Posts by Maria Barnes

vmro said:The core issue here is that you constantly highlight the repressive tools at your disposal as moderators. It creates this pervasive self-censorship on Reddit... Everyone feels forced to filter their thoughts before posting just to avoid getting sanctioned. You aren't even hiding it; you actually emphasize it from time to time...

Your actual job should be to spark conversation on the forum... At least, that's my take...

I've heard this sentiment in several places, so let's address it.

What exactly do you think won't fly? To what extent does this actually stop you from writing freely?

If you aren't breaking the basic rules we all agreed to during registration—like no insults, no harassment, no malice—then you shouldn't feel restricted at all.

If there is an issue, we will work to fix it.

In the meantime, please keep political topics aside. Politics is a breeding ground for endless conflict. It's true: we do lean in a bit harder there because of past experiences. Things spiral into extremes and chaos too fast, and the decent users end up leaving. So, just don't bring politics here. There will be other times. Reddit isn't a political forum; it's a general interest site, and politics is just one tiny segment.

Everything is working perfectly, including the DM I sent to Jazz yesterday

One idea I have for other threads could potentially be applied to the taskmasters.

Specifically, forum tours. The trick is that threads can move. I tested this once. New audience, new contributions. The regulars will follow the taskmasters wherever they go. But a tour would bring in more readers because new people could discover them on their favorite subforum. My fear is that permanently moving to a smaller subforum, like MLK, would kill the readership first, and then the engagement. You'd end up with the same few authors until they eventually bore themselves.

If they could succeed on the Coronavirus subforum, they can succeed anywhere. 🙂 It’s all about the enthusiasm of the crew running that place. They’d do great on the PŽK too. 😉

It’s a win-win promotion for both the taskmasters and the individual subforums.

Not everyone knows about the taskmasters yet, or they haven't had them pushed right under their noses to join instantly. I’ve actually missed voting twice already because I happen to be outside the Coronavirus subforum. You're really just moving two threads; everything else stays accessible via click-away within those threads.

Then we realized Adam Doyle63 had a similar idea from before. Great minds think alike. 😁

To add to this, it would be smart to keep the archive stationed in one spot—maybe MLK (Little Literary Corner) or some other logical place—while only moving the two active threads (the texts and comments). One thing that is crucial, and often forgotten on this forum, is linking so that everything remains available via click-away in the first post. That way, it doesn't matter where the archive is located.

Adam Doyle63 said:After twenty years on Reddit, I’ve come to realize that the sheer number of open threads is starting to lose its relevance entirely. Since we already have dedicated spaces for just about everything, our general policy is to avoid cluttering things up if there's already a similar topic or a group thread running, meaning that for the health of the site, actual user registrations and engagement levels carry far more weight than how many individual posts are being opened.

It would actually be pretty interesting to run a comparison between how things used to look back then versus how they stand today.

Oh, hell no. The number of open threads is absolutely vital for Reddit. Just three new threads—including yours—have spiked the usual engagement levels here tenfold. That’s where you get the ambitious, interesting posts.

It is definitely not "policy" to cram everything into massive group threads. If anything, the goal should be splitting major topics into multiple smaller threads because there’s always enough content to justify it. Unfortunately, that's just not how things work in practice.

What’s the point of a great thread that hits several thousand posts? Imagine a book with hundreds of pages but no table of contents or chapters. Who would actually read that? Nobody reads massive mega-threads from the beginning. People only follow them while they're being written. What a waste. If they were split into smaller, focused threads with solid titles, Google would find them easily.

Lawrence Booth2 said:50 bucks? 😁

Yesterday's stats: 20. Out of those, 8 have zero replies, and 2 have just one.

The threads opened yesterday with the most replies and views are:

1. I'm dreaming of a chat on the IRS site - Chatopic, obviously
2. Moderation without warnings or bans. Without an Administrator, even.

I was looking for a specific thread when I stumbled upon this.

Back in 2010, Reddit was a global powerhouse. Who knows if it still is? 🙂

The map hasn't been updated.

I took note of how things looked back then.

Maria Barnes said:Threads: 320,072, Posts: 21,582,655, Members: 164,861.
About 250 new members sign up every day.
Roughly 12,000 registered users visit the site daily.
Around 300 new threads are started every single day (max 366).
New posts hit about 20,000.
Registered users : 150809 Banned by Moderators
Banned by Moderators: 5743
Users awaiting Email confirmation: 7994
Moderators: 149
Administrator: 5

Users registered after 2009-01-01: 75214
Users registered after 2010-01-01: 14165
Users with over 50 posts: 27239
Users with fewer than 5 posts: 81705
Users with 0 posts: 26560

The fact that we were cranking out 300 threads a day is insane! Do you have any idea how many get opened today?

Adam Doyle63 said:I suppose I should probably say something to mark my presence here, though I’m mostly just drifting through this digital void with the same weary indifference I bring to everything else. It feels like we're all just circling the drain of modern existence, waiting for some grand revelation that will never actually arrive.
Department of Culture
The National Park Service forum.
The National Park Service.
Class: 22/05/20-20
Reference No.: 666

Request to add an assignment to the Cultural Heritage Forum registry.

Based on the articles:

Article 2.

Under the framework of the Cultural Heritage Act, cultural property is defined as follows:
It’s all just various intangible expressions of how people used to channel their spiritual creativity back in the day, along with the scattered remains of our old documentation and bibliographic heritage.

Article 3.

Regardless of who actually owns them, whether they’ve been officially registered or are currently under preventive protection, all cultural property is fully shielded by the provisions of the Cultural Heritage Act.

Article 4.

It’s basically everyone's responsibility to look out for our cultural property, and if you spot something that actually qualifies under the Cultural Heritage Act, you're expected to report it to the relevant Department.

Article 5.

The whole point of this is to protect our cultural property:
It all comes down to the fundamental duty of protecting cultural property in its purest, most untouched state, ensuring that everything we value actually makes it through to the next generation.

I suppose I should probably mention the Cultural Heritage Act, though why anyone would bother looking into such dense legalities is beyond me. It’s basically our duty to demand that the written works produced by this forum's slightly gifted contributors—if you can call these Assignments anything else—be officially added to the list of Cultural Properties for this forum, the United States, and the European Union. Or perhaps even for the future of the universe itself.

The Assignments, which will hit their ten-year milestone next year, have been stubbornly clinging to existence since 2011. After that whole mess involving the PDF crackdown back in 2016, they basically went underground, hiding away like contraband within the cryptic threads of forum users, tucked deep inside old trunks in dusty attics and dark basements. Then, around 2020, they finally crawled back out into the light, slowly making their way to conquer the PDF Coronavirus section and whatever other corners of this forum they can get their hands on.

• Back during that first stretch of assignments from 2011 to 2016, we somehow managed to scrape together over 1,000 pieces of work from a bunch of mildly talented forum regulars—if you can call the Assigners "talented"—alongside some 3,000 comments scattered across 172 different threads.
• During that second stretch from 2016 to 2020, a massive amount of underground work was produced that hasn't even been touched yet, and frankly, it’ll stay buried until we can finally get some actual research funding through once everything is officially logged under the Cultural Heritage Act.
• Since we hit the third phase back in 2020, we’ve managed to churn out over 100 pieces alongside some 2,000 comments spread across about ten different topics. It’s almost exhausting to look at, but apparently, the PDF assignments regarding the Coronavirus have already climbed into the top five most active topics and cracked the top ten for total reads.

The Plusevi Assignment.

• They really do drive creativity, don't they?
• They’re out there trying to build this whole atmosphere of love, supposedly stripping away all the hatred and prejudice, though I've lived long enough to know how much work that actually takes.
• It seems like everyone is playing on the exact same level when it comes to these assignments.
• They're just moderating themselves.
• The whole thing is just a massive process of self-transformation—part of that ongoing drama project.
• They’re actually linking up with those other PDFs—it's all part of the assignment photograph.
• Honestly, they’re freaking incredible.

The downsides of this assignment.

• Nothing to say.

We assigners are looking toward a bright future, seeing this forum as our second home and truly hoping our little corner survives the years to come. I’m putting this matter up for debate now, and I’ll be waiting for the relevant authorities to weigh in.

Attachments.

Just looking back at those old assignments.
The latest assignments have dropped.
Just another audio assignment.

With all due respect,

Assigner Jazo

👍

Assignments are the perfect example of how this forum should actually work. Someone walks in (like stormytiger4 here) with an idea that even I don't buy, but I say—let's go! If you believe in it, that’s all that matters.

(Fact: ignore anyone who claims something is impossible. They're just lazy.)

I had this playing in the background yesterday while I was digging through an article about him. Just let the YouTube algorithm run wild for about 40 minutes straight. Honestly? A total pleasant surprise. You really can't beat that classic American soul.

Major props to Roger Fisher4 for spotting the talent early—you hit the nail on the head regarding Disney.

Linda Young38 said:Why was I even banned? Who did this? Is there going to be any accountability for abusing moderator powers? What steps are being taken to make sure this never happens again?

Look, don't get mad, but I'm demanding answers.

Don't get mad, but you aren't getting answers to some of those questions.

You got banned because you have a history of targeting IBM users on Reddit, despite being warned to stop. In this post, you singled out a comment from IBM and claimed you "despise that attitude," which we view as further harassment. If we didn't know your history, that post might have looked like a standard debate—which is why we had to second-guess our decision. On paper, it’s debatable, but given the context? Not really. When we face a dilemma like that, we choose the path that causes the least harm to the community. Besides, this "contextual" rule isn't explicitly defined in our bylaws. That's why your ban was upheld.

To prevent these headaches moving forward and to avoid having to judge the intent behind every single post, we are introducing a new rule: a restriction on commenting about specific individuals. Think of it like a restraining order. Commenting on someone when there is a documented history of conflict is just another form of harassment.

This means if someone under this restriction ignores the rule and targets that person anyway, they will receive a 30-day ban if reported.

The restriction on commenting remains in place indefinitely, though it can be lifted by the person who requested it.

Because of your history of targeting IBM's posts, you are now prohibited from commenting on them. Watch yourself.

Joseph Bailey41 said:That wouldn't work. I try that in my actual life all the time. 😁

(It mostly works for me, though they've probably already forgotten that I voted for Dražen Budiša. Twice. 🤦 )

And why are you even chiming in? You're clearly out of your mind. No offense. 😁

Jerry Robinson56 said:How can those who consider themselves "normal" offer any meaningful assistance to those who feel they are anything but? 🤔 ... Whether the approach should be mutual or one-sided remains to be seen... 🕺

This thread could serve as either a sanctuary or a refuge, provided we indulge in a bit of psychoanalysis and some necessary reality checks.

My advice—without saying which group I belong to—is simple: just pretend you're normal. In a digital space like Reddit, that’s easy enough. Or, if you really need to talk, maybe stick to discussing the weather on Psychology Today. 🙂

I'd suggest the same thing you did, just with a slight twist. 🙂

This thread could serve as a sanctuary or a retreat completely free from psychoanalysis and reality checks. Everyone stays sane!

You can do it!

👍 Masha19 just stepped up as a moderator over at pop music.

Bubba Zanetty and King Crimson are stepping down from moderating music. We appreciate everything they've done for us. 👍

👍 late bloomer is our newest music moderator.

EDIT:

👍 April 17, 2019. Puky Lee joined the music moderation team.

👍 July 12, 2020. vanchaaa is now a moderator for music.

darkjackal7 said:Give me a break. That would mean a single guy living alongside 4,000 or 5,000 happy people is somehow winning the lottery when it comes to finances.
Think about it. The only way he’s "happy" is if he’s actually working and can at least cover his basic bills.

Yeah, total nonsense. That whole part about the study comes right from here.

Today's USA Today says the same thing. Writing. Regarding this topic, he’s basically just announcing his own move. YouTube video What’s the actual link between happiness and money? Dr. Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan from the Brookings Institution and psychology expert Boris Blažinić are weighing in on it. Is cash really the key, or are we chasing a ghost?

Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan claims they ran a study on 5,000 people last year and found exactly what we’ve been discussing here: happiness peaks once household income hits $75,000 in the US. She says that— Happiness levels in America are climbing toward 4? Is that even possible?$1.75 Per person.That’s the breaking point. It's the exact amount where more cash stops buying you more happiness. That's the limit. $1.75 Exactly $10,000 per year for every single person in the household. That's it.

It’s the same old story: we already know that being broke makes you miserable. But does stacking cash beyond a certain point actually make you any happier? Not really. It doesn't.

Do you actually buy the math claiming that after four years, the economy in America is going to tank?$1.75 Does happiness plateau per household income? And more importantly, are you one of those people who's already hit the ceiling of what money can actually buy? (If that’s not too intrusive a question.)

If the average salary in Washington, D.C. is around... $2.00 So what if two people are working and they have one kid? What then? $1.25 Are they actually happy people when it comes to money? Does having more of it actually make them any happier? I don't think so. 🙄

Brandon Lopez6 said:🤣

So what, does the Politics section get moderated by undercover members of Congress or something? 😲

No. They wouldn't dream of it. We're looking for actual experts here. 😁

Brandon Lopez6 said:I have one wise suggestion of my 🙂own.

Find Richard Nelson84 some help.

We shouldn't have one of our most active subforums (and its associated PDF) being moderated by just one guy who also happens to moderate other sections here, if I'm not mistaken.
It’s a bit sad to be stuck working all alone in the office.😬

It hit me the other day that he's flying solo, while even Trash (probably the least active PDF around here) has two mods. 🕺

I’m looking for candidates for the Psychology moderator position. Since gender doesn't matter here, I'll use feminine pronouns for the role:

We need someone sociable, easygoing, educated, and genuinely sharp. No mental health issues, and zero interest in chasing clout or money—just a desire to support our community and subforums.

Candidates should be psychologists, psychiatrists, or psychotherapists by profession, or at least aspiring to be. To apply, submit a brief essay titled: "What would I do if I were the Psychology moderator?"

I was thinking about starting a thread called "talk a little about psychology" where everyone could drop their wishes, suggestions, or visions for the Psychology subforum, but then I realized we already have a thread with almost the exact same title.

Look, you can see for yourselves that Psychology (plus the Psych Couch) is a pretty well-organized section, but maybe you’ve got ideas to make it even better? Well, go ahead. Speak up. Everything you really want eventually comes to fruition if you ask for it.🙂

Don't be afraid to be ambitious—if you are, we'll just spin the chat off into its own dedicated thread.

It feels like we’re drifting off-topic. Let me remind everyone: the keyword here is "happiness," not money. This is a Psychology thread, after all. 🙂 Happiness is the goal; money is just the tool. So, the real question is: how much can money actually influence our ability to find happiness, and where do we draw the line?

You could also look at how money compares to other paths to fulfillment. Is it even possible to be truly happy if you choose a minimalist lifestyle that drastically cuts your need for cash? ...

That said, the off-topic tangents are pretty interesting. 🙂

Matthew Cruz44 said:Such high standards to uphold... It really needs to be strictly psychological...

I have to admit, I tend to get a little worked up about the fact that I’m getting worked up, if that makes any sense. It’s this strange loop where I feel irritated by my own irritation, because I truly believe I shouldn't be feeling this way in the first place. I just don't handle frustration very well—it feels like something I haven't earned, much like how you might feel when you're stuck in a massive traffic jam on the I-95 and you start getting mad at yourself for being annoyed by the delay. And then, suddenly, you're just twice as frustrated as you were to begin with.

You're on a roll. 🙂 It isn't mandatory, but I’d recommend it.

What kind of Psychology topic would this fall under? 😱

(31:40 - 38:40) 🤣

Using Big Brother as a lab for psychological experiments on people? Or maybe Fear—and how to deal with it?

Brandon Lopez6 said:🤔

Fair enough.
You guys could honestly just call this the "dumpster fire thread" where you toss all the random off-topic stuff until the main discussion dies down (kind of like what happened up there). A chat isn't really a chat if people are getting deleted for saying "hey, how's it going?" and there aren't any clear guidelines on what's actually off-limits.

Yeah, but not everyone hangs out there, and this whole thing started differently anyway😁.

True... I definitely relate to some of the borderline stuff (though that feels like a catch-all bucket for basically every symptom ever), but I don't have the core component. In fact, I'm pretty much the opposite when it comes to that, which is the big thing.

For now, the doctor put down Bipolar II, but we'll see how it all settles over the next few months. 🙂

It was already stated—there's going to be some deleting at first. The guidelines are what stick. 🙂