Is how easily mods have caved in once the admins threatened to remove them. I had thought we’d see quite a few cases where Reddit would have to step in an replace entire mod teams (effectively killing the community). But it seems like that hasn’t happened at all - the closest we’ve got is mods being reordered.
I guess I didn’t appreciate how much moderating means to some people, especially people who are marginalised or otherwise have shitty lives… (which makes Reddit’s behaviour even more abhorrent! Exploiting the most vulnerable in society to provide free labour they are making huge profits off).
That said, it seems like Reddit has crossed the Rubicon now. They have now forced mods to run their subreddits in a certain way. Mods now know they are operating in some tight boundaries, and the admins can - on a whim - change the rules and force them to comply. i.e. any illusion of the power they had is now massively reduced. I’m sure a lot of them will be in denial, but this more than likely won’t be the last time we see this happen.
Well, consider how some subs have changed to be about John Oliver. Many who stayed are still trying to fight the good fight for us.
But it’s up to us to build good communities here, so when reddit inevitably flexes its muscle and starts steamrolling, those mods will have a place to flee to. The best way to help the mods out now is to build a good alternative for them.
Yeah true, there’s some malicious compliance going on. But in some cases the admins seem to have also told mods they have to “operate normally”, i.e. telling them not only do they have to open up, but that they have to moderate in a certain way.
Ouch. Totally believable, unfortunately. But then again, who defines normal?
Would be interested to hear more specifics, as this is the first I’ve heard about “normal”
An r/Steam mod saying they were told they had to return to “normalcy”: https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/14bvwe1/comment/johskj2/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
I guess that could just mean “open up”. But I suspect Reddit is just focussed on forcing subs to come out of private for now. Once they’ve done that, they’ll force them to start moderating “in good faith” or whatever phrase they want to use to make mods behave in a certain way.
r/Steam is cracking me up with their malicious compliance. Their front page right now is filled with posts about actual steam.
Is steams mod team part of the corporate hierarchy as many brand subreddits are?
If so, we might not be getting the full picture because I can’t imagine they are behaving this way with companies who are otherwise considered brand partners.
Not as far as I know… but don’t know for sure.
Outrageous what reddit admins are doing, but not unexpected.