Steve Huffman, the Reddit CEO, told NBC News in an interview that a user protest on the site this week is led by a minority of moderators and doesn’t have wide support.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, democracy simply doesn't work
If userbases vote for mods you will get an absolute cesspit. It has not worked in the past when subreddits have done it willingly, and it will not work in the future.
Most famously we tried it back in the early days of the website with the Republic of Reddit subreddits. Regular moderator elections and democratic control over the subreddit's tone. It was killed by a complete lack of engagement, the only people seeking election being the ones who shouldn't have power, and those mods then quitting before the next election because the job sucks. Those same problems would exist if reddit forces democracy on the users while giving the mods shittier tools to moderate with. If I could keep mods on r/snackexchange, a relatively low population subreddit, for more than a month then I'd have more than two active mods who both depend on multiple tools that the API changes will kill.
Users are not engaged enough and do not have enough incentive to do so. It takes a considerable amount of time and effort to know what's going on and it's BORING for 95% of people.
Reddit's moderators are ultimately motivated by feeling like they "own" their communities. Reddit even knows this, which is why they have not infringed on moderators decisions about their own spaces as much as possible, the motivation of moderators is exceptionally important to the site. It is not only what keeps mods doing the work in spaces they currently run but also is what causes them to make new spaces.
It's the only upside to moderating. I know r/modernart won't have posts that aren't about modernism if I'm actively removing the things which don't fit the vision of the subreddit. I know r/snackexchange won't be taken over by an import business or do corrupt promotions with them if I'm the person in charge and nobody except this one steak company has tried to bribe me. I know r/fifthworldproblems won't become an even more cringe place taken over by Dr. Who/SCP/Star Wars fans if my first rule is that posts can't reference existing canon. There's no real power trip to it if the ants in your ant farm hate you, but the subreddit only has a defined purpose and culture if the same people are committed to those things.
Give it to someone apathetic or hostile to that original vision and the whole place goes to shit. The piggies only see shit, they see it get upvoted, and they only post shit because they know shit gets upvoted.
I'm still mad at that one because they seemed like a decent steaks. It was like a smaller version of Omaha Steaks that offered me beef jerky and then never sent it.
Most famously we tried it back in the early days of the website with the Republic of Reddit subreddits. Regular moderator elections and democratic control over the subreddit's tone. It was killed by a complete lack of engagement, the only people seeking election being the ones who shouldn't have power, and those mods then quitting before the next election because the job sucks. Those same problems would exist if reddit forces democracy on the users while giving the mods shittier tools to moderate with. If I could keep mods on r/snackexchange, a relatively low population subreddit, for more than a month then I'd have more than two active mods who both depend on multiple tools that the API changes will kill.
Yeah exactly.
Users are not engaged enough and do not have enough incentive to do so. It takes a considerable amount of time and effort to know what's going on and it's BORING for 95% of people.
Reddit's moderators are ultimately motivated by feeling like they "own" their communities. Reddit even knows this, which is why they have not infringed on moderators decisions about their own spaces as much as possible, the motivation of moderators is exceptionally important to the site. It is not only what keeps mods doing the work in spaces they currently run but also is what causes them to make new spaces.
It's the only upside to moderating. I know r/modernart won't have posts that aren't about modernism if I'm actively removing the things which don't fit the vision of the subreddit. I know r/snackexchange won't be taken over by an import business or do corrupt promotions with them if I'm the person in charge and nobody except this one steak company has tried to bribe me. I know r/fifthworldproblems won't become an even more cringe place taken over by Dr. Who/SCP/Star Wars fans if my first rule is that posts can't reference existing canon. There's no real power trip to it if the ants in your ant farm hate you, but the subreddit only has a defined purpose and culture if the same people are committed to those things.
Give it to someone apathetic or hostile to that original vision and the whole place goes to shit. The piggies only see shit, they see it get upvoted, and they only post shit because they know shit gets upvoted.
Well said, 100% agree.
Shit, did :trump-anguish: send you an email?
I'm still mad at that one because they seemed like a decent steaks. It was like a smaller version of Omaha Steaks that offered me beef jerky and then never sent it.