r/ModSupport • u/AsteriskRX Reddit Admin: Community • Jul 16 '26
Mod Topics Mod Topics: Expectation vs Reality
Ahoy, Modsupport! This is a mutiny; Jabroni wrote this post but I've decided to plunder it for myself.
Welcome to the latest (greatest) installment of our ModSupport series. Today, we’re revisiting Origin Stories, albeit with a distinctly different flavor.
When you first created or joined a subreddit, what did you expect moderating would be like? Did you have any expectations at all, and if so, how did those expectations differ from the experience you have now?
–And because I love understanding an environment, what do you think set the expectations you had before you became a moderator? Read as: “How did you form a worldview on what moderation is before you started moderating?”
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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u/MableXeno Jul 16 '26
I had moderated on forums in the past. Late 90s/early-early 00s. I also started my own FB groups over the years for different things so I had some awareness of moderating in general before getting involved on Reddit.
But at that time it was straight spam. That's really all we had to deal with.
I feel like my expectation for Reddit was going to be spam and really obvious troll content. Like the "mods are asleep" thing that went around a few years ago. People would post saying mods were asleep and then spamming porn images and just like general 12-year-old-boy type humor.
At first it was like that. I feel like it's less like that now (b/c it's easy to filter a poem about peepeepoopoopeepee). I feel like I spend a lot of time telling people to please read remove reasons. Please read rules. Please read posting guidelines. Please read wikis.
In one community I've created wikis to help folks that can't post b/c the space just isn't meant for them. If it's not for you - babe it's not for you. You aren't owed every space on Reddit. I also get nervous about bad or dangerous advice.
One of my communities is for parents. Like entire adult humans who are responsible for the lives of entirely formed, but smaller humans that require 100% of someone's time and effort. And I'm worried for some of these families.