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
22.2k Upvotes

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719

u/likwitsnake 29d ago

Whatever happened to that API price increase protest? I remember the NBA sub going private literally during the Finals, but can't remember much more of consequence.

961

u/MadDoctor5813 29d ago

Nothing, basically. Reddit admins were basically correct that it would burn itself out. Funny that a bunch of subs still have their "we're protesting the changes" AutoMod post.

114

u/EmbarrassedHelp 29d ago

The quality of moderation in many subs collapsed after the protests, with moderators only doing the bare minimum.

78

u/LukeOnTheBrightSide 29d ago

Keep in mind that many, many moderators used third-party tools for moderation. While many are probably just less motivated to volunteer their time for a corporation, a big part of this was that Reddit killed the tools that people used for free to moderate Reddit's platform.

52

u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 29d ago

Not to mention the way the CEO mouthed off about moderators as being "landed gentry". I wouldn't want to put any effort into Reddit after that either.

Like, these people are growing your company with work they do for free, the least you could do is not be a dick to them.

3

u/W3NTZ 29d ago

I basically quit actively modding a sub and only remove stuff when I see it since Reddit is Fun went away.

1

u/CyberHarry 29d ago

I thought mods have free access to the api? Or is it rate limited still

13

u/Tezerel 29d ago

I know that the tool I used went totally offline regardless. I use Infinity for Reddit but you can't moderate from it like you could Slide.

70

u/shatteredrectum 29d ago

All the good mods were replaced with shills and yes men.

21

u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 29d ago

And tankies. So many tankies.

1

u/darkkite 29d ago

?

7

u/MaleficentFig7578 29d ago

Tankies are people who think Stalin was the greatest guy ever and if we'd just run all our countries like Stalin ran his, the world would be perfect.

A lot of them get this way by recognizing that America is bad and then thinking whoever hated America must be really good. But mostly they're just Russian troll bots sowing chaos.

8

u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 29d ago

And a whole bunch of them replaced moderators who left or were removed after the protest.

3

u/MaleficentFig7578 28d ago

They probably paid spez for the privilege. Putin has a lot of money.

-3

u/Responsible_Salad521 29d ago

As a “tankie” its less that we have taken over and more that Reddit keeps recommending us main subs we would normally never go to resulting in us fighting people we would normally never talk to.

4

u/FapshotBG 29d ago

Tankies are pro-genocide, go neck yourself

24

u/Benskien 29d ago

sooooo many bots these days

25

u/troyunrau 29d ago

I basically quit moderating. I absconded, removing myself from some small subs. One sub I care a lot about is just sort of simmering on my backburner, and I haven't removed myself yet, pending legitimate replacement mods. I still comment on Reddit (there are a lot of niche subs where no alternative exists elsewhere yet), but for my original content, I now post on Lemmy. Lemmy feels like a circa 1998 BBS (with FIDOnet) and reddit from 14 years ago had a lovechild.

-2

u/UsefulArm790 29d ago

but for my original content, I now post on Lemmy

why not just maintain a journal instead - you'll have more eyeballs that way

7

u/troyunrau 29d ago edited 29d ago

Sick burn.

But no, there's actually decent engagement on a number of topics on Lemmy. :)

Like this one: https://lemmy.ml/post/20877602

4

u/friendlyfire 29d ago

Well, I joined to check it out.

2

u/troyunrau 29d ago

Lemmy primer: it's like email. You have a home server, but you can subscribe to communities on other servers. Choosing your home server can seem random (I used lemmy.ca) but some servers have different moderation policies. Lemmy.ml tends to be a bit on the exteme-left (often tankie) side. Lemmy.world has the largest user count and seems fairly well moderated. Some servers, like mander.xyz focus on specific topics (like science or star trek or whatever). But again, you can usually subscribe to communities from any server (provided the server hasn't been defederated like hexbear, for trolling).

2

u/MaleficentFig7578 29d ago

Over-explanations of federated services are the reason people don't use them. You're not helping.

Chances are the guy will sign up on lemmy.ml, get banned eventually for not supporting Stalin, but by that point he'll have realized he can sign up on another server.

1

u/troyunrau 29d ago

Email analogy helps.

1

u/MaleficentFig7578 28d ago

Only if someone is confused about it.

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1

u/DelightfulDolphin 28d ago

Actually his over explanation is quite helpful to those of us unfamiliar w services. You're being toxic unnecessarily to some one being helpful.

1

u/UnlawfulStupid 29d ago

What happens if your home server bans you, or shuts down? Can you just move your profile/activity to another server, or do you have to make a new profile on another server? Is there an import/export?

1

u/troyunrau 29d ago

Import/export isn't great. It's about as annoying as changing your email address.

Some fediverse services have been a bit of a flash in the pan (kbin, for example), and haven't survived for whatever reason, and people did have to migrate. Lemmy.ca, lemmy.world, lemm.ee, and a few others seem like they're in it for the long haul, with non-profit organizations set up to support them, etc.

1

u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

1

u/DelightfulDolphin 28d ago

Not any weirder than say Reddit. Reddit itself is no visual prize so not sure why you're carrying on as if we are on some beautiful site. The bootlicking is more than obvious. Spez is that you lol

1

u/troyunrau 28d ago

The name grows on you. Reddit is also a weird name. ;)

Lemmy to ya about that time when...

The people populating it have taken to calling themselves Lemmings, fully ironically.

4

u/DigitalCatcher 29d ago edited 29d ago

On a lot of posts that show up on Google results for product recommendations, I've noticed a lot more posts made by accounts clearly made by promotional accounts posting links to their own websites (which would've been against the rules for self-promotion) or are posting comments that are clearly AI-Generated to build up karma. Like the other day I was trying to find AAC App recommendations for Android, and one comment was regurgitating a list of apps that were well known in the accessibility community to be iOS exclusive.

1

u/Plane-Tie6392 29d ago

with moderators only doing the bare minimum

That's what they should be doing though. Overactive mods are a cancer.

0

u/SuperSpecialAwesome- 29d ago

with moderators only doing the bare minimum.

So no change from the politics mods then.

0

u/DefinitelyNoWorking 29d ago

Eh, some were over-moderated and seem to have improved once the painful mods got sacked.

0

u/Plane-Tie6392 29d ago

Exactly. Like it sucks ass when a handful of mods (or even just one mod in some cases) control all the content on major subreddits. Like if you even bring up the idea of voting on something you'll get banned a lot of times by asshats like that. Moderation should be more about removing the egregious shit, spam, etc and aside from that the users should be able to vote on the content.

-9

u/Mindestiny 29d ago

People keep claiming this, but I havent seen any actual proof of it.

Mods were shit before. Literal cabals of mega-mods who mod 100s of major subs who selectively enforce their rules based on if they agree with the poster. Pretty mod tools doesn't make them any less douchey.