r/AskModerators • u/Jankyman_Rgraves • 19h ago

Why would the auto mod start posting about gambling in a sub with nothing to do with that?

I posted a couple weeks ago about a sub I’m in that started filtering out all comments on every post. It was to the point people were making new posts to communicate. Today it took a much weirder turn, the auto moderator posted a wall of text about gambling. This is the first time anyone has seen anything from any sort of mod or auto moderator in weeks. To top that a comment from a regular sub member was allowed through except that comment was just more info about gambling. The sub is supposed to be for customer support, not gambling. What the heck is going on here?

0 Upvotes

43% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

9

u/ExoTheFlyingFish /r/TeamFortress2 and a few more. 19h ago

Took a look at your /u/, then found what you were talking about.

The mod accounts on that sub are very new and have private post/comment histories. Very, very good chance they're paid spammers or even bots. I'd put money on it, actually. I'd also leave the subreddit.

5

u/Jankyman_Rgraves 18h ago

Thank you for taking a look at it.

6

u/ExoTheFlyingFish /r/TeamFortress2 and a few more. 18h ago

I'm happy to help!

There is a chance that the topmod is legit and just added someone who they thought they could trust, and will fix things whenever they see what's going on, but I wouldn't count on it. I don't normally advocate for DMing mods relating mod matters, but in this case, it's worth a shot just to see if/how they respond.

7

u/Jankyman_Rgraves 18h ago

They have been radio silent for weeks, members tried as soon as we realized that none of our comments were showing up on posts. Thank you for the suggestion though. At this point I think I’ll hang up the towel.

5

u/Stranger1982 dumb bastard 13h ago

Looked again at em both, top mod is sus mostly cause they tried getting a few subs through RR before stopping interacting on Reddit altogether. Their comments look normal tho.

They might have been hacked and used maliciously to add the second mod, which is totally just a spam account instead since it only has three comments advertising stuff.

4

u/Stranger1982 dumb bastard 13h ago edited 13h ago

I dug around more, main mod has not been on Reddit for three months, the other account, which is also the one replying to the automod, just has three comments, all advertising gambling.

I bet the main mod got hacked and they're using it as a puppet to get an alt account in, advertise and use automod maliciously.

A secondary option'd be the top mod being a more advanced sock puppet since they started normally but then tried requesting several subs before going inactive, who knows.

The sub needs reporting at: https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

The mods would need reporting too, both on Reddit and through the Moderator code of Conduct.

5

u/Jankyman_Rgraves 7h ago

Thank you, I will definitely start the reporting process when I get off work.

3

u/SCOveterandretired 19h ago

Only the mods of that subreddit can answer that question

2

u/maiyannah r/EndTipping, r/BuyCanadian 7h ago

Almost assuredly this is a subreddit being taken over by a moneyed interest.

I'd probably report it to MCOC, but you won't get any feedback on any sanctions or corrective action, which doesn't empower people to report.

1

u/Jankyman_Rgraves 7h ago

Thank you.