NOT_RICKJun 29, 2023
Dan Gillmor

Reddit, owned by media giant Advance, is outright going to war against moderators who refuse to kowtow to the company's misguided destruction of 3rd-party apps. https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/28/23777195/reddit-protesting-moderators-communities-subreddits-private-reopen

Inertia is the company's most potent weapon. Let's hope the moderators will lead their communities to places where the unpaid volunteers, not an arrogant company that believes it owns them, are in charge.

Reddit is telling protesting mods their communities ‘will not’ stay private

Reddit is sending strongly-worded messages to moderators of some protesting subreddits that indicate the company may take actions to remove moderators or reopen communities.

The Verge
Jun 29, 2023 at 12:58amWeb
Show threadEugene TeplitskyJun 29, 2023
@dangillmor Unfortunately the only way large media giants can learn that this is not the way to build trust or communities is if folks continue leaving #Reddit for greener pastures and refusing to compromise. Users settling for a raw deal is how they win.
Show threadnicceJun 29, 2023

@EugeneTeplitsky @dangillmor Yes. It is the only way to make them (or any for-profit entity) to re-think what they do. Similarly, you can endlessly criticize some other product, but you unlikely see a change until you stop buying it.

Unfortunately, only money controls decisions in large businesses. Even if you break the law, the fine is calculated as a risk, and only if the fine is big enough, law will be followed.

In this case, users must stop giving attention (no eyes for ads) and content (no reason to be on the platform), to make a change. So, leave Reddit. Come back if they change their habits and respect their users.

Show threadcogitateJun 29, 2023
@dangillmor as a former Reddit user, I've moved on. I even used the mobile app, so I had to deal with the endless ads and algorithm "recommended" garbage cluttering my feed. Starting fresh in the #Fediverse. I was nervous on the outside looking in, now that I'm in I look forward to the freshness and discovering new #Communities. There's also much more positivity and civility, something that the corporatized social networks have lost and will likely never gain back.
Show threadEric LeVanJun 29, 2023
@cogitate Couldn't have said it better myself.
Show threadAndres JalintonJun 29, 2023
@cogitate @dangillmor
That's so true, we are learning again that commercial social networks are the worst place to make a community, they just dismantle it as soon as it's not profitable or the "vision" changes.
Show threadAncaJun 29, 2023
@dangillmor I think we’ll see a bunch of well-meaning but clueless scabs step in to moderate the larger subs and they will get stomped by the users
Show threadP StewartJun 29, 2023

@anca @dangillmor I suspect less that and more 'free speech' moderators providing object lessons in why large communities that are moderated at arm's length (or not at all) swiftly turn into dumpster fires, linkfarming mediocrity, or mediocre, linkfarming dumpster fires.

Especially if those kinds of replacements happen in subs that were functional *because* they had attentive moderators and actual enforced policies.

Show threadRon BowesJun 29, 2023
@dangillmor my last day on Reddit was the day of the protests. I miss a lot of the content, but what can you do?
Show threadKevin McCurleyJun 29, 2023
@dangillmor I don't buy it. Reddit has a right to monetize their infrastructure. They are supposedly charging about $2.50 per active user per month, which is considerably less than the arpu that Facebook makes.
Show threadDan GillmorJun 29, 2023
@tragiccommons They have a right to try, but when volunteers do essentially all the work that makes a site valuable, treating them like dirt is a questionable way to go about it.
Show threadKevin McCurleyJun 29, 2023
@dangillmor Treating them like dirt is an exaggeration. Reddit provides lots of tools for moderation, but some moderators demand their preferred tools. The moderators are replaceable if they don't want to do their job.
Show threadNihl L'AmasJun 29, 2023
@dangillmor Another website run by an idiot/asshole who doesn't understand how much of his Serious Business relies on free labor.
Show threadAndreas KJul 1, 2023

@dangillmor 🤷 If the company thinks they can easily replace the unpaid moderators with paid employees? Be my guest.

Reddit is basically going to war against unpaid volunteers who provide a critical function in their “product”.

Moderation has always been the critical Achilles heel of social media. Reddit managed to get many benefits of a community oriented, federated solution, without the drawbacks. They are currently actively destroying their USP.