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JonAce t1_j9fawdr wrote

Reply to comment by ThreeLittlePuigs in Monthly Discussion Thread - Month of February, 2023 by AutoModerator

This is an unfortunate, but solid example of how reddit's mod hierarchy is fundamentally broken since it relies upon one person being able to listen to reason and not abuse their unilateral power. Modding should always be a group effort.

Thank you for sharing!

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MajorFogTime t1_j9fu8ua wrote

I can corroborate what he said. I was the mod who got removed for getting into an argument about the rules. The mod removed for not doing the mod trainings was one of the most active and long-standing mods in the community. "Lack of activity" was not a valid reason to unmod them.

Also for the record, I wanted to have an earnest discussion about changing the rules. My intent was not to cause some kind of "mutiny" or to not follow the rules. I always enforced the rules as written even if I didn't totally agree with them.

Unfortunately the way Reddit works is that the moderator with the highest seniority (i.e., been mod the longest) has supreme power. This was the entire issue we had last time with the previous head mod who was taking action without consulting anyone else.

I'm kind of over it and have no ill will towards the guy who unmodded me (which is why I've refrained from commenting on this until now) but I'm ashamed to say a comment in the volunteer thread this morning kind of triggered me and I had to reply to it. I don't like people who make judgements (and pretentious ones at that) without knowing all the details.

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TheNormalAlternative t1_j9g3p05 wrote

>I'm ashamed to say a comment in the volunteer thread this morning kind of triggered me and I had to reply to it.

Funny how "reply to it" means reply to this thread instead of to the commenter, i.e., me. I hope you realize how pedantic it is to tell someone "not to make assumptions," while also at the same time, keeping your knowledge on the matter yourself.

Anyway, now that I've seen a partial explanation, I both agree and disagree with the facts presented above. It seems petty to remove an active mod for no attending a "training" over the holidays - honestly, requiring trainings in the first place seems like a bit much.

But as a frequent and active user of this sub, I find it annoying that the moderators are trying to "relax the rules" - r/newyorkcity exists for people who don't mind the clutter that comes with a more relaxed set of rules. You say you wanted to "have a discussion" but also admit it became an "argument." Well, did any of the other mods side with your position or were you a lone wolf trying to change rules that exist for a reason? How did it change from a discussion to an argument?

At the end of the day, if you don't "like people who make judgements (and pretentious ones at that) without knowing all the details," then share the details baby.

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ThreeLittlePuigs t1_j9g98vm wrote

Mods had been asking to talk about the rules for some time to no avail FYI. I can backup what "MajorFogTime" was saying. Although I mistakenly called him Frogman for the last few months we modded together, so apparently I'm an idiot.

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MajorFogTime t1_j9g5kko wrote

I'm not sure if you noticed, but the mod(s) were removing posts that were too off topic, so yes, I posted it here. I shouldn't have replied to your comment in that thread at all but I couldn't help myself. I let my emotions get the best of me and I'm sorry for that.

As for my position, yes, a lot of people expressed agreement. You can see above and via the removed messages in the other thread that a few other people expressed that their concerns weren't being heard.

I wasn't necessarily looking for changes to go through immediately but I wanted to have a discussion about it. Something like "hey, I appreciate your input but this wouldn't work for reasons X, Y, and Z" would have been good enough for me. What I got instead was "don't challenge my authority, I know better."

At the end of the day, it's all small beans, it's just being a mod. I'll admit that I was pretty salty at first but I've gotten over it. I don't agree with the head mod but I do believe he is doing what he thinks is best for the community, the intentions are good. I just don't like when people make assumptions like you did.

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TheNormalAlternative t1_j9g8f5m wrote

Sorry for your hatred of assumptions, but us common folk only know what moderators choose to make known, directly or indirectly, including responses to modmail and post moderating choices.

I was told via modmail in summer of 2021 that the rule against photos, which were relaxed during the pandemic, would be tightened back up. That never happened. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm on Reddit or Instagram.

Whether a news story makes it to the feed seems to depend on viewpoint more than subject matter. Posts about Alvin Bragg are not permitted, but posts about a stadium in Buffalo are.

In all due respect, my assumptions are not made in a vacuum. They are, IMO, reasonable inferences. If you want to correct a misunderstanding, by all means, but if I see a colorful bird quacking on a lake, I'm going to guess it's a duck.

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EagleFly_5 t1_j9gbfj1 wrote

Just to make sure, the temporary relaxation of rule 3 during the pandemic was reinstated in August 2021, about a year and a half ago. Once upon a time r/NYCPics was founded as a subreddit for people to share photos on, and it’s working as intended. If not, there’s a litany of other subs to share photos: 5 individual borough subreddits (r/Manhattan, r/Brooklyn, r/Queens, r/StatenIsland, r/Bronx), individual neighborhood subreddits (r/LongIslandCity, r/Astoria, r/Harlem, etc), even r/NewYorkCity (which I also help moderate) on weekends! Same applies if people want a different choice on content to consume or share, so there’s always a choice if someone wants to go to another community, or just create a new subreddit - a lot more niche/specific interests to New York City has a subreddit by now, from asking questions, to hip hop, to food, to biking/Micromobility, making friends/hanging out/events/meeting w/ people, the list goes on.

I’ll keep my opinions to myself for the time being, but to be neutral, everyone could agree the subreddit rules could use some clarification for people to understand, and more moderators as we gradually grow into a larger community.

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MajorFogTime t1_j9g9tjb wrote

I mean, you could have done your own research and look at the removed posts in that thread. You didn't. You could have asked what the situation was (before making assumptions, not after), you didn't.

You chose to spend zero time looking into it and made assumptions. Weird that you're painting me out to be the unreasonable one for being agrieved by your assumptions.

I'm done with this conversation. You can ask the other mods for further input if you want, I don't intend to waste any more of my time on this. Have a good one!

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I_AM_TARA t1_j9p9ylo wrote

Hi! I’m another recently removed mod.

Any other mod can confirm that I have been spending the past year repeatedly asking for clarification on the rules and for the sidebar rules to be updated. As mods we were told to do things that weren’t even mentioned in the mod ruleslist.

I mentioned this in a removed comment but for a long time ticktock videos straight up were not allowed (not in the rules list) and then we were given a set of guidelines where ticktock videos would be allowed- but again those guidelines are still not in the rules.

Another recent issue was one was rule 1. There’s been a shift overtime in the headmod’s stance on what constitutes a bannable insult, but these changes again were never discussed with the mods nor were they put into the rules. Common sense would dictate that rule one means not to be unacceptably rude, however the head mod now intends for rule 1 to mean no insults at all.

I got in trouble on the discord for calling someone a “dingbat”. You calling someone a “baby” is a bannable offense now.

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sneakpeekbot t1_j9g3q9d wrote

Here's a sneak peek of /r/newyorkcity using the top posts of the year!

#1: Maria has been selling Kiwis and Mangos to her customers for 10 years. With everything going on, how is this a priority for anyone? | 886 comments
#2: love to see a real New Yorker testifying in front of the senate today | 241 comments
#3: Trash aesthetics | 65 comments

^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^Contact ^^| ^^Info ^^| ^^Opt-out ^^| ^^GitHub

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ThreeLittlePuigs t1_j9fb4n1 wrote

Agreed, one thing I learned is the collective mod Team absolutely should have more power than one user. That’s just silly to not have figured it out by Reddit. But it doesn’t effect their bottom line for now, so they don’t care.

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JonAce t1_j9jpcmx wrote

reddit IPO is later this year, so once the higher-ups cash out, this site's gonna fly downhill.

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ThreeLittlePuigs t1_j9jux8h wrote

Well since the time of this posting another mods been removed for seemingly no reason…..

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NetQuarterLatte t1_j9k16no wrote

That seems plausible.

IPO and section 230 could be forcing functions causing the push for "mod training".

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ThreeLittlePuigs t1_j9k2kd7 wrote

It's really not that complicated. The person who mandated the training wanted people out who didn't listen to them and so the training became a sort of litmus test.

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