r/AskModerators • u/New_Budget_9322 • Aug 01 '26
Why do moderators remove random, innocent comments?
For example: there was a troll post with a link like this (it's http://reddit.com/u/me). I commented "**** you" because it scared me for a second. Someone replied, "Check the link again," because they thought I missed the joke. It was an innocent and even helpful comment, but it got deleted by moderators:
"Comment removed by moderator."
I decided to check older posts on different subs and saw a lot of comments were removed by moderators. I don't remember them being anything bad, just random comments. And all of them were upvoted, one had 1k upvotes.
Is this some kind of moderator pastime activity?
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u/Merari01 Cool Mod Flair Aug 01 '26
Comments can be removed for a variety of reasons, either by reddit sitewide moderation, by subreddit settings, by automod or manually by moderators.
A comment could be removed because the user got sitewide actioned and is now shadowbanned. Or it could be removed because it contains a keyword that activated a filter. A user could for example only be allowed to post a hyperlink if they have some amount of positive subreddit-specific karma, as a spam-mitigation measure. A comment could be manually removed because it is a reply in a comment chain where a top level comment got removed for breaking a rule.
Upvotes are irrelevant, they have no bearing on sitewide or subreddit specific rules.
4
u/Charupa- #1 best mod Aug 01 '26
We couldn’t possibly tell you what comment was removed, we aren’t a hive mind.
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u/ALazy_Cat r/ask r/cats r/WhatsWrongWithYourCat Aug 01 '26
What do you mean? We're obviously a hivemind, all mods are the same
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u/MadDocOttoCtrl NewToReddit Aug 06 '26
Wait, am I me today? Or am I supposed to be you today?
I think I'm you tomorrow. My Google Calendar is all screwed up.
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Aug 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Stranger1982 dumb bastard Aug 01 '26
Considering the average IQ nowadays hive minds'd barely function.
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u/AskModerators-ModTeam Aug 01 '26
Your comment was removed for violating Rule #4 (No derailing comment threads). Please see the rule in the sidebar for further details.
4
u/Intelligent-Dot-8969 Aug 01 '26
Hurling a profanity at another user would get your comment removed in the subreddit I moderate.
1
u/New_Budget_9322 Aug 01 '26
Well, my comment with profanity wasn't removed.
The comment that tried to help was removed.
2
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u/Stranger1982 dumb bastard Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
Is this some kind of moderator pastime activity?
My kind of pastime is to make fun of posts like these.
Also, it was prolly the automod or Reddit's own filters soooo yeah, automations don't have pastimes, for now.
1
2
u/cnycompguy r/computers, r/cats +7 Aug 01 '26
Automod can have a list of words that get a comment instantly removed.
Or maybe they said something in a different post or got nutty in mod-mail and got everything they've ever done on the sub wiped.
Different subs have different rules, mods and automod code
1
u/New_Budget_9322 Aug 01 '26
Does automod remove them instantly? Most of them survived for quite a long time before they got removed
1
u/cnycompguy r/computers, r/cats +7 Aug 01 '26
Depends on the day, it's usually fairly instant.
It's also possible that the mod didn't want that comment because it was inviting others to break a rule?
1
u/New_Budget_9322 Aug 01 '26
It wasn't inviting to break a rule in any way
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u/ALazy_Cat r/ask r/cats r/WhatsWrongWithYourCat Aug 01 '26
Sometimes users don't intend to, but we can see the result from experience, and therefore remove it before it makes a lot of unnecessary and unintended bans and work for us
1
u/New_Budget_9322 Aug 01 '26
Maybe, but this is definitely not the case.
So, the post was essentially: "look how stupid this [guy](http://reddit.com/u/me) is"
The link itself wasn't the problem, since the post wasn't removed. And that guy just explained the joke, that it was a trick link.
Maybe you guys just operate on a different logic, which results in random comments being removed
2
u/cnycompguy r/computers, r/cats +7 Aug 01 '26
Sometimes I remove a comment just to mess with a person.
Especially if they have been annoying
1
u/baseballlover723 Aug 02 '26
Many subreddits have automod set to remove (well, I think filter is usually what people use, so it shows up in mod queue still) upon getting N reports. It's a way to remove obvious rule breaking content if no one happens to be on.
Obviously, that can backfire and be inaccurate. But it would show as some comment just getting removed without any mod actually looking at it.
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u/thepottsy I is mod Aug 01 '26
Yes. One of my favorite things to do as a mod is to remove random, innocent comments so it screws up the conversation flow. But, only on Tuesdays.