Reddit: the struggle continues with… porn

The boss of Reddit is discovering that the moderators of his platform finally had a use.

While Steve Huffman remains firmly entrenched in his position regarding paid access to his API, the moderators of many subreddits are competing creatively to make their point of view heard. But also remember that they have a special place on the platform, and that part of the success of the latter is based on their work.

The separate status of Reddit moderators

If the main function of Reddit moderators does not change fundamentally compared to what can be found in other social networks, namely to enforce the site’s content policy and delete comments or ban their authors, their status is however unique. Indeed, the latter are not paid and are appointed by other moderators of the subreddits concerned.

This means that for each community, the moderators are usually the most active, passionate users, but also the main facilitators. Because in addition to the general rules of Reddit, each sub creates its own, then freely applied by the mods. It is these differentiated content policies that allow the social network to accommodate communities as different and opposed as r/Conservative and r/Antiwork, for example, without either of them turning into the field of constant battle.

In other words, Reddit moderators are therefore the most invested audience, but also those who create the most content and engagement, all while moderating comments and without being paid. It might therefore be wise to at least consult them before making a decision that makes their job much more complex. All of this, by the way, Huffman knows well since he moderated r/Jailbait, a community that has since been banned by Reddit for reasons that you are free to google.

Supporting Your Claims About Reddit Moderators: A Practical Guide

But the problem is that this wealth for Reddit is not employed by the company and, as such, does not owe it obedience as long as the general rules are respected. So when Steve Huffman chose not to consult them, and then continually drive the point home with murderous statements, the moderators didn’t let it go.

Thousands of subreddits, including most of the largest, declared a 48-hour blackout last Monday, and more than a third of them have still not returned to public mode. This prompted the management to threaten some of them with depriving them of their moderation rights, considering that they were acting on their own, without consulting the audience of their respective communities. So they changed tack. And many subreddits have started to offer polls to their members: r/pics, one of the largest, asked if they preferred a return to normal or a change of rules, to allow only photos of John Oliver, a very popular English comedian. It was this option that won, and was followed by other subs. Oliver has also supported the movement.

But what could hurt Reddit the most is the decision of at least four of the biggest communities (r/videos, r/TIHI, r/mildlyinteresting, and r/interestingasfuck), also after their users, to authorize and even sometimes to encourage the publication of porn content, or at least for adult content, provided that it is legal in the United States. If this decision could be so damaging, it is because advertisers are often not very motivated to display their advertisements alongside this type of content, and investors are often discouraged by this prospect (Tumblr had banned the NSFW content for it, and had collapsed). A real problem, when we remember that this story had started because Huffman wanted to increase the income of his company, to be able to find investors.

Several moderators of these communities have since lost their access, and it is likely that Reddit will force a return to normal, but in their current state, advertising is not likely to return there.

Sources: Engadget, The Guardian