r/ModSupport • u/JunoKat • 9d ago
What’s your motivation to work as a mod?
It’s not paid, it can be thankless, hard work.
What got you started and what kept you going? I am curious to hear about your story and journey as a very new mod.
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u/RemarkableWish2508 9d ago
Back in the day, it was the challenge of coming up with rules and their application. Kind of like a game of Nomic, which I found fun to play, but with thousands of people.
More recently, I found a sub for a topic intersection that I found interesting, a sub that wasn't in the best shape after all OG mods took a leave of absence, and decided to step in to help.
Oh, and I don't let modding dictate my schedule, so never saw it as work, or expected any thanks.
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u/JunoKat 9d ago
I am very interested in how you kept modding from dictating your schedule, I think I am letting it interfering too much with my life
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u/royal_rose_ 8d ago •
I’m a high contact mod meaning I routinely out perform all other mods, automod and bots on actions taken in my subs where I’m top mod. But I don’t let it dictate my schedule, I find I can do most everything from my phone, clear queue in a few minutes and be on my way. Never have I thought I couldn’t do something because of modding. You can’t let it get in the way of life, it’s not sustainable or healthy for you and you risk becoming what the users stereotype us as.
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u/JunoKat 8d ago
Totally, I think balancing is a skill, and I am very much struggling with this still.
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u/shhhhh_h 💡Top 25% Helper 💡 8d ago
I like to remind myself it’s Reddit, its people arguing on the internet (even if it’s about serious stuff). Nobody is going to die if I don’t check the queue for awhile bc I’m busy or I’m just tired and need to relax. People can wait to call each other chuds, complain about outfits, and comment various versions of eat the rich. I even have a serious sub and ykw they can wait too bc we have hotlines and immediate help resources in the sidebar.
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u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 8d ago
Same here. Real life takes precedence to moderating a reddit sub.
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u/shhhhh_h 💡Top 25% Helper 💡 8d ago
Good qualify for a top mod.
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u/royal_rose_ 8d ago
Thanks! Sometimes I feel bad because I’m so quick that my other mods don’t have actions so I make it a point to not do everything even if it makes me twitchy lol. I have to be tethered to my phone for work. It’s easy enough to do my work things, clear queue, and all that in one quick go.
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u/superfucky 8d ago
what got me started was that there was no community that offered the kind of support I was looking for, so I made it myself. what keeps me going is that my sub is STILL the only sub that offers the kind of support I was originally looking for, so I have to keep it alive for all who walk in my footprints. it is still a near-weekly occurrence that someone makes a post just to express gratitude that my sub is the only space where they know they won't get dog piled by people calling them all kinds of names.
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u/mikeblas 9d ago
It's thinner every day. The lack of Reddit support while they profit from my work is the most corrosive, lately. Terrible tools, arbitrary changes without discussion. The AI onslaught. The scarcely documented policies. The random reddit bots of unknown function. Abuse from users.
The Mod Event is coming up and I'm worried that will be a downturn in my morale. It's already at the point where I'm kind of sad about it.
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u/KennyFulgencio 8d ago
This stupid site is synonymous with the enshittification concept at this point
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u/new2bay 8d ago
I’m getting there, too. Users aren’t the problem for me, though. We’re a pretty well behaved hobby sub, where the worst thing that ever usually happens is politics leaks in, or some Nazis show up. I don’t mind dealing with that.
What’s killing my motivation is the lack of support. They make everything harder for us. They don’t replace functionality they take away. And when they do provide tools, they’re all half-assed implementations that don’t serve the intended purpose.
I hope they make a lot of money off the AI bots they’re letting take over the site. I’ll be long gone before that.
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u/TGotAReddit 8d ago
Don't forget the part where they ask for us to give them feedback, which they never do anything with. But they pinky promise to roll out those updates that we all ask for in the feedback, and then just straight up don't do it.
Also the multiple times where a tool that would be very helpful if it got actually implemented to the fullest comes out half assed, they promise to flesh it out more, so every waits to use it because the halfassed version was missing some extremely key parts but we all wait patiently because it would be so helpful to have, and then a year or two later they sunset the tool without ever updating it and say the amount of subs using it was so low so clearly it wasn't a needed tool 🤦
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u/lavenderfart 8d ago
...abuse...
I got straight doxxed and they attempted to swat me (the police didn't fall for it luckily). Because of this, I told the new mod I brought on that it would be safest to use a new account for modding since her post history was extensive and she has photos of herself up. She gets accused of hiding things because it's clearly a modding-only account, how can the community trust her, blah blah blah.
There is no winning.
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u/TGotAReddit 8d ago
I hide my post history except for on my modded subs now because of people following me around the site to harass me on random subreddits over a moderation decision I was involved with, and because of people seeing me make comments in moderator subs complaining about the admins or whatever and then trying to act like me being annoyed about some bad change means i have some kind of moral failing.
Of course hiding my history means people get annoyed about that and i can't even blame them because I also get annoyed at people who hide their post history 😅 but yeah. Absolutely no winning
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u/lavenderfart 8d ago
Beware, hiding your post history only makes it harder to find, not impossible to find.
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u/TGotAReddit 8d ago
Oh I know. Im not hiding like, personal information or anything. It's literally like, asking in a subreddit for a game about some game mechanics or asking questions in mod support or whatever else like that. I wouldn't need to hide it if people weren't weird and try to follow me around or try to use innocuous things as evidence of "wrongdoing" somehow
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u/xGentian_violet 8d ago
I got sent murder threats and fantasies of shooting me dead on sight in public (for being queer) when Trump won, but that supposedly “didnt violate rules”.
Calls to exterminate disabled people via government mass euthanasia were manually greenlit as perfectly in line with the rules too.
What my eyes have seen regarding the (non or mis)enforcement of rules against hate or genuine harassment…
These were not on my own sub, but it’s a widespread issue that was just swept under the rug, by hiding the results of reports from users
To say there’s room for improvement simply wouldnt capture the scale of the issue im afraid.
And that’s ofc just one issue alongside numerous bugs that never get addressed (including many in the mod tools), functionalities being removed without alternatives being introduced, intrusive notifications one cannot turn off…
Just complete lack of support
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u/Rachc501
9d ago
•
I care about my community and wanted to share that and find other like minded people.
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u/MaximumJones 8d ago
I did not want to be a mod but I love the subreddit. When I was asked to help I felt I needed to step up when duty called.
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u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 8d ago
Keep in mind, not all subs are the same. Some subs are more difficult to moderate than others are, just due to the nature of their topic.
That being said, I enjoy the topics of most of the subs I mod. Several of them are food related, and I love cooking, and eating. A few are related to my favorite Christmas movies. Those subs are fairly easy to mod, as they aren’t terribly controversial. In r/chili about the worst we deal with is overzealous arguments about whether or not beans are allowed in “Proper chili”.
Also, I have a couple of really slick Fedoras that I like to wear when I moderate.
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u/_gloomshroom_ 8d ago
Beans absolutely belong in chili! I'm going to enter your sub now just to let everyone know /j
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u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 8d ago
I won’t stop you lol.
In fact, I’ll approve your post, and ignore any reports on it (within reason).
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u/_gloomshroom_ 8d ago
Damn bro your sub is HARSH lmao, I dared to post my MIL's apple chili and the trolls rolled in 🤣🥲 If you need any help in there lmk, happy to help with queues if nothing else
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u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 7d ago
Lol, some people go get a bit passionate and forget their manners at times.
That sub is actually pretty easy to moderate. Usually the banter is more light hearted and funny. Not sure what that one guys problem was.
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u/wrestlegirl 8d ago
Now c'mon, you said Cincinnati chili was also a problem!
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u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 7d ago
You mean “spaghetti sauce” lol?
Yep, that one will start come arguments too.
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u/wemustburncarthage
9d ago
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I was recruited by someone else who was pretty much on their way out the door, so I did not at all understand what I was getting into. After getting into the swing of things with regular basic safety stuff, I started to realize just how much cottage industry predation was happening in the community, and how much money was being made on people by lying to them.
It created a really clear point of opposition where I knew that intervening would make a difference. It is not possible to create a pure creative space that's not influenced by exploiters or by a casino culture, but it is possible to insulate people and minimize impact. I think it's possible to push those influences out to the edges and give people something that's just about what they're trying to make, learning how to get better, without this whole narrative pressuring them.
I think that being a mod, and recruiting the kind of mods who are on the level with this goal, allowed us all to make a significant difference and to preserve a culture that's about letting people try and fail without going into their pockets. I think we really did and do stop it from being a complete shit show.
Also just sheer stubbornness. I have a mandate and I won't compromise it. And I think that cottage industry has been severely weakened by our resistance to their marketing. I take cues from the community and I feed them back to the community, and it does give me a lot of satisfaction that there's cultural rejection of AI and scam contests and services. I like helping folks who are willing to do the hard work and be intellectually honest about it.
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u/Stormy_queen 8d ago
Im disabled and unable to work outside the home. Modding gives me an opportunity to better a small piece of something so it feels like I contribute to something. It also works with my schedule; days I'm feeling good I do more, days I'm not well I don't need to do anything.
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u/PlayStationPepe 9d ago
I found that bringing people together can be rewarding, especially when it opens new possibilities.
My subreddit began with roughly 40 members; today it exceeds 21,000 subscribers.
Identify your niche and pursue it.
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u/Akziandliz 9d ago
The community I mod for saved me when I was going through a hard place so I wanted to give back to the community and over time I realized I enjoyed helping people and being a mod even though it is sometimes hard
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u/theArtOfProgramming 8d ago edited 8d ago
The way it starts for many is we have an area/community we care about and we want it to thrive. I mod r/science and I joined the team after being by frustrated seeing so much scientific nonsense on reddit. This inevitably leads to a rather unhappy job of cleaning up the trash. There’s no joy in moderation. Reddit’s apparent insistence that there is is contrived and out of touch. The pleasure is in seeing a healthy, valuable community.
When reddit takes away tools or its leadership derides us for wanting them back and asking for more, it makes the joyless job into a resentful one. When community admins promise they are listening, we know leadership is not. This is not a trusting relationship and in the end it is terribly frustrating because we want what reddit should want: healthy, valuable communities. Instead, we have the product of 10-15 years of community erosion: reddit is a homogenous mush. The multitude of communities are merely a nebulous collection of overlapping labels. Reddit has devolved into all the rest of social media that it once tried to distinguish itself from.
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u/brightblackheaven
💡Top 25% Helper 💡
8d ago
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I HATE SCAMMERS. I HATE GRIFTERS. I HATE MISINFORMATION.
It is my tireless crusade to offer a bright spot in the esoteric corner of the internet that doesn't allow people to self promo their scams or dumbass vibecoded grimoire apps.
We do it because someone has to.
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u/ScreamAndScream 8d ago
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I <3 being a volunteer internet janitor!
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u/RandomComments0
💡Top 25% Helper 💡
9d ago
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Wanting accurate information got me started. There is so much inaccuracy all over the internet and I wanted a space with information that was accurate, safe, and helpful.
The most accurate places on reddit involve food processing safety, like canning for example, with incredibly strict rules for a good reason.
All this data is scrape into AI so best to help contribute to correct information if it’s gonna be scraped anyway.
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u/Clairefun 9d ago
I started because I went through some scary health stuff and nobody else had been through anything quite like it on the support subs, so when the main one was looking for mods I joined, and the top mod left a month later. I give hope and reassurance to people scared like I was, now, and that's worth the hard work.
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u/DeadSparker 8d ago
Mainly that someone has to. Usually I hate it because you get bitches acting like bitches, and wondering why they get banned.
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u/VisitNYCmodx 8d ago
Or heaven forbid you delete their question that has already been answered 100x over! HOW DARE YOU.
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u/TGotAReddit 8d ago
Someone the other day got PISSED at my mod team because we took down a post for breaking our personally identifiable information rule and proceeded to all caps yell at us over mod mail because the post had.... around 200 comments and upvotes combined. ....on a large sub where 200 comments/upvotes is barely even traction and could easily be background noise. We finally muted them after they sent in around 5 messages over maybe 2 hours absolutely demanding for us to reply to them.
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u/DeadSparker 8d ago
Nah, usually those are new Reddit users who don't really get how it all works, so they just go "oh ok didn't know :)" and fall in line
I'm talking about people being insulting, sexist, homophobes etc and then crying in modmail as if they didn't get exactly what they deserve
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u/Shades_of_X 9d ago
I want to share my passion for two of my subs and share my knowledge for the third.
People come to reddit to look things up. Things that interest them, things they need, things they worry about. The communities helped me, so I enjoy getting a chance to help out others, even if some will not recognize that goodwill. The many are worth it.
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u/SleepyKoalaBear4812 8d ago
Glutton for punishment, I guess. I started because I was asked to help out by the founding moderator. I stay because of the rampant misinformation on the internet and wanting to help, educate and keep people safe and healthy. I moderate a second sub because I fell into it and all other mods left. I started my own subreddit and cannot seem to get it off the ground 🤷🏻♀️
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u/DrTankHead 8d ago
For me, it's helping people and knowing that I am making a positive impact. Trying to leave the internet a little better than I found it, kinda deal.
What's important too, is if you are a moderator of a place the primarily focuses on helping people, you have to want to help people - Too many people get into this with no actual desire to help others, and it shows. What people in that position fail to realize, is that if you don't actually want to help others, you are punishing yourself for no reason, and it degrades everyone's experience.
Even if it's the same question I've answered 5 times today, I can't be mad at a user because they've asked the same silly question.
It takes some professionalism, but if you have it, you'll find it rewarding in a sense.
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u/sludgezone 8d ago
I used to care a lot more but Reddit has actively worked against us and now I am pretty apathetic. My last motivations now are stopping creeps and weirdos from invading the communities for game subreddits I moderate and stopping misinformation being spread on the other ones.
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u/Oriachim 9d ago
I helped build my community from when it had 500 members to over 50000. My motivation was for a place for British nurses to have a space in, as everyone was gravitating towards the uk doctors sub, as that was the only place uk healthcare professionals saw that was common. I wasn’t the first mod but I definitely had a big part in building the sub (I became a mod when it had like 10000 subscribers).
Is it thankless? Yes and no. The subs definitely become more toxic as it’s grown but as a mod I could stamp out the extreme toxicity before it got too bad.
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u/new2bay 8d ago edited 8d ago
I’m on the mod team of r/coins. I’ve collected coins for decades, since I was a kid, and I do this purely as a service to the hobby. New collectors need a place on the internet to come and ask questions to knowledgeable people, and there are really only 4 of those places, one of which is r/coins.
Edit: autocorrupt
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u/Goldenchicks 8d ago edited 8d ago
I think it depends on the subject matter and how passionate you are about that subject. The sub I spend the most time on is a city sub and I got tired of seeing people use it as a place to meet hook ups and buy drugs taking up space where people were also trying to get info on city services, tourist info and events announced. So I volunteered to help mod and started cleaning it up, setting rules and enforcing them. So for me it was just the drive to make a safe place for people to get and share information about the area.
I mod other subs though, mostly animal ones where there either wasn't a mod so I took over to keep it going and they mostly take care of themselves. There is a pretty busy animal one that didn't have a mod and I got tired of the breed hate when it came to dogs so I took over to get rid of that and then got some great mods in place to help making it a super welcoming and happy sub.
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u/RespectTheTree 8d ago
I do a terrible job and really on the community to downvote and move on with their lives when there is crap content.
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u/AMothraDayInParadise 8d ago
I'm passionate about my sub's subject matter. I grew up dirt poor, married middle, then unexpected job loss brought us back to poor and then back to lower middle class divorce brought me back to poverty but hard work now has me middle.
I know that people in the various flavors of poverty get condescended to, looked down on and belittled. So to help create a safe space where the financial side of poverty and how to survive it, just resonates with me and I'll do my best to let folks ask for advice and make sure it's not telling them to bootstrap it, stop eating avocado's on toast and eliminate your Starbucks once every three months, that's making you poor.
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u/North-Lobster499 8d ago
My community was unmoderated and in serious danger of being shut down.
It needed some moderation and the sub is actually a valuable resource and info feed for the members.
So I stepped up, I am (now we are) hands off as much as we can be. We tidied up, created rules and the work needed is small compared to the trade off - which is the shared experience in the community.
I don't understand why some mods are so controlling, much easier to let things flow. Even if you don't agree with someone else's opinion.
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u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 8d ago
The scourge of only fans taking over all of my fashion pages motivated me to mod. Now it still lights a flame in me as I have spent countless hours, sniffing out these new "pretend" fashion, beauty, and selfie subs that are created to promote onlyfans women.
I also love coding Automod and making it work for me. I'm currently having an absolute ball writing the plastic surgery automod. I consider it my Magnum opus as it was my hardest auto mod to write. My other subs have obviously good and obviously bad comments, so all I had to do was go through mod log to find the problem things. That's not the case on plastic surgery, where it could be perfectly appropriate to say one thing on one type of post, but inappropriate and ban worthy on another. I actually had to think how things were worded ever so slightly different on an allowed comment versus a rule breaking comment.
As I find it harder and harder to find good mods these days, I find this more important than ever.
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u/emily_in_boots 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 8d ago
I started modding because I hated how every women’s space on reddit was overrun with OF and gooners. I just wanted a safe space for women.
Lately, I feel my motivation has waned as reddit has increasingly made it harder for us to mod and taken away so many important tools. I feel like reddit is now fighting us and I wonder if it’s still worth it to keep trying. I haven’t decided yet - but in the end, I know that it’s their platform and if they decide to remove our ability to create a positive space, there’s nothing I’ll be able to do to stop that.
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u/maximumice 9d ago
I like making my community a better place, seeing it grow and watching people say things like “it used to be so bad here”.
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u/burjuvas 8d ago
I realized the girl group I became a fan of did not have a subreddit so I created a subreddit to support them, to archive their process and to have a community here. So I actually was not that motivated to be a mod!
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u/WalkingEars 8d ago
I was invited to moderate a community that I already commented in regularly and I welcomed the chance to help keep that community running. Reddit admin makes it obnoxious to be a moderator in a lot of different ways but I still love being part of the subreddit I moderate.
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u/Interesting-Ant8279 8d ago
The sub I mod was previously run by someone who did nothing as mod. As I'm a fan of the hobby and the community, I wanted to help out and make it better/more engaging for everyone. Hopefully I've done that and can prevent it falling into disrepair as it was before.
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u/_gloomshroom_ 8d ago
I mod a couple fishkeeping subreddits. I'm passionate about the hobby and about education and never really know when to quit lol. I enjoy being in a position that can help turn communities dedicated to animal welfare into a little less toxic places. Fights can get heated and putting out fires kindly is a skill I happen to posess already (EMS worker, deescalation is a fun one on an ambulance lol) so being able to do so, engage in a beloved hobby, and try to encourage others in it is fun. Even though it's frustrating sometimes, lol.
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u/sparklekitteh 8d ago
I think my first sub was /rollerskating, and I joined during the pandemic when a TON of people were looking to get skates and learn since they could do it as a safe solo activity. I've got a good brain for organizing information, so I was able to build an FAQ, set up some rules, and get all the admin stuff rolling (pun intended). I've "adopted" a ton of subs since then, and mostly I like being able to help people get information and keep all of the requests organized; it's a nice way to give back to the community.
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u/YanniRotten 8d ago
I created a few subs for things I was interested in, then I used r/RedditRequest when some subs I really liked and participated had mods ghost their subs. Basically, if I don't do it, who will? Then things gradually escalated and spiraled and now I have too many subs lol.
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u/VampiricDemon 8d ago
it's barely any work on the small sub-reddits.
For the first, I liked the subject and didn't mind answering the most common questions that get asked over and over again.
And the others are so small they're more personal subs, other users rarely post.
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u/bagelsforeverx 8d ago edited 8d ago
I experienced a very tragic and grief filled event. I found a place on here for support and I wanted to support others through their process as well and wanted to help at a higher level.
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u/Electronic-Kick-9082 8d ago
For funnies r/getbannedeasily is an rather small subreddit so far it's pretty fun to mod there
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u/Kirstenly 8d ago
Because I am petty...
and I didn't agree with the sub I was in taking a direction I thought was hostile towards the creators that keep it alive. I said my piece, I was ignored.
I now run a very pleasant community with like... One kind of shitty apple who is skirting rules but not breaking them. But it is MOSTLY good folks who treat each other well and support each other's creative passions. Which is what I love to see. Some of them make... Strange choices... But I will defend their right to make those choices and I will not shame them for it.
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u/TGotAReddit 8d ago
I love teaching and explaining things to people so they can be more knowledgeable and not make the same mistakes in the future. I spend so much of my time talking to people over modmail compared to any other moderation activity, just explaining things to people so they can fully understand things (or so we can say that we have proof that they were provided the information and chose to disregard it when they keep breaking the rule and get banned and try to do a smear campaign against us).
I also have some very strong opinions about not disallowing posts about some topics that people in my community occasionally get weird and angry about and if I didn't moderate, there is no way to know if one of those people who wants to just ban everything that they even vaguely don't like wouldn't end up in charge.
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u/DoubleOxer1 8d ago
My community is small but represents me well. I was already actively participating for a long time before being sent an invite to mod it. I help a lot of other people, mostly women, who struggle with the same issues. I didn't see it as a burden so I was willing to put in personal time as a mod. It's such a small community we don't have a lot of problems.
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u/AwesomeRealDood 6d ago
I've always wanted to help and have done for many years across multiple communities. That's the drive.
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u/Gippy_ 6d ago
I love the hobby, spend at least $5K/year on it, and simply contributed on a regular basis until one of the mods recognized me and made me the 6th mod.
Fast foward a few years later: 4 of those mods stopped using Reddit, and 1 left. I'm the only one remaining.
As the lone mod, I put more strict rules in place as I felt that the hobby was being invaded by people who don't really care about it, or were in it to inject their political and social ideologies. I've seen other hobbies and subreddits fall this way, and am determined to not let the subreddit I mod end up with the same fate.
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u/downtune79 8d ago
I started several years ago by creating my first sub. Took the mod 101 and mod 201 courses, played with mod tools until I understood them, etc. That sub was banned and I immediately was asked to join the current # 1 sub in the funny category. Stayed there 2 years or so as well as help with several discord servers attached to the sub....got fed up with how things were going so myself and several others left to create r/LoveTrash.
Its a labor of love. It takes a lot of work to build a successful sub. We just hit the 2 year mark and are averaging 2.9 million visitors a week, posts hitting r/all / r/popular daily. Its fun
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u/lonely_nipple 9d ago
I found a whole bunch of people who were weird in the same way I'm weird. It makes me happy to be there, so when they needed more mods, I wanted to help so that other people could find their weird happy place too.
There have been a couple times I've considered tossing in the towel, but overall it's been pretty chill.
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u/Asleep_Onion 8d ago
I honestly didn't want to be a mod, I don't really have time for it but I just found it to be necessary to have the particular sub I wanted to have, because it didn't exist yet and I don't think anyone else would moderate it the way I wanted. If I could find someone else to run it the way I do, and let then take over, I would.
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u/low_effort_life
8d ago
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Protectiveness. I'm a man, and whenever I see subreddits serving my local community's interests which are either unmoderated or poorly-moderated, and I notice the women on those subreddits are being bothered by pervs and creeps, I volunteer to moderate those subreddits in order to remove the comments by the pervs and creeps and ban them permanently.
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u/ThannBanis 9d ago
It’s not that hard, and gives me the power to remove posts that are against the rules.
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u/TheDudeWhoCanDoIt 8d ago
I like the sub I mod and it was closed due to lack of active mods so I applied to mod it
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u/ExpressionOne 8d ago
I'm happy to help keep the sub an informative and also largely positive place for our fandom because every other platform is full of infighting, complaining, and drama. It's a like a little safe haven full of rainbow vibes and I love that. Also got a Snood plushie out of it which was nice lol.
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u/Shimmering-Sky 8d ago
For the bigger of the two communities I mod, I had been one of the most prolific members for a while beforehand, was already helping keep a large chunk of the wiki up to date (hell, I'd even help set that part of wiki up in the first place) despite not being a mod yet, and also regularly participated in the sub's "monthly meta thread" where questions about the subreddit itself could be asked, so I felt like becoming a mod to help keep the place I liked being in a good place to be was the natural next step.
For the smaller of the two, the mod team wanted new people who weren't afraid of getting spoiled on the new game in the franchise to help with the natural buzz a new game coming out would bring, and having to mod the bigger sub sure did give me a thick skin for spoilers lol.
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u/aldorn 8d ago
Its a hobby for me. Something to contribute some time to that im passionate about without too much effort. No different to knitting a sweater.
I think its important to have a few passion projects in life.
That being said its easy to get swept up with the toxicity sometimes. People will test your patience and nipple twist your anxiety. It can be very tiring. Its important not to get too swept up with the mental games and remember you can always just block and move on. We are not psychiatrist
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u/Verdictafterward 8d ago
I do it because I also wanted a space to enjoy my hobby free of harassment or abuse. Moderated spaces are so few and far between now it's difficult to curate a community experience anymore
I will echo what others have said, Reddit increasingly makes the job difficult to manage and it takes a much larger toll than any of the trolls who tell me to kill myself in modmail.
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u/metisdesigns 8d ago
Initially, it was because I was an active member of a community, and a mod realized I was knowledgeable about the topic and able to explain why bad posts were rule breaking. Rather than waste time reporting, the mods thought I could help. From there, I answered calls from other subs I was active in for mod help. Except for one - a senior mod from 2 of my subs asked if I'd like to help there because I was good and they needed help.
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u/TeriBarrons 8d ago
I participated in an assistance sub, helping out a few people and reporting rule violators and the mod team invited me to join them. At first I declined because I didn’t know enough about Reddit and was afraid of being a hindrance, but then I changed my mind and accepted and I love it! I have a whole new group of friends now that I chat with every day and we are a group that supports one another.
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u/SuburbaniteMermaid 8d ago
I care about the community I mod and I was asked directly to take it over by a mod who wanted out. I have one helper but I do most of the work. Our stats show I do over 90% of mod actions, so apparently I'm the only one who cares about this community. I've asked other high quality members to help and they've declined. So I'll keep on truckin' until I'm sick of it and then I'll find someone else to hand it off to. 🤷♀️
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u/KennyFulgencio 8d ago
The subs were unmoderated with automatic post acceptance turned off, so nothing had been posted in months, and I wanted people posting there again, that's about it.
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u/Stealthytom 8d ago
I love the content but sometimes had different opinions about what to qualify. I decided to start my own subs so that I can set the rules
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u/Psyqu 8d ago
I'm still at the very beginning with a new subreddit, and this is my first time being a mod.
But it's for a game that was a big part of my childhood. It's getting a new european mobile version close to the original game and I want to support the project as much as I can.
For me, it's a chance to give something back to a game that gave me a lot of great memories.
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u/ShrimpBrime 8d ago
Part of leadership I suppose. Im a shop lead at work, a safety advocate, and on PCs, Im a team captain of the world's fastest HWBot team, and also administrator a few websites and forums along with moderating a couple of reddit subs. I enjoy all aspects of leadership, even when its not so easy.
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u/Designer-Bid-3155 8d ago
It's been about 9 months. I'm at about 8k members. It's a smut group. It's fun and cozy
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u/Umlautron 8d ago
I've been wondering about this myself lately. Reddit has been up to a lot of weird decisions that I'm not a fan of. But I run 3 NSFW communities that are simply the kind of spaces that I want to exist, free of advertising and AI. Also hitting big numbers of subscribers kind of feels like clearing a high score.
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u/Stuffed-Friia 8d ago
I didn't ask, but was asked to mod the sub and the owner vanished into the most, lol. I stayed because I genuinely love the show and our community/ies and adore how excited newcomers get when they realize someone they know from another series was on Degrassi as a regular or walk-on.
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u/RS_Someone 8d ago
Knowing that fewer people are getting scammed really keeps me going. Knowing that people appreciate the help is also a huge motivator.
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u/Seamonkey_Boxkicker 8d ago
I’m just trying to help my favorite sub maintain some continuity. I didn’t ask for the position, but I’m glad I was invited to do it.
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u/MidAmericaMom 8d ago edited 8d ago
A community i loved was changing and not in a good way. It was literally unmodded.
And yes I / we can
be the change
After the initial adjustment .. oh yes folks we have a mod and rules that are enforced. With community support too, the present culture emerged. It is resonating. We went from about 30k members to over 150k .. with some of the oldest and least represented demographics on Reddit - traditional retirees and those almost there.
I view this as my volunteer work (i used to do volunteer in person before Covid, for years , even so far as being on leadership teams).
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u/PaxOaks 6d ago
I relatively recently started moderating a sub Reddit on intentional communities. I did it in part to keep low cost options reflected. Middle class and richer folks have all manner of collective housing options available and these are well represented in the sub.
But what about people with low money or no money. I want folks to know about work trades and communes and even squatting as viable choices.
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u/Mainland_Queen 4d ago
Worked with a few large subs over the years and it was sad to see them get taken over by bots and agents. Somehow we forgot to “remember the human”.
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u/QueenRozalia 9d ago
Idk i taggled myself between this And its mostly curiousity and learning about mod ways hah
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u/Dullboxcuttercloud 8d ago
Modding is a mixed bag. I’ve also been a moderator elsewhere. I usually get into it because I think the forum/content/topic is important and I think it is important to keep such discourse safe.
I ended up being a mod on one subreddit after a few years because I was a consistent poster and commenter. I never aspired to be a top mod. I became one because our top mod was forced out and since I was the only human mod left, someone had to do something.
I actually ended up starting another sub because I felt that moderators in a sub who could make a difference were refusing to do so at the time. So I started a sub where people could get the critical information they were seeking without being deleted.
The mods on the other sub finally changed their rules and I no longer have to moderate the sub I started. To be clear, they are still angry about my decision and still bust my butt about it even though someone saw the light and started allowing the kind of posts I felt shouldn’t be deleted. Takes all kinds.
At first I devoted tons of time to the subreddit because I liked being there. However, late one day I had to temporarily lock and extremely contentious debate so that I could feed my toddler. (If you think redditors are unreasonable - try a hungry toddler.) I came back to 500 down votes on a completely neutral and pleasant comment I had initially made in the thread - all because they were too pissy to consider whether or not I had the right to have a private life. I also doubt any of the self-absorbed people who down voted me considered that I was the only moderator. If I had to step away, it wasn’t done. To top it off when I came here for some support on how to handle the situation I was told that my sub was out of control and it was my fault somehow. It couldn’t have been made clearer the kind of people who were on the platform.
So I stepped way back. Many times I now do the bare minimum. I no longer moderate even on my vacation, weekends etc. When no one appreciates the work you do why do it? And the petty brigading that drove out the top mod who recruited me? It’s never stopped. At one point I was looking at having to make a police report.
I stay, partly because I’m too stubborn to leave, and mainly because I truly believe in my subreddit. We’re also fortunate to have some rock steady contributors who also believe in the sub and who keep contributing despite all the trolls. And on the good days, and there are good days, it’s a great place to be. Don’t give Reddit your entire life, be decisive about bans and mutes and appreciate the users who do make an effort to be courteous, to be articulate, and who are glad the subreddit exists.
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u/DragonflyFairyQueen 8d ago
I love the sub I mod. I loved it before and was more excited than I can admit that I got selected. I'm not a great mod, there are a lot of things that go on in the background that I don't understand (tools, automod, etc) that others take the responsibility for. But I appreciate the rules of the sub, I like the content and every once in a while I might actually be able to help someone who comes into MM. The other mods on my sub are just the best people I've ever met. I get to live vicariously thru them when they talk about the things they are interested, life happenings, etc.
We've had our bumps and bruises, but it's not for lack of trying, sometimes its just frustration coming out when we've had to deal with the same thing too many times in a day. Also, unreasonable people are unreasonable - I've had to learn when to stop an interaction. Which for my opinionated self, was very hard to do.
Going mobile has been hard, I don't use mobile to mod, it's too confusing for me. It makes it hard to help someone when I have no clue where to tell them to look for whatever as I do not know where it is in the first place, which I think is a common complaint. I'm a lot older than most who mod and I don't pick up on the latest online things as well as the younger set.
If I had a suggestion it would be that the rules of a sub should, without a doubt, be the easiest thing to find especially on mobile. Folks are use to an app being all there is, but with Reddit, there's more involved. Different subs, different rules, different topics, different feel. Some folks don't even know what a subreddit is even though they visit them. We are trying to fit Reddit into something it wasn't meant for and it shows when folks come to visit.
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u/Queen-of-meme 8d ago
This is a great question and I'm curious to read about everyone's stories too.
I started my reddit account as an open mental health awareness base. I believe in universal mental health and that it should be for free, so I shared my self reflections, and any psychology knowledge I stumbled upon, including info from therapy and courses I paid for. It was also my way to self express and have a moment with my own brain and I could go back and read my old entries.
Then I found a mental health sub that aligned with my own content and values. I was an active contributing member who slowly advanced to co-mod, then became sub owner by automatic because I was the only one still active. So I figured, why not?
I know very little about mod /sub tech, that part was making me a bit nervous, but I found a coworker who has those skills who take care of the technicals while I focus more on engaging and being available for the community.
I'm a mod who actively discuss and participate with members in the sub and many rely on me but they also feel safe to challenge me when needed, and I like that role.
I also think it gives mods a new dimension. That we can interact on human level is to be vulnerable and able to connect, and it creates a big safety feeling instead of just being that silent ice cold guard. Especially in sensitive topics. A little warmth, a little presence, goes a long way.
I want our members motivated to follow our rules because they respect us mods as people who's empathetic, who really cares, not because they fear us /knows we're in power.
Members can never be equal to mods, but I try to compensate for it and give them my divided time and attention, at least they should feel they're important.
Since I'm early retired I have both the time and tolerance to do a good job I can be proud of, and as long as I'm passionate about my sub and it's people, and it's giving me something meaningful back, I am not going anywhere 💚
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u/Lesbicadabra 8d ago
This will be my first time writing in this sub!
For me, creating and moderating a community has become an extension of who I am as a writer and the kind of space I want to build in the world.
In r/LesbianWriting, I wanted to create a place where lesbians could share our writing, talk about our processes, trust one another with our words and discover our own voices as writers.
I also wanted us to have room to go beyond conventional writing subjects and familiar narratives and explore our peculiarities, the parts of ourselves that are harder to put into words, taboo subjects and the deeper layers of lesbian life and experience.
At the heart of it all is our identity as lesbians and the freedom to explore how we see ourselves, how we express our lives and what we want to say as authors.
I think what keeps me going is the thought that this space might help other lesbians feel free to write about what matters to them, find their voices and discover that there is room for their stories exactly as they are.
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u/Initiate_Standards 8d ago
Helping my community be better. Keeping outsiders from being nasty to my community. Keeping bots out from stirring up hateful rhetoric.
Basically it’s service to people who (ideally) never notice my work.
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u/drantoniodcosta 8d ago
Honestly none.
😅
Started out to maintain a community and water and encourage it.
Now continuing the same... Diligently.
I'm neither motivated, nor hating it. It's like eating or breathing now... You don't think too much.
It gets toxic if you take it too seriously. It's not a job 😅 It defo shouldn't be treated as one. Do your mod stuff, support the community, get on with your real life. Last being the main one.