https://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/1gqizjh/reddit_is_considering_getting_rid_of_mods/
created by Cyoarp on 13/11/2024 at 17:55 UTC*
351 upvotes, 65 top-level comments (showing 25)
I was asked to take part in a survey today by Reddit because I moderate a medium large subreddit (*about the same size as this one a little over 160,000 members*)
All of the questions were about if we felt satisfied with other moderators,. If we felt capable of moderating our subreddits, "what we would do if we no longer had to do rule enforcement,"
It then asked how we would feel about an AI tool that helped users write better posts, followed by a test to see if we can tell the difference between AI generated posts and human written posts, followed by just straight out asking us how we would feel about all rules violations being handled by AI.
This is not good! and I am a person who is generally pro AI.
With no moderators Why would anyone start a new community if they don't have a hand in shaping it? What would the difference be between any two new subreddits? When there won't be moderators to make sure only on topic posts are posted?
Comment by sassergaf at 13/11/2024 at 18:11 UTC
102 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I took the same survey and didn’t come to any of those conclusions. It didn’t ask if we were satisfied with moderators, it asked about admins.
The questions on AI asked if we felt it could be beneficial in management of the sub and how.
Comment by CupBeEmpty at 13/11/2024 at 18:32 UTC
36 upvotes, 3 direct replies
That was my absolute impression. In the other thoughts section I said using AI to moderate would be awful.
Take away any nuance or understanding of tone, nuance, sarcasm, jokes, memes, etc.
It would mean the mods would just be relegated to fixing poor AI decisions. But noooooo matter what the mods say I am fairly certain reddit will do whatever it wants.
Comment by TiffanyGaming at 13/11/2024 at 23:19 UTC*
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
"I'd quit because that'd be god awful. It'd take all power away from humans and hand it to historically bad automated systems. AI can't understand nuance, tone, memes, or inside jokes. Look at how users hugely negatively view YouTube's automated banning system." my answer to their final question about a world where all moderating decisions and bans were handled by AI instead of humans.
God that would be terrible.
Also if anyone's curious this was the identifying AI section...
Which of the following comments are written by a generative AI tool like ChatGPT or Google Gemini?
"I hate sunscreen and liken it to torture by invisible hands. But if I have to wear sunscreen, it’s La Roche Posay. I’m almost to the point of using it as moisturizer to get in the habit of wearing it."
"Tailored clothing. Wearing clothing that fits correctly is more comfortable, looks better, and tends to be of a quality that lasts longer."
"A quality sofa. One from What A Room custom sofas, Room & Board, Arhaus or Flexsteel. Don't go for the junk from Joybird, Ashley, Burrow, West Elm, etc."
"Professional kitchen knives. You’re not just paying for the ability to cut; you’re investing in less prep time, safer handling, and a tool that, with proper care, will last a lifetime. Don’t undermine your culinary skills with subpar equipment. Remember, a dull knife is an injured chef's first sign of regret."
"Mattress, Shoes, Dental Care, Jacket. In that order."
"Good shoes and socks."
"High-quality noise-canceling headphones may feel like a luxury, but they're a game-changer if you work in noisy environments, commute frequently, or just want some peace. They’re also great for reducing stress by blocking out unnecessary background noise."
"While off-the-rack clothing is readily available, tailored garments offer a perfect fit, superior comfort, and elevated style. This investment can boost your confidence and ensure your clothes look and feel great for years to come."
"Good coffee. I used to buy the cheap stuff, but investing in freshly roasted beans and a decent grinder has completely changed my mornings. It’s a game changer for starting the day right."
"Investing in a good chef’s knife or specialty kitchen knives may feel excessive, but high-quality knives are sharper, last longer, and make cooking much more enjoyable. They’re a small but worthwhile investment if you cook regularly, saving you effort and time in the kitchen."
"LASIK eye surgery. Expensive as hell upfront, but not having to deal with glasses or contacts is priceless."
"Hiring professional movers might seem unnecessary, but the ease they bring to a stressful moving day makes it worth it. From safely packing fragile items to ensuring heavy furniture arrives damage-free, professional movers save time, prevent injury, and minimize the risk of broken belongings."
And in case you can't tell it's likely >!professional kitchen knives, high-quality noise-canceling, off-the-rack clothing, good chef's knife, professional movers!<.
Comment by whoooooknows at 14/11/2024 at 09:32 UTC
6 upvotes, 2 direct replies
If AI is helping write the posts, and AI is moderating the posts, will reddit become AI talking to itself?
Comment by Fat_Kid_Hot_4_U at 13/11/2024 at 18:38 UTC
14 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Another step towards this website just becoming tiktok.
Comment by EdwardWayne at 13/11/2024 at 19:08 UTC
21 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Jeezus man. I haven’t had google AI give me a correct answer to simple questions in I don’t know how long. ChatGPT is still regularly giving me bullshit answers to simple questions as well.
The technocrats have hyped this shit up just so they can get rich and now they’re going to hoist it on us completely, regardless of efficacy, simply because, as monopolies, they can. Nothing but algorithms to deal with after that and fuck people as anything other than providers of data.
Comment by ReallyFancyPants at 14/11/2024 at 04:20 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Or just make it to where you can't mod more than 1-5 subs per account or email. That at least makes it harder for mods that power trip to consolidate power.
Comment by jschooltiger at 14/11/2024 at 16:07 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My response to that question was "I'd quit and shut down the subreddit. There is no way to use AI tools "efficiently" to moderate."
Comment by sillybilly8102 at 13/11/2024 at 18:31 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
That’s alarming. You should crosspost to r/modcoord or something
Comment by doesnt_use_reddit at 13/11/2024 at 20:06 UTC
8 upvotes, 5 direct replies
Personally I think this is great news - mods powertripping is IMHO the worst part of Reddit by far. I've been banned so many times for saying things that had nothing to do with the rules.
Comment by identiti1983 at 14/11/2024 at 08:03 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It will turn into Facebook. Some EU online bill dropping for more censorship while trump does the opposite. Powers controlling the narrative.
Comment by Liv4This at 19/11/2024 at 20:09 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Given how the *well* the AI works at picking up offensive terms on Facebook with zero wiggle room for nuance and context? Please no lmao.
Every time I’ve gotten a warning or post locked, it’s been something harmless that the filter picked up. But I report animal abuse or violence and it’s fine lmao
Comment by 1805trafalgar at 21/11/2024 at 13:49 UTC
2 upvotes, 2 direct replies
reddit just needs to limit the number of subs any single mod can control. How about a maximum of three allowable subreddits for each mod? Chaos at first but this way you allow people actually interested in the topics to be running things and claw the subreddits back from people who pay insufficient attention to the responsibility of running things.
Comment by Alternative-Farmer98 at 27/11/2024 at 21:16 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
replacing Reddit moderators with AI is almost certainly disaster.
That said I do think some kind of moderator reform needed. I don't think moderators should have less power as it relates to admins but they're not accountable at all to their own communities sometimes.
like if you're triaging the Reddit power structure obviously shareholders and admins have more power than moderators who have more power than regular users .
I do sometimes think the power dynamic between moderators and regular users is a little out of whack. Even though I don't really want moderators to lose power towards those other stakeholders in a meaningful way.
I don't have any perfect answers though. I do know that some overzealous moderators have made using Reddit more complicated than it should be.
I do understand that it's hard to solve. communities understandably sometimes just want a place where they can talk with people that agree with them on a certain fundamental basis of issues. But these places are obviously going to be a magnet for people that want to discuss these issues in a more critical way.
Comment by interested21 at 03/12/2024 at 04:21 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My Theory of Reddit that I posted many years ago would predict they will go with AI moderators ASAP. The main reason is, they can modify the algorithm to see how ppl react to it and that's better than just having behavior patterns based on comments and posts to give to advertisers. Actually, seeing how ppl can be manipulated is a controlled fashion is exactly what vendors want. The monetization of it's data that it's currently giving to Google and AI will be greatly enhanced.
Comment by ManWithDominantClaw at 13/11/2024 at 18:56 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
> Imagine a world where all content enforcement (post/comment removals, user bans, etc.) was automatically and effectively handled so you didn’t need spend any time on enforcement as a moderator.
> What would you do, if anything, as a moderator of your subreddit(s)?
I would shutter my subs as best as I could and set my account to crawl random subreddits leaving comments saying "I miss Aaron Swartz" while I go join bluesky. Most of my redditing these days is politically-oriented, and just the fact that the previous question asked me to try to discern bot comments without context tells me you're going to fuck it up and the Nazis will take over before you can apologise and backflip like you did with the awards.
I can even tell you how you'll fuck it up. Half of the 'targeted harassment' comments I approve are highly contextual, as are most of the ban-worthy comments I find organically. I get that context from outside reddit, it's a constant process of keeping up with themes, topics, iconography and references because the Nazis know we do this and keep switching their rhetoric up to try to slip things by us. Your modbot, if it can even get context, is going to have to learn from the Nazis *on the site* in order to moderate them.
Where we are one step ahead, modbot will be one step behind, and the Nazis being prominent will kick off a resonance cascade that'll leave you with half your userbase deleted. I've stuck around through a lot of shit, but that would absolutely be the final straw.
After I put that in, the survey ended. I have a feeling two fucks, a shit and a bunch of Nazis may have tripped the pearl-clutching bot. Maybe I shouldn't have given two fucks lol
Comment by TonkatsuRa at 13/11/2024 at 22:26 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
To be honest, there are too many zealous moderators running wild on reddit. Banning users based on which subreddit the user is following, banning based on arbitrary political or social views (that often don't even correlate with the subreddit someone gets banned from) and pure egomaniac people that got a taste for power by moderating.
At least AI would be more fair / impartial in moderating
Comment by nvmbernine at 13/11/2024 at 18:03 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
With no moderators how are people going to start new communities?
Presumably the same as they always have, but with AI in control of the moderation.
This could potentially be a good thing but most likely in practise will be terrible, the problem is how you'd teach this AI to be better than other AI moderation systems used on other platforms, given they're generally truly awful at getting it right, most often allowing harmful content and incorrecrly removing the benign!
Comment by OPINION_IS_UNPOPULAR at 13/11/2024 at 20:30 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It's one of those things that sounds great on the surface, but unless Reddit's internal moderation team knocks it out of the park, it will be a nightmare.
The pitch to moderators is actually very reasonable, let us do the hard moderation part for you (which Reddit actually largely already does!) and you can enjoy creating your own community without the hassles of cleaning up!
Overall it'll probably be a good thing. I don't think it'll hurt the magic here unless subreddits become fully AI run.
Comment by kittymctacoyo at 13/11/2024 at 23:43 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It’s already being done on TikTok and it’s abysmal. The AI gives blatant Nazi shit a pass (and you yourself can get strike/ban after so many reports of Nazi shit they deem as no violation) yet regular people getting strikes for using a screw emoji and permabanned for innocuous inoffensive comments with zero prior strikes of any kind. I had an account get banned out of the blue doing absolutely nothing at all. An account I used solely for saving recipes into folders, posted no comments or videos and merely hit the repost button on a few vids here and there
Comment by pilgrimboy at 14/11/2024 at 04:10 UTC
1 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Ever since they lost maxwellhill they've been struggling.
Comment by Reppunkamui at 14/11/2024 at 04:29 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
This was on the front page (posted by a mod): This
Reddit is getting overrun, no idea what they can do to fix things, but it seems they are looking for solutions. But, I suspect AI isn't the answer...
Comment by kobbled at 14/11/2024 at 14:21 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
this just sounds like an evolution of automod. I don't think human mods are going anywhere
Comment by _haha_oh_wow_ at 14/11/2024 at 16:16 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It's never too late to join the fediverse. Mbin is particularly good IMO.
Comment by [deleted] at 14/11/2024 at 18:45 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
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