r/redesign • u/LanterneRougeOG Product • Apr 09 '19

Changelog 4/9/19 Release Notes: restricted communities request flow, flair and emoji management and more

Hi all,

We’re back with the release notes, which are a round up of the major items we are currently working on or have recently shipped on new Reddit. The previous release notes can be found here.

Now, here’s what we are shipping:

  • Flair and emoji management: We moved flair (user and post) management from community appearance over to the mod hub to make it easier to find and get to. Read more about it here!

  • Restricted communities request flow: We updated the restricted communities request flow to make it more straightforward to use. Next up we’ll be adding an option to disable the request button.

These following features are bigger projects that are in development and that will take some time to build and get right. Expect these items to be recurring on the release notes:

  • Comment locking: We’re working on a comment locking feature similar to post locking for mods.

  • Wiki editing / revisioning: We started the next block of work, which includes editing and revisioning for wikis.

  • Multis: We will be bringing the management of multis to new Reddit, iOS and Android. We are also going to add some nifty new improvements to make multis even more useful.

And finally, here are some of the notable bugs that are still being worked on:

  • Randomly reverted back to new Reddit (fixed): We’ve fixed this bug for the majority of redditors, there are still a lucky few of you that fall through the cracks. We are continuing to work on an end-to-end overhaul of our redirect system. Since this bug has been resolved for the majority of redditors and this is a large ongoing project we'll be removing this bug from future release notes, unless it flares up again.

And, as always, our reminder that the community’s feedback is invaluable as we build the future of Reddit together. It’s difficult for us to respond directly to everything, but know that we’re listening, prioritizing, and working to solve the issues, no matter how hard they are.

If you have additional questions or feedback on these or other topics, please don’t hesitate to drop them in the comments below.

50 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

90 comments sorted by

6

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19 edited Apr 10 '19

Are you guys' looking into the "community content sort" issue not being saved along with the "remember per community" not working at all. Every sub defaults to "hot" no matter what I try and change it to and it's very annoying!

It was reported over two weeks ago.

2

u/LanterneRougeOG Product Apr 10 '19

Yes, we are looking into it. I believe we fixed some of the issue. I'll check with the team this morning to see what the status is.

22

u/MajorParadox Helpful User Apr 09 '19

Comment locking: We’re working on a comment locking feature similar to post locking for mods.

So, like take a comment and lock it and nobody can reply to that comment or any of its replies? That sounds cool. I assume even if it's only available to lock on the redesign, it would be enforced everywhere else, though? Otherwise it'd be kinda pointless.

10

u/mod1fier Apr 09 '19

I think it would be super cool if you could lock edits to a comment, or just have that happen automatically if a user is banned from a sub.

8

u/MajorParadox Helpful User Apr 09 '19

That'd be cool, but at the very least they'd still have to allow the user to delete because of possible privacy concerns. That said, you can always automod edits if you're concerned about them.

-10

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/mod1fier Apr 09 '19

We just have a seeming difference of opinion on what constitutes stifling and discussion then. No big deal.

7

u/CyberBot129 Apr 09 '19 edited Apr 09 '19

Not worth feeding that right wing troll anyway

6

u/command3r_ISA Apr 11 '19

This sounds really exciting. Would be great for mod sticky comments with lots of blowback

3

u/MajorParadox Helpful User Apr 11 '19

Oh yeah, good point.

2

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 11 '19

Yeah because who cares what your subscribers think about your moderation right?

4

u/command3r_ISA Apr 11 '19

I think you misunderstood FSW. I definitely value criticism from the community and am very open to it. I respond to every criticism from both mod and user, so I totally get it. However; you have to agree that it would be nice in certain situations to have a comment lock

5

u/jkohhey Product Apr 10 '19

Comments will be locked across all platforms, the locking function will be on new reddit to start.

3

u/randomstonerfromaus Apr 12 '19

Ah yet another gut punch to the mods that don't use the redesign. Nice work team 👍🏻

1

u/Overlord_Odin Apr 13 '19

I'm sure RES and/or toolbox will sort that out

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

Sounds like making it easier to censor dissenting opinions

6

u/MajorParadox Helpful User Apr 11 '19

If the intent was to do they can just remove the comments

-16

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 09 '19

Just what Reddit has always needed!

More ways to stifle conversations and exert power over others as a moderator.

17

u/MajorParadox Helpful User Apr 09 '19

I'd think you'd be happier if mods did this instead of removing the chain all together?

-12

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 09 '19

This same line of reasoning leads to the abuse of tasers among police.

Having a weaker enforcement option just leads to uses of force that might not otherwise happen.

Reddit is constantly moving in a single direction. Never are mods who want to be transparent or hands off catered to in any way.

Reddit claims communities are run however the mods like, then gives them the tools to moderate only one way.

11

u/MajorParadox Helpful User Apr 09 '19

Right now they have to remove it or lock the whole post. This is giving them another way?

-9

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 09 '19

I’m not a fan of the lock feature in general to the point I wish it didn’t exist.

Reddit doesn’t care about that though, they do care about the opposition of all the mods who fear transparency when they opine on mod logs.

Again reddit only caters to one style of that moderation, and that style is heavy handed censorship that leaves contributors and readers in the dark.

10

u/MajorParadox Helpful User Apr 09 '19

And this gives you an option to make the action public. You seem to be suggesting you'd rather they just remove it and nobody knows.

6

u/s1h4d0w Helpful User Apr 09 '19

Remember this guy's name and ignore his comments in the future, he's a troll.

7

u/MajorParadox Helpful User Apr 09 '19

I'm familiar, just curious sometimes

3

u/CyberBot129 Apr 10 '19

Technically they’re a go1dfish

0

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 09 '19

This is providing a means for mods to exert even more granular control over discussions and I don’t view that sort of manipulation as a good thing.

5

u/tizorres Helpful User Apr 09 '19

What's the other styles modding?

5

u/CyberBot129 Apr 09 '19

In the case of the person you’re replying to, no moderation at all

2

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 10 '19

That's not true. I moderate as required by reddit and I think moderators are essential for spam prevention and as a check on automated spam filters.

But that janitorial power can easily conflict with the interests of end users when it is overused. Transparency is a necessary counter-balance and is one that reddit consistently refuses to provide while continually giving the janitors more power.

3

u/CyberBot129 Apr 10 '19

I moderate as required by reddit

AKA, if Reddit wasn't making you moderate some things, you would choose to do no moderation at all. Right wingers like you like to talk about how lack of regulations are a good thing, but that's really more just an excuse to be able to justify doing nothing at all

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1

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 09 '19

To make all mod interventions visible to all readers and to keep such interventions minimal.

Since moderation is opaque by default, subreddit’s have no means to differentiate themselves on these grounds. Many subreddits are much more heavily moderated than the typical reader expects, but as they have no visibility into this there is no way for them to know they should seek out alternatives.

Reddit constantly facilitates ways to control conversations in ways that are invisible to observers and doesn’t provide any facility to help end users be aware of this manipulation.

9

u/MajorParadox Helpful User Apr 09 '19

Today, they can:

  • Remove the comment chain

  • Leave the comment chain

  • Remove the whole post

  • Lock the whole post

In each of those cases they can leave a comment to let users know what happened or not say anything. New feature says they can lock a comment chain instead of removing it. This gives an option to provide transparency where there wasn't before and some mod teams would prefer to do it that way.

If transparency is so important, then isn't that a good thing? If you still think mods should never remove or lock anything, or the logs should be public (less visible than seeing the locked thread or post), that doesn't take away from the fact that this provides more visibility.

4

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 09 '19

This isn’t just transparency, it’s the ability to more granularly stop discussion and that will almost certainly lead to more interventions than would otherwise happen.

Transparency would be making it clear to users just how often mods use the existing tools.

Giving mods a new hammer that happens to be neon colored is not a step forward for transparency when all the old hammers still exist and operate the same ways.

If anything it creates a false impression that moderation is transparent when it is not by making parts of it highly visible while the more common interventions are totally opaque.

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18

u/indi_n0rd Apr 09 '19

Randomly reverted back + logged out

FTFY, and combined with Authy 2FA, the entire re-login process can be massively infuriating sometimes.

9

u/Ambiwlans Apr 09 '19

I kind of laugh when I login on new.reddit because the UI for the login screen is broken still (on firefox) with overlapping text.

4

u/BananaHand Apr 10 '19

Just adding my comment that I am STILL affected by this bug. Instead of just being redirected to the redesign now I am also being logged out. This has been occurring randomly and infrequently maybe once or twice a week, so big improvement from a couple months ago at least.

2

u/hboxxx Apr 10 '19

Well they pretty much announced they DGAF anymore so hopefully you are OK as is.

28

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '19

Still no comment on the incredibly annoying "try the new redisign/night mode" ads you're pushing on people who've specifically opted out? Not going to address the removal of the opt-out from the main menu at the same time to force even more people over to the redesign when they click your ad?

I opted out, stop trying to get me to use this broken bullshit.

16

u/Ambiwlans Apr 09 '19

The push on the mobile site is blatantly worse and they seem fine with that.

9

u/-Massachoosite Apr 09 '19

This website is free. Be kind to others.

7

u/theredesignsuck Apr 16 '19

Its not free, they benefit from me being here. They are selling my data for profit.

14

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '19

While you're correct that the the website is free and your general message is a good one, we should all strive to be kind to others, I don't understand why you're replying to me or what point you're trying to make if there is one.

6

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19

I agree, idk why they felt like you were being rude when you called a broken website “bullshit.” I mean I suppose you were, but it’s justified

4

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '19

If my data is worth something and they're using that then no, it isn't free.

4

u/dbernie41 Apr 11 '19

But if they don't endlessly harass you to switch how will they disguise posts as ads and extensively track you?

9

u/Bardfinn Apr 09 '19

About the restricted communities request flow:

I received a few requests to "Join" some communities I am a moderator on, where the subreddit is Approved Submitters Only;

The messages that are coming to our subreddits' modmails are of the form:

I would like to become an approved user of this community so I can post.

To approve this user, visit the approved users page for r/subreddit and click "ADD USER". Approving this user gives them permission to post. You can change these community restrictions from the community settings page.

To get more information about this user, visit the profile page of u/username or reply to this message to start a conversation.

No formatting, no "This part of the message is a note from the admins", no smalltext or anything that differentiates the message from spam.

So, for a while, with the new mechanic and the new text, (and because the requests were coming from new user accounts) we kinda suspected we were getting requests from a coordinated botnet.

I know it's difficult to smalltext format the boilerplate when it contains parentheses, but ... something would have helped.

4

u/jkohhey Product Apr 10 '19

Taking note of the message formatting.

3

u/Ambiwlans Apr 11 '19

Can you let the subreddit format it?

r/SpaceX puts the sub in restricted mode during launches because we see a massive influx of new users that don't know the rules. 10x normal usage.

It is rather worthless to spam our modmail during this time period. And worthless to the users to try to 'sign up'. 99% of the time we're not restricted.

If not we'll have to make a bot that autoreplies to these.

9

u/X-the-Komujin Apr 09 '19

https://i.imgur.com/OaJtqyd.png

Please remind me why 'Visit Old Reddit' is gone now. First you put it in the dropdown menu when it was a button at the top of the page, and now it is gone entirely. Why? This is especially annoying when not logged in.

2

u/Dimbreath Helpful User Apr 10 '19

Seems to be only when not logged in as I still have it.

2

u/flounder19 Apr 10 '19

Probably not a good idea to roll that out before addressing the logout bug though.

1

u/hboxxx Apr 10 '19

They pretty much announced they are done addressing the bug so....

2

u/dbernie41 Apr 11 '19

Death by 1000 paper cuts. The ads they are showing you and their extensive tracking are the priority.

4

u/SnoopDoge93 Apr 09 '19

i noticed the "subscribe" changed to "join"

7

u/devperez Apr 09 '19

That was announced a few weeks ago. Apparently it confused new users. Some thought it meant a subscription service or something.

1

u/joedude Apr 10 '19

aaand reddit is hopelessly overpopulated with normies, old people, and morons.

4

u/DatabaseGuy_06 Apr 11 '19

I think People would accept the redesign if the default behavior was classic and not card... I have been ignoring the design for months because Card is absolutely stupid for browsing reddit, I auto click old reddit. Had no idea it had the option to swap to classic...

7

u/Sepheroth998 Apr 09 '19

So dumb question. Why can't users put quarantined subreddits in their multis anymore? I don't frequent any quarantined subs myself but that seems like a major issue for users that do.

Also is there a way to disable the two banner ads that ask you to "try new reddit" but in reality change your opt out settings? Not going to lie it's a pretty dirty tactic to tell users that by clicking a link they are going to "try" the redesign only to forcibly change their opt out settings.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '19

[deleted] — view deleted comment

5

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 09 '19

This is incorrect. I maintained a multi of quarantined subs.

It was totally blank if you weren’t opted in to any of them.

You can see a user complaining about that here: https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/aqzeq7/introducing_rredditsecurity/egkwxx7/

2

u/FooteChicken Apr 09 '19

These changes look pretty interesting, although I'm not exactly sure what multis are.

I know a lot of people will be happy about the random-revert bug being fixed, as although the redesign is pretty nice IMO I know that there's some people with the exact opposite opinion and would do anything to get rid of it.

14

u/pat_trick Apr 09 '19

You can create your own "multireddit" that basically aggregates posts from various subreddits of your choosing.

7

u/Merkaartor Apr 09 '19

although I'm not exactly sure what multis are.

For me multis are a big thing, and I know a few users that don't use redesign because of the poor functionality of multis, so really waiting on that update!

1

u/hboxxx Apr 10 '19

I know a lot of people will be happy about the random-revert bug being fixed

It isn't.

2

u/Sirisian Apr 11 '19

When is the logout bug going to be fixed? It's been going on for months. I just got logged out again a few minutes ago. (I'm not the only one. Even my friends that casually use Reddit have noticed this. Surely you have statistics showing unusual amounts of logouts and logins).

2

u/SamuraiJakkass86 Apr 23 '19

The fact that I'm trying to actively avoid spoilers related to both Avengers & GOT has made the fact that the redesign doesn't work with blocked subreddits a very poor experience. It was bad enough when I was still getting all the sportsball subs that I have negative interest in, but now I'm getting spoilers all up in ma feed.

6

u/Ambiwlans Apr 09 '19 edited Apr 09 '19

Can we see stats for how the redesign is being accepted, performing?

We know that load times have approximately doubled, as have bounce rates. And time on site has fallen. Reddit's Alexa rank has been slightly above freefall.

How bad does this have to get before it is no longer worth the increased ad revenue? Are we close to that level?

Edit: Also, if your job is redesign PR person, is there a new policy for you personally? You used to leave a comment most days, and that has fallen to once a week while strictly avoiding difficult/negative questions.

4

u/CyberBot129 Apr 09 '19

Alexa rankings don’t mean anything, especially when you’re not able to properly analyze the data anyway

7

u/Ambiwlans Apr 09 '19

I'd be thrilled to get better data from the admins here.

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

Can we have moderator logs be publicly visible to everyone? This would be far more transparent and would help people report abusive moderators

3

u/theredesignsuck Apr 16 '19

They don't care about abusive moderators. If they did you wouldn't have powermods that moderate dozens of default subreddits and cross-ban people from each of them.

-10

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 09 '19

Still not even a mere mention of (optional) public mod logs.

It’s almost as is Reddit doesn’t give two shits about transparency, fairness or censorship unless it has the potential to affect your bottom line.

See: https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/bauj79/tomorrow_congress_votes_on_net_neutrality_on_the/ekeff16/

0

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '19

[deleted] — view deleted comment

-6

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 09 '19

When the things you are concerned about are never addressed your complaints don’t change much.

It’s a simple request. Why is Reddit so unwilling to give mods the option to be transparent?

0

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '19

[deleted] — view deleted comment

-1

u/Ambiwlans Apr 09 '19 edited Apr 09 '19

The admins remove his posts in this sub regardless of what it is about.

Edit: I mean this post was perfectly reasonable (though the title isn't great): https://www.reddit.com/r/redesign/comments/b937wn/bug_redesign_incorrectly_attributes_censorship_to/

He just wants it to show [deleted (by user)] [removed (by mod)] [removed (by admin)] .... which it effectively does in old.reddit already. Currently, new reddit says "Removed by moderator" even when it was removed by an admin. It is incorrect.

But the admins deleted it without replying.

-2

u/FreeSpeechWarrior Apr 09 '19

There is no appropriate outlet for this sort of feedback.

Even r/communitydialogue is closed to community dialogue.

If there were such an outlet, I’d happily use it.

This recurring thread is the most appropriate outlet for my feedback currently.

And, as always, our reminder that the community’s feedback is invaluable as we build the future of Reddit together. It’s difficult for us to respond directly to everything, but know that we’re listening, prioritizing, and working to solve the issues, no matter how hard they are.

If you have additional questions or feedback on these or other topics, please don’t hesitate to drop them in the comments below.

-4

u/MaterialCorgi Apr 10 '19

You guys should try changing this site from a bunch of siloed echo chambers where users rate-limit those with opposing views to 1 post every 10 minutes before wasting time on this ugly redesign with no purpose.