Introducing ContextMod -- a moderator-configurable, general-purpose bot framework focused on user-history based moderation

https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/ousviy/introducing_contextmod_a_moderatorconfigurable/

created by FoxxMD on 30/07/2021 at 20:08 UTC*

108 upvotes, 21 top-level comments (showing 21)

Hello Mods! I'm excited to introduce you to a project I've been working on for the last few months -- **ContextMod.**

ContextMod is a new, open-source moderation bot framework[1] designed around these three pillars:

1: https://contextmod.dev

• Configurable by the moderators of the subreddit it runs on
• Provides **user-history based moderation tools** to fill in the gaps where automoderator falls short
• Easy to deploy and operate with low computing requirements

What is user-history based moderation?

This is something you most likely already do manually! If you use Toolbox's history or profile search (or just plain reddit) to look at a user's past submissions/comments in order to get some **context** for why a user said a certain thing or made a certain post you are doing user-history based moderation.

The goal of the tools provided by ContextMod is to automate this process for you *and* enable you to get context in a way that wouldn't be feasible to do manually.

• *Some examples of what ContextMod can do in this respect:**

• On a new link submission, check if the user has also posted the same link N times in other subreddits within a timeframe/# of posts
• On a new submission or comment, check if the user has had any activity (sub/comment) in N set of subreddits within a timeframe/# of posts
• On a new link submission, check if the origin of that link (youtube author, domain, etc.) comprises N percent of the user's history within a timeframe/# of posts
• On a new submission or comment, check what percentage their submissions, comments, or comments as OP comprise of their total history within a timeframe/# of posts

In less abstract terms **ContextMod excels at catching these types of behavior:**

• Detect users who have most of their karma from "freekarma" subreddits
• Detect when a user is crosspost spamming links/comments or **duplicate images**
• Detect if a user is self promoting[2] their own content IE the submission's origin is over 10% (or whatever you decide) of all of their submission history.
• Detect if a user is a good contributor (lots of comments) or mostly posts submissions with no engagement

This is just a sample of what ContextMod is capable of[3] because all of these can be combined and configured to detect the exact patterns you (the moderators of a subreddit) want to find.

2: https://www.reddit.com/wiki/selfpromotion?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=mealtimevideos&utm_content=t1_h7442q4#wiki_guidelines_for_self-promotion_on_reddit

3: https://contextmod.dev/docs/#how-it-works

What else can it do?

ContextMod has a large feature parity with automoderator. As a general-purpose bot you can use it to perform the same moderation actions[4] automoderate can do such as approve, ban, comment, flair, report, etc...

4: https://contextmod.dev/docs/subreddit-configuration/#actions

It also works similarly to automoderator to keep the learning curve gentle. The same basic concepts of **if this condition then do this** apply to ContextMod. However, ContextMod goes one step further by allowing your "checks/rules" to be combined with logical operators (AND/OR) and nested sets (1 level deep) to enable complex behavioral checks.

Outside of the actual bot behavior ContextMod has more than a few convenience to help with usage:

• A fully-featured web interface[5] for operators and moderators, authenticated through Reddit OAuth (login with your reddit account)
• Detailed logging of check behavior and live-streaming of logs (in the web interface) to help you get feedback on behavior and fine-tune your configuration
• 3rd party notifications when actions are taken (just discord webhooks currently)
• Solid documentation[6], a configuration explorer[7], and configuration editor with built-validation[8]

You said it's moderator configurable?

Yes! ContextMod software runs a bot account but the behavior for each subreddit the bot moderates is configured using data from a wiki page in the subreddit.

5: https://contextmod.dev/#web-ui-and-screenshots

6: https://contextmod.dev/docs/

7: https://json-schema.app/view/%23?url=https%3A%2F%2Fraw.githubusercontent.com%2FFoxxMD%2Freddit-context-bot%2Fedge%2Fsrc%2FSchema%2FApp.json

8: https://cm.foxxmd.dev/config?schema=bot&format=yaml&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FFoxxMD%2Fcontext-mod%2Fblob%2Fmaster%2Fdocs%2Fsubreddit-configuration%2Fin-depth%2FrecentActivity%2FfreeKarma.yaml

• *This removes the need for the bot operator to be involved in the bot behavior for the subreddits it runs in.** Each subreddit has its own, bespoke configuration to suite the needs of that subreddit -- and the moderators of the subreddit are the ones that create and maintain the configuration.

Sounds amazing but does it have real world usage? How do I know it will work?

• EDIT: 4 month update*

Glad you asked!

ContextMod software currently runs on **more than 40 subreddits ranging in subscriber count from 2K to 3M+**

I encourage you to take a look at the moderator list for u/ContextModBot[9], the account I personally run ContextMod on. Additionally, my instance operates 15+ other bot accounts for various subreddits -- and at least 3 redditors run their own ContextMod instances.

9: https://old.reddit.com/user/contextmodbot

Some aggregate statistics for the instance I run:

• 1000+ submissions and 16,000+ comments checked daily
• 40 unique rules, 50 unique checks
• 200+ images checked for duplicates daily
• 3M+ activities (submissions/comments) checked in the last month

As a showcase of ContextMod stability and scalability: with the help of /u/hideuntiltheyfindme ContextMod has been helping catch and remove comments from potentially (sexually) predatory users using user-history on /r/teenagers for the last few months. It is currently processing **over 50,000 comments a day** on an instance they run independently.

How do I get it to moderate my subreddit?

If you are interested in having /u/ContextModBot, or a bot account you own, moderate your subreddit please DM me or join the CM Discord Server[10] so we can discuss your needs. Also please check out the moderator starter guide[11]. I am also available to help craft a configuration for you.

10: https://discord.gg/YgehbC8pXW

11: https://github.com/FoxxMD/context-mod/tree/master/docs#getting-started

If you would like to run your own instance (and bot) check out the github repository[12] and operator starter guide[13]

12: https://github.com/FoxxMD/context-mod

13: https://contextmod.dev/docs/operator/gettingStarted.html

Comments

Comment by [deleted] at 30/07/2021 at 22:13 UTC*

17 upvotes, 1 direct replies

This account is no longer active.

The comments and submissions have been purged as one final 'thank you' to reddit for being such a hostile platform towards developers, mods, and users.

Reddit as a company has slowly lost touch with what made it a great platform for so long. Some great features of reddit in 2023:

• Killing 3rd party apps

• Continuously rolling out features that negatively impact mods and users alike with no warning or consideration of feedback

• Hosting hateful communities and users

• Poor communication and a long history of not following through with promised improvements

• Complete lack of respect for the hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours put into keeping their site running

Comment by LindyNet at 30/07/2021 at 22:15 UTC

15 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Holy shit this sounds fantastic. I can't dive into just yet but if it does half of what is listed here, it'll be an amazing addition to a lot of subs.

Comment by Sspockuss at 30/07/2021 at 21:22 UTC

8 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Is it possible to define what the bot considers a “freekarma” subreddit? There are some larger subreddits that while not strictly being free karma it is laughably easy to get upvotes on.

Comment by mizmoose at 30/07/2021 at 21:43 UTC

6 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Overall, I may want to try this out.

Question: how to keep it from fighting with Automod.

Example: One sub I mod filters images and videos for mod approval and Automod tells them why. If this bot also found that this person was posting the same video on 27 subs, it'd flag that, too. How do you recommend the post not getting dogpiled by both bots?

Also: The web interface is a cool idea but I'm a bit paranoid about feeding it my reddit auth. Is this a (friggin' forget the term) where the password is handled solely by reddit? I mean, what's the security here?

(Before someone suggests "use a separate account just for moderating," there are security risks with shared accounts, too.)

Comment by ThaddeusJP at 30/07/2021 at 22:18 UTC

7 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Have you reached out to Reddit admins with this? I only ask because I'm worried they would ban it or make its functionality limited with back-end changes.

Comment by RallyX26 at 31/07/2021 at 10:14 UTC

4 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I have a feature request... Can it be configured to check if the title of a post matches a previous post in the sub over a certain threshold of karma?

Example: two years ago there was a popular post with the title "My hovercraft is full of eels" that got 1234 karma. A spam bot then reposts that exact post with the same title, looking for karma. Bonus points if it catches "My hovercraft is full of eels - more info on FooDating.com"

Comment by retardrabbit at 30/07/2021 at 22:04 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

For this field testing period, would subs be using your own instance of the bot? If so, is it free stole configurable on a per-sub basis, or do you need to self host for that?

Interested in beta testing but I don't have any hosting space of my own atm.

Comment by Orcwin at 31/07/2021 at 12:28 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

If this thing works as advertised, it could be a real game changer. It sounds amazing!

Comment by ani625 at 31/07/2021 at 12:36 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Thank you. This sounds pretty neat.

Comment by EnoughBorders at 06/08/2021 at 13:39 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

It wouldn't let me initiate a direct chat with you. I wanted to ask if this bot can operate in a Reddit group chat.

Comment by GammaKing at 30/07/2021 at 22:40 UTC

-9 upvotes, 1 direct replies

My problem with bots like this is that they're increasingly being used politically to attempt to force users off of subreddits which certain partisan mods dislike - "you must leave X sub if you want to use [long list of collected subs]". Are you going to add to this problem?

Comment by AutoModerator at 30/07/2021 at 20:08 UTC

-4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Hello! This automated message was triggered by some keywords in your post. If you have general "how to" moderation questions, please check out the following resources for assistance:

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• /r/modhelp - peer-to-peer help from other moderators
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Comment by CryptoChief at 31/07/2021 at 06:33 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

That is amazing. I've had this sort of idea in mind for a while now. Thanks for building this bot. We might like to try it out at r/CryptoMarkets.

Comment by EccentricBai at 31/07/2021 at 07:25 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I am interested in this Bot for r/BollyBlindsNGossip. I have lot of link spammers, self promotions and Spam posts. I have to make threshold karma ridiculously high to avoid this and it isn’t good for legit new members.

Comment by banned-one at 11/09/2021 at 17:33 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I am interested in using this, would be happy to do the beta testing if it would help you, or I could use my own instance. I am brand new to using auto-mod, so I don't know which would be better for me.

I would have DM'd you but it seems you've turned off the chat button, or I'm just now allowed to see it or something, because it's not there. So if you would dm me, I would appreciate it. I'm ready to get this going. Thanks.

Comment by jessquit at 17/11/2021 at 18:13 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

/u/shadowofharbringer this seems like a very useful tool for us

Comment by AutoModerator at 17/11/2021 at 20:51 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Hello! This automated message was triggered by some keywords in your post. If you have general "how to" moderation questions, please check out the following resources for assistance:

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Comment by AutoModerator at 16/12/2021 at 17:44 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Hello! This automated message was triggered by some keywords in your post. If you have general "how to" moderation questions, please check out the following resources for assistance:

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Comment by moomooland at 18/12/2021 at 15:37 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

how would it work in this scenario,

user mentions a blacklisted phrase and a temp tamp is imposed.

where the ban length is increased for repeat instances

Comment by AutoModerator at 14/04/2022 at 16:14 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Hello! This automated message was triggered by some keywords in your post. If you have general "how to" moderation questions, please check out the following resources for assistance:

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• /r/modhelp - peer-to-peer help from other moderators
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If none of the above help with your question, please disregard this message.

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Comment by AutoModerator at 14/11/2022 at 18:19 UTC

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Hello! This automated message was triggered by some keywords in your post. If you have general "how to" moderation questions, please check out the following resources for assistance:

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