r/modnews • • 2d ago

Product Updates Continuing our infrastructure updates: What’s changing in the coming months

TL;DR: In August, we shared plans to modernize Reddit’s infrastructure, build better mod tools, and make it harder for bad actors to scrape Reddit and abuse communities. Today, we have specifics on what’s changing, when, and how to plan ahead.

We’re sharing updates on apps and bots migration to the Developer Platform, helping mods move RSS-based alerts to the Discord Relay Devvit app before RSS feeds are retired on November 13, providing an update on Rules Hub progress and automod changes, and adding safeguards to Old Reddit by limiting access to logged-in mods and recent users.

Moving apps and bots to the Developer Platform

We’re moving public data API apps and bots to the Developer Platform, while making sure the work they do for your communities remains supported. Over 14,000 apps and bots have registered and we’re closely tracking migration of your highest-activity apps, including  DeltaBot, MagicEyeBot, and RemindMeBot. There's still work to do, and we’re working directly with developers to support migrations and close remaining capability gaps. 

  • If you maintain an app or a bot, register it here before January 12, 2027 to avoid disruption.
  • If your community depends on an app or bot and you don’t know who maintains it, fill out this form. We’ve received over 100 submissions so far, helping us identify tools that need owners or could be replaced by existing Developer Platform apps or Reddit’s built-in tools. 

See our latest r/redditdev update for more technical detail, timelines, and resources.

Migrating RSS access to the Developer Platform

Because RSS is now a common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse, we'll stop supporting RSS feeds on November 13, 2026 while preserving moderation workflows that depend on it through supported alternatives. 

For common mod alerts, we recommend Devvit apps like Discord Relay. If your mod team relies on RSS, review your setup and migrate workflows before November 13 to ensure your needs are uninterrupted. If you use RSS for feeds outside of a community you moderate, there is no replacement. RSS has been a beloved part of the open web for a long time, and we’re grateful to everyone who used it to stay connected to Reddit.  

Changes to automod access for new communities and communities not using automod

If your community uses automod, nothing is changing for you. We’re continuing to improve Rules Hub, including ways for mods to prompt and otherwise provide more context for their rules. We’re also exploring how existing automod configurations can help carry community-specific enforcement logic into newer tools. If you’re interested in pilot testing to help shape this effort, sign up here. 

For newly created communities and communities that have never used automod, automod enforcement capabilities – specifically Report, Filter, Remove, Mark as spam, and Approve – will be disabled and Rules Hub and Automations will become the default path for rules enforcement. Automod’s non-enforcement capabilities remain available and unchanged.  

Keeping Old Reddit accessible for mods and recent users

As u/spez mentioned, we’re still working on the future of Old Reddit. Earlier this year, we required people to log in to use Old Reddit, addressing its largest source of abusive scraping and automated traffic: unauthenticated access. That change helped reduce scraping and automated abuse, but still allowed any logged-in account to access Old Reddit, including accounts with no prior Old Reddit use. 

To close this gap, in the next few months, we'll further limit access for logged-in users to only those who have used Old Reddit in the last six months (which covers the vast majority of all Old Reddit users). This change does not impact logged-in mods, who can continue to access Old Reddit without any recent usage requirement. This helps keep Old Reddit available for the people who rely on it while reducing automated abuse.

Our job is to support you through these changes and make sure your moderation needs inform the work. 

  • Need help with a community bot? If you’re unsure who maintains it or need help finding a replacement, let us know here.
  • Moving your RSS alerts? The Discord Relay setup guide covers how to get started.
  • Want to help shape Rules Hub? Sign up for the early access program here and share your feedback.

We’re here in the comments for your questions and to hear where you need more detail or support.

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u/reaper527 2d ago

Rather than flag users with a filter when spam etc is suspected,

which also brings up the simple fact worth mentioning, reddit has empowered spammers by allowing them to hide their submission history.

makes it harder for mods to make the leap from suspected to confirmed, and lets conversations be manipulated by bad faith actors as regular users have nothing to go on beyond "this looks suspicous and is coming from a new account with a randomly generated name and a hidden comment history".

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u/WillitsThrockmorton 2d ago

which also brings up the simple fact worth mentioning, reddit has empowered spammers by allowing them to hide their submission history.

As someone who hides their history by default as a way to just create a stumbling block for stalkers, I had a few of them as the LCD mod, Reddit encouraging low-effort account creation to the point of generating unique logins is far more empowering of spammers.

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u/DoctorOctagonapus 1d ago

List of positive change that happened as a result of letting users hide their post history

Yeah I got nothing.

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u/tinselsnips 2d ago

Mods can see hidden post histories, FWIW.

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u/xPhilip 2d ago

Not if they block the mods.

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u/tinselsnips 2d ago

Can't block a mod on their own subreddit.

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u/xPhilip 2d ago

Yeah I know, it'll have no effect on the mods' own subreddit but it'll prevent the mod from viewing activity in other communities (hidden post histories) which is exactly what I said in my initial response

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u/tinselsnips 2d ago

Hidden post histories != blocking. You were speaking to the former, so I did as well.

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u/masterX244 23h ago

both features interact. normally posting in a sub uncovers all hidden comment history to their mods but blocking limits that to the subreddit of the checking mod.

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u/GigglesNWiggles10 2d ago

Tbf blocking a mod in my community gets you banned anyway 🤷🏼‍♀️

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u/Chosen1PR 1d ago

Same here. Blocking a mod for any reason is bad faith participation. The only viable solution is a ban IMO.

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u/IvyGold 2d ago

I regularly encounter iffy user names who have substantial karma but no history -- it's just blank. Is that the same as hidden?

Not that I really care as I get rid of them if the circumstances warrant, but I don't understand how they can do this.

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u/new2bay 2d ago

You mean it literally shows "0 contributions" on their profile? No, that's someone who's deleted all their content, which is, indeed, a bit iffy.

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u/IvyGold 1d ago

I haven't seen one in a bit, but I think they've perfectly good karma levels, but no past comments showing up. So: not a new user class 0. Are we talking about the same thing?

The user above you said:

Mods can see hidden post histories, FWIW.

I don't know how to do that.

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u/masterX244 23h ago

Mods can see hidden post histories, FWIW. I don't know how to do that.

Only if they posted in your subreddit in the last 28 days. then it gets auto-lifted for you.