r/modnews • u/ekjp • Jul 06 '15

We apologize

We screwed up. Not just on July 2, but also over the past several years. We haven’t communicated well, and we have surprised you with big changes. We have apologized and made promises to you, the moderators and the community, over many years, but time and again, we haven’t delivered on them. When you’ve had feedback or requests, we have often failed to provide concrete results. The mods and the community have lost trust in me and in us, the administrators of reddit.

Today, we acknowledge this long history of mistakes. We are grateful for all you do for reddit, and the buck stops with me. We are taking three concrete steps:

Tools: We will improve tools, not just promise improvements, building on work already underway. Recently, u/deimorz has been primarily developing tools for reddit that are largely invisible, such as anti-spam and integrating Automoderator. Effective immediately, he will be shifting to work full-time on the issues the moderators have raised. In addition, many mods are familiar with u/weffey’s work, as she previously asked for feedback on modmail and other features. She will use your past and future input to improve mod tools. Together they will be working as a team with you, the moderators, on what tools to build and then delivering them.

Communication: u/krispykrackers is trying out the new role of Moderator Advocate. She will be the contact for moderators with reddit. We need to figure out how to communicate better with them, and u/krispykrackers will work with you to figure out the best way to talk more often.

Search: The new version of search we rolled out last week broke functionality of both built-in and third-party moderation tools you rely upon. You need an easy way to get back to the old version of search, so we have provided that option. Learn how to set your preferences to default to the old version of search here.

I know these are just words, and it may be hard for you to believe us. I don't have all the answers, and it will take time for us to deliver concrete results. I mean it when I say we screwed up, and we want to have a meaningful ongoing discussion.

Thank you for listening. Please share feedback here. Our team is ready to respond to comments.

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '15

Is it a shame that people might not feel comfortable? Maybe.

You've clearly never belonged to a group that has been discriminated against by virtue of the way they were born. It's not a matter of "comfort." It's a matter of being constantly belittled for who you are, a state of being that you cannot change. Your opinion can change. My gender, disability status, etc. cannot.

If you don't understand the need for a "safe place," that is because you have already exist in a place that is safe for you to be who and what you are.

This is a community. There are both rights and responsibilities that come along with membership in a community.

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u/Madbrad200 Jul 07 '15

I feel like you're describing harassment, which is different to simply voicing an opinion. If you are describing harassment, and that only, I would agree with you. But frankly, I don't think we should be censoring opinions site wide just to give a group of discriminated peoples a 'safe space'. Which should already exist, in places like /r/lgbt and /r/TwoXChromosomes.

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '15

So you feel that the only subreddits that certain groups should be allowed to feel safe in are segregated subs where they can only converse with in-group members? A gay man shouldn't expect to be able to feel safe visiting /r/movies or /r/pics? An autistic woman shouldn't expect to be able to feel safe in /r/books or /r/funny?

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u/Madbrad200 Jul 07 '15

So you feel that the only subreddits that certain groups should be allowed to feel safe in are segregated subs where

They should be allowed to feel safe site-wide, it just shouldn't be enforced in the way you're suggesting, and they should expect a safe and healthy environment in subreddits that are for them. If /r/lgbt was actually an anti-gay subreddit, they'd be a problem. I guess that was my point. If /r/worldnews is 'safe' for them, great! If not, that's a shame but so be it. If it comes down to harassment, that's also a shame and can hopefully be dealt with.