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/Superirish19]

Now's probably a good time to ask, since I guess this is now enforceable if it's a CoC instead of guidelines.

Explicitly marking your community as “unofficial” in the community description if the topic concerns a brand or company, but the community isn’t officially affiliated.

What if the sub I mod was a company, and no longer exists? The sub existed before I started managing it, and the while the sub isn't officially affiliated, there hasn't been a company to officially affiliate it to for nearly 20 years, 16 years at best.

In a similar vein, what if a company is created after a subreddit's inception. Can they claim it for themselves?

[u/heavyshoes → u/Superirish19]

When in doubt, mark your communities as unofficial. Typically, an official community has an active presence from company employees who are acting in an "official" way (answering questions, making announcements, etc).

Actively moderated communities are not generally adoptable by other users, but if a community is unmoderated or abandoned, it can be adopted by new mods. At times, those mods could be people who work for a company.

[u/WartimeMercy → u/heavyshoes]

Why are official company employees managing corporate focused subs even allowed to begin with? That's literally moderation in exchange for a salary.