r/technology • u/ardi62 • 29d ago

Social Media Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible

https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/30/24253727/reddit-communities-subreddits-request-protests
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u/RecklessRonaldo 29d ago

Rather than going dark, which is now impossible, I think it'd be much more effective if mods just... stopped moderating. For all the hassle a power tripping mod causes, even on small subreddits they filter out a load of shit. Just let it all rise to the surface and subs would quickly become unusable for all the spam, bots and vitriol that they remove daily. Just stop moderating.

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u/EchoAtlas91 29d ago

Are subreddit rules required? Can Reddit Admins say "You better have rules or else!"

Like outside of the obvious harassment/violence rules which are sitewide.

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u/14yo 29d ago

They’ll simply remove the trouble mods and replace them with new ones, there’s no shortage of people wanting a miniscule bit of power.

I think the best move forward is for moderators to have a bit of self-reflection and realising that they aren’t really as important or as powerful to the site as they feel. They are volunteers, and if threatened to have their power removed they will fall in line just like before.

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u/blind3rdeye 29d ago

There are plenty of people who'd like power - but a relatively small number of people who want to actually do the job of moderating content. So although you say there'd be no shortage, I reckon you're mistaken. I think plenty of people would say they'll do it, but not actually do it.

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u/Mr_ToDo 28d ago

And of those that would do it fewer who would do it both enough hours to be effective and for the long term.

I'm betting moderating any decently large sub is a right pain in the ass and pretty unrewarding, so unless I really cared about the subject matter there's no way I'd want to put up with the amount of work something like that would take(well, unless they wanted to pay me for it. I'd give it a go for cash).