum/NodeBB alterantive site is not trivial, but well within the reach of any sufficiently motivated user. Or people can set up a site with a managed provider for less than $20/month. The more this type of crap happens, the harder it becomes to sympathize with the moderators and the more I am inclined to believe that the ones who are still there are truly just a bunch of people who are power tripping.
- sickofparadox 2y ago
  For many of the "supermods", they are powered by ideology.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  Trust me, I've bailed entirely. My own subs (/r/dredmorbius, /r/MKaTS, r/MKATH, /r/RenewableEnergy, and others) have been private for well over a year. I've stripped my subreddit from email sigs and account descriptions (here, the Fediverse, Diaspora*) as well. Reddit's dead to me, and today's news only confirms my past decisions. (The site had been increasingly untenable for years before the great Reddit Blackout.)
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  > and take their communities with them. they can't do that. You do any sort of migratio and you accepting losing the large majority of your quietly passive userbase. It's the network effect. Some will dismiss that as mods "clout chasing" or "power tripping", but I can understand even a good moderator not wanting to spend another X years attempting to foster another community. It's hard in general these days to build a genuine community.
  - rglullis 2y ago
    > you accepting losing the large majority of your quietly passive userbase. Sure, but they are a sunk cost and not the group that we should be worrying to convert. If you want to migrate your community, you should not be focusing on 90% of lurkers, but the 9% of participants and 1% of prolific posters. > It's hard in general these days to build a genuine community. Reddit is a ghost town, and the only reason that it doesn't feel this way is because of the bots and astroturfers. There is nothing "genuine" about it. The sooner mods realize this, rip of the bandaids and move on, the better for everyone.
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
[dupe] Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41698762 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41698762

11 points by rntn 2y ago

"Moderators will now have to submit a request if they want to switch their subreddit from public to private. Thousands of subreddits went private as part of last year’s protests." Reddit hates all the people that make all the value their platform has

josephcsible 2y ago
IMO, saying Reddit "hates" anyone/anything is anthropomorphizing the lawnmower.
- voisin 2y ago
  Obviously OP is using Reddit as shorthand for Reddit Executives.
  - josephcsible 2y ago
    In the original saying about Oracle, it was specifically Larry Ellison being compared to the lawnmower, so it would apply even to the executives as individuals rather than the corporation.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  I'm sure there's at least a bit of disdain among executives. A lawnmower doesn't directly edit raw data on a server of some controversial subreddit.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

rglullis 2y ago

What baffles me: why do moderators still subject themselves to this? It can't be Stockholm Syndrome: Reddit is not forcing them to be around. They are free to go and take their communities with them. It can't be financial gain: Reddit is not paying these moderators. It can't be the tech: their client is to this day unusable. It can't be a lack of alternative: creating a Lemmy/Discourse/Flarum/NodeBB alterantive site is not trivial, but well within the reach of any sufficiently motivated user. Or people can set up a site with a managed provider for less than $20/month. The more this type of crap happens, the harder it becomes to sympathize with the moderators and the more I am inclined to believe that the ones who are still there are truly just a bunch of people who are power tripping.

sickofparadox 2y ago
For many of the "supermods", they are powered by ideology.
dredmorbius 2y ago
Trust me, I've bailed entirely. My own subs (/r/dredmorbius, /r/MKaTS, r/MKATH, /r/RenewableEnergy, and others) have been private for well over a year. I've stripped my subreddit from email sigs and account descriptions (here, the Fediverse, Diaspora*) as well. Reddit's dead to me, and today's news only confirms my past decisions. (The site had been increasingly untenable for years before the great Reddit Blackout.)
johnnyanmac 2y ago
> and take their communities with them. they can't do that. You do any sort of migratio and you accepting losing the large majority of your quietly passive userbase. It's the network effect. Some will dismiss that as mods "clout chasing" or "power tripping", but I can understand even a good moderator not wanting to spend another X years attempting to foster another community. It's hard in general these days to build a genuine community.
- rglullis 2y ago
  > you accepting losing the large majority of your quietly passive userbase. Sure, but they are a sunk cost and not the group that we should be worrying to convert. If you want to migrate your community, you should not be focusing on 90% of lurkers, but the 9% of participants and 1% of prolific posters. > It's hard in general these days to build a genuine community. Reddit is a ghost town, and the only reason that it doesn't feel this way is because of the bots and astroturfers. There is nothing "genuine" about it. The sooner mods realize this, rip of the bandaids and move on, the better for everyone.

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

[dupe] Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41698762 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41698762