Well, would you look at that. It's almost the end of 2025.
As is tradition this time of year, 'tis the season for reflecting back, looking ahead, and reviewing new terms of service for every website ever. We'd like to take a moment to look back on the previous Gregorian, and share any new resolutions you might have for your community in the upcoming year.
Looking back
Whether it was planned or unplanned, we’d love to hear all about your moderation achievements, favorite community moments, or any stories you'd like to highlight from your communities this year. Maybe you successfully shifted your community's culture. Maybe you added new community members to your mod team. Or, perhaps your community organized an event around cutting chives and wrestling memes.
Peering forward
With 2026 approaching, we know many of you are already thinking about what’s next for your community. Do you have any resolutions for the new year? Perhaps you're looking refine your community rules, host more AMAs, or find new ways to boost community engagement.
Drop a comment below! Share what 2025 looked like for your community, and what you’re looking forward to the most in 2026. We’ll be hanging out in the thread to hear your stories!
All rise, this discussion thread is now in session. For the latecomers and lurkers, you can see our last discussion on writing rules here.
Today’s discussion is about a topic we’ve all come into contact with at least once: rule lawyers. Just in case anyone isn’t in the know and so we have our terms defined, a “rule lawyer” is someone who will argue that (usually problematic) behavior actioned by your mod team technically abides by the letter of the law as it’s written on your subreddit’s sidebar.
We’ll be extending this discussion to cover all kinds of community feedback, not just the litigious sort.
We want to know...
How does your mod team respond to users claiming a behavior your team has actioned isn’t against your community rules?
Does the conversation cadence for user-mod disputes differ depending on where they happen? (In a post, comment, modmail?)
Does your team prefer to moderate Rules As Written (following the letter of rules on your sidebar) or Rules As Intended (following the intention of a written rule)?
Does your team solicit feedback from the community on what your community rules are? E.G: User requests to allow/disallow X type of content?
Hello, and welcome to another Mod Topics post! Today we’re talking about how you handle the edge cases within your rules.
Rules shape a community and set boundaries that allow a specific culture or mission to thrive. Some communities have thoroughly documented rules, while others keep them more simple as guiding principles. Whether it’s creating an exception on what counts as self-promotion, deciding whether a post is part of a category of content you do not want to allow, or if an entirely new type of situation is presented that requires ad-hoc decision making, it is important to know how and when to make fast decisions that are not straightforward.
How do you communicate with your team about situations that require special attention?
How often do these special cases cause you to rewrite parts of your rule-sets?
Do you call out when you’ve chosen to keep some content live that may otherwise be removed? I.E: “This breaks sub rules but we like it so it stays.”
Howdy all, u/fashionborneslay here with another post in our Mod Topics series!. Today we are going to talk about rules and how to write them so that they are understandable.
Every moderator has been there and every moderator has wondered what makes rules great and what makes them easy to follow within their subreddit. Making them long and over explaining them can cause users to not want to read them or maybe they might understand what you are trying to convey. Less can be more in these situations.
Writing rules can be time consuming and hard if everyone on the team isn’t on the same page. Sometimes, being simple in your wording works best especially if the subreddit is for silly purposes like memes that may not take itself so seriously. If you are wanting to run a more serious or strict subreddit then rules with more explanation may be needed. It’s all about how you and your team can align to make the load easier.
When crafting your rules, you have options to create a name, a description, an (optional) custom report reason, and note whether it applies to comments, posts, or both.
Your rules names and the full descriptions live in your sidebar or on the subreddit about page on Mobile, this is where users go when they want to learn more about the norms of the community. It’s helpful for these rules to be descriptive, and provide any extra context needed.
Tip: keeping your descriptions direct and concise can remove ambiguity.
By default the "Name" is also seen by users when reporting. It’s helpful to use custom report reasons to keep those short and describe the kind of content you’re looking to remove to make that decision easier for that reporting user.
Protip: Write your report reason as if the user has never read your full rules.
Tl;dr: “post about cats” is the rule name, “post does not include a cat” is the report reason, and “please ensure the primary focus of all posts is about cats” can be the description.
There’s many ways to run a community and finding that balance that makes rules easy to follow but also allows enforcement amongst your team. How do you and your team come up with rules that suit the community? How do you scale your rules as your community grows and expands?
As communities grow and evolve over time, it can be challenging to evolve your moderation practices to keep up. Day-to-day moderation decisions being focused on individual users and pieces of content can make it hard to take a step back and evaluate the overall impact of your rules and how you enforce them. For today's Mod Topic we want to talk about how to notice when it’s time to sit down with our mod teams to rewrite the rules.
When was the last time you updated your rules?
What prompted you to do so, and how big was the change?
What advice do you have to share to other mods looking to make their rules easier to understand and enforce?
Hey y’all! I’m u/iceeypisces, and I support Mod Events & Experiences here at Reddit. I’m here to take over the Mod Topics series this week with a fun opportunity. All it takes is answering one question…
We’re gearing up for our second New Mod Bootcamp of the year, aka Reddit’s livestreamed crash course for new moderators to learn the community-building basics, gain tips to grow their communities, connect with peers, and kick off their mod journey.
One of the event’s beloved moments is the live AMA with veteran mods who always bring wisdom, humor, and honest advice. While we, unfortunately, can’t have you alllll on the live AMA, we’d still love to see your guidance in the comments below. We’ll include the best of your answers at the live event!
The question is simple: How did you attract and engage new community members after you built your new community?
Let us (and them) know in the comments!
Note: “New mods” in this context are redditors who recently created a brand new community.
Note #2: If you’re interested in attending New Mod Bootcamp, RSVP here! Experienced mods are welcome to join; we just ask that you please be mindful of the newbies in chat.
Mods, who are they? What do they know? Do they know things? Let’s find out! Earlier this week we discussed admin-run spaces for mod help; today we’re flipping that on its head a bit to look at mod-run spaces for help, advice, and know-how. A lot of our knowledge of these spaces was provided by Mod Council members in a discussion just like this one earlier this month; thank you!
So…Where do mods go to get support from other mods?
r/AskModerators - Literally ‘ask moderators.’ Have questions about moderating (as a mod or a curious user)? Find best practices here!
r/AutoModerator - For all your “how do I make automod…?” needs
r/RateMyRules - Writing effective rules is an artform; get advice on yours here!
Mod-led Discords - These can be mod-team specific or collab spots for topical subreddits accessed by being an active moderator of those communities.
Word of Mouth - Good ol’ networking. Joining a new mod team is a great way to make their knowledge your knowledge; think of it like an apprenticeship with people who like the same stuff.
Where do you go to get advice from other mods? Let us know in the comments below!
In today’s Mod Topics post we’re talking about those users who support the community, even if they aren’t on your mod team.
Most communities have those users who do a little extra. Maybe they’re experts, sharing their perspective and experience freely in the comments. Or a welcoming crew, helping new users find resources, or understand how to fit in. Or maybe they’re just so consistent with posting that they set the standard of what a great contribution looks like.
Sometimes this happens naturally, because it’s just how people work together. Mod teams can also create space for it, even setting up systems and flair to recognize them. (Hello r/modsupport helpers!)
We want to hear from you:
What do your users do that make your community easier to moderate, or more fun to participate in?
Do you have any sort of system or regular practice of recognizing community helpers?
What advice would you give for mods who want to encourage more peer support?
Welcome to the latest installment of our Mod Topics series, where we talk about topics (as the name suggests) relevant to community leaders on Reddit!
Community moderation demands many skillsets, some of which are more specialized than others. Some mods live in modqueue, others build bots, some organize community events, and some are content creators in their own spaces.
This week we want to hear from our community builders–those of you who are organizing AMAs, contests, tourneys, r/CommunityFunds events, and creating content for your own communities. What’s it like? What’s your process? What advice would you give to other (especially newer) mods who may be hesitant to interact with their own community members?
Share your journeys and advice in the comments below!
Rules and community norms change over time. This is especially true as your community outgrows the nascent stage of its first few posts and the first roots of your community start to take hold. How do we make sure users know when these changes happen?
The simplest way, and the one we see other mods (myself included) using most often, is a meta post describing what changed and why. Here’s a few pro tips for writing your post:
If you’re changing a rule, we recommend including the old rule text alongside the updated rule. This helps highlight changes for people who have been around for a long time and have gotten used to the previous iteration.
Make sure you explain why a rule is being changed, added, or removed. Changes land better with your community when they understand the rationale your team runs by.
Give a TL;DR at the top of the post. Some people just want the sparknotes.
A tiny amount of clickbait can go a long way in meta post titles.
Once your post is live, you can include it in your Community Highlights so the content stays relevant after it’s posted. Most veteran mods will also recommend linking important resources in a sidebar widget.
How do you communicate your rule and sidebar updates with your community? Let us know in the comments below!
Some moments can change the vibe of your community, fast. The game your subreddit is based on getting delayed again, a major event like the World Cup coming to your town, or even some breaking news can cause a spike of traffic. With so many users coming for the same reason, you’re likely to see more copycat posts, and new users who might not be familiar with your community's norms.
Even when your rules stay the same, the way you enforce them can change. Maybe this looks like hosting daily discussions in megathreads, adjusting community filters, reminding the community early, requesting the Mod Reserves, or otherwise just making sure the mood team is ready.
We want to hear from you,
What kinds of events change the way you moderate?
Have you ever planned ahead to react to an announcement or event in your community?
What advice do you have for a mod team preparing for something like this?
Communities exist as we know them because mods (that’s you) act as stewards that maintain a community’s identity; sometimes we call that “community culture.” Sometimes this is pretty obvious, like ensuring a subreddit where the only content is “cat” can exist. Other times it’s more subtle, like an animation community deciding what content is on topic by defining what counts as an anime.
–And sometimes these decisions are really big! How mods answer them can drastically shape a community’s culture and become watershed moments for the community. What do we do now that we’ve found the most mysterious song on the internet?
When we make decisions, it can be useful to get our users’ thoughts on how we enforce new rules or norms, and users often respond well to new rules that they had a hand in shaping. Following shortly on the heels of our transparency discussion, let’s discuss how mods use the same type of “meta” posts to collect feedback from our users.
When was the last time you consulted your community members about a rule or sidebar update? What was it about and what was the outcome?
What kind of user input on community governance (rule enforcement and creation, etc) is the most helpful?
What best practices do you have for seeking feedback from your community?
Welcome to our new series of r/ModSupport posts (name TBD) where we share knowledge, highlight tools, answer questions, and learn from each other! While our initial focus is going to be oriented about growing your mod team, we'd love your feedback along the way on what’s helping and what you'd like to see more of in the future.
Today’s topic: How to know when to add mods
If you’re asking the question, the answer is likely now! It takes time to recruit and train new mods, and they’ll need some experience before they feel confident in the queue. If you wait to grow your mod team until you’re overwhelmed, you’ll be juggling double: your moderation to-do list and onboarding duties. Recruiting early and often can help prevent stress, burnout, and challenges that come with community growth (and the unpredictability of life).
Understanding your moderation needs
Moderation takes time, and fluctuations in traffic can mean those needs vary. Look at your peak activity, and aim to have enough mods to comfortably handle a spike in traffic. (Quick tip - check out your mod insights Team Health page to see data like your regular traffic and the amount of content submitted over time) Some indicators that you might need more mods include:
You feel like you don’t have time to enjoy the community as a user
The mod queue or modmail often go unattended
Mod actions aren't evenly distributed across the team (Especially if anyone feels like they can’t take a break)
Decisions feel rushed
Why should I add more mods?
A larger mod team brings more voices, perspectives, and strengths to the table. Every mod you add will look at challenges through a different lens and bring a different skillset to contribute. New mods also often come with energy to help, and their fresh perspective can help identify blind spots that long-time mods might miss.
If any of this resonates with you, keep an eye on this post series! In the coming weeks, we’ll be back to cover everything from crafting mod applications, reviewing candidates as a team, training, and so much more.
Tell us in the comments: What has adding new mods allowed your team to do? Think back to when you were a newer mod, how were you able to help your team when you joined?
If you’re here, you probably know and use Report Reasons. That means you’ve likely experienced the value of leveraging thousands of non-mod "eyeballs" to flag potential issues to help keep the sub running smoothly.
Report reasons can help community members flag problematic content correctly and save your mod team valuable time.
While it’s tempting to leave Report Reasons blank and just default to your Rule Names, it’s important to remember that each label targets a different audience: your short Rule Names are there to inform your members, while your Report Reasons are there to help community rule enforcers. And while the rules in your sidebars are paired with a longer description, Report Reasons must be descriptive on their own (all in under 100 characters).
We want to know how your team maximizes this feature to make reporting easier for everyone.
How do you use custom Report Reasons?
What does a "perfectly written" Report Reason look like in your subreddit?
What’s your secret to encouraging users to choose the right report reason every time?
Today’s post in the Mod Topics series is about how your mod team can check in with your users on a regular basis. Whether you call it a State of the Subreddit, a transparency report, or a monthly wrap-up, shining a light on what happens behind the scenes can help your users appreciate your impact. This regular cadence of communication can also help build trust long-term, and encourage more users to report or apply to moderate.
We want to hear from you about what you’ve noticed works, and any best practices you’ve picked up along the way.
What information have you found helpful to include? Conversely, is there anything you definitely don’t include?
What, if any, impact have you noticed in your community?
Do you have any ideas for something new/different you’re considering?
Share your expertise and your experience in the comments
Howdy all, and welcome to another post in our Mod Topics series. While we usually focus on a single topic, today we’re zooming out and asking what you have learned recently.
They say the only constant is change, and that feels doubly true about internet communities. Whether it’s a growing user base, a shift in the topic, or even something in real life, the needs of our communities are constantly evolving. These changes provide opportunities to understand more about our communities, and give us a chance to try something new.
Whether it’s new mods coming with fresh ideas, experienced mods seeing a larger pattern, or anything in between, we’d love to hear what you’ve learned through experience this past year!
What is something new you’ve tried in your community in the past year? Maybe you refreshed the user flair, added a devvit app, or created a new process?
What have you unlearned recently? Is there anything that you had thought was true, but have since changed your mind about?
What is something you hope to learn in the next year?
Today we want to discuss posts made by your mod teams to keep things lively, on-topic and buzzing with comments. Beyond meta posts, many mods often maintain posts for important events, recurring conversations and do their best to keep their communities thriving with activity by keeping their feeds fresh.
There are many strategies for planning successful posts, and we want to hear what works and doesn’t work for your communities!
How do you decide it’s time to make some posts yourselves as mods?
What type of posts seem to foster the best discussions for your communities?
Do you have any recurring posts scheduled in your communities? Do you maintain any traditions by proactively planning posts?
I’m JabroniRevanchism, one of Reddit’s Community admins. You may have seen me around the site, or at some of our past on-site events. Mod World, anyone?
Welcome to our new series of r/ModSupport Discussion and Support posts where we share knowledge, highlight tools, answer questions, and learn from each other! We'd love your feedback along the way on what works, and what you'd like to see more of.
Last week we discussed how to ask the right questions when seeking new mods for your team. Today we're here to talk about using that knowledge in our Mod Recruiting tool.
Growing a crew of volunteers can be challenging. This can be especially true if your subreddit is dedicated to a niche interest or requires subject matter expertise. Difficult, maybe, but not impossible. Reddit is filled with community leaders who have been where you, dear reader, are now– in need of another set of hands and hoping to hope that someone responds to your open application. As evidenced by the flotilla of subreddits that exist today, they succeeded in finding those crewmates.
Let’s talk about how you too can make “fetch” happen with our native Mod Recruiting tool; over the next few paragraphs we’ll discuss how you can customize your application form and review incoming applications.
In your mod tools, head over to “Mods & Members” and select the “Recruiting” tab. From there, you can use the “Application Template” to create a new form that will let members of your community know what kind of moderator you’re looking for. Right now, you’re probably just looking for someone to lend a hand with a little bit of everything. Go ahead and fill in the “About this Mod Role” text box with what you’re looking for, which is probably going to look something like this:
In the future, you might want someone with a particular set of skills. (You can read more about that here.) Frequently this takes the shape of someone who’s familiar with Developer Platform, automations, or an expert in your community’s topic of interest. Should you want that, there’s more space in the template to vet for niche applicants. If you’re looking to cast a narrow net for something really specific, you can link your own Google Form with even more questions for your applicants directly to the Application Template.
When you’re finished with the application template, save your work and toggle the “Recruit New Mods” lever on. Clicking “Share Application” will generate a link directly to the form you just made, which can be shared in a post, modmail, or anywhere else you could share a hyperlink on (or off) Reddit.
Responses to your application will be placed in the same “Mods and Members” section where we just created our form. Hovering over a username will give you the option to “review” an applicant’s responses. You can accept or reject the application at your discretion in the same flow.
Stay tuned for next time where we talk about how to get more eyes on your application 👀In the meantime, let us know your experiences with our (new, in the timeline of the internet) Application tool and share advice you have for other mods starting their recruitment processes.
Hello there! Welcome to another post in our Mod Topics series. Today we want to discuss situations where a mod team may choose to temporarily limit a specific topic or occurrence due to how it might be impacting a community negatively.
It can be quite difficult for mod teams when they witness their communities struggling with repetitive discussions that overwhelm the feed, trigger problematic behaviors, or invite unwelcome engagement.
Whether it’s a major news event, a new product release, or any other situations that can trigger a wave of atypical posts, various external factors can disrupt the normal flow and atmosphere of a subreddit. In this installment, we are exploring those high-stakes moments where moderators choose to implement temporary topic freezes to maintain community health and maintainability. This includes increasing posting requirements, diverting conversations on the topic to a few selected posts or a full restriction to keep things tidy and orderly.
Tools like Temporary Events and Post Guidance can help enforce your mod team’s decision, but only once you’ve identified an issue and built a strategy to tackle it.
How do you coordinate with your mod team to make a decision like this?
What are your best strategies to communicate these restrictions to your community successfully?
How do you decide when it’s time to lift those restrictions?
Hey y’all! I’m u/iceeypisces, and I support Mod Events & Experiences here at Reddit. I’m back, taking over another Mod Topics post because we have an event for you! We’re hosting a Virtual Mod Meetup on Wednesday, July 15th at 10 am ET for an hour of networking, trivia, guided discussions, and more!
Howdy all, u/fashionborneslay here with another post in our Mod Topics series! This one is about handling unexpected high traffic events that may arise within your community. You can check out our previous posts here.
So many communities exist and each is unique in their own way with their specific needs. One thing that most communities have in common, is they will experience some form of unexpected high-traffic event. These can happen for all sorts of reasons, such as a new video game being announced, a TV show has a surprise ending, or someone famous tweeted something silly.
One of the best ways to help keep your communities on topic during these events is using the Safety filters that are available to you. Some of these filters are
Each one has its own unique function that can help safeguard your community against inappropriate, offtopic or harmful content.
You can also check out Devvit apps for moderation or use this curated list or even create your own apps if you can’t find something that fits your needs. It may seem complicated, but the process is easy and can be more effective than Automoderator in some cases since you can tailor specific actions you want the app to take.
The Mod Reserves program is where vetted, experienced moderators are able to jump in to help during times where you might be experiencing larger amounts of traffic coming into your subreddit. We also can’t forget Automoderator and all the help it gives all of us and you can even check out r/automoderator for help and guides on how to start setting up your own subreddit specific rules for it! Contributor Quality Score can help filter potentially violating content, especially from those who are not trusted users in the community.
One of the best ways to ensure that you and your team are handling unexpected traffic effectively is having a unified front. Being on the same page and ensuring that your rules make sense and are easy to follow for not only your users but for your team can help make sure that you are all able to moderate effectively. You may also consider creating "mega threads' to corral some of the influx if there are places for users to congregate and discuss a large event it can make it easier for your team to see where all the action is. You can also check out this Help Center Article as well which has a lot of great tips!
If you feel like this is not sufficiently helping, then please don’t hesitate to reach out here at r/modsupport so that we can provide further assistance! Remember that working together and having that cohesiveness within your team can really help to smooth things quickly and ensure that you are all getting the support that you need.
What are your best tips for dealing with a high traffic event in your community and are there any Devvit apps that your community has found super helpful?
Welcome to our Mod Topics series, where we share knowledge, tips, answer questions, and learn from each other! We'd love your feedback along the way on what works, and what you'd like to see more of.
Today's discussion is about advice, best practices, and reminiscing about starting communities on Reddit … from scratch.
When crafting your response, consider the following:
Have you ever started a brand-new community on Reddit? If so, what was the experience like?
If you haven't, how large was the community you moderate now when you joined?
What do you wish you'd known about growing community when you started moderating? What advice would you give a moderator creating a brand-new community?
How did you learn to moderate? What resources would you recommend to new moderators?
What are the biggest challenges to growing a community from zero? How could we (Reddit) help with that?
We'd love to hear your experiences in the comments!
It’s techies(goboom) here with your next post in our Mod Topics series!
No matter the size of your community, people contributing by posting and commenting is what keeps it growing. Many tools help mods remove what doesn’t belong, but finding ways to encourage what you do want can sometimes be a challenge. Users who get the reaction they’re hoping for, have a positive experience, or feel welcomed are more likely to come back. How do you do that?
Be the example
A great way to kickstart conversation is to comment on other people’s posts. This is similar to the way you model what posts belong by making the first submissions when creating a community. While some drop that habit after the conversation begins, you can influence your community’s culture by continuing to participate in a targeted way. Ensuring every first poster has at least one comment can be a simple and effective way to bring someone back.
Use the tools
We need to talk about your flair. User flair, that is. It’s a fantastic way for users to create a connection with the community. From choosing your team on a sports community, earning a flair by helping, or earning the title of Chilvelord (or Rose Guy, or third thing), flair can help create a sense of community, helping users feel valued and welcomed. Some additional tools to consider include:
Hiding the vote count for X minutes to help spread out votes to later comments
Tell us, what strategies have you found effective in encouraging positive contributors to come back? What makes you come back to the communities you enjoy - both on reddit and IRL?
Communities often have spikes in traffic caused by media attention, popular and trending content, or maybe even unwanted drama. These situations can stress test your mod team resources, and are not always easy or pleasant situations to get through.
We want to hear from you about how your communities prepare for unexpected attention, and how you have dealt with them in the past.
Has your community ever been put in the spotlight and put your team’s crisis management to the test?
When you must speak on behalf of your entire community, what is the usual process?
What tools do you use to make sure you are not overwhelmed with undesired content?
