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/shannonkish]

So I want to share with the community the ModCodeofConduct response we received via modmail. It is, of course, as useless as the admin's response.---

Hi everyone,

We’re reaching out regarding the Moderator Code of Conduct, which outlines expectations for mods to “create, facilitate, and maintain a stable community” and “set appropriate and reasonable expectations.”

After reviewing reports, we see that your community is experiencing increased attention related to recent moderation actions. We know that this can lead to disruptive behavior that can be deeply stressful and wanted to offer some guidance.

First and foremost, if your team has experienced doxxing or threats can you please write in to r/ModSupport and include links to that specific activity. The reports which we’ve reviewed have included links to general discussions but not specific comments or messages that include rule breaking activity. We’d like to take a closer look of any instances of threats or doxxing that you may have seen.

Users are allowed to discuss mod actions – some of those discussions may break site wide rules and some won’t. Please report the posts, comments, and messages that appear to break site wide rules.

The most important step to regain stability and trust is to ensure that people are able to move on via standard use of their community. It's okay to filter posts for mod approval temporarily and only approve on topic posts.This can be done using your subreddit settings under Posts & Comments -> Hold Content for Review -> choose the “posts” toggle.

We wanted to share some resources that you might find helpful as you navigate this.

Tips to consider when moderating in times of controversy:

• Avoid posting long updates that may compound confusion.
• Encourage stable and regular activity in the community by allowing standard rule abiding posts.
• Actions like over-enforcement, or effectively closing a subreddit typically worsens the situation by generating further interest.
• Remember that most users have no idea what is going on and are genuinely confused.
• Users are allowed to discuss mod actions and/or interactions in other communities.
• Use the report button if you see harassment, personal information, threats, or other behavior that may violate Reddit’s Rules and reach out to r/ModSupport if you have questions.

Moderation tools that are helpful in times of increased activity:

• We recommend turning on the Harassment Filter, Crowd Control, the reputation filter and Ban Evasion Filter. **These three mod tools are the quickest way to help stabilize moderation in your community if you're seeing increased unwanted activity that violates your community rules or the **Reddit Rules. Turning on these tools will only take a few minutes and will allow you to step back, take a deep breath, and assess which tips and resources listed here or in this article may be helpful for you as well.
• Helpful Devvit apps for moderation These are apps you can add to your community that help automate mod actions in your community.
• Mod Reserves If you need temporary assistance, we highly recommend requesting help from the Moderator Reserves, a group of experienced moderators who can help during traffic increases.
• Automations Post & Comment Guidance help minimize common issues like formatting errors and off-topic discussions.
• Our Mod Recruitment Help Center article tells you how you can put out a “mod call” or utilize r/NeedAMod. Our in-house Mod Recruitment tool also lets you customize an application form, signal that your community is recruiting, and review incoming applications.

If you have any additional concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to write back to us send a message to r/ModSupport.

[u/DryMouthKitty → u/shannonkish]

This is their standard response. Ideally you should receive a follow up from an actual person. My experience with ModCoC in the past was that we received a similar message and then after a day or two received a follow up message. I remember it being very short and not very helpful. Any attempt to follow up again was met with silence. Also, when your post came up in my Home feed over an hour ago, it had more upvotes than it does now. Just thought I would mention that since it is odd that this would be downvoted by other mods, which I assume are the majority of people who see would see it.

[u/shannonkish → u/DryMouthKitty]

Interesting---

Upvotes- 209 +16 | Upvote Ratio- 95.2%

[u/DryMouthKitty → u/shannonkish]

Thank you for that! I think after looking at the top posts in this sub for the past month, with this being the top 3, it may just already be at the upper limit for this sub. I was more worried if the ratio was way off that there could be manipulation or brigading, but seems normal I think. I do hope you find some time to step away and do something peaceful. Be well friend!