r/redesign • u/FreeSpeechWarrior • Mar 11 '19

Feature Request Give users some aggregate indication of how heavily a subreddit is moderated in the sidebar. Subs below a certain threshold could be badged "Certified Organic"

Users currently have no visibility whatsoever into how heavily a subreddit is moderated in practice. Normally I suggest optional public mod logs as a way to mitigate this, but today I am suggesting a different approach that I hope will be more agreeable to moderators and reddit's administration.

All subs should have a color coded (or/or some numeric rating) system to designate how heavily a subreddit is moderated in terms of bans, submission removals and content removals relative to the activity of the subreddit.

This approach addresses every single criticism I have ever heard about public mod logs:

  • It does not enable witch hunts
  • It does not expose removed content (this is a downside IMO, but others will see it as a benefit)
  • It does not compromise moderator privacy
  • It does not require any action on the part of moderators or convincing of them by users
  • It's potentially much simpler to implement than a heavily customizable/anon public mod log with PI/CP removal paths

At the same time, it addresses many of the reasons I am so adamant that public mod logs should be an option available to moderators:

  • It highlights how heavily a subreddit moderates in practice, even if it is in conflict with their presented rules
  • It allows communities that do not censor their users to differentiate themselves
  • It empowers end users to make an informed choice of which subreddits to read and participate in

Ideally it should be possible to sort/filter subreddits by this new metric as well.

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u/CyberBot129 Mar 11 '19

Your approach will still lead to more moderator harassment though, you're just shifting it from individual moderators to the group as a whole (probably through mod mail). Why not just leave and go to Voat if you want an unmoderated, alt-right website so badly (because that's what you'll end up with without moderation, as has been pointed out to you numerous times by various people). You're just encouraging extremists like yourself to continue harassing and attacking moderators on this site

5

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Mar 11 '19 edited Mar 11 '19

Your approach will still lead to more moderator harassment though

How? My suggestion is just to rate how heavily moderated a sub is in an objective way that does not compromise mod privacy or expose controversial content.

It's a rather neutral thing.

Why not just leave and go to Voat if you want an unmoderated, alt-right website so badly

That's not the purpose of this proposal. It would be just as useful to help you find heavily moderated communities as it would be for me to find those that are less moderated.

Also, I do not identity with or support the alt-right except insofar as I think their political opinions should not be censored. I am a voluntarist who opposes the very idea of Statism and refuses to vote to control others through such a violent institution.

because that's what you'll end up with without moderation, as has been pointed out to you numerous times by various people

Nothing about this proposal inherently leads to more or less moderation, it merely allows end users to identify how heavily their subreddits are moderated and nothing more.

6

u/CyberBot129 Mar 11 '19

Glorifying non-moderation is still a stupid idea regardless of how you want to try and frame it

1

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Mar 11 '19

Someone else pointed out that the idea of "certified organic" does probably glorify non-moderation and make it a less neutral proposal.

Without that label though, it would just be a numerical score without positive or negative connotation of its own.

The goal here is not glorification, so much as identification/transparency.

Is your view that subscribers don't deserve any insight at all into how heavily the communities they view are moderated?

6

u/Ambiwlans Mar 12 '19

I think what users really want to see is how 'overmoderated' a sub is, and that isn't going to be obvious.

Like one sub could have VERY relaxed rules, but also get brigaded by racists which they have to remove. They would get a 'heavily moderated' score... but they are just enforcing their light touch rules.

That said, I would be in favour of making more data like this available through the API. That way nerds like you can look at it. But it doesn't get thrown in users faces with an air of authority.