this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
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Technology

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As some subreddits continue blackouts to protest Reddit's plans to charge high prices for its API, Reddit has informed the moderators of those subreddits that it has plans to replace resistant moderation teams to keep spaces "open and accessible to users."

Edit, there seems to be conflicting reporting on this issue:

While the company does “respect the community’s right to protest” and pledges that it won’t force communities to reopen, Reddit also suggests there’s no need for that.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/15/23762501/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-interview-protests-blackout

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[–] rknuu@beehaw.org 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hey everyone we're trying to keep the reddit threads centralized in technology in beehaw. I'm not locking this one because there's a lot of discussion, but consider moving the chat over to https://beehaw.org/post/576904

[–] Thief@lemmy.one 109 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Everyone needs to realise it doesnt matter. Enough people already came to lemmy for us to carry on without reddit. Now we just do the normal long haul work - help users who need help so people start searching lemmy for tech solutions, post our normal content here so there is a reason to stay, upvote and comment others work so there is engagement. The rest will follow as this grows and grows. We have already won. Lemmy is no longer a fringe interest.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel the same way. Critical mass has already been reached

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[–] Dymonika@beehaw.org 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

help users who need help so people start searching lemmy for tech solutions

For a moment, I misread this as "tech positions" and got excited about a job board on here.

[–] SkepticElliptic@beehaw.org 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Community idea: we develop a fake company that we all "work" at so that we can vouch for each other and use our "experience" on our resumes.

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[–] entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 60 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Good luck with that! I'm excited to see the fireworks as their brand-new mod teams use their brand-new mod tools right as they go public. Should be quite a show.

[–] peyotecosmico@programming.dev 42 points 1 year ago (5 children)

And on top of that when the new mods find out it's just like a regular job but without pay tons will bail out.

btw: thank you mods, honestly, after doing for a little while I think you are saints.

[–] coldredlight@beehaw.org 19 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I was a mod on a big sub for awhile many years ago and it was a literal horrowshow every day. It was an endless torrent that never stopped, the mod team basically ran 24/7. It was guaranteed you would see at least some fucked up bigotry every time you looked in the queue because the sub was a regular target for those people. It was really just a nonstop firehose of all the worst the internet has to offer, one reported Reddit comment at a time, forever. The tools I had access to were janky browser plugins and things like that, stuff previous mods had built themselves years before because the actual Reddit tools were inadequate. The sub involved so much moderation the team was very organized and you had to put in a certain amount of work every month, it really was like a part time job where you get to set your own hours but can be "fired" for slacking. You often feel emotionally drained afterwards just like a real job, and you start feeling anxious when you "clock in" because fuck not this same miserable bullshit yet again, just like a real job. I have so much respect for quality moderation, it is not at all easy in any way.

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[–] Mirodir@lemmy.fmhy.ml 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think what will happen is that a lot of the subs are eventually going to end up in the hands of the few mods who love sucking up to the admins and the mods who are in it for the dopamine they gain power-tripping instead of the mods who are in it to make the subreddit the best version of itself.

This will only further the "5 Mods Control 92 Of The Top 500 Subs" issue and lead to overall less happy, less engaged users.

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[–] Morogwen@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 1 year ago

And on top of that when those "tools" don't materialize and they're more overworked than previous mods having to manually squash bots and alt right trolls, even more will bail.

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[–] muddybulldog@mylemmy.win 48 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Funny how he repeatedly uses phrases such as “the extent that they were profiting off of our API” but has never used the phrase “the extent that we rely on freely provided content and freely provided moderation. If it weren’t for the tens of millions of people who are giving us free stuff we wouldn’t even exist.”

[–] kinyutaka@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I have yet to profit a single dime off of Reddit. After over ten years (11th Cake Day is coming up), and nothing to show for it but piles of worthless Karma.

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[–] storksforlegs@beehaw.org 37 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Its probably going to end up like facebook.
A big lumbering thing, still heavily populated but ad choked and overrun by bots and bad actors, indoctrinating unsuspecting users. Even if it stays big, hopefully its reputation will suffer enough to keep most new users away.

[–] Toxic_Tiger@beehaw.org 13 points 1 year ago

I would argue that the default subs already suffer from a lot of those problems. What's kept me around in Reddit is definitely the more specialist subs.

[–] SlamDrag@beehaw.org 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Getting into fediverse platforms has been a godsend. Talking to real people and not dealing with the high percentage of bots is incredible.

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[–] sparky 35 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I can’t say I’m shocked, but I am disappointed. But at the same time - Lemmy/Kbin is the answer. This is the way.

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[–] Pekka@feddit.nl 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Simply replacing all the mods sound like a good way to kill a subreddit, Reddit probably has no way to pick good mods... Mods will need some connection with the topic, and you don't want to pick random users with no experience for large subreddits.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 18 points 1 year ago (5 children)

get ready for sudden and radical rule changes, non enforcement of rules, nsfw, bots, spam, all kinds of fun crazy shit in the subs with mods removed. I'm sure a percentage of subs would stay the same, but I don't think that percentage is very high.

[–] KirinMizuki@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don’t forget there are literally Nazis being employed as Mods

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[–] Dusty@lemmy.dustybeer.com 27 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I doubt anyone is actually surprised by this. reddit owns the site, and (according to their TOS) they have rights to everything posted on their site (while they at the same time take zero responsibility for anything posted). I'm only surprised it's not happened sooner.

I'm also not surprised that this came about from someone that wants to take over one of the privated subs. Most likely to stroke their own egos.

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[–] Plume@beehaw.org 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

...and the subreddit rebellion has been foiled. The remaining locked subreddits will be hunted down and defeated!

The attempt on my credibility by the Apollo dev has left me scarred, and deformed. But I assure you: My resolve... has never been stronger!

In order to ensure the profitability and continuing advertising...

REDDIT, WILL BE REORGINIZED...

INTO THE FIRST...

GALACTIC ADVERTISING PLATFORM!

FOR A SAFE, AND PROFITABLE WEBSITE.

— u/spez to potential investors. Maybe. Probably. Might be slightly paraphrased.

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[–] Spitfire@pawb.social 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can’t believe the amount of people I see that are supporting Reddits decision not only with the API pricing and changes, but in removing mods like this.

The whole reason for the blackouts is a protest against Reddit and their new policy. Now they’re threatening to come in and remove mods with their own appointed ones to force subs to open? And they’re for this?

I…just…wow.

[–] veaviticus@lemmy.one 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's not that they're for this specifically... It's that they are self centered. They're the same 75% of the population that is willing to cross the picket line at Starbucks cuz they want their coffee. They don't think about the workers rights, they only care about coffee.

The same people just want memes and football and porn. They don't care about what's behind the scenes unless it directly impacts them. And let's be honest, the reddit changes (for now) impact like 10% of reddits user base. That's not enough for them to give up some dumb memes for

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[–] Snapz@beehaw.org 25 points 1 year ago

These definitely sound like the actions of a company that is in no way threatened at all not even a little bit.

/s

[–] GadgeteerZA@beehaw.org 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, I got the "message" from the Reddit CEO, and decided to pre-empt that, and I spent a few hours today manually deleting each and every post I made in my subreddit. The content is already anyway on my blog, on The Internet Archive, and on the Fediverse. So my subreddit now looks like this (he is welcome to let someone else take it now):

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[–] Fluffybirb@beehaw.org 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

OK, third time trying to post this comment after my previous two never went through!

I've seen a lot of people predict that this would be their next move if the blackouts continued. It's sad to see them actually begin with the threats though :/

I'm wondering if this is a sort of desperation move because of advertisers looking at removing spending from reddit if things continue. Particularly where they say they would start thinking about that if things stayed dark for a couple of weeks.

I don't know, I'm heading to bed, rewritten this three times and I'm not a good speaker, so apologies for it not being very coherent! 😅

Anyway, still many shames on reddit. I hope the blackouts continue so that advertisers leave. Booooo reddit booooo.

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[–] TheTrueLinuxDev@beehaw.org 24 points 1 year ago

Can't wait to watch the most entertaining stage of enshittification...

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Reposting a comment that applies here:

Yeah, moderating a large sub isn’t as shake-and-bake as the admins seem to think. They might “hire” scabs, but the scabs are probably going to slack off pretty hard and might not even understand the tools and procedures that can make it effective but not stifling to content.

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It feels right to be reading this from the comfort of Lemmy.

[–] flybynightpotato@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What's endlessly fascinating to me is how quickly Reddit (spez) dug this hole for itself. I'm (or was) an Apollo user, but didn't pay close attention to the finer technical points of app use, and was only half paying attention when the API changes were announced. In a matter of about two weeks, I went from not having particularly strong feelings (like a shrug personified) to be vehemently anti-Reddit and Steve Huffman. And it has literally all been based on the things Reddit (spez and his mouthpieces) have said and done. In other words, there hasn't been any "persuasive propaganda" that swayed me. Just them, in all their idiocy, taking me from neutral to bury them in an incredibly short period of time. The level of incompetence is truly impressive.

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[–] FrostBolt@kbin.social 19 points 1 year ago (14 children)

They can’t keep their story straight. First the protest is “noise” that will “blow over”. Now they’re forcing subs to re-open.

Look, even if the protest “fails”, they stick to the API pricing, and forcefully re-open subs, some things will be obvious and for everyone to see that weren’t before:

  • spez is lying and isn’t trustworthy
  • reddit cares more about IPO positioning and money than the health of the community
  • people are willing to explore alternatives like this fediverse
[–] flybynightpotato@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago

Yeah - obviously Reddit isn't going to go down in a fiery blaze, wiped from the internet, but it's entering a long, slow, spiral, imo, after having made a series of terrible decisions and bad PR moves that are likely significantly reducing its value as a company and casting doubt on its longevity as the power house its historically been. As far as I'm concerned, the protests were a success because it's forced Reddit to show its hand in a very public way (after all MSM picked up the story).

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[–] DylanMc6@beehaw.org 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Steve Huffman should resign.

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[–] battleoften@beehaw.org 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Alright! Time to Boaty McBoatface this thing.

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[–] ElysiumXII@beehaw.org 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Glad I left Reddit tbh, so far Lemmy/the Fediverse seems to be way better.

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[–] Bipta@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago (7 children)

When r/WorkReform sprang up overnight and proposed to elect moderators, Reddit's admins threatened to ban the subreddit for that

Fuck Spez. Fuck Reddit. Build kbin.

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[–] arquebus_x@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I'm treating the blackout like a strike, and I don't cross picket lines, and neither should anyone else. No scabs. No one should be agreeing to moderate a sub that has lost all of its moderators to forcible removal.

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[–] xray@beehaw.org 17 points 1 year ago (5 children)

This is literally a copy and paste from another article with Huffman posted TODAY:

While the company does “respect the community’s right to protest” and pledges that it won’t force communities to reopen, Reddit also suggests there’s no need for that.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/15/23762501/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-interview-protests-blackout

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 12 points 1 year ago

He said just a few months back that the API wasn't changing anytime soon. Words are kinda worthless

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[–] pbjamm@beehaw.org 17 points 1 year ago (5 children)

From NBC News interview :

“If you’re a politician or a business owner, you are accountable to your constituents. So a politician needs to be elected, and a business owner can be fired by its shareholders,” he said. “And I think, on Reddit, the analogy is closer to the landed gentry: The people who get there first get to stay there and pass it down to their descendants, and that is not democratic.”

Eat sand /u/spez.

[–] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Funny. When my 10 year old account gets banned by some 6 month old power tripping mod account I'm told "moderators get to decide who can participate in their communities" and given zero recourse.

Now when mods go on strike, they're told it's undemocratic and that mods shouldn't get to decide who participates in their communities just because they moderate those communities.

Fuck this weasel.

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[–] Enderspearl184@u.fail 16 points 1 year ago

The enshittification only continues..

[–] Arystique@beehaw.org 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I swear Reddit is not only not learning from history but purposely trying to repeat it again thinking oh the previous guys were just too weak....

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[–] AmScream@beehaw.org 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How many people think any such "election" Reddit holds will be a sham?

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[–] Lawliss@midwest.social 15 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Stop giving thus self righteous, money hungry dickwad a voice, The Verge. Jesus christ. The more he talks, the dumber and more like Elon Musk he looks.

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[–] AnonymousLlama@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

So much for moderators being "free to run their communities as they choose" as this article outlines

https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/204533859-What-s-a-moderator-

It's pretty obvious they're given free reign until they happen to disagree with admins and then it's "they're holding subreddits hostage", "they're just Stewarts" etc

Reddit admins will legitimately say and do anything to frame this as not their own fuck up

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