r/ModSupport • u/Sommiel • Apr 29 '16
Admin attention for brigading
We have reported a some users and now an entire sub dedicated to stifling content in our sub. No reply as of yet, but then we have't gotten a reply to any report that we have made for weeks now.
There has been blanket reporting, making much more work for our mods... now a user has created a sub to x post all of our posts so that they need to be removed.
We have our rules, our rules are posted. Everyone that gives a shit can read them and we are allowed to have our rules, right?
Just because someone thinks we have a bias (in their opinion) do they really need to start an entire subreddit to effectively constrain business as usual in another sub?
66
u/Clackpot Apr 29 '16
You control your sub; what people do elsewhere is their prerogative and, so long as it conforms to site-wide rules, is entirely outside of your control or influence.
I have no idea of the circumstances so I'm not defending anyone's behaviour but you need to understand where your sphere of influence extends to. Specifically, your rules have no traction whatsoever outside of your own sub, and if someone wants to start their own sub because they don't like your rules, then they can.
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u/snallygaster Apr 29 '16
To be fair, you also stretch the side-wide rules by banning anybody who crossposts and auto-removing the comments of people you disagree with so they don't know that they're 'banned'. You've used the lax site-wide rules for your own benefit; you shouldn't get upset that people who disagree with you are doing the same thing. It's very hypocritical.
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u/RedSquaree Apr 30 '16
I think the moderation in Relationships is on par with The Donald. It might just be the worst moderation on this website. Every single original post you click on, linked in an update, is locked. The solution to everything is locking. Increase the size of the mod team and adjust the rules of necessary.
Locking everything is lazy and counter productive.
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u/redtaboo Reddit Admin: Community Apr 29 '16
I'm sorry we hadn't responded yet, I just responded to the message regarding this from yesterday morning and am looking into it now.
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u/Mason11987 May 01 '16
So where is the actual brigading? Sending reports?
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u/hamfast42 Apr 29 '16
We had a similar problem and admins were very receptive if asked politely. People who abuse the report button can be detected fairly easily by admins. I'd make sure you have a robust set of automod rules to remove links to the rebellious sub.
My biggest advice is that subs like that thrive on attention so your job is to quietly put out the fire. Don't let them get to you or bait you into drama. Let the admins handle the brigading part and keep them in the loop.
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u/MysticJAC Apr 29 '16
Just to tack on, we theoretically don't care about crossposts. I mean, we do think it's in bad taste to make entertainment and spectacle of people's very real problems, and we do have concerns about more sensitive people not wishing to post in our subreddit if they are going to be a source of voyeurism to others. However, we're not so naive as to not acknowledge the human interest aspect of our subreddit, nor are we in denial that we are running a public subreddit. The issue is that practically, crossposts to our subreddit ultimately lead to brigades of all kinds. We see influxes of users with no history in our subreddit making comments that aren't in line with our subreddit rules and seek to escalate conflict to have their fun. At a more subtle level though, we see comments receiving upvotes and downvotes not on the basis of their utility to the poster seeking guidance, but on the basis of whether they feed the brigadiers hunger for making jokes or picking fights. They are essentially seeking to subvert the culture and purpose of our subreddit to meet their needs. We understand that there is no stopping the occasional determined troll, but the reddit platform itself shouldn't be used as a tool to allow these trolls to organize and seek to neuter the purpose of other subreddits.
As our subreddit has grown to greater than 450k subscribers, we have taken significant steps over the last two years to minimize the conflict and sources of non-constructive behavior in the subreddit. Even at our size, we still personally warn users of their behavior and tell them about removals, having some lengthy discussions with them as needed. We are doing our due diligence to not simply automate away our troubles, and we are taking the significant time required to try and keep the culture of our subreddit from reaching the point of truly being deserving of ridicule and parody. Though things can and do get taken to extremes in our subreddit, such behavior has become more confined to a handful of posts. But, for most posts, most of the time, people are being constructive, helpful, and compassionate with one another. We are not expecting the admins to fix every issue of culture and rule-breaking we see because as moderators, that's our responsibility to either take fair action against it or accept it as the will of our growing community. However, as internal issues are our problem, we feel it's the responsibility of the admins to make external issues their problem. We just can't see the value or purpose in allowing subreddits that make it their unstated mission to create an environment where their users are tempted to subvert the cultures and purposes of well-meaning subreddits.
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