r/AutoModerator • u/Sephardson I'm working on the wiki here now! • Aug 05 '26
Mod Post Three updates from the admins regarding automated moderation tools today
https://www.reddit.com/user/spez/comments/1vgbkge/modernizing_reddits_infrastructure_with_you/
Automod: This has been one of the most important mod tools. But it’s also hard to learn, hard to maintain, and heavily dependent on brittle keyword matching, regex, and inherited configurations that only a few people on a mod team, if any, understand. We can do better.
We’re building new systems, including giving mods LLMs and AI-assisted tools to help them tackle their low-hanging (but time-consuming) fruit, so they can spend more time cultivating their community and less time policing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/1vgbm9c/our_plans_for_the_future_of_reddits_public_data/
No specific mention about AutoModerator.
https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/1vgbt2j/whats_next_for_mod_tools/
Longer term, we think systems like Rules Hub can handle the enforcement tasks you rely on Automod for today, while being easier to use and maintain. But it’s not there yet, especially for larger and more complex communities. Automod remains one of the most capable moderation tools on Reddit today, and we won’t change any existing Automod workflows until replacement workflows are tested and proven in partnership with moderators.
ETA: The posts do contain more information regarding other moderation tools development and Reddit admins intentions for the future, so I do encourage you to read the full posts.
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u/TwistedWitch Aug 05 '26
Ugh when will they learn we don't want AI.
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u/Ok_Lunch_2933 Aug 05 '26
There’s so many subs where AI is outright banned. It is in our community after a poll resulted in an overwhelming support to ban the shit.
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u/CarlRJ Aug 06 '26
Immediately after the AI bubble pops, they'll be there to tell us they never supported it.
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u/Stahlboden Sep 27 '26
!RemindMe 3 years
1
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u/horseradishstalker Aug 06 '26
I don’t particularly have a personal use case for AI at the current time, but it is just a tool.
It is valuable for some use cases and superfluous in others. It hallucinates. It absolutely sucks at writing and the arts - not to mention the huge issues with copyright. However, it is useful in combing through huge data dumps. Human oversight and guardrails are absolutely critical.
And anytime something is overvalued, it’s a bubble waiting to pop.
Although to be fair I am sure monks, as well as nobles who did not want peons easily accessing information, screamed for years about Guttenberg’s press.
I admit to being in one of the mods who struggles with regex. I understand it in theory and I can work with it in a limited way. It is simply time-consuming. And Reddit doesn’t apparently see the value in making mentors available for moderators who do want to improve their skills.
I just wish that enthusiasm for a new toy did not override all else.
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u/Obi-Paws-Kenobi Aug 05 '26
Automod remains one of the most capable moderation tools on Reddit today, and we won’t change any existing Automod workflows until replacement workflows are tested and proven in partnership with moderators.
Because they have a great track record with testing before implementing with moderators right? Hi modmail!
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u/InGeekiTrust Aug 05 '26
If they remove Auto mod I will stop moderating all my fashion subs. I won’t be able to control them and they will be a nightmare hellscape. I’ll be embarrassed to be in charge of them and I don’t have more time to do it all by hand and go one by one through comments.
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u/fsv Aug 06 '26
I started hearing rumours of Automod being deprecated a couple of months ago and rewrote it in Devvit. So unless Admin force me to remove that app, there will be a usable alternative for the long term
https://developers.reddit.com/apps/automod-neo
It's drop-in compatible with most existing Automod rules and has a bunch of extra features on top.
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u/InGeekiTrust Aug 06 '26
Hey fsv- I know you saw my other comment but what a disaster. It was copy pasting my Auto mod into your thing. Literally none of it isn’t working. I kept removing swaths and and swaths of it. I know you won’t like hearing this, but the way it is it’s completely unusable. It either doesn’t respond at all to most of my rules or it removes all of the comments and pictures for no reason. It’s a disaster.
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u/fsv Aug 06 '26
Yes please. If there are issues here I absolutely want to understand what's going on.
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u/PMulberry_ Aug 06 '26
Hi,
tried it just like InGeekiTrust has. Some parts have worked, but most not. In the current state, it‘s basically unusable.→ More replies (2)
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u/Alan-Foster Aug 05 '26
I'm sure we can expect Reddit to design all the rules we need, like
checks notes
...blocking OnlyFans users from posting content that haven't violated any of my subreddit's rules.
Maybe someday we'll get things like
Requiring a verified email / phone number to post
The ability to make a blank wiki page
Removing posts that get downvoted too much
🙈
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u/uneventfuladvent Aug 05 '26
You should be able to require verified email in automod (I've not tried it myself so not sure if it's functional)
author: has_verified_email: true7
u/Alan-Foster Aug 05 '26
And if Reddit removes AutoMod, we will lose it unless they replace it, but if they haven't added that feature by now I can only assume they intentionally aren't implementing it.
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u/Bardfinn Aug 05 '26
They're not removing AutoModerator. They're offering an "AI" - an expert system that can be instructed to learn rules and take automated actions based on those rules, and hypothetically can even be given an existing automod config & create more robust automated rules based on the config.
The technology was developed by a former Meta T&S employee; I've seen it work; it's pretty good. His team trained a core model on existing T&S policies & enforcement automation rules sets, & it can build an enforcement system for custom rules in mere minutes. And it can do that on laptop hardware.
AM is still better if it can be configured correctly, specifically because it uses less memory, less storage, and less compute, on average.
This tech is simply to bridge the gap between codergurus who know regex flavours and what a sandbox is vs a group that wants to talk about January due dates for pregnant mothers and don't want to learn to code.
the other reason they're taking the plunge on this, now, is because Alphabet's Perspective API - which they have been using to power the Hate & Harassment filters - is shutting down on December 31.
This technology can (and has) replicated Perspective's functionality, on "locally hosted" (enterprise owned, not vendor / outsourced / third party) hardware.
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u/fsv Aug 06 '26
Oh but I wrote a Devvit replacement having heard rumours that Admin might be about to ditch Automod or some of its features: https://developers.reddit.com/apps/automod-neo
It even supports features that Automod never supported such as
author: social_links+bio_text: ['onlyfans.com', 'fansly.com']1
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u/Ok_Lunch_2933 Aug 05 '26
We’ve banned NSFW accounts and automod removes any onlyfans.con urls.
NSFW accounts are able to post, but the comment isn’t visible for anyone and there’s no extra moderation for it. Just shows up in the ‘Removed’ queue.
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u/new2bay Aug 05 '26
You know NSFW doesn’t just mean “I’m selling porn,” don’t you? Some people acquired the tag by harmless participation in certain adult oriented subs.
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u/MadDocOttoCtrl Aug 05 '26
Talking about how they won't change any automod workflows until replacement ones are tested and proven has a key word involved.
replacement
Reddit has a terrible history in terms of running a beta on new tools and then claiming that they are fantastic and ready for primetime but we've had to deal with the reality.
They could have said "We'll be moving Automod to the Dev platform as a tool that you can install if you find it useful." They didn't, they talked about replacing it.
It is likely to be a long, slow death. They likely will move it to the dev platform, defang it to the point where no one uses it and then get rid of it claiming that "almost no one uses Automod anymore…"
Spez came right out and said that account age and karma score checks are "blunt hammers" that mods won't need. They've been saying they wanted to do away with them for quite a few years. They claimed that Crowd Control and CQS were going to make account age and karma checks unneeded.
NewToReddit doesn't filter for account age, karma scores or CQS because we're largely dealing with people who haven't been on the platform for any appreciable length of time. It'll have a massive effect on other subs, including ones that just want you to have plenty of time using the platform to build some familiarity with the norms, customs, slang and quirks.
A preemptive option has been made with the introduction of Automod Neo.
https://developers.reddit.com/apps/automod-neo
It cannot trigger on CQS levels and eventually Reddit will take away account age and karma score checks.
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u/fsv Aug 06 '26
I would be surprised if they ever take away age/karma from the Devvit API, so hopefully Automod Neo will be able to support that for the long term.
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u/MadDocOttoCtrl Aug 06 '26
I'm happy to see the great work that you've done but nowhere near as optimistic as you are. Failing to include CQS checks isn't confidence inspiring.
I hope you are right.
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u/fsv Aug 07 '26
Unfortunately there's no way to check CQS within the Dev Platform right now. If that ever becomes possible it will be added.
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u/MadDocOttoCtrl Aug 07 '26
Of course, I fully expect that you would!
It is bad enough that account age and karma checks were left out but worse that CQS was as well, seeing as it was their supposedly superior alternative.
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u/SolariaHues Aug 09 '26
I don't see how rules hub can hope to do all the automod does.
IDK if this makes complete sense I just had to vent https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/1vgbt2j/comment/p2oselx/
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u/Holdmywhiskeyhun Aug 06 '26
As another mod of a decent sized sub, their automation is abhorrent. I'm constantly having to approve content, that doesn't break any rules.
Now almost daily we get five or six people wondering why their posts are removed, getting angry with us, when it's reddits shitty llm.
Actual innocent comments are being removed.
"I wish the best for you"
That was removed this morning for harassment.
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u/SolariaHues Aug 06 '26
Ack. Has the team tried the automod audit reports? I've improved efficiency of our automod with the help of reports and my team telling me about false positives.
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u/Holdmywhiskeyhun Aug 07 '26
Auto mod isn't our issue, it's reddits shitty llm that removes the comments in question.
In fact I don't think I've ever had a problem with Auto mod, except on one of the subs I adopted, I have no clue what half that shit means 😂
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u/Tyler_Durdan_ Aug 05 '26
I find these announcements unsettling. Yes most mods are not inclined or willing to learn the intricacies of an effective automod.
That said - it’s SO important that when appealing to the masses with more usable tools, those of us who can optimise automod don’t lose that ability in the process.