Under new rules rolling out over the coming months, a small number of users will be required to leave some of their moderator posts so that they aren’t moderating more than five subreddits with 100,000 monthly visitors.
That sounds perfectly reasonable. Reddit has a massive powermod problem.
We all presume that being the mod of several large reddit communities doesn’t include the possibility of sidehustle financial benefits.
Yet, humans are innovators of corruption! And I can only assume that any multi-mega-subreddit moderator has worked out something to make what is obviously a full time job worth their time.
I heard mods of big subreddits can get basically sponsored by big companies and go to events. Half the pc gaming subreddits have what are basically ad posts pinned by the mods.
It could be viewed as reasonable if viewed alone. I think that its fine and could make a lot of sense for control over their platform.
The history of reddit sheds a different context in my mind though.
Mods are volunteers. Subreddits were established to moderate themselves, implementing nuanced rules for their specific topics that might differ from other subs that need completely different rules and approaches.
Its part of what made reddit unique compared to alternate sites.
Then they made moderating much more difficult by eliminating third party apps. Then they started implementing their plans to take the platform where they wanted it, which is fine because its their platform, but they wanted all their mods to do a bunch of work and in a certain manner to make it so. Very demanding on free labor.
So there’s mods still around and they want to restrict them more? Who knows, maybe that’s a great idea but they made the mess they’re in. This decision isn’t a single on on its own, its part of a stack of them.
The problem with powermod isn’t that they exist, though. Moderation of a large sub is still done by volunteers that have had to hack solutions together because they don’t get a lot of support from Reddit. It helps Reddit to have experienced mods overseeing several subs because they bring with them experience on how to handle high profile and large scale moderation efforts. They are a technical talent pool that Reddit relies upon a lot.
The problem is that Reddit has shitty mod governance. It still uses rank by add date and offers no ability for users to kick a mod out except for TOS faults. Reddit doesn’t want to fix mod governance issues because it creates a legitimate mod power structure and Reddit doesn’t want to give that much power to users, including mods.
That said, Reddit’s shitty mod governance was copied directly to Lemmy.
Not really. The powermods arent bringing anything unique moderation except a network that allows them to control content for a specific audience. This is not about enforcing subreddit rules its about subreddit mods pushing an agenda across their subs and pushing sponsored posts outsides reddits ad program.
Its overall a good thing but the powermods will be replaced with reddit admins doing the ame
The powermods arent bringing anything unique moderation except a network that allows them to control content for a specific audience.
It depends who. There are some that build tools and procedures for handling large forums. They may also share best practices across different subs.
As for controlling content, it isn’t like a corporation or political group can’t create 20 accounts and take over subs. That’s already happened on Reddit.
Its overall a good thing but the powermods will be replaced with reddit admins doing the ame
Or sock puppet accounts. Banning the current set of mods without a plan on who replaces them doesn’t fix the problem.
They can still share tools and best practices but now they cant be involved in the post to post moderation.
As for controlling content, it isn’t like a corporation or political group can’t create 20 accounts and take over subs. That’s already happened on Reddit.
You cant do this if the mods are already doing this because the mods will remove the posts. Giving them a huge block of control over a majority of the content on the platform.
At the risk of agreeing with Reddit:
That sounds perfectly reasonable. Reddit has a massive powermod problem.
Given Reddit’s past unreasonableness, I wouldn’t be surprised if this otherwise reasonable explanation has an alternative motive.
*ulterior
Thanks, I wanted to say that but I couldn’t figure out how to spell it.
That’s what I guessed. Alternative is a fine alternative word though.
*exterior
The motive is these mods hold a decent amount of power on the platform that they wish to reduce. They don’t want a repeat of the API protests.
Now /u/spez will have all the power
Yeah that is exactly it. They didn’t want mods to be able to disrupt the site again, so they’re looking to make that more difficult.
God, I am so glad I left that place.
That was my reaction too. I don’t feel like digging in to see if it’s actually bad though. Not gonna affect my life.
We all presume that being the mod of several large reddit communities doesn’t include the possibility of sidehustle financial benefits.
Yet, humans are innovators of corruption! And I can only assume that any multi-mega-subreddit moderator has worked out something to make what is obviously a full time job worth their time.
I heard mods of big subreddits can get basically sponsored by big companies and go to events. Half the pc gaming subreddits have what are basically ad posts pinned by the mods.
This was desperately needed.
But I’m not convinced they aren’t just going to make alts.
It could be viewed as reasonable if viewed alone. I think that its fine and could make a lot of sense for control over their platform.
The history of reddit sheds a different context in my mind though. Mods are volunteers. Subreddits were established to moderate themselves, implementing nuanced rules for their specific topics that might differ from other subs that need completely different rules and approaches. Its part of what made reddit unique compared to alternate sites.
Then they made moderating much more difficult by eliminating third party apps. Then they started implementing their plans to take the platform where they wanted it, which is fine because its their platform, but they wanted all their mods to do a bunch of work and in a certain manner to make it so. Very demanding on free labor.
So there’s mods still around and they want to restrict them more? Who knows, maybe that’s a great idea but they made the mess they’re in. This decision isn’t a single on on its own, its part of a stack of them.
Yes, but they are also doing this to deleverage their mods and consolidate censorship power with corporate
The problem with powermod isn’t that they exist, though. Moderation of a large sub is still done by volunteers that have had to hack solutions together because they don’t get a lot of support from Reddit. It helps Reddit to have experienced mods overseeing several subs because they bring with them experience on how to handle high profile and large scale moderation efforts. They are a technical talent pool that Reddit relies upon a lot.
The problem is that Reddit has shitty mod governance. It still uses rank by add date and offers no ability for users to kick a mod out except for TOS faults. Reddit doesn’t want to fix mod governance issues because it creates a legitimate mod power structure and Reddit doesn’t want to give that much power to users, including mods.
That said, Reddit’s shitty mod governance was copied directly to Lemmy.
Not really. The powermods arent bringing anything unique moderation except a network that allows them to control content for a specific audience. This is not about enforcing subreddit rules its about subreddit mods pushing an agenda across their subs and pushing sponsored posts outsides reddits ad program.
Its overall a good thing but the powermods will be replaced with reddit admins doing the ame
It depends who. There are some that build tools and procedures for handling large forums. They may also share best practices across different subs.
As for controlling content, it isn’t like a corporation or political group can’t create 20 accounts and take over subs. That’s already happened on Reddit.
Or sock puppet accounts. Banning the current set of mods without a plan on who replaces them doesn’t fix the problem.
They can still share tools and best practices but now they cant be involved in the post to post moderation.
You cant do this if the mods are already doing this because the mods will remove the posts. Giving them a huge block of control over a majority of the content on the platform.
It would have made sense if done years ago. Doing it now is suspicious.