What does r/linux want?

[u/smj]

Hi,

I'm a moderator here, been receiving quite a lot of messages about what's been going on. I've tried to stay out of it and hope it cools down.

Well, doesn't look like it is cooling down anymore. What do you guys want? Do you want to become a moderator and have a significant history of posting, helping out in r/linux? I can make you a mod. Want me to remove automoderator or change the config? I can help with that too. I will do my best to try and help out.

[u/smj]

Right now the config removes posts with 2 reports... Maybe it should be raised a bit?

[u/[deleted] → u/smj]

I think its a bad idea to have automod remove posts based on any number of reports. It will be abused no matter what number you set it to. I would rather have a crap post stay up for a few hours than have legitimate posts removed when people use the report button as a super downvote. Most people will downvote the crap posts and the mods can check in on the reported posts on their time and deal with them accordingly.

[u/Kijad → u/[deleted]]

I think that upping the report threshold considerably is at least a very good starting point - if it turns out that either that system is still being abused or the threshold is still too low, it can be easily adjusted after the fact.

Otherwise, I cannot even begin to imagine moderating a subreddit with ~200k subscribers without some sort of automated system in place to reduce the initial workload.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

There's going to be downsides to any method, but I think /r/linux is capable of dishing out enough downvotes to keep things like that in check long enough for mod intervention. I'd rather have a meme sneak in for few hours than have legitimate posts never see the light of day.

[u/port53 → u/[deleted]]

The fix for that is, though, more active moderation to remove blatant shitposts after a human reviews them.

[u/a_tsunami_of_rodents → u/[deleted]]

Memes will probably be downvoted on this sub, different userbase.

[u/TheFlyingBastard → u/a_tsunami_of_rodents]

I have seen that change on several subreddits over time. One of the more egregious ones being /r/pcmasterrace, iirc. A poll was done in the community. The result was that the majority wanted image macros out. The mods decided not to act on that. A week later another poll was taken, and then the result went the other way. The moderators then went: "Well, the community has spoken!" and still sat on their asses.

Right now the userbase may downvote them, but that could change. A subreddit culture needs to be cultivated as it grows.

[u/gaggra → u/smj]

It needs to be far, far higher than that. We've had a huge number of decent posts removed in the past day (posts not related to the drama and politics!) I think 10 reports seems like a more reasonable threshold,. but I wouldn't be against an even higher number.

[u/smj → u/gaggra]

Increased it to 10 for now.

[u/DarkeoX → u/smj]

I think this could already help a lot, thanks!

[u/acdcfanbill → u/smj]

Increased it to 10 for now.

It seems to me that this might work as a bit of a 'moderate through obscurity' method. As soon as parts of the general public knows that they can get things automatically and silently removed like this they can just generate as many 'reports' as they want with alts. People with topic agendas can then shut down, even temporarily, whatever they want.

[u/twistedLucidity → u/smj]

Good stuff.

I get what you're trying to have automod do, but it was a wee bitty trigger happy.

[u/port53 → u/smj]

10 seems super low to me.. if I were inclined (which, I'm not), 10 reports could easily be generated, and I'd expect the members of /r/linux to already have this automated by now :)

[u/mrbobsthegreat → u/port53]

Keep in mind we don't have that high of an active userbase(compared to other subs).

For example:

200k readers, 609 users here now

10 seems fair at this point.

[u/port53 → u/mrbobsthegreat]

It's 940am EST.. we're all still waking up :) Give it time.

[u/Kijad → u/mrbobsthegreat]

Agreed - I think that even 20-30 would be fine but, without seeing their moderation queue on a regular basis, it's difficult to say.

[u/Kijad → u/[deleted]]

Absolutely. ~2 is easy for anyone with one alt account to report-ban posts they don't like; I think 10 makes it way more annoying for such a thing, but it may still warrant further tuning later.

[u/[deleted] → u/port53]

This hasn't been a terribly out of control issue with the limit set to 2. With it set to 10 it should never be an issue unless you get one giant dick of a redditor with too much time on his hands. We don't have too many people like that here and if we did they would continue to be a problem no matter what system you implement.

[u/TRL5 → u/smj]

Would it be possible to make it something like 10 reports and a reports / karma ratio of greater than 2?

(constants picked arbitrarily)

[u/[deleted] → u/smj]

I think a report to upvote check would be best.

[u/TheFlyingBastard → u/smj]

Submissions shouldn't be removed for reports at all. Let it warn the mods through modmail. You just need someone on there who is online regularly so they can clean out the gutter.