Actually, as a mod, that’s the strongest action you could take… stop moderating for free for reddit. “Jun 12, 2023 When they’re all functioning normally, Reddit boasts nearly 140,000 active subreddits at any given time” according to https://wegotthiscovered.com/social-media/how-many-subreddits-are-on-reddit/ Now imagine 1 in 10 subreddits were abandoned by their mods. That’s 14,000 subreddits without moderation. Let Spez take over the role of the Landed Gentry for 14,000 subreddits. If he thinks he’s not making money now, how much will he have to pay to take care of all those subreddits?
As much as I agree with you, I have to disagree as well. In the short term they would have to pay their staff to mod those pages. But for how long will it take for them to find another sucker of a mod to do it for free?
Yes it would cost them money but it would not be for long.
That’s slippery. Pay one mod, and no more mods will be willing to work for free anymore. The only reason a mod was seen as a volunteer position is because there was an overall informal agreement that the community collectively owned the subreddit, its activity and its content. Reddit just made it very clear that they think the corporation owns the content, and the users that produce the content in the subreddits. The facade is gone, pay one mod and Reddit unravels even faster.
But for how long will it take for them to find another sucker of a mod to do it for free?
Modding, especially on larger subs, is a PITA and takes way more time than most people think. You can always find users who say they will do it but in my experience with across several 1M+ subs most new mods will either drop out or go inactive in 3 weeks or less.
Less popular subs in the 250k user range will sometimes only get 1 or 2 volunteers and sometimes no one at all.
It isn’t nearly as easy to replace moderators as you’re making it out to be.
I do agree with you. It could take a while for them to find someone to mod any sub. I was not trying to be too specific with how long. Just that eventually they will find someone to do it. I probably should have been more clearer about that. It was just was my 2 cents.
Spez is a narcissist. Why give him your labor for free?
Sure, they may get another sucker to do it for free, why be a narcissist’s sucker?
If he’s abused these mods, he’ll abuse those mods. And yes, he could get AI to do this, but then again, years ago* (Steve H became CEO in 2015) we were promised a better Reddit app. Like the music business, Reddit is constantly losing money, unwilling to change, but still around.
*I would link it, but for some reason, U/Spez’s history stops 3 years ago. I’m sure it’s a Reddit glitch that will be fixed just like the better Reddit app that’s waiting for us under the rainbow.
That would make the decision even more short sighted.
It won’t end with AI moderation, It will end with moderation that is very exploitable, bad to adjust to all subreddits and because of this whole mess they will drive community engagement into the ground. And that is without even so much as taking a peak on the possible affects to the IPO. It’s gonna be mess, even if the platform survives.
The AI that media is talking about generating text that looks very much like what a human would write. There might be other AI capable of moderating, but this is not it.
The LLM could be used to pretend there are users if one day they would go somewhere else.
Actually, as a mod, that’s the strongest action you could take… stop moderating for free for reddit. “Jun 12, 2023 When they’re all functioning normally, Reddit boasts nearly 140,000 active subreddits at any given time” according to https://wegotthiscovered.com/social-media/how-many-subreddits-are-on-reddit/ Now imagine 1 in 10 subreddits were abandoned by their mods. That’s 14,000 subreddits without moderation. Let Spez take over the role of the Landed Gentry for 14,000 subreddits. If he thinks he’s not making money now, how much will he have to pay to take care of all those subreddits?
As much as I agree with you, I have to disagree as well. In the short term they would have to pay their staff to mod those pages. But for how long will it take for them to find another sucker of a mod to do it for free?
Yes it would cost them money but it would not be for long.
That’s slippery. Pay one mod, and no more mods will be willing to work for free anymore. The only reason a mod was seen as a volunteer position is because there was an overall informal agreement that the community collectively owned the subreddit, its activity and its content. Reddit just made it very clear that they think the corporation owns the content, and the users that produce the content in the subreddits. The facade is gone, pay one mod and Reddit unravels even faster.
Modding, especially on larger subs, is a PITA and takes way more time than most people think. You can always find users who say they will do it but in my experience with across several 1M+ subs most new mods will either drop out or go inactive in 3 weeks or less.
Less popular subs in the 250k user range will sometimes only get 1 or 2 volunteers and sometimes no one at all.
It isn’t nearly as easy to replace moderators as you’re making it out to be.
I do agree with you. It could take a while for them to find someone to mod any sub. I was not trying to be too specific with how long. Just that eventually they will find someone to do it. I probably should have been more clearer about that. It was just was my 2 cents.
Spez is a narcissist. Why give him your labor for free?
Sure, they may get another sucker to do it for free, why be a narcissist’s sucker?
If he’s abused these mods, he’ll abuse those mods. And yes, he could get AI to do this, but then again, years ago* (Steve H became CEO in 2015) we were promised a better Reddit app. Like the music business, Reddit is constantly losing money, unwilling to change, but still around.
*I would link it, but for some reason, U/Spez’s history stops 3 years ago. I’m sure it’s a Reddit glitch that will be fixed just like the better Reddit app that’s waiting for us under the rainbow.
https://www.reddit.com/user/spez
Probably a bribe of free reddit coins or a Reddit+ subscription for being a scab.
Why bother doing that when an AI will do it
This might actually be the reason they started this.
That would make the decision even more short sighted.
It won’t end with AI moderation, It will end with moderation that is very exploitable, bad to adjust to all subreddits and because of this whole mess they will drive community engagement into the ground. And that is without even so much as taking a peak on the possible affects to the IPO. It’s gonna be mess, even if the platform survives.
You are not wrong, but I can totally see a ceo saying “yeah with AI we do not need mods”, and then risking it.
To that I say: why brother posting when an AI will do it?
The AI that media is talking about generating text that looks very much like what a human would write. There might be other AI capable of moderating, but this is not it.
The LLM could be used to pretend there are users if one day they would go somewhere else.