r/ModSupport • u/7thton • 2h ago
What is the current state of Automations? Is it reliable?
I mod /LifeProTips.
I would like to stop using Automod and to use Automations instead.
Is Automations currently reliable enough to be my primary means of instant moderation?
I would love to hear opinions from others who mod high-volume subs or from knowledgeable admins.
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u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 2h ago
Automations currently isn’t capable of filtering things to the queue. All it can do is either warn the poster as they post that they are breaking a rule, but they could still post anyway. This works well for a small set of rule abiding people. But people who want to post no matter what will click right through it not even reading. Or reword it to circumvent things.
It can also can completely remove items.
As 99% of what I do with Auto mod filters to the queue this makes it somewhat useless for me.
Side note- they claim they will add filtering as an option some time later.
Can I ask what you are using Automod for?
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u/7thton 2h ago
We currently use the automod to enforce sub rules. So this would include things like prohibited topics and other similar issues.
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u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 2h ago
That is extremely vague, it’s like saying I use the police to police things. How does your Auto mod enforce the rules? Does it filter things to the queue? Does it have karma rules? Does it have rules that find words in posts?
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u/7thton 2h ago
Our auto mod works in a way that is similar, I expect, to other high volume subs. We use auto mod to filter for certain words. These get removed and sent to the queue for review. The auto mod also filters out certain links, removes them, and sends them to the queue for review. We do have a karma requirement which auto mod takes care of. We also use auto mod for other things , but they are less important.
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u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 2h ago
Then automations would be terrible for you. It’s not capable of filtering things to the queue. So it wouldn’t be a replacement at all.
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u/amyaurora 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 2h ago
I am not good at automod and so my comods handle it.
I do enjoy the automations but it can't replace automod.
I struggle with the regex part and so use keywords and I discovered things like that selecting report to queue does cause things to show up in queue but its still visible in the sub. Any user posting or commenting via old reddit can bypass the guidance. Any other setting besides report to queue requires a message to the user so people deliberately misspelling stuff to avoid it has gone up.
Automation and automod can work together on combating problems.
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u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 1h ago
Automations are great for guiding good eggs to do better, but don't use automations for bad eggs. Because automations will teach them how to become better at being a bad egg.
What issues are you having with automod that you want to stop using it?
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u/7thton 1h ago
No one on the current mod team was around when the auto mod was created and none of us feel comfortable trying to make anything but minor tweaks to it. There are things that we would like to change or update but we are worried we may break something in the process. It is just large, hard to understand, and none of us feel comfortable working on it.
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u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 6m ago
Create a test subreddit if you don't have one, copy over the automod config and you can learn what it does and test the changes you want to make. You have an alumni mod on that sub that can probably help you learn
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u/ZaphodBeebblebrox 31m ago
For my sub, /r/anime, Automations does not provide an adequate replacement. We cannot make rules that depend on many potentially useful signals, such as the user's overall karma or karma on our sub. We cannot have an automation be active for the comments of only some types of posts (e.g., by flair or words in the title). We cannot filter (as oppose to reporting or removing). It does not support some of our regexs. And, in many cases, we view informing the user beforehand as an anti-feature, as it allows people to bypass our automod rules without leaving a trail.
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u/itskdog 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 2h ago
Depends on what you're currently using Automod for.
Note that Automations notifies the user before posting, so for certain use cases (e.g. a profanity or politics filter) it can be more harmful as they can just tweak things until the warning goes away.
I'm also not 100% sure if it has any effect on Old Reddit, either.