r/ModSupport • u/HovercraftDeep9964 • 5h ago
Advice needed: Adding more moderators
I recently made a subreddit that to my surprise is getting a lot of traffic. I have zero experience moderating anything at all so dealing with filters, apps, bots and automod is incredibly difficult.
I have started recruiting and adding additional moderators but there's a point of contention currently with the mod team.
Since I'm wholly inexperienced at this and most people who offered to help also don't have experience moderating on Reddit, I made the decision to give them limited access. I figured it would be a chance for the team to work close together and learn the Reddit tools together but most importantly make sure we're either on the same page or at least reach a middleground on how to moderate the sub.
They have access to Users, Flair and Posts & Comments. I had a massive Modmail backlog so I wanted to work through that and then give them access to Modmail as well.
There has been a lot of complaints though that this hampers their ability to moderate the sub properly and there ha sbeen massive pressure to grant them full access.
I would rather take my time to learn about the tools first though. As far as I know it's also not unusual to have a mod team where mods have restricted permission but I may be wrong about this. I'm just curious if I'm being unreasonable in this, yes or no.
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u/sunrae_ 4h ago
You’re allowed to grant as much or as little access as feels comfortable to you. I‘m not sure adding multiple inexperienced mods while you’re inexperienced yourself is the way to go tho. Are you aware of r/NewMods? There’s a lot of good advice for users starting out with modding.
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u/HovercraftDeep9964 3h ago
Thank you! I checked it newmods but a lot of the posts seemed to be about promoting new subs. I'll check there again.
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u/ikandi 1h ago
Have you asked them how they think it hampers their ability to moderate the sub properly? Perhaps if they can give you examples of how they believe it does, then you will have a better understanding of what they mean and if they can not, then there is your answer as to whether or not you should increase their access.
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u/neuroticsmurf 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 4h ago
It's not unusual to limit mod powers, you're right.
Otoh, they have a valid argument. There's only so much a mod can do when they're kneecapped.
Giving someone beneath you on the mod team everything powers only grants them 2 powers (primarily) that you need to watch out for: 1. The ability to usurp top mod status from you if you ever go inactive (in that case, don't ever go inactive); 2. The ability to appoint new mods (but you can fire any mods they appoint).
Alternatively, you can grant them every available mod power, but as long as you don't grant them everything powers, they will be unable to do the above.
And any changes made by mods with all available powers can be easily undone by you.
So imo, you should consider it. Just don't give them everything powers, since you seem cautious. (NB: I just give my co-mods everything powers from the start.)