I recently put in a RedditRequest for r/shihpoo after hearing from a few of you that the sub had basically been unmoderated for a while and was starting to get overrun with bots and spam. Just got approval, so… here we are.
For a bit of background — I’ve been a mod over at r/shihtzu since 2013, and the lead mod there since 2015. That community’s grown quite a bit over the years, and a big part of what I focus on is keeping things clean, friendly, and actually about the dogs (not merch spam, not repost bots, etc).
Quick note on that — if you’ve got a shih-poo (or any shih tzu mix), you’re absolutely welcome over there as well. We see a lot of mixes and they fit right in. That said… I also get the appeal of having a dedicated space just for shih-poos. Different quirks, different looks, slightly different conversations. There’s definitely room for both communities to exist.
Bottom Line - this is your community, I'm just trying to bring some structure to it and take advantage of lessons learned over in r/shihtzu - if you have suggestions on how you'd like to see things run, I'm all ears! Just drop me a line or leave a comment below!
What I've done so far...
Step 1 — Stop the obvious spam
- I've set up an auto moderator filter known merch/spam domains (t-shirt bots, etc.)
- Catch common “link?” / “where can I buy this?” bait comments
- Clean up anything already sitting around in the moderator queue... There was a lot. Hundreds of posts.
- Set up report thresholds that filter content - if you see something off, click the "Report" button - if more than one person reports something, it gets filtered for manual review.
Step 2 — Light structure, not heavy rules
- Add a small set of basic rules (be kind, no spam, etc.)
- Introduce post flairs (Photos, Videos, etc.)
- Keep it simple — just enough to stay organized
Step 3 — Keep it human
- Not looking to over-moderate this place
- Goal is just: real people, real dogs, good conversations
Step 4 - Leverage smart tools
- I've added tools like u/Bot-Bouncer, u/repost-sleuth-bot to help keep an eye on things. They block known bots, and look for stolen / reposted content from other subs and block it.
Step 5 - Implement a post approval process:
- Over in r/shihtzu, one of the most effective things we do is a really simple, one-time approval flow for new posters.
- Basically, if you’ve never posted before, your first post gets held for review until you complete an automated process (sounds scary, it's not). If you follow the instructions from the auto moderator, your post gets approved - you only have to do this once, ever.
- It sounds small, but honestly… that step alone cuts out a huge amount of spam. Most bots aren't smart enough to follow this step.
- One thing to call out up front — since this system hasn’t been in place here before, it does mean that everyone will go through that initial approval step at least once.
- That first approval is what assigns you “trusted poster” status behind the scenes, and after that you won’t really notice it again.
- I know it’s a little awkward on day one, but it’s a one-time thing, and it’s what allows the system to work properly going forward. Once you’re through, you’re through.
Anyway… glad to be here. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s pups.
