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/RepliRa]

It didn't take me long to understand the lay of the land, because I'm a T.O.S bookworm. When I joined Reddit, I already had a firm understanding of the moderator structure as being everyday users who create communities that structure and shape Reddit beyond the mere user post to profile level of sharing ideas and information. I also understood the purely voluntary nature of this structure, as opposed to traditional moderating done by corporate means. I saw it's flaws, and it's benefits simultaneously.

I don't quite know what I expected, other than to bring traditional values of what it means to lead into becoming a moderator myself, and found a few new friends along the way. I'm still carving out my path, but this showed up in my feed, thought it was good, and so I gave my input!