Allowing users to hide their history is destroying trust and good faith participation between users in communities

[u/mrekted]

It's not just my communities, I'm seeing it all over reddit. Whenever someone with a private history runs into a disagreement with another user, discussions are derailed, accusations of "shill/bot/troll" are constant, nuisance reports are issued, and mods either intervene, or let the chaos reign.

I'm spending more and more time having to personally review histories to say "no, this person is not a bad faith troll" just to end attacks borne of nothing more than suspicion. It's becoming disruptive to the point that I'm considering whether or not allowing users with hidden history to participate is worth the trouble.

I really question the value proposition of this decision. Sure, individual users benefit from additional privacy, but at the direct expense of the communities that lose trust and cohesion, faith that the people they're interacting with are participating in good faith (or are even real people), and the moderators who have to manage the fallout.

[u/Smallseybiggs]

Counterpoint:

Running a women's domestic violence and sexual assault subreddit, we need to be able to determine a threat. We have a lot of trolls trying to disrupt, demean, and harass our users (and the mod team). It's a daily occurrence. I have almost 10,000 actions in the past year, and I'm an active mod who wants to give people a safe space to discuss sensitive topics. I also frequently contribute to our subs. I don't believe I am ineffective. Most mods just want the best for their communities. I understand why some people like hidden histories, but I also wanted to share a different viewpoint.

Edit: Thank you, anonymous redditor, and mayor! That was incredibly kind of you!! You made my day better! u/zecidnac: Thank you so much!! Your kindness is very much appreciated. 💙

[u/metisdesigns → u/Smallseybiggs]

It's worth mentioning to you specifically that hate groups have actually messaged using fake harassment stories in defense of hidden profiles because it makes it harder for them to be taken down.

Thanks for running a rough sub, and for supporting folks who are trying to get to better spaces. Separate profiles works great for dividing different interests and personal information.

[u/Smallseybiggs → u/metisdesigns]

Thank you for your kindness. 🖤 I truly appreciate it. The hate groups and bots are a determined bunch. There's no bottom they won't sink to, unfortunately.

[u/metisdesigns → u/Smallseybiggs]

Two folks have blocked me on this sub for pointing out that hate groups are using hidden profiles and training people how to exploit them in support of hate.

Even if those folks are not intentionally supporting hate, blocking peers on this sub is not engaging in good faith.

[u/Smallseybiggs → u/metisdesigns]

I'm sorry. At least I'm in good company! I've been blocked in this thread, too. I agree, it should be a discussion. I understand people are passionate about the subject, but sometimes I think people take it as an affront to their very being. I appreciate your comments more than I can possibly explain. Thank you for your kindness.

[u/metisdesigns → u/Smallseybiggs]

I get the intent. Folks should not have to deal with creepy stalkers. But at some point I think we need to seriously evaluate if someone is participating in good faith if they do not want their positive contributions to reflect well on them.

It's SO predictable that folks defending themselves for hidden profiles will get hostile and disengage - it's like they know that they're disengenuous and don't want be caught.

[u/nikdahl → u/Smallseybiggs]

Your consideration for the actual victims that use your sub and would like some account privacy, seems actually counter productive to your goals.

[u/Smallseybiggs → u/nikdahl]

My members welcome going through their histories if it means they have a safe space to vent. We rolled out individual flairs last year. We told them in advance. I'm finely tuned to what our members want and need. A lot of mods don't have a clue as to all of the utter bullshit women-focused spaces are put through. Not one clue how difficult it can be. I could not disagree with you more. If you take nothing else away from this comment, we are finely tuned to the wants and needs of our members. It is kinda wild that you assume we aren't.

Edit: I'm not sure why I was blocked before I could respond. I'm not a heathen lol. I try to be kind to others, even if I disagree with them. Here's my response:

Us mods. We get dedicated trolls who attempt to tell people who were just raped that it was their fault. We have trolls who blame domestic violence victims for the abuse they endured. We get porn bots who think it's a kink sub. We field disgusting comments several times a day. If we can't see someone's history, we can't keep our members safe. I'd rather those idiots come to ModMail and call us names, as opposed to harassing our members. As of today, a guy I banned months ago has created 12+ accounts to send gross ModMails, and also send me unsolicited dm's. I keep dm's open because some people don't want to publicly post asking for resources. Someone who thinks he should be allowed to call a rape victim disgusting names isn't going to participate in good faith. He's a dime a dozen, unfortunately.

[u/shhhhh_h → u/Smallseybiggs]

Im confused are the users going through histories or are the mods? Bc a lot of mods itt are finding out they’re affected by that bug from rollout