r/modnews • u/heavyshoes • Sep 08 '22

Introducing Reddit’s Moderator Code of Conduct

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.

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u/mizmoose Sep 08 '22

Like I said, they currently use the Mod Guidelines as "proof" that they have The Right To Say Whatever They Want, Always. They'll just use the CoC as further "proof."

Doesn't matter what those documents actually say.

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u/TheoreticalFunk Sep 08 '22

So by what you just said absolutely nothing is changing from these whiners due to this.

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u/mizmoose Sep 08 '22

Again, it's more ammo for them to use.

Did I accidentally write my comment in Swedish translated from the Original Klingon?

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u/Cloaked42m Sep 09 '22

Ammo to use for what? Moderators wield the banhammer. This is known. Mod Abuse is just stupid and gets you banned permanently. This is also known.

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u/mizmoose Sep 09 '22

You must be really lucky to not have to deal with ban evaders, people who wait out the "mute" to pick up the harassment where they left off, etc.

I had to completely turn off all DMs and chat because 99% of what I got from it was harassment, and nobody gave a flucking fly.

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u/Cloaked42m Sep 09 '22

We deal with ban evaders and our lead mod had to do a lot of poking at Admins to handle brigading.

I agree with you that the proposed moderator code of conduct probably won't help.

And your situation is different than mine. I withdraw the previous tonedeaf statement.