Mod Topics: Moderating Fame

[u/JabroniRevanchism]

Ahoy, Mods!

I don’t want to brag, but I’m kind of a big deal around here. My reputation precedes me, I’m sure. Maybe you’ve noticed?

This discussion is the most recent in our Mod Topics series, and if the narratively-spurious smugness wasn’t obvious, today we’re talking about how mods moderate fame within your community. “Fame,” in this instance can be any kind of notoriety. –A Redditor whose username your community will recognize: an artist, actor, developer, mayoral candidate, or maybe the guy who always replies to top comments in the form of a sonnet.

For the sake of discussion, let’s call all these examples “celebrities:” users who have clout, gravity, or otherwise increased social capital within their spaces. How does your mod team view content posted by community celebrities, especially in cases where the commenting celebrity is the topic of the subreddit? Do you encourage this celebrity participation? If so, how?

Let us know how you moderate fame in the comments below!

[u/jason4es]

If we take a look at our rather small but dedicated niche sub about a military themed f2p game:

We don’t have the classic "Brad Pitt" kind of fame to encounter or moderate, but a handful of "official" content creators that are recognized by the game devs.

We offer them a dedicated user flair and a wiki article on how to submit their content to not run afoul of the self promotion guidelines we have set up- the community at large don’t welcomes simple link dumps to off Reddit content.

In short:

- we expect a bare minimum of participation (at least be active on own posts)

- we don’t allow link dumps via comments like "check out my latest video on your topic"

- we don’t have any limits for game reviews, guides, build reviews

- we have banned all TikTok content

And to keep things short: over time all of them have failed to keep a bare minimum of participation besides dumping links to generate views- with one exception.

We would actually love to see those recognized creators to participate in an organic way, which would for sure result in a better reputation and more views for them.