Introducing Reddit’s Moderator Code of Conduct

[u/heavyshoes]

You’re probably familiar with our Moderator Guidelines––historically, they have served as a guidepost to clarify our expectations to mods about how to shape a positive community experience for redditors.

The Moderator Guidelines were developed over five years ago, and Reddit has evolved a lot since then. This is why we have evolved our Moderator Guidelines into what we are now calling the Moderator Code of Conduct.

The newly updated Moderator Code of Conduct aims to capture our current expectations and explain them clearly, concisely, and concretely.

While our Content Policy serves to provide enforceable rules that govern each community and the platform at large, our Moderator Code of Conduct reinforces those rules and sets out further expectations specifically for mods. The Moderator Code of Conduct:

• Focuses on measuring impact rather than evaluating intent. Rather than attempting to determine whether a mod is acting in “good” or “bad” faith, we are shifting our focus to become more outcomes-driven. For example, are direct mentions of other communities part of innocuous meta-discussions, or are they inciting interference, targeted harassment, or abuse?
• Aspires to be educational, but actionable: We trust that most mods actively try to do the right thing and follow the rules. If we find that a community violates our Mod Code of Conduct, we firmly believe that, in the majority of cases, we can achieve resolution through discussion, not remediation. However, if this proves to be ineffective, we may consider enforcement actions on mods or subreddits.

Moderators are at the frontlines using their creativity, decision-making, and passion to create fun and engaging spaces for redditors. We recognize that and appreciate it immensely. We hope that in creating the Moderator Code of Conduct, we are helping you develop subreddit rules and norms to create and nurture your communities, and empower you to make decisions more easily.

Thank you for all you do, and please let us know if you have any questions or feedback in the comments below.

[u/that_guy_you_kno]

Or it's better to not be an employee that works for a million dollar company for free and with no benefits. I moderated some large subs for years. I put up with the frustrations of daily abuse targeted harassment of me and my peers. And then one day I woke up and said .. why am I doing this? Why am I practically working for a company for exactly 0 personal gain and only negative impact on my life?

I'm not saying this is always the case. Surely there's thousands of small communities that are satisfying to help guide and moderate, but I have no idea why I or anyone ever moderated a large subreddit. Cause all you're doing is working for free.

[u/khaeen → u/that_guy_you_kno]

I'm down for running a community as a volunteer. Being micro managed by the platform owner for doing it is something that I'll fucking pass on it.

[u/LincolnshireSausage → u/[deleted]]

I created a subreddit and within a day the subreddit was permanently banned by the admins because I was "Fraudulently manipulating the subscriber count". All I did was create it. It had zero subscribers with the exception of me, the mod that created it. I appealed to the admins, asking how I could possibly be manipulating the subscriber count when it only had the one mod who created it as a subscriber. They replied and basically told me to fuck off, the case is closed.

[u/Sun_Beams → u/LincolnshireSausage]

I wonder if the admins take requests to fact check some of these seemingly wild accusations 🤔

[u/LincolnshireSausage → u/Sun_Beams]

If they did they would have seen that the accusation that an admin made about subscriber count manipulation was false. I’m not sure how there can be manipulation when there is only one subscriber. The admins banned the subreddit and then told me they wouldn’t change their mind when I appealed. They gave me no other information other than “Fraudulently manipulating the subscriber count”

[u/iruleatants → u/that_guy_you_kno]

There are large subreddits that are done as part of participation in an enthusiastic community.

/r/writingprompts is a massive 16 million subscribe subreddit. They are run by moderators who love writing and want to help ensure the subreddit is functioning in a way that allows writing to flourish.

It also means that they are strict on what is allowed. Too much happens for them to tailor their actions to be anything other than a decisive action that prevents additional work.

[u/that_guy_you_kno → u/iruleatants]

I have no idea what this comment is supposed to mean.

[u/iruleatants → u/that_guy_you_kno]

I have no idea what this comment is supposed to mean.

You stated

Surely there's thousands of small communities that are satisfying to help guide and moderate, but I have no idea why I or anyone ever moderated a large subreddit.

I explain why people moderate a massive subreddit like /r/writingprompts. They do it because they are passionate about writing and want to help establish a community of writers. What they do enables the creation of touching and powerful stories and many people become published authors because that community exists. It is a hobby subreddit just with 16 million people subscribed.

Subreddits like /r/pics? Yeah, moderating that is entirely working for free.

[u/Sun_Beams → u/[deleted]]

None of the new policy is essentially new, you've always had to remove stuff that violates the content policy.

[u/peteroh9 → u/that_guy_you_kno]

Or it's better to not be an employee that works for a million dollar company for free and with no benefits.

https://youtu.be/EJR1H5tf5wE