Reddit’s replacement mods may be putting its communities at risk
www.theverge.com
Removing institutional knowledge means real risks for Redditors.

Reddit’s replacement mods may be putting its communities at risk — With institutional knowledge seeping out of the site, poor moderation could have real-world impacts as more misinformation is allo…::Reddit’s moderator purge could have real impacts on reliability and information safety as it rushes to replace mods with inexperienced and poorly vetted volunteers, shows a new report.

  • ominouslemon@lemm.eeEnglish
    451·
    1 year ago

    Then read the article and not just the headline. There are various examples of why that’s happening.

    There’s a canning recipe that’s been allowed to stay up despite the potential to make people sick. A moderator with zero 3D-printing experience joined as a “joke” to replace a mod whose expertise included identifying functional gun printing recipes. A new home automation moderator insists expert knowledge is unnecessary in a subreddit where bad advice can lead to electrocution or compromised cybersecurity.

    Your examples are just funny, but when (good) journalists write “could”, it means that they have analyzed something and they are predicting its outcome based on the data they have collected. It’s not like they’re just making stuff up

    • _number8_@lemmy.worldEnglish
      616·
      1 year ago

      fuck reddit; isn’t this just what voting is for? i don’t want mods at all, ideally, i want to see what other people posted without anyone getting authority to say ‘achshully’

      • Kachilde@lemmy.worldEnglish
        12·
        1 year ago

        Clearly competent moderators have some sort of effect, or these stories would not exist. If self-moderation worked, then the dangerous canning post mentioned in the article wouldn’t have gained any traction.

        Without competent moderation, the ability for users to manipulate or derail communities grows. A voting system is entirely subjective, and a bad or dangerous idea can set roots if enough unaware people give it the votes. I am aware that moderation is also subjective, but competent, knowledgeable mods can help guide a community, or protect it from targeted harassment.

        Also, they’re the ones with no life who can devote their time to monitoring the community. Most people spend a few minutes at a time visiting a community. That’s not enough time to verify every post in the last 24 hours, and vote for them all accordingly (depending on the size of the community of course),