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
So, there is a chance to get into positions of power on reddit, and we should take it. I don't think that there's anything constructive to be built on reddit, because even if the ideal scenario were to play out (there's somehow a coordinated effort to get leftists into positions of """power""" on reddit and use their moderation to direct the conversation on one of the biggest platforms away from the reactionary gameplan), you'd still have to contest with the administration of the site itself. The moment this movement would become successful, the FBI agents that run r/worldnews or r/politics would step in, remove you, and replace you with someone who's down for glassing China. The anti-left, pedophilic, frankly stale discussion on reddit was consciously cultivated by both its format and who they put into positions of day to day influence.
I say that we should take these leadership positions to tank it. Reddit dying isn't like an edgy "return to monke" dream, if capture of this platform isn't possible then we should be doing everything we can to push people away from it and ideally sink the site (especially since most other newer social media platforms like the reddit clones/mastadon/etc have a very limited appeal and will never reach the numbers of reddit).
If, by some miracle you do end up winning one of these elections:
Keep track of active posters/posters who seem to respond to other users in earnest. Every now and then, permaban then for the slightest infraction/no reason at all.
Demand an ongoing democratic process. Discussion of these stupid elections should be something most users of a given subreddit should have to put up with.
Cut back on weekly/monthly events. Stopping all overnight would be noticeable, but a few movie nights missing here and there over the course of a few months will add up.
Avoid punishing contentious or even outwardly reactionary users. Nobody wants to willingly hang out with /pol/ dweebs, if you allow that, you create an impression of an unwelcoming community where trying to talk about something like Tetris or old bikes is going to be met with race science, and even most internet users don't want to deal with that.
Attempt to remove or undermine other moderators, especially the more active ones. Going into whatever modchat exists and saying "you're all losers" isn't a good idea, but dropping hints over conversations with the others that effective staff might be bad at their job is more likely to create tension. Posting about other mods might or might not be a good idea, err on the side of "not" unless there's a history of doing so.
Delete threads/posts early that could lead to active discussion and blame it on site policies/technical bullshit. If a thread has 30 upvotes in a hour, cull it before it grows too big.
Sticky niche recurring topics. The megathreads on here work because they have a jumping off point for discussion but you can talk about whatever. You want the first two posts on your reddit to be automated and with low engagement.
The goal should not be to create another r/antiwork, nor should it be to loudly come in after elections yelling about how you're going to create the internet version of the Paris commune. If it was possible to build something lasting and decent on reddit we'd all still be on r/cth. Throw wrenches into gears, get people to log off.
All of that is still going to happen if we don't.
So, there is a chance to get into positions of power on reddit, and we should take it. I don't think that there's anything constructive to be built on reddit, because even if the ideal scenario were to play out (there's somehow a coordinated effort to get leftists into positions of """power""" on reddit and use their moderation to direct the conversation on one of the biggest platforms away from the reactionary gameplan), you'd still have to contest with the administration of the site itself. The moment this movement would become successful, the FBI agents that run r/worldnews or r/politics would step in, remove you, and replace you with someone who's down for glassing China. The anti-left, pedophilic, frankly stale discussion on reddit was consciously cultivated by both its format and who they put into positions of day to day influence.
I say that we should take these leadership positions to tank it. Reddit dying isn't like an edgy "return to monke" dream, if capture of this platform isn't possible then we should be doing everything we can to push people away from it and ideally sink the site (especially since most other newer social media platforms like the reddit clones/mastadon/etc have a very limited appeal and will never reach the numbers of reddit).
If, by some miracle you do end up winning one of these elections:
The goal should not be to create another r/antiwork, nor should it be to loudly come in after elections yelling about how you're going to create the internet version of the Paris commune. If it was possible to build something lasting and decent on reddit we'd all still be on r/cth. Throw wrenches into gears, get people to log off.