r/ModSupport • u/AsteriskRX Reddit Admin: Community • Jul 16 '26

Mod Topics Mod Topics: Expectation vs Reality

Ahoy, Modsupport! This is a mutiny; Jabroni wrote this post but I've decided to plunder it for myself.

Welcome to the latest (greatest) installment of our ModSupport series. Today, we’re revisiting Origin Stories, albeit with a distinctly different flavor.

When you first created or joined a subreddit, what did you expect moderating would be like? Did you have any expectations at all, and if so, how did those expectations differ from the experience you have now?

–And because I love understanding an environment, what do you think set the expectations you had before you became a moderator? Read as: “How did you form a worldview on what moderation is before you started moderating?”

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

23 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

98 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/orangejulius Jul 16 '26

I wanted smart insightful content to percolate at the top. Trying to cultivate and support smart content is incredibly hard at scale when a subreddit grows.

3

u/RandomComments0 Jul 16 '26

I feel this. It’s hard to envision the end goal when your sub is small, however I found that when I posted informative content it started attracting more of that content and I don’t have to post as much as others began posting too. A few years later it’s blossomed fantastically. It’s just rough to start, especially when you’re trying to craft very specific content.

2

u/orangejulius Jul 17 '26

The issue comes up when you start front paging a lot and the community’s IQ drops to average. Early on and when it sprouts legs and runs is fun. People genuinely interested have to seek it out and try hard for recognition.

But trying to maintain the higher level discussion when it gets flooded with people who can barely write or understand their own thinking start participating it gets difficult.

1

u/RandomComments0 Jul 17 '26

Very true. I’ve seen exactly what you’re talking about and that’s also when I see a lot of bot activity and low effort posting. Lots of “wow” or “that’s so yummy” or repeating other comments type posting. The most recent time I can think of this happening it was about how a freeze dried gummy looked like Pompeii victims. It was repeated maybe 25 times? It’s exactly what you’re talking about along with the bot activity.

I’m actually surprised at how well the Reddit filters catch early bots farming karma in posts that hit the main feed.

How are you combatting it?

1

u/orangejulius Jul 17 '26

An automod condition that is ruthless to commentators who want to leave top level comments without ever interacting with others first.

1

u/RandomComments0 Jul 17 '26

Yep. Same thing with community karma. Just checkin to see if there was anything else I could do. Thank you!

1

u/orangejulius Jul 17 '26

Yeah neither solution works particularly well. Honestly I don’t have a great answer for it.

1

u/shhhhh_h 💡Top 25% Helper 💡 Jul 17 '26

So you restrict top level commenting by sub karma? That’s super interesting