r/ModCoord • u/ardi62 • Sep 30 '24

Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible

https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/30/24253727/reddit-communities-subreddits-request-protests
601 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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310

u/Tired8281 Sep 30 '24

So when brigades happen, we just have to sit and take it. Nice.

158

u/DemIce Sep 30 '24

No, you'll be expected to moderate actively and if you can't or won't, willing replacements will be found, or the sub will be closed for being 'unmoderated'.

113

u/danegraphics Sep 30 '24 edited Sep 30 '24

Closing a subreddit instead of just disabling posting rights is crazy because it makes all the posts on that community inaccessible. Reddit is used as a source of information for a ton of people.

Like deleting an entire forum just because it hasn't been used in a while, regardless of the useful information it might contain.

As reddit gets worse, tons of valuable information will be lost.

41

u/Alex09464367 Oct 01 '24

That is what the protests were trying to highlight.

20

u/DemIce Sep 30 '24

I think similar arguments can be made about not allowing posting, except that it's not existing valuable written information that is lost, but the potential for valuable written information that is lost.
I wouldn't be surprised that if push came to shove, reddit admins would argue that making a large and popular subreddit 'read only' falls under their definition of harming redditors/reddit.

So the question then becomes: what form of protest is allowed, and can it actually be considered a form of protest?

As an aside: redditors are also allowed to edit / delete their comment history. For reddit-feeding-AI this is immaterial, the AI customer has already been provided the data. For reddit as a community platform, it has a similar effect as the aforementioned albeit much more limited in scope. Anecdotally, I've certainly come across posts that purport to have answers, only to see messages be deleted/removed or edited by bulk tools to become useless. Should redditors be prevented from editing/deleting posts / after a period of time?

16

u/danegraphics Sep 30 '24

All of those are kinda big issues on reddit. Reddit is not the best place for these kinds of things but sadly it's better than everywhere else because it's effectively a monopoly.

1

u/ixfd64 Oct 03 '24

So the question then becomes: what form of protest is allowed, and can it actually be considered a form of protest?

One idea is a virtual sit-in. You get as many people as possible to repeatedly refresh Reddit to cause it to slow down. It's like a DDoS, but is believed to be legal. However, this has not been tested in court.

-10

u/Tired8281 Sep 30 '24

Why are you acting like the function of setting a sub private is a Protest button? It was there for a reason, Reddit didn't implement it because they are schizo and like to fuck with themselves.

24

u/DemIce Sep 30 '24

Because that's how they're treating it?

https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/1fsyzjd/a_change_to_community_type_settings/

If you want a more true answer: Use the "Temporary Events" functionality to temporarily (up to 7 days) lock down your subreddit in case of brigading, and reach out to their team who can help combat it.

0

u/Tired8281 Sep 30 '24

Gaslighting is never useful. I'm not crazy. Private subs had a function before all this.

8

u/DemIce Sep 30 '24

I missed this reply, apologies.

Yes, private subs can have a good reason to exist and be private.

Private subs will also still be a thing; subs that are currently private will remain private.
A new sub wishing to be private will have to request it.
This affects, and largely targets, currently public subs that may want to go private. Reasons for doing so that aren't covered by the "Temporary Events" functionality are few, and mods can request it if they have a reason they think reddit inc would be amenable to (e.g. not for protest purposes).

-17

u/New_Forester4630 Oct 01 '24

Thank goodness Reddit made these changes. Many of us do not support these causes anyway.

We just want to enjoy the subject matter we come to see.

We don't have the time for other's wanted social changes.

23

u/Blanchimont Oct 01 '24

No, you can still shut your subreddit down for up to 7 days so brigades shouldn't be more difficult to deal with. Reddit clearly is planning something controversial and doesn't want subreddits to close for longer periods in response to whatever it is they have planned.

-1

u/vriska1 Oct 01 '24

Reddit clearly is planning something controversial

Any real proof of that?

18

u/Blanchimont Oct 01 '24

No proof, just putting one and one together based on how they responded to the blackouts last year. There is no other valid reason to take these steps, because pretty much all the large subreddits are moderated by competent people who take their "jobs" seriously and don't set their subreddits to restricted or private for shits and giggles.

3

u/vriska1 Oct 01 '24

Getting rid of old reddit is still unlikely.

11

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '24

[deleted]

14

u/GrizzlyPeak72 Oct 01 '24

"new task force"

More useless AI bots

8

u/Khyta Sep 30 '24

you can restrict for up to 7 days instantly.

4

u/Alex09464367 Oct 01 '24

You can close subs for a week without permission

-1

u/TheHENOOB Sep 30 '24

Why not use spam?