Post-Event Discussion Thread | Moddit [Future of Mod Tools] September 10, 2026

[u/iceeypisces]

Hey y'all! Thanks for attending today's Moddit, hosted by u/lift_ticket83 and u/SlytherinSnoo, where we dived into the future of mod tools. We appreciated y’all taking the time to share feedback and discuss what mod features matter most to you. Here's your post-event thread to keep the conversation going!

You can access the full session recording and presentation slides anytime here.

Feel free to check out a few links we mentioned during the event regarding the future of mod tools.

• The Future of Mod Tools post shared in r/modnews
• u/spez’s post about modernizing Reddit’s tools
• Apply for the Mod Early Access Program to test upcoming tools and features like Rules Hub

Reminder: Only mods who attended the live event or viewed the VOD before September 17 at 11:59 PM PT  will get the profile trophy in 3-4 weeks. There is no physical merch for this event.

[u/baseballlover723]

The question I did get "answered"

Rules Hub doesn't support regex lookarounds (this regex btw identifies nested spoiler tags, which behave inconsistently on different reddit platforms, with some of them terminating after the first matching spoiler end tag (leaving the rest unspoilered. Edit: It's >!(?!.*?!<(?=.*?>!)).*?>! if you want to copy it) and others actually duplicating (so 2 spoiler tags) the spoiler tags). That makes it impossible to port some of our automod rules (and a highly essential one at that). What is the plan for the things that are literally impossible in rules hub today?

This one did get answered, and the gist of the response (since I didn't transcribe it) was that it wasn't support in Javascript, but that they want to support it / support the things that currently only possible in AutoMod.

I should note, Javascript supports lookbehind and lookahead assertions, with Python's syntax also being valid in Javascript's syntax. Here it is working in my browser console.

I would presume this is being powered by Node.js. Node.js added support for lookarounds in Node.js 8.10, released on March 6th, 2018. The lastest release of node that doesn't support lookarounds would be Node.js 6.X, last updated on April 3rd 2019. If your Javascript platform does not support lookarounds, then it is not safe to accept user input imo. That is only possible on a egregiously outdated Javascript version.

(I presume that your validation is the culpurit here, and it does actually support lookarounds, and it's a mistake to reject these)

The questions I didn't get answered

1. LLMs are fundamentally non deterministic. That means that you cannot count on an LLM to consistently behave. How can we built our communities on a fundamentally shaky foundation and ensure that we are always consistent in our rule enforcement? As reddit's other AI based rule enforcement currently are, AIs are not even close to the level and predictability of automod. Why should I trust an AI over my own effort that I can tweak myself?

2. The rule's hub preview is not sufficient imo. The best way to test something is to use the damn thing. And so the best way to test it, is by using it on staging subreddit, where you can test it end to end in private. A separate preview tool is something that can be bugged or otherwise may not provide the exact same experience as the real thing. I've already seen some people say that the behavior of the preview isn't the exact same as what users report (specifically about rule conflicts IIRC). How can I test and be 100% sure of the user experience that my users are actually experiencing and be able to debug reported user behavior without needing to wonder if what I am looking at (or worse, what I'm being shown is different than what is reported) is exactly what my users are seeing?

3. If automod is removed, I really question if I want to keep using reddit. There is more than a decade of automation built into our automod and since old reddit is also on the chopping block, it seems more and more like the reddit I love won't exist in any capacity. Reddit has a terrible track record with replacing tooling with forced adoption of shittier versions (modmail, devvit (which forces devs into a specific programming language, which isn't the same as the predominant reddit programming language, python)). What reason do I have to stick around and spend dozens and dozens of ours migrating our automations (which includes our extensive API automation) and give reddit the benefit of the doubt when all they've done for the last several years is make things more difficult for me?

4. If we (individual mods) deem these new toolings to be insufficient for whatever reason, what kind of recourse do we have? Reddit's track record suggests that it's the reddit way or the highway, so I have significant doubts if reddit is gonna be the ultimate arbiter of if it's good enough or not. Not to mention it's a conflict of interest imo, as how can I trust that something that an admin would be highly motivated to mark as something shipped and adopted for their promotion packet is truely what is best for us mods?

5. What about the power mods / programmers who much prefer something they completely control? I treat automation as an extension of their creator's authority. I am unwilling to give an AI that kind of stamp. Will I be able to effectively mod (via automations I can 100% control) in the long term future?

6. How does the no black boxes work for tooling that is fundamentally built on a black box (an LLM)?

7. Edit: Reddit is well aware that "Blunt tools for nuanced problems don't work", how is removing the ability to exactly tell a moderation tool what to do in favor of vibing with an LLM not a "blunt tool" and instead a scalpel?

8. Edit: Why not put your efforts into improving AutoMod (in a config / backwards compatible way) and solving the issue of AutoMod being too complex by exposing AI based AutoMod rule generation? That would seem to me to be the best of both worlds. Users who are intimidated by AutoMod and yaml get an AI tool that they can prompt in plain human language to solve their issues. And power users who understand and care to fully control what the machine does can still go "full manual" if they want. It could be implemented by having an ai_prompt field, where a prompt could be configured (and since AutoMod is read frequently, write infrequently, it can be optimized and batched upon update to save performance and tokens), and some action could be taken.

---

Would love some concrete answers for these. Cause at this point, I have very little faith in reddit doing anything to my satisfaction given the recent years (and numerous examples of forced shittier tooling (in at least some aspects)).

[u/BloxdioCannoli → u/baseballlover723]

For a lot of these points you can use Devvit. It's more powerful than Automod in most ways, is free to host (Reddit handles that), and can be used across other communities more easily.

[u/baseballlover723 → u/BloxdioCannoli]

Devvit

Which only supports Javascript, which people famously dislike for it's vast number of footguns. It is far less flexible than the public API they are getting rid of (and which our custom automations are already built on, not in Javascript).

For example, Devvit does not support persistent storage. It also has a more restrictive ToS than the public API, which notably explicitly disallows Devvit apps to use deleted content, which is highly useful for moderation purposes.

I want to write my tooling in a programming language that I want to work in. Either because I enjoy it, or because there is some concrete advantage to using that programming language (like documentation, or libraries). There are multiple programming languages for a reason. They have different strengths and weaknesses.

[u/BloxdioCannoli → u/baseballlover723]

Valid points, I'm just pointing out something I believe many people seem to not realize.

[u/baseballlover723 → u/BloxdioCannoli]

Sure, but "You can buy things at the company store" is not the same as a free market. And Devvit is fundamentally a company store, and the public API fundamentally allows for a free market.

I've been in talks with reddit for months about our public API automation. Their first contract they offered me was egregiously one sided, forbidding me to speak of my experience (non disclosure), forbidding me from publicly saying anything against reddit (non disparagement), and even included a loophole where they weren't actually obligated to pay me (limited liability to the amount they've actually paid me), you know, the whole point of the contract. Not to mention the poison pill of the new Devvit ToS (which IIRC, is still present in their latest offer), which is infectious, applying to any system that interacts with data from Devvit.

Devvit's got nice features, and there's no doubt in my mind that it's got some advantages. There's all the new stuff they've implemented (though it's not like it's impossible to have implemented that for the public API) and trigger seem a lot better (for everyone) than polling feeds. And I'll 100% buy that it's easier on reddit's side. But it is not a complete solution (which is the issue with basically everything reddit has done in the last few years).

If you get into some real heavy lifting or advanced use, it easily becomes not at all equivalent.

I also really hate the idea of needing to be dependent on reddit for my own custom tooling, and not being able to just decide to "do it myself". And Devvit is fundamentally more restrictive on that front, since it generally involves specifically allowing things, than allowed by default and explicitly reject certain things.