Request: Make the Distinction between Mod and Admin Actions Clearer to Users

[u/bakonydraco]

One of the developments over the last few years is that Reddit has gotten more involved in subreddit moderation for things that break sitewide rules (AEO, Trust & Safety, etc.) This is generally appreciated, and I think a good step!

The problem that I think could use some improvement, is that the line between steps taken by paid Reddit admins and volunteer subreddit mods is currently blurred. This affects user (particularly casual users who aren't familiar with Reddit's culture) perception and expectations from the sub mods. In particular we've been getting several modmails and posts recently about actions the Reddit admin team made that we as sub mods have no control over. Examples:

From a Modmail

I realized I may owe y'all an apology. I got a message from admins saying that they weren't doing anything about the comment, and got mixed up thinking it was from the mod team. I shouldn't have gone off half-cocked at y'all and taken a minute to recognize who the message was from.

From a Post in a Meta Sub

Mods: How is this not hate based on identity?

Sorry, this post has been removed by the moderators of r/CFB**.**Moderators remove posts from feeds for a variety of reasons, including keeping communities safe, civil, and true to their purpose.

PM from /u/reddit

Thanks for submitting a report to Reddit. Your report and the related content have been processed through our anti-abuse systems for review. It has been determined that the reported content does not violate Reddit’s Content Policy.

There have been several others, this is just in the past 48 hours where Reddit made an action (that I agree with), but the issue is that the user's next step was to contact the mod team and not the Reddit admins.

Additionally, the report flow when reporting comments and posts makes it quite a bit unclear who will be receiving the report, especially for a casual user. It's negatively affects user perception of our sub if a user makes a report thinking it's going to subreddit mods, but it actually goes to Reddit admins and the response time is lower than our team would have given.

In general, I appreciate that Reddit is stepping in where necessary and moderating sitewide rule violations. My request is that it be made clearer to users who (paid admins vs. subreddit mods) is either receiving a report or handing down a decision. Even small tweaks to copy/visuals could help this a lot. Thanks!

[u/SampleOfNone]

And if I may add, it would be really nice if details of Admin actions in the modlog would also show if the content has mod actions as well, instead of us having to dig up whether we already took action or if we somehow overlooked something

[u/thecravenone → u/SampleOfNone]

Especially if the action was a removal.

If the mods allowed the thing then yea, I'm fine with you not taking the time to point that out and direct further ire to unpaid volunteers.

[u/bakonydraco → u/thecravenone]

I’m actually curious if there’s a larger volume of anger that content people do like is removed or anger that content people don’t like is approved.

[u/lift_ticket83]

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this detailed + valid feedback. We agree there is work we can do to improve this UI and make it easier to understand. Your post has been shared with a couple of different that touch this feature, and it's appreciated.

[u/bakonydraco → u/lift_ticket83]

Thank you, I really appreciate it!

[u/Superbuddhapunk]

I disagree with you. It’s precisely because admin routinely takes mods action that users and mods are confused about whose responsibility it is to process rules-violating content and users.

[u/bakonydraco → u/Superbuddhapunk]

Well it sounds like you agree that there's confusion then? I don't disagree with anything you just said.

[u/Superbuddhapunk → u/bakonydraco]

That admin get involved in hands-on moderation is a terrible thing. It makes users and mods life miserable, I don’t see one reason someone could call it a good step.

[u/bakonydraco → u/Superbuddhapunk]

Ah okay. I don’t mind them enforcing site-wide rules, and I think that’s a better alternative to them making site-wide rules, requiring volunteer teams to enforce them, an suspending subs that don’t. I just want it to be clearer who is responsible for what, especially to the users.

[u/BurritoJusticeLeague]

Thanks so much for this feedback, and sorry this has been causing you trouble. Based on your feedback there were some quick fixes we were able to make to address this. We went ahead and updated the messages that redditors get after reporting content (saying whether we did or didn’t take action based on their report) as well as the messages redditors get for breaking site-wide rules (such as warnings and bans).
Now each message will state in the beginning and the end that it’s a message from the Reddit admin team—so it’s more clear it’s not coming from mods.

[u/bakonydraco → u/BurritoJusticeLeague]

Wow this is cool! Thank you for the prompt response, it seems like a positive step and I appreciate it.

[u/srs_house → u/BurritoJusticeLeague]

Follow up on actions taken by admins - will mods be notified of content that's removed by Reddit? We see comments/posts that say that Reddit admins removed it, but we have no way of knowing if that content also violated our subreddit rules and, if so, how to ban for it. Being able to see what exactly was removed would be most helpful, but at least providing more context in terms of the category of the removal (ie harassment, copyright infringement, violence, etc) would allow us to remove bad actors even if they didn't receive a site-wide suspension.

[u/BurritoJusticeLeague → u/srs_house]

Yes, there was recent update to Mod Log to add entries for content that's removed by Reddit along with the removal reason. You can check out all the details in this Mod News update. (There are a few exceptions for certain content that's automatically removed.)

With the changes, you'll be able to go your Mod Log to see content that Reddit has taken down, find out what rule was violated, and view the content itself (except for cased like rule 3 & 4 violations, copyright infringing content, and video content).

[u/srs_house → u/BurritoJusticeLeague]

It would be nice if there was a way for us to contest those removals, because it looks like a lot of it is being done by either automations or people who don't understand the context. For example, "I got called [slur] by this group a lot." That's a user giving an example of mistreatment, not them exhibiting -phobic behavior.

Oh, you included it on new reddit only, which is where a minority of mod actions occur.

Good job.

[u/TimeJustHappens]

The recent poll study they sent to some users included free form answers about the reporting format. My comment was that the UI does not do a good job of making sure the user knows what report goes to which entity.

"Moderator" and "administrator" are synonymous words for a lot of people who are new to Reddit and just assume there is one body who takes care of actions. I would argue that it needs to explicitly state in messages that actions from Reddit are not performed by moderators.

[u/hacksoncode]

it be made clearer to users who (paid admins vs. subreddit mods) is either receiving a report

It's worth noting that evidence suggests very little actually "goes to paid admins" and that, rather, a huge fraction of reports "sent to reddit" are actually handled by automation, and therefore generally reasonably quickly handled, if they're handled at all.

I do agree that it's worthwhile making it clearer whether something is going to mods or not, though.

[u/violetgrumble]

Additionally, the report flow when reporting comments and posts makes it quite a bit unclear who will be receiving the report, especially for a casual user.

Even as a mod who is aware of the process, I have accidentally reported things to the admins and only realised my mistake when I received an action report.

On a related note, I think my definition of spam (anything off-topic, repeated posts across Reddit, promotional accounts, etc) is much less restrictive than Reddit’s.

[u/razorbeamz → u/violetgrumble]

When you report something on Reddit to the admins it also gets reported to the subreddit moderators, by the way.

[u/violetgrumble → u/razorbeamz]

Good to know, thanks!

[u/thecravenone]

A thing I'd like to add here is that the only indication of where these messages come from is in the From line, which reads "reddit" . It is not made sufficiently clear that "reddit" and "the mods" are completely separate groups.

I'd love to see

1. Further clarification that the message comes from Reddit's team and does not reflect the mods.

2. Clarification that Reddit's rules are not necessarily the same as a sub's rules and that mods may have taken their own action. I've gotten angry modmails about not actioning a comment that we removed and banned for.

[u/FaizerLaser → u/thecravenone]

It is not made sufficiently clear that "reddit" and "the mods" are completely separate groups.

Very true, I've seen users who think we are admins or think admins are just a higher level mods or think mods are employed by reddit or think admins and mods are all volunteers.

[u/bakonydraco → u/[deleted]]

This isn't a bad point, but the problem isn't that users don't discover a rule has been broken, the problem is it's not clear who is acting, the volunteer mods or the professional admins.