moderators are the heart of productive reddits actually being productive, this is what happens when you stop modding.
Reddit can give in to their demands, or let the users whine at them to cross a picket line, but the value is rapidly hemorrhaging a month before IPO (when they go on the public stock market).
this will not go unheard by other platforms. whether that leads to a better playing field or widespread crackdowns are up to us
in an interview with The Verge, CEO Steve Huffman said that, while the platform allows the protests, “the users are not in support of it now. It’s like a protest in a city that goes on too long, and the rest of the citizens of the city would like to go about their lives.”
In an interview with NBC News, Huffman characterized moderators as “landed gentry.” And some mods have felt threatened by messages sent to them by the company.
and thus, as he forces subreddits to reopen, they've found other ways
Thousands of subreddits have reopened; one tracker indicates only about 3,300 remain private or restricted. But switching to NSFW creates a new level of friction in reopened communities.
r/TIHI removed a rule that forbids “extreme NSFW content,” according to a pinned post on the subreddit. “We feel we have been too restrictive with our content, especially on the NSFW side of things, so we have removed this rule. As long as it’s legal under U.S. law, and you hate it, we encourage you to post it.” As you can imagine, the subreddit has some gross stuff now.
r/formula1 reopened on Tuesday. “Formula 1 is known for, both in the past and today, to include certain risque imagery that fall within the NSFW space,” a mod wrote in a post. “Switching our classification means Reddit’s age verification shields underage users from being exposed to content considered harmful.”
these guys are too dense to realize the level of coordination each step of this demonstrates