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.
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.
This is actually another of Reddit’s decisions that I’m in agreement with. Subscriber count isn’t a very useful number, it largely just measures how old a subreddit is. You can already see how old the subreddit is much more accurately by looking at its founding date.
That’s it. It’s the illusion of fairness and it takes away reddit jannies’ ability to show off their powermod status, and that’s the only incentive they have not to use sockpuppets for every sub they mod.
True, but Reddit let this problem fester for a long time.
What’s interesting to me here regarding this, is Reddits current preparation timescale. This isn’t going to be enforced until March 31st, 2026. This tells me that Reddit would have been unprepared for a complete mass-walkout of community moderators during the 2023 Reddit API strikes. A large chunk of Reddit during that period was genuinely inaccessible. But after a few token gestures and a few examples made of some especially rebellious mod-teams, most of the striking moderators returned.
A huge opportunity was missed by people running major communities to functionally degrade Reddit in at least the medium-term as a website. You can’t just hastily promote random people to replace moderators Reddit is either forced to remove or who leave voluntarily. The average person is likely too lazy, too arbitrary and too corrupt to effectively oversee communities of notable sizes.
I was on one of those “especially rebellious mod-teams”. We were even interviewed by Ars Technica about it all at the time.
On advice of a majority of our users, we took our sub offline and kept it that way until Reddit booted us as mods. Honestly, this was the outcome I was expecting — hell, I was pretty open about goading them into it. What was the alternative — to cave to the platform that was abusing us so I could keep working for them for free?
That’s the part I didn’t understand about my fellow mods from other subs. Many of them caved pretty quickly. Their identities seemed to be so tied up in being a Reddit mod that they couldn’t let it go, even though the relationship was obviously very unequal. Too many other people stood up after witnessing the mod abuse to take over from those who got the boot, just asking for the Reddit boot to be applied to their necks instead.
Well, I wish all the mods the kind of treatment they forgave/ignored the last time around.
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.
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.
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.
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.
While ulterior is probably a better way to say that alternative motive also makes sense given the context.
*exterior
*widdershins
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.
Gotta boost user numbers.
Or obscure them considering not letting people see sub count only daily/weekly activities
This is actually another of Reddit’s decisions that I’m in agreement with. Subscriber count isn’t a very useful number, it largely just measures how old a subreddit is. You can already see how old the subreddit is much more accurately by looking at its founding date.
If they’d added, yes. But removing it completely is just a way to hide how many are on the platform.
Or left in a protest
That’s it. It’s the illusion of fairness and it takes away reddit jannies’ ability to show off their powermod status, and that’s the only incentive they have not to use sockpuppets for every sub they mod.
True, but Reddit let this problem fester for a long time.
What’s interesting to me here regarding this, is Reddits current preparation timescale. This isn’t going to be enforced until March 31st, 2026. This tells me that Reddit would have been unprepared for a complete mass-walkout of community moderators during the 2023 Reddit API strikes. A large chunk of Reddit during that period was genuinely inaccessible. But after a few token gestures and a few examples made of some especially rebellious mod-teams, most of the striking moderators returned.
A huge opportunity was missed by people running major communities to functionally degrade Reddit in at least the medium-term as a website. You can’t just hastily promote random people to replace moderators Reddit is either forced to remove or who leave voluntarily. The average person is likely too lazy, too arbitrary and too corrupt to effectively oversee communities of notable sizes.
I was on one of those “especially rebellious mod-teams”. We were even interviewed by Ars Technica about it all at the time.
On advice of a majority of our users, we took our sub offline and kept it that way until Reddit booted us as mods. Honestly, this was the outcome I was expecting — hell, I was pretty open about goading them into it. What was the alternative — to cave to the platform that was abusing us so I could keep working for them for free?
That’s the part I didn’t understand about my fellow mods from other subs. Many of them caved pretty quickly. Their identities seemed to be so tied up in being a Reddit mod that they couldn’t let it go, even though the relationship was obviously very unequal. Too many other people stood up after witnessing the mod abuse to take over from those who got the boot, just asking for the Reddit boot to be applied to their necks instead.
Well, I wish all the mods the kind of treatment they forgave/ignored the last time around.
The quality of reddit took a massive hit after the strike and never recovered.
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.
Its probably related to the whole paying users thing.
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.
Yeah. I mean, I remembered seeing someone named awkwardturtle on there and they moderated like some 30+ subreddits? That’s ridiculous.
Users like that should not have that much power.
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.