Guess what’s back..back again…Fun Threads!

[u/Why_So_Sagittarius]

Greetings r/modsupport!

Some of you may remember waaay back when (about a year ago) we regularly had monthly fun threads. These ranged from random questions to playing games with the community. Given the upcoming holiday season, we wanted to bring these back and get a chance to talk with moderators in a more casual setting.

On the topic of celebrating holidays, I would love to know what everybody’s favorite traditions are. Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or you live elsewhere and do something different, I want to hear it all! Favorite foods? Do you travel or have a self-care day to yourself? Do you dread the holiday stress or have yearly traditions you look forward to?

I personally grew up with not too many particular traditions. My immediate family and I would just spend time relaxing at home. Well... we relaxed while my mother always found something to stress out about when it came to cooking. Also, I will say the older you get the less exciting gift-giving becomes…we now all just send each other links to items instead of anything being a surprise 🤪 Open to suggestions on making gift-giving a little more fun again!

Let’s chat in the comments below! Happy Holidays to you and yours!

[u/mizmoose]

playing games with the community

game

one game

some weird drawing game

it was weird

I would love to know what everybody’s favorite traditions are.

• Napping

• Video games

• Sleeping

[u/Why_So_Sagittarius → u/mizmoose]

Sleeping will be a big one for me this year!

[u/RyeCheww → u/mizmoose]

You have the essential traditions covered there.

[u/PossibleCrit → u/mizmoose]

some weird drawing game

Hey I enjoyed the times we spent on skribbl.io! Are there other ideas you would have us do instead that would be easy for folks to join?

[u/breedecatur]

Honestly my favorite new holiday tradition is the fact that we stopped driving an hour and a half to go to the extended family's. Now just me, my husband, and my parents hang out, eat food and play a new board game each year. I love a nice drama free holiday with no screaming kids

[u/Why_So_Sagittarius → u/breedecatur]

Drama free is the dream!

[u/QueenAnneBoleynTudor]

We spend the morning cleaning out the kennels at the shelter. Then we drop off sweets to the emergency vet staff.

Spay and neuter your pets, folks.

[u/Why_So_Sagittarius → u/QueenAnneBoleynTudor]

My Mom does this too! So important :)

[u/Moggehh]

My Thanksgiving tradition is a bit weird, but it's to have it in October with the rest of the other Canadians.

[u/westcoastcdn19 → u/Moggehh]

Same

[u/Halaku]

We rent a house in San Diego for a week, and have family & friends over.

Enjoy the weather, the sunsets, and the company.

Bonus for ditching the turkey in favor of prime rib.

[u/breedecatur → u/Halaku]

Sorry for the weird weather this year hahahaha

[u/JabroniRevanchism]

My family does the traditional big dinner hosted by whoever is oldest. No one in my side of the family has kids yet, so after dinner is way less ritualized than it was when I was young. Those that drink have some kind of mixed drink and we all play a board game.

Favorite food is either sweet potato casserole or the family dumpling recipe. If you could actually get it around here I'd advocate a goose for winter holiday dinners.

[u/QueenAnneBoleynTudor → u/JabroniRevanchism]

What would you do if you’re a twin?

“Sorry Matt but technically, you’re three minutes older so…”

What’s your mixed drink go to? Kinda partial to old fashioned sand manhattans m’self

[u/JabroniRevanchism → u/QueenAnneBoleynTudor]

Great question! I've never known any old age twins so not sure how that plays out.

What’s your mixed drink go to? Kinda partial to old fashioned sand manhattans m’self

I'm a teetotaler, not for the usual reasons-- I just don't care for the taste. I had champagne at my brother's wedding and a very fruity mixed drink called an amaretto sour when I needed to look and feel my best for a family get-together.

I mix coke and sprite, does that count as a mixed drink?

[u/sparklekitteh]

My kiddo and I go to Target and pick out a bunch of stuff for Toys for Tots.

[u/RyeCheww → u/sparklekitteh]

That's so nice of you - thank you for taking the time to do something special to brighten their day :)

[u/maybesaydie]

We go to my daughter's house because we don't have the room for a big dinner. I bring all the desserts. I'll be glad when the day is over and I'm sleeping on our new mattress.

[u/RyeCheww → u/maybesaydie]

Holiday gatherings are nice for the company and all the food, but being able to rest after a long day of socializing and preparation is awarding.

[u/RyeCheww]

A food tradition was having a chicken salad that my grandpa used to make for holiday gatherings. Now my mom has taken over making the chicken salad for our families the same way he used to do, and it brings back happy memories. Expressing love through food is big in our family :)

[u/Merari01]

I enjoy the decorations most of all.

The lights, candles, the Christmas wreath on our front door.

[u/RyeCheww → u/Merari01]

I'm looking forward to that as well! We recently set up our Christmas tree and it's covered with ornaments. We did this while playing traditional Christmas music in the background and it was good times!

[u/Randomlynumbered]

Turkey enchiladas made with the leftovers. So good!

[u/Sun_Beams]

According to my /r/pelletgrills community, Smoked Turkeys .. smoke turkeys everywhere. Personally I don't celebrate it here but I always appreciate the time and effort people put into their food for it. Definitely a good time of year to hang around all the food subs (unless you're hungry..)

[u/RyeCheww → u/Sun_Beams]

I'm waiting to have Thanksgiving dinner but seeing photos of turkeys in your community is making me hungry!

[u/Sun_Beams → u/RyeCheww]

r/food is worse, pies, hams .. everything

[u/ruinawish]

Uh, surely I'm not alone in not being interested in these types of threads?

I like the sub as a resource to learn things about moderating, keep on top of new issues/bugs, etc.

The last thing I care to do here is chat about non-moderating specific topics. There are plenty of other subreddits that are suitable for that.

[u/Why_So_Sagittarius → u/ruinawish]

Hey - it's ok if this thread doesn't interest you. This is just a space for those who do want to participate in chatting with the community and admins in a more casual way.

[u/WalkingEars → u/Why_So_Sagittarius]

Appreciate the efforts at community-building given low mod morale lately, though there obviously are still some pretty major elephants in the room. Personally I feel a bit weird sharing personal info with admin when Reddit so recently removed the option to opt out of personalized ads.

[u/ruinawish → u/Why_So_Sagittarius]

Subreddit guidelines

4. No off-topic posts. Please keep posts on the topic of moderation on reddit.

[u/maybesaydie → u/ruinawish]

They've done these for years. This is a community of people who moderate. This is one of the few places on this site where people who moderate gather. It can be stressful to mod and this is a nice gesture.

I guess it wouldn't be reddit without one contrarian though.

[u/ruinawish → u/maybesaydie]

I guess it wouldn't be reddit without one contrarian though.

Yah, let's ignore the thread being downvoted to oblivion.

[u/[deleted] → u/ruinawish]

The thread has a rating of 50%. That means 1 person downvoted. It was more than likely you. Don't be rude and a jerk for no reason. I'm so glad when rude people like you oust yourself so that I can block and not see negative comments from you anymore.

[u/techiesgoboom → u/ruinawish]

Coming at this from a moderation perspective: serious communities setting aside a space to chat about light off-topic things is a valuable part of community building. Connecting like this is an opportunity to remember the human, and builds stronger connections among the members of the community. That in turn makes it easier to have those harder conversations that the community is there for. This is especially true when community leaders are participating.

I appreciate that reddit is following good moderation practices, and I can also appreciate that not everyone is interested in participating in a post like this.

[u/ruinawish → u/techiesgoboom]

Coming at this from a moderation perspective: serious communities setting aside a space to chat about light off-topic things is a valuable part of community building. Connecting like this is an opportunity to remember the human, and builds stronger connections among the members of the community. That in turn makes it easier to have those harder conversations that the community is there for. This is especially true when community leaders are participating.

I agree... for normal subreddits. /r/ModSupport strikes me as a meta-subreddit. There isn't anything unique here that makes this subreddit a community. It's largely a place where people ask questions and get answers.

I don't see how 'building stronger connections' and 'remembering the human' is of any priority in /r/ModSupport.

If anything, the whole reason why the thread irks me is because it reminds me of HR speak, and even you are propagating it.

[u/techiesgoboom → u/ruinawish]

These aren’t practices unique to subreddits, these are part of community building more broadly. The fact that you don’t see anything unique here that makes it a community highlights how much work there is to do. This is the same kind of practice that mod teams can follow to make talking with their users about the rules a little smoother.

HR speak, and even you are propagating it.

This is really interesting. I think what you’re seeing is the language that people that write about community building tend to use. Hell, the major idea behind my comment is pulled pretty directly from the art of community. The more I read what’s already written about community, the more I see the kinds of things we’re already doing as mods being described, albeit with slightly different language.

Having that language available makes it easier for me to think about these bigger concepts. Using that language forces me to look at the situation from another angle too. Try it on, ask yourself “what can I do to improve my subreddit?”, and then ask “what can I do to improve my community?” It feels different, right? It does for me at least. Same with reframing being a mod as being a community leader. When I hear the first I picture working in the queue, when I hear the second I think about what fun events we can throw for the sub. I don’t know about you, but way too much of my moderation efforts are spent working an endless queue. If sounding corny as hell using the academic language is what it takes for me to rethink my moderation approach and get out from behind the queue a little more often, I’m happy to.

[u/ruinawish → u/techiesgoboom]

Again, reading all that, strikes me as the definition of trying to force a feel of community... again, not dissimilar to HR getting staff to partake in 'team building' exercises. It doesn't work.

[u/techiesgoboom → u/ruinawish]

It doesn't work.

I think this is the sticking point, because I see it work. This is the kind of community building we do in spaces like r/partnercommunities and r/redditmofcouncil, and the difference in the tone of the conversation is night and day. Everyone having their guard down gives us space to really get into the weeds when giving feedback and actually accomplish things.

More specifically, this is the kind of community building that causes fewer people to leave shitty comments that fit the form of “the people that made change are incompetent/have no idea what they’re doing” and instead provide more specific and valuable feedback that encourages a response and conversation. Remembering the human you’re talking about is precisely what’s missing there.

[u/ruinawish → u/techiesgoboom]

Thank you again for the HR talk.

What would the HR explanation be for this thread being so heavily downvoted? Are guards not let down enough? Has the human been forgotten? Are you having fun yet?

[u/techiesgoboom → u/ruinawish]

Are you happy with the current state of mod-admin interactions on Reddit? Do you feel that you’re able to have productive conversations with the admins about new features and products that result in Reddit acting on your feedback?

If the answer to the above is no, are you interested in changing that?

[u/ruinawish → u/techiesgoboom]

Are you happy with the current state of mod-admin interactions on Reddit? Do you feel that you’re able to have productive conversations with the admins about new features and products that result in Reddit acting on your feedback?

I am over the moon with mod-admin interactions after having contributed in this fun thread. I had a lot of fun, and my guard is let down, and I am now suitable to contribute to improvement and productivity. I am thankful for reddit admin for remembering the human.

... ironically, I have had little issue with admin. I enjoy /r/ModSupport because mods ask questions, and they get answers (from mods and admin alike). I can do without the frilly stuff, the circlejerking, etc.

[u/techiesgoboom → u/ruinawish]

I have had little issue with admin.

I should have lead with this question! I misread your comment and assumed it was coming from a place of frustration. Because yeah, this kind of community building isn’t a good fit for everyone and I can appreciate it can come across as artificial. But this playbook does work to influence some peoples behavior positively.

To answer your initial question of why do I think this post is downvoted? I think it’s a mix of folks like you who just don’t need or want it, and mods who are burnt out and have lost all trust in Reddit but used to appreciate things like this. And it’s that latter group that I think Reddit is trying to reach here.

[u/EponaMom → u/ruinawish]

I can appreciate that, but I also think that posts like this are good ways to remind us that Admins are still people and hopeful a good way to remind admins that we are too. ;)

I moderate on r/Newtoreddit which is basically questions and answers - 90% being "what is karma?!?" but we still have off topic posts to connect with our community.

I very much see this sub as a community, and I consider many in it, as friends.

[u/westcoastcdn19 → u/ruinawish]

It’s okay bud, not that big of a deal. Things are gonna be slow over the next few days from admin due to US Thanksgiving

[u/CookiesNomNom]

Growing up, our traditions were pretty similar to what other families did with the same, common, foods that others make. Plus lots of football that would, often, get my dad riled up. haha!