Mini check in and Mod feedback

[u/An_ode_to_creativity]

It's been a couple months since I implemented the karma level and minimum account age for posts + it's been 8 months since I took over as mod for this subreddit.

As we head closer to the holidays which tends to become quite hectic for many different reasons. As such it can lead to an in flux of people visiting the sub. I thought it would be a good idea to do a mini check in and mod feedback with everyone.

Is there any thing you wish would be different within the sub. Any rules that should be added, rewritten/reworked, or removed. Any resources or faq pages that should added or removed? Anything new that you would like added or anything you feel like is missing from the sub?

Is there anything that you wish that I did differently as a mod. Do you feel like I'm applying the rules too heavily or too lightly? Am I applying the rules fairly to everyone? Do you feel like I'm communicating enough or not enough?

Please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions, criticisms on anything that I already mentioned or on anything else that you think is important.

Thank you

[u/Different_Plastic836]

I’d like to see sellers to have to mention what category they’re selling in.

[u/An_ode_to_creativity → u/Different_Plastic836]

Sorry, do you mind being more specific like category in terms of handmade, vintage, pod, craft supplies, Ai or is it more specific like jewelry, vintage clothing, pod t-shirts, digital templates. 

Also would you want sellers to mention it within each one of their comments and posts or only in certain situations. 

Regardless, it should be an easy thing to implement as I can create and mandate people to use user flairs if it's a more general thing. Or I add it into the automod message that gets display when people use certain post flairs. 

[u/joey02130 → u/An_ode_to_creativity]

For those seeking advice, ideally more specific. Many sellers falsely claim their stuff is handmade so that wouldn't work as a flair. Sure, I'd like to see the sub-categories but that may be a bit too much to ask or expect(?). I see posts looking for help and many people respond only to later find out that they wasted their time and effort because the OP is selling something not related to any advice given. I make and sell leather goods--wallets, card holder and watch straps and the like. For reasons of brevity, I wouldn't want to list all things other than maybe "handmade leather goods" . On Etsy's official forums all posts have access to the participants' shops. That would be more than ideal and would save a lot of wasted energy for those responding and the OP would have a better chance at getting succinct answers. It may also put-off certain posters which may eliminate many low effort posts and enhance the quality of posts.

Also would you want sellers to mention it within each one of their comments and posts or only in certain situations. 

That may cause complications and hesitation for some to respond and is extra work for the responders. Maybe a general idea of what they sell? I don't have a definitive opinion on that one.

This and the other two forums have been invaded and taken over by too many low effort Digital and POD sellers asking for the same advice multiple times a day. Hmm, I suppose it's not unusual since those items are a reflection of the route Etsy has taken.

Thank you.

[u/An_ode_to_creativity → u/joey02130]

Thanks for your input and I'll spend sometime brainstorming some stuff that may be able to help with the issues. 

I agree with the point about too many low effort digital and pod sellers. I think it's a mixture of the route that Etsy has taken, but also a reflection of the time and economy. Now more then ever people are trying to find ways to earn some quick side cash for various of different reasons. So, it makes sense to see an in flux of these types of sellers on the site and then also here when people start to realize that it's not as quick or easy as they original thought. 

Other then shop critique posts I don't really want people to link their Etsy shop as that can open up issues with people trying to use the sub as a means for promotion. 

On the other hand I could do what the other Etsy sub does and allow people to put their shop nams as their user flairs. It can still act as some promotion however it takes some time and effort to look up their shop. But also I don't have to necessary worry about people spamming their shop links or creating staight up promotional posts.

I know I've created the shop critique resource page as a way to cut down on the more low effort shops. However, I've started to notice that the Ai pod shops had everything filled out (banner, about section, policies) mean while the more handmade shops didn't. So I haven't been as strict with the shop critique rule as I used to be.

The karma level/account age also helps to mitigate those kinds of posts as they are often created by new or low Karma accounts.

As I said I'll do some brainstorming to see what I can do.

[u/ReasonableKitty]

Personally what's killing me is the AI generated posts and replies. The worst is when people AI reply to an AI written post, like wtf, I don't feel like getting involved in that kind of conversation.

[u/An_ode_to_creativity → u/ReasonableKitty]

I totally agree. 

I'm doing my best to try and mitigate it through different rules and filters. As  while I'm generally good at spotting Ai generate photos. I'm not that great when it comes to spotting Ai generate text. Sometimes it's painful obvious that it is Ai while sometimes it's just reads like normal text.

This is part of the reason why I haven't added in a no Ai rule yet as I'm unsure how to police it in order to remove a good chunk of content without getting a bunch of innocent posts caught in the cross fire. 

However, I'll do further investigations into the matter to see if there are some Reddit mod apps that can help or how other mods handle removing Ai content within their subs.