Dani — MLT(ASCP)Nov 26, 2022

Reading threads of people brainstorming on how to moderate the fediverse and it's obvious a good 80% to 90% of these people have never had to moderate anything remotely as toxic as social media. Or anything at all.

I moderated a default subreddit. I don't care if you paid me a living wage. I would have burned out the same way I burned out being unpaid. It has nothing at all to do with what you get in return. It is quite literally soul-crushing, and my subreddit wasn't even as toxic as it could have been.

I want things to be the best that they can, but they need to be addressed be people who have had heavy experience with this kind of thing. Also — you are never going to find a one size fits all answer. Is everyone going to have to go with this one solution or get defederated?

I dunno, man. I want a solution, but so far the things I'm hearing that excite people are to me, with the moderating experience I have, not reassuring.

Show threadThe BirdNov 26, 2022

@warkittens

What we need is community-building, where being cycle out to recover and others take their place. We need a more collective hands-on effort by folks on their servers to help keep the community safe and help one another avoid burnout. Finding folks willing to do this moderation is hard because of how toxic it is and most folks don't wanna see that.

Yet we keep trying to come up with engineering solutions that don't factor in community needs too. I wanna see both met.

Show threadDani — MLT(ASCP)
@Aaidanbird
This is the correct solution. A part time, cycle in/out solution. Not a paid position. Not some group that all instances use. I've heard some crazy, wild suggestions that people think are brilliant and I just look at them and think... You all certainly have no idea what comes thru these queues.
Nov 26, 2022 at 3:56amWeb
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKNov 26, 2022

@warkittens @Aaidanbird

for this very reason in meatspace detectives, security guards and bouncers aren't put on shift day after day and are given time off - and folk on here generally tend to be left/anarchist and really do *not* like those kind of jobs but being a moderator (which I have also done over the years) is often a combination of being all three...