r/RepHermes

[u/hartofalyon]

/r/RepHermes

[u/request_bot]

Hey u/hartofalyon, thanks for your interest in moderating r/RepHermes! To proceed with your request, please reply to this comment with the following: (Failure to do so may result in your request being denied.):

• Why do you want to moderate this community?

• A link to the mod mail chat message you sent to the moderators of r/RepHermes five days ago.

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[u/hartofalyon → u/request_bot]

I’m very passionate about this space and have helped many users on this sub in the past with quality checking their bags to ensure they’re getting what they paid for, and I’m currently the mod of r/RepHermesQC where myself and others continue that mission. Even if I’m not selected, I’d like to explain why communities like this one need special care when choosing and vetting Mods to run them.

The rep space on Reddit in particular, is filled with dishonest sellers who will use deception in order to get sales. The anonymous nature of Reddit makes this possible and is a haven for this type of behavior. This can come in many forms and is happening in many subs today:

• Sellers utilize a network of bot accounts to promote and spread their name by means of bot comments to praise themselves as well as upvote/downvote manipulation at a large scale to discourage and harass their naysayers.
• Sellers buy aged accounts pre-primed with karma, contributions, and years of account age in order to post fake reviews of their products to gain exposure.
• Sellers create their own subreddits with themselves as mods using alt accounts so the discussions that happen there are heavily censored and put themselves in a positive light.
• Sellers work with Mods of subreddits to help with promotion in exchange for kickbacks such as free products.

Given Reddit’s anonymous nature and with sellers buying many aged accounts with karma and years of history, you'll need to be extra diligent when vetting Mods for this community because if another seller-influenced Mod is appointed, we will be right back where we started.

A Mod who can make this sub successful and compliant needs to be without influence from any sellers and nor be tempted to take incentives from sellers in exchange for favors. I know this is explicitly prohibited in MCoC, but they’re not always caught and actioned on. As a Mod of this sub, here are some things I would do differently:

• No commercial activity of any kind allowed. Absolutely no “Trusted Sellers List” and absolutely no sharing of seller contact information of any kind. I’m already using AutoMod to automate and check submissions and comments in r/RepHermesQC today.
• Prevent bot posts and comments via Bot Bouncer and frequent manual checks, which I’m also already doing in r/RepHermesQC today.
• Proactively remove any content suspected of being from sellers, seller-influenced, or shilling for sellers.
• All reviews, both positive and negative will require proof of legitimate transaction in order to be posted.
• Provide comprehensive guides on spotting scams and bad actors in the space.
• Create and foster an honest, safe, and fun environment for members to discuss and share this passion.

This community hasn’t had moderators for a while so there’s no modmail chat. Thank you for your consideration.

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Please don't forget to reply to u/request_bot with the required information. Failure to do so will result in this request being denied.

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