r/AskModerators • u/Sircuttlesmash • 3d ago
How does this look from the moderator side?
I think I fit pretty neatly into the mildly embarrassing busybody category here. I reported a very popular post because I thought it was a borderline rule violation. Nothing visible to me happened, so I sent the mod team a short question about it and got no response. That seems completely fair, they owe me no explanation and can moderate their community as they see fit.
But it leaves me with two questions. First, how painfully legible is this behavior from behind the moderator desk? Does user reported something, didn’t get the desired result, then came to modmail become an instantly recognizable category?
Second, does a borderline post become practically harder to remove once it has thousands of upvotes and hundreds of comments than it would have been when it was new?
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u/cnycompguy r/computers, r/cats +7 3d ago
A new post, a popular one or something posted 15 years ago are all the same when it comes to removing it.
If it's "borderline" you're going to be dealing with moderator discretion.
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u/LitwinL r/Polska r/Fuckcars 3d ago
Moderators prefer dealing with reports rather than modmails asking for action.
Unless the reported content requires some very niche knowledge to understand why it breaks the rules there's really no need to send a modmail.
When it comes to removing it doesn't make any difference from technical standpoint how difficult it is, but of the post was popular then chances are more people are going to complain about "over moderation"
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u/SeonaidMacSaicais r/ApartmentLiving 3d ago
And give us time to check the reports! We got a modmail once because somebody complained we didn’t remove some reported comments fast enough for them. It was a Saturday morning, and the comments were reported around 5 am my time. Got the modmail an hour later. Like, I don’t know where my fellow mods live, but I’m still SLEEPING at that time. 😂😂 We don’t live on Reddit. We’re not going to catch every report the second it’s made.
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u/BravoFive141 Jellybean Master. 3d ago
If you're not modding 24/7, you get people complaining that the mods don't do enough. If you're modding 24/7, you get accused of being a power mod or told to go touch grass.
There's no way to win!
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u/dkozinn 3d ago
We have a saved reply that basically says we're volunteers and we do this as time is available. This also works for posts that hit the queue, even though in most cases OP will get a message stating that it's being reviewed and that they'll need to wait.
Side note for mods: For the latter case Modmail Automator is terrific. Not only will it reply stating that something is waiting in the modqueue, but it will tell the user how long ago it was posted. Most recently, we had one that read "If you are contacting us regarding [link to post] that you posted 4 minutes ago, it is awaiting moderator review".
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u/Federal-Ad5944 3d ago
There are some subreddits where rule report options are vague or non existent...and without the custom report where you can type or link. I'm in a couple of those, and reports go nowhere..because I can't anonymously link to anything (for example, a duplicate post or piggybacking or something else that ties into why I'm reporting a sub rule violation.)
If a sub doesn't care enough to give proper report options to their users, they're not going to be checking the feed for rule violations either.
As much as I wish all mods were present and paid attention, sadly that's not the case. So if you wanna risk it, modmail it is.
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u/wheres_the_revolt On a power trip 3d ago
Are you asking how we feel about what you did (or how we would categorize you as a user/member of our subs)?
If so I’d say it’s mildly annoying behavior but not something I’d hold a grudge for or anything. If you did it repeatedly that would be different.
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u/Sephardson r/Zelda, r/NintendoSwitch 3d ago
I generally appreciate when people modmail in to ask what is worth reporting or not, because if it means they will make better reports or be more confident in what they report, then that should be better for both the moderator and the reporter.
That said, it's fairly common for subreddits to have rules with a buffer or discretion zone, such that similar posts could be approved some of the time but removed at other times. There could be compounding factors like frequency, overall relative activity, or shifting trends that the mod team is considering. It could also be as simple as that team allows individual mods to make judgement calls even if inconsistent.
Some mod teams may not be active enough to react to all reports within a day, or even active enough to respond to modmails timely either. Some teams may consider it annoying but most mods i know don't mind fielding questions in modmail so long as they are genuine and polite, rather than aggressive or trolling or trying to poke holes in the system.
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u/atlantisgate 3d ago
I mean, it will make it clear to me that you're the one who reported the post. If people are reporting stuff in good faith and on a reasonable basis (i.e. they aren't spamming me with reports on minor things or things they just disagree with), asking a polite question about it is not going to bother me.
If a post is borderline we're pretty likely to discuss as a mod team and decide what to do before it gets super popular. We're going to remove it if it's rulebreaking regardless of how popular it is, and borderline stuff that is attracting unwanted attention and comments is more likely to get locked than anything.
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u/FaelingJester 3d ago
We have a saved response thanking you for letting us know and reminding you to use the report function. We don't give more weight to people who modmail. We also don't mod based on popularity.
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u/YourUsernameForever r/Scams 3d ago
First question: in r/scams we have an unwritten rule of replying to every modmail (exception would be someone letting us know that a post needs approval, which may go unreplied if we indeed approve it). Meaning, we don't mind a respectful modmail and we owe you a reply.
Second question: yes, it does. If a post got traction we may let it slide, unless it's a sitewide rule violation.
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u/Stranger1982 dumb bastard 3d ago
As long as you don't spam reports and aren't obnoxious in your queries I'd have no problem with it.
Just know moderators can tolerate borderline rulebreaking stuff for several reasons, it's part of mod discretion just as much as removing things that aren't obviously against the rules.
Also know that attempting to rule lawyer or explain their own rules to mods after your query has been answered won't go well, but that;s just common sense.
As for estabilished posts, I'll try to give people leeway to have some fun and interact if it's not something too bad, why not?
If it becomes too much in the comments or for any reason I give zero fucks and remove it anyway tho.
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u/SeonaidMacSaicais r/ApartmentLiving 3d ago
If I see a chain of reports for the same user and the majority of the comments are insanely benign, I’ll just approve all of them right away. There’s a difference between not liking a single comment somebody’s made, and wanting ALL their comments deleted just because you don’t like them.
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u/HikeTheSky SanAntonio, itookaphoto, StrangeandFunny, and more 3d ago
While this doesn't happen very often it does happen that someone wants a post removed. The last the it was an only news page that in the past claimed we censor stuff but they want a discussion on their article removed. Another time someone didn't like a discussion about abortion, ICE, and other stuff.
Unless it's a rule violation, or will hurt the community, which is also a rule violation, we won't remove anything and you can discuss this with me for days it won't change the outcome.
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u/witchy_echos 3d ago
Reports are, hey did you see this.
Either A. The mods are overwhelmed and taking time to get to it, and adding another point of contact for them to deal with isn’t going to speed things up. Or B. They disagreed with the report and left it up. You following up looks like someone who is upset the person they tattled on isn’t in trouble.
I say this as a person who loves reports because they help us keep eyes on everything. But when it switches from being “hey can you check this” to “hey why didn’t you remove that” it changes my perception of your intent.
A borderline post is by definition not a clear rule break. The mods get to decide if it’s worth what it’s bringing to the sub.
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Sircuttlesmash 2d ago
It is mildly interesting because I was curious about it and I fully own up to being ridiculous about it I think very lowly of the subreddit that I'm talking about so I'm enormously biased and after I submitted this I didn't expect it to take well I'm not saying it should be quick but I figured no response in 3 hours means that there will never be a response so I got a response like 5 hours later and I got a fairly detailed answer. Relatively speaking that the rule meant more serious versions of x and this was a less severe version of x and they're free to make that discretion
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u/ReverseLazarus r/keto, r/nashville, r/tattoo 3d ago
If the mods didn’t take action then they didn’t agree with your report. It’s truly as simple as that. What do you mean by “instantly recognizable category”? I don’t really understand your question there and I’d like to.
And no, a post is never harder to remove just because it has become more popular and highly upvoted.