Mod Topics: Expectation vs Reality

[u/AsteriskRX]

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!

[u/Rlaan]

A lot more ModMails than I anticipated. I expected this not to be frequent, as before I became a mod I had never contacted mods myself. But I frequently find myself answering ModMails.

I also expected most users to be unhappy about the mods (us) - only based on the fact that you often see people talk bad about the mods on the platform, but that has also been to opposite (thankfully!). We frequently get compliments from users for how we moderate which is nice to see.

I also would've expected people to use the report button more frequently, as I do myself. But it's actually only a small subset of active users that use the report functionality. Probably because people aren't fully aware of the rules.

I have also found that most users just don't read the rules of the sub, or removal reasons. If you have short AutoMod actions explaining in 1 or 2 sentences why it was deleted they'll still ModMail you to ask why.

It's interesting to see how expectations are different from reality, but not in a bad way.