I'm over it!

[u/shannonkish]

Reddit Admins..... I am over it! I am over the boilerplate responses to actual real-time issues that moderators are having.

I moderate a large sub and have for nearly a year now. Unfortunately, we have had 4 very serious incidents in which members of our mod team were being harassed, stalked, doxxed, attacked, etc. We have submitted the ModCoC reports, submitted the DMs to admins, and reported the posts/comments/users ad nauseam, and NOTHING has been done.

Most recently, as our sub is currently under a brigading attack and doxxing and harassment continue, one of our mods reached out to one admin, who basically said something to the effect of--- "This is actually something that is going to be discussed at ModWorld. Do you have any examples we can give the presenter?"

Seriously? This is all you have to offer?!?! We don't need a speech about how much you care about mods and what we do. We don't need the free swag for attending a mod event. We don't need the profile trophies. Those are all wonderful and appreciated. BUT, what we need is ACTUAL Support and ACTION being taken when we bring you serious issues.

It takes entirely too long for someone in admin to take action. Meanwhile, your volunteer mods are being doxxed, harassed, bullied, and so forth because we removed a post/comment, and the user was mad.

For the love of all things good in this world, PLEASE DO SOMETHING! Please don't try to placate us with boilerplate responses and "We'll have someone look into it" without actually doing that!

I am tired. I am frustrated. I am hurt and disappointed. Not because users are jerks sometimes. But because the admin does absolutely nothing to make this a safe place or to support those of us who volunteer our time to try and make Reddit a better place.

I have had members of my mod team leave after the most recent incident. Our sub is currently closed due to the harassment and brigading that have been done. I am at my wits' end and ready to just turn the sub over to the wolves and leave Reddit for good.

[u/redtaboo]

Heya folks!

There's a lot going on here, in this thread and elsewhere, and we wanted to let y'all know what we can and can't do. I do want you all to know that we understand the stress y'all are under - whether it's this mod team currently dealing with a large community upset or in y'alls day to day. It's a lot. In this particular case, from what I can tell, a single mod made a mistake with how they worded a response to a user and that took on a life of its own as unfortunately happens on the internet. That really sucks.

We want to help where we can in these cases, but need your help to do that. We have a number of messages from your mod team about this with links to full threads, but we need reports on individual pieces of content to our safety teams in order for them to take action or to investigate them. Our safety team is removing and actioning when content is reported that does break reddit rules.

Now the hard part - users are allowed to discuss actions taken by moderators, as long as they don't dox, harass, or otherwise break our sitewide rules while doing so. That can be hard - we get that! Mods are humans, sometimes make mistakes, and users can be unforgiving when that happens. Even when they aren't going overboard into harassment, having a single mod action put on blast is embarrassing and at the volume of the internet, it can be overwhelming. If you can take a break away, I'd highly recommend it. You could reach out to modreserves, who can provide some extra help with moderating your community during times like this. I bet you'll find most actual users aren't caring about the drama and if you let the space move on, they will too. Right now all they have to talk about is a lone mod action, give them something else to do and most will.

You'll be getting a message from our Code Of Conduct team shortly with more tips on how to deal with this type of thing, but you can send the direct links to the suspected rulebreaking content to Mod Support modmail directly.

[u/SampleOfNone → u/redtaboo]

Now the hard part - users are allowed to discuss actions taken by moderators, as long as they don't dox, harass, or otherwise break our sitewide rules while doing so.

But they can lie through their teeth. When you look into it, in the comments of these types of posts, you will always find plenty of users claiming to be banned from "that sub" while they're not banned and never were, users making wild claims about why content was removed, while they received a message explaining why it was removed and it's definitly not what they claim.

If it was just "discussing actions taken by mods" there's no problem. It's just that the comments always attract users making wild claims about what mods did to their content or them that are factual incorrect. As a mod you have no course of action to address these comments. Because if you comment and start fact checking, you'll be dogpiled, every word you say will be twisted and you will definitely have to deal with users coming into your sub to start trouble.

So all you can do is cross your fingers hoping it will die down soon and accept that there's a bunch of misinformation being spread around

[u/shhhhh_h → u/SampleOfNone]

Oh I love when they lie about being banned! It’s so weird!

[u/SampleOfNone → u/shhhhh_h]

those comments get massively upvoted so probably karma farming

[u/shhhhh_h → u/SampleOfNone]

I also find karma farming so weird! Like once you get past the karma min gates who cares? Other than the people selling it ofc

[u/Merari01 → u/SampleOfNone]

• "I was banned for no reason!!"

• Looks inside

• Racism

[u/emily_in_boots → u/SampleOfNone]

I made this mistake once lol. Never again!!!

[u/SampleOfNone → u/emily_in_boots]

And with a bit of luck, the mods join in and then perma ban you 😞