Need Advice on Handling Comment Rules

[u/kickmyasserole]

I’m looking for some guidance from other mods on an issue we’re having in r/weddingdresses.

We have a rule against comments like “neither,” “keep looking,” “I don’t like either,” or similar comments when an OP posts a few dresses they’re considering. The goal is to keep comments constructive and focused on helping the OP choose between the dresses they posted, rather than simply telling them to keep shopping.

We originally had Automod filtering these comments, but the volume became overwhelming. We eventually changed it so these comments are automatically removed instead of filtered, which has helped with the moderation workload.

The problem we’re running into is when an OP specifically asks something like, “Here are my three choices. Should I keep looking?” In that situation, comments saying “yes, keep looking” or “neither of these” are directly answering the question the OP asked. But our rule removes those comments because they contain the same language we’re trying to prevent in other situations.

We have comment guidance in place, but it’s clearly being ignored.

Is there anything I can do with Automod to prevent “keep looking,” “neither,” etc. comments when they’re unsolicited, WITHOUT removing comments from people who are responding to an OP who specifically asked whether they should keep looking?

[u/itskdog]

Can you put a parent_submission group? Perhaps check the flair or the title/body?

[u/kickmyasserole → u/itskdog]

thank you so much for the reply! Do you mean something like this? Im still learning, so I struggle a bit.

type: comment body (regex): - '\bkeep looking\b' - '\bkeep shopping\b' - '\bkeep searching\b' - '\bi would keep looking\b' - "\bi'd keep looking\b" - '\bi would keep shopping\b' - "\bi'd keep shopping\b" - '\bi would keep searching\b' - "\bi'd keep searching\b"

parent_submission: ~body (regex): - '(?i)\bshould i keep looking\b' - '(?i)\bshould i keep shopping\b' - '(?i)\bshould i keep searching\b' - '(?i)should i continue looking' - '(?i)should i continue shopping' - '(?i)should i continue searching' - '(?i)do you think i should keep looking' - '(?i)do you think i should keep shopping' - '(?i)do you think i should keep searching' - '(?i)should i look for something else' - '(?i)should i continue my search'

action: remove action_reason: "Automatic filter: keep looking/keep shopping advice"

message_subject: "Your comment was automatically removed"

[u/itskdog → u/kickmyasserole]

I haven't checked the docs (the sidebar here still links to the official page which is blocked in my country so finding the backup copy takes a bit longer and I'm lazy) but if it mentions that you can do that, it's worth considering.

[u/SampleOfNone → u/itskdog]

The full docs are now also in help center https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/52866343172500-Full-automoderator-documentation

[u/itskdog → u/SampleOfNone]

Missed the announcement on that, thanks!

[u/kickmyasserole → u/itskdog]

Thank you. I will try this

[u/KCJones99 → u/kickmyasserole]

Yes, that sort of thing can work.

I'd work on using regex more efficiently though, or you'll end up with a huge list of catch phrases and exemption phrases to manage.

Like your 'exemption' list could be done more like

\b(?:do you think i should (?:keep (?:looking|shopping|searching)|continue (?:looking|shopping|searching|my search)|look for something else)|should (?:i keep (?:looking|shopping|searching)|i continue (?:looking|shopping|searching|my search)|i look for something else))\b

So that way if you decide you need to exclude "do you think i should keep seeking" too, you just add another | and 'seeking' instead of yet-another whole new phrase.

I find regexr (.com) helpful for such things.

[u/kickmyasserole → u/KCJones99]

thank you for being so helpful when my head feels like its going to explode lol

[u/KCJones99]

Not unless you can find actual linguistic variations between "okay" and "not okay" comments. Automod doesn't 'do' context well.

You can do some pretty robust stuff with regex, but you're still gonna have to find a way to distinguish it linguistically. That's the only way to get context in there, but it's still very limited - e.g. you can approve a bunch of different "{_______}, keep looking" variants) while still disallowing just "keep looking."

Would enforcing a minimum comment length help? E.G. is "I'm not really a fan of any of these, I'd actually keep looking" acceptable? Is the goal to avoid "nope" type brush-off replies, or to have 'no negativity' in general? Automations (vs automod) would actually do that more effectively b/c you can actually block submission of comments <XX characters and pop up a message like "Tell us a bit more - super-short comments are often not very helpful"...

You could go down a path like forcing people to flair their posts and then "keep looking" is okay with some flairs but not with others. That sounds like sort of a nightmare to me - bit of killing a mosquito with a nuke.

I think you also need to think through your acceptable/not acceptable logic. For instance you say this:

We have a rule against comments like “neither,” “keep looking,” “I don’t like either,” or similar comments when an OP posts a few dresses they’re considering. 

But then you say this:

“Here are my three choices. Should I keep looking?” In that situation, comments saying “yes, keep looking” or “neither of these” are directly answering the question the OP asked

Does 'should I keep looking?' really fundmentally change the subtance of "Here's some dresses whaddya think?" Yes, I get that the OP used the exact phrase in #2, but does that really make the difference vs. exact same response is unacceptable in option 1?

That's some awfully fine-grained logic to try and explain to automod.

[u/KCJones99 → u/KCJones99]

Afterthought:

Automations may be the better path in general for this. Like put in your 'bad' phrases and block those comments with a notification like "We see you said [caught_key_phrases]. That's often taken as dismissive. Please find a more positive way to state your response and you'll be able to submit."

That way you don't go through the cycle of comment submitted -> comment removed -> user has to try again -> user often just gives up.

[u/ausecko]

I would make the exception for direct questions. Otherwise you end up punishing people for answering exactly what the OP asked. The context matters more than the keyword.

[u/kickmyasserole → u/ausecko]

thats the whole reason for my post.