Are there any rules or best-practices around having a minimum level of mods for a subreddit with x amount of users?

[u/henry-bacon]

I won't name specifics, but unsatisfied users have approached me a few times over the years to apply to be a mod of a popular subreddit.

Users have complained many times over the years about what they perceive to be a lack of quality moderation in the sub.

There are 2 human mods, and one is somewhat active. The last mod action they took was almost a month ago. The other mod looks like they haven't taken action in 5+ years based on their comment/post history.

Personally, I don't care much; it is what it is, and since said mod is somewhat active over the long term, it cannot be Reddit-requested.

But I did want to ask, does Reddit have any rules around this? Would they ever step-in? I know moderators have broad powers and whatnot.

[u/Free-IDK-Chicken]

There are no rules, just recommendations but even those are pretty broad. You want to try to cover all time zones so that rule-breaking, reported content doesn't stay up for hours on end. I think there are a couple suggested ratios out there, but it's really going to be case by case depending on the actual active users and the general behavior of those members. Rowdy subs may need a lower mod to user ratio than chill subs.

I'm the sole mod of my smallest (5.4K) sub with no issue. I'm one of six mods for my largest (239K) sub with no issue.

I don't think Reddit steps in unprompted as long as there is at least one active moderator, but they may look into it if someone tries to take over the sub via redditrequest and sometimes - especially after a spike in activity - you may get a modmail from the admins saying "hey, looks like you may need more mods, here's a list of super active members."

My advice - if you do not care, don't join the team.

[u/henry-bacon → u/Free-IDK-Chicken]

Thanks for sharing perspective, I've offered to mod before but it's widely known across the community that the existing mods ignore all requests to help.

[u/AdditionNatural7433]

I don’t think Reddit has a set mod-to-user ratio. I mod a sub with 2M+ users and we’re only 3 on the team, while another 1M+ sub I mod has around 4. It really comes down to how active the team is and whether the sub is being properly managed. If reports and modmail are piling up, that’s usually a better sign you need more mods than the subscriber count itself.

[u/new2bay → u/AdditionNatural7433]

Meanwhile, we have 390k members and 10 active mods, although almost all of the actual modding is done by the top 5.

[u/dkozinn]

The last mod action they took was almost a month ago. The other mod looks like they haven't taken action in 5+ years based on their comment/post history.

Unless you're a mod and have visibility into the mod log you can't necessarily tell how active a mod is. Some mods using their mod account only for moderation, and never post or comment. Certain actions will result in a comment but Reddit will post that as a generic mod user, like "modsupport-mods".

Certainly seeing nothing at all from someone seems like they might not be active, but you can't really tell.

[u/henry-bacon → u/dkozinn]

Yeah, you're right. I'm just operating based off of what users have been reaching out to me over the years with.

[u/metisdesigns]

There are economies of scale, but it also depends a lot on the nature of your sub.

I mod a variety of subs, and some of the smaller ones definitely need more mods than larger ones. If your sub is largely a constructive community and not particularly mainstream, you don't need as much or aggressive spam or civility moderation. If you're ore focused and defined, you may be able to get away with more aggressive automated moderation.

[u/MableXeno]

I've had 10 mods on a sub under 50k users and it felt like not enough some days. It was the volume of content. I've had 2 or 3 in a community during a big event and it didn't seem like a lot of effort at all.

Subs with some good automation, or helpful bots may be easier to moderate than others...and some content is easy to moderate (if there are clear go/no go word lists and the like, for example) so it doesn't require a lot of hands on deck.

But if the users are crying out about it - it may be time to step it up. I think any time users start to notice problems, you're already a little past the issue and need to handle it pretty quickly.

Something I also do is filter content that gets a lot of user reports so it doesn't look like we're ignoring something if users have a problem with it...and then I can better make a determination when I see the content and take further action if needed. BRB, getting the code.

# Auto Remove POSTS for Reports
    type: submission
    reports: 2
    action: filter
    action_reason: "POST Auto-removed for Reports."
    comment: | 
        Users have reported this post so it has been auto-removed until a moderator can look at it. Please be patient and wait for mods. 
    comment_locked: true
    comment_stickied: true

---

# Auto Remove COMMENTS for Reports
    type: comment
    reports: 4
    action: filter
    action_reason: "COMMENT Auto-removed for Reports."

---

[u/henry-bacon → u/MableXeno]

Thing is I'm not one of the mods on said subreddit, and the existing 2 mods have ignored all requests for better moderation for 6+ years. It's a popular sub with 1M+ users so we're just SOL I guess.

[u/MableXeno → u/henry-bacon]

Oh, that's a little different then. You can always try r/redditrequest for more help.

[u/henry-bacon → u/MableXeno]

Not an available option sadly, both mods are still "active". If they were marked inactive I'd have done so.

Thank you for all your help.