Moderator changes: A constructive proposal to improve forum quality

Kenneth Peterson5 said:@Eminem
Man, what can I even say... honestly, massive respect to you!!!

It would be absolutely incredible to actually pull this off—if there was even a way to make it happen. I’m talking about wiping the slate clean once and for all. No more warnings, no more temporary bans, and definitely no more permanent bans—unless, obviously, you're just spamming ads on Reddit. If someone can't handle whatever goes down, they can just hit that delete button and get lost. Period.

Finally, we’re actually gonna see the full spectrum. Everything's about to get colorful.

Look, let’s be real—if we actually let people talk about certain topics without any filters, freedom of speech would hit its absolute limit. And honestly? I don't even know if a "limit" like that even exists in the first place.

So, look, there’s this massive, glaring issue hanging over the whole thing—and I’m gonna lay it out as a question for you. Since you’ve clearly spent way too much time obsessing over this beautiful little idea, maybe—just maybe—you actually have an answer.

So, how do you actually fix the whole mess of nationalism, religious fanatics, dealers, creeps, and all those other "honorable" citizens? Honestly, it feels like trying to plug holes in a sinking ship with pieces of gum. You’ve got people obsessed with their borders and flags, zealots who think they have a direct line to God, and then the absolute bottom-feeders—the pushers and the predators—just running around like they own the place. It’s a goddamn circus. There isn't one magic button you can press to make society stop being a dumpster fire, but man, if we could just get everyone to chill out and stop acting like their specific group is the only one that matters, we might actually stand a chance. But hey, that's probably asking too much from this world, right? 🙄😁 Think about all the absolute characters in this modern society of ours—the kind of people who would definitely crawl out from under their rocks if everyone was allowed to moderate their own threads. ☕

@Jeremy Diaz9,
Honestly, I don't care what anyone thinks—actually, scratch that, I love it when people disagree with me. Like, seriously, give me all the contrarians you've got. It’s way more entertaining when everyone isn't just nodding along like mindless drones; things get way more interesting when there's actually some friction in the room.
Not you? Seriously?
Whatever, whatever—I actually ended up reading that greeting from that legendary permanently banned user, Krule. 😍)

And I suppose there isn't much point in overthinking it or trying to explain too much...
Just think back to the old days on Discord and how people would immediately kick you out if you showed up with a different opinion.
That’s basically what would happen here if the person starting the thread was also the moderator for that specific topic..
So, yeah, it’s been tried before, and it didn't exactly work out all that great.....

Jeremy Diaz9 said:You know as well as I do that most of the people on this Reddit are just narcissists at heart, so that whole idea isn't really going to fly here.
Honestly, they should just run the experiment and see where it leads. I suspect it would eventually devolve into nothing more than a complete joke and a total mockery of itself.
Moderators have to exist. It’s just how things work everywhere, and honestly, I think that's the way it has to be.
Anyway, getting back to the point at hand...
If your proposal actually manages to pass, we’d probably find ourselves staring down a situation pretty similar to a total change in administration.
So, I suppose if a forum member actually managed to take over the moderator position, they’d probably spend all their energy trying to get revenge on everyone who ever handed out them a penalty...
And that’s exactly why communism collapsed in the first place.
Not a single bit of that.
I suppose a moderator really ought to be handpicked by the site administration. In my view, they need to have the full backing of the higher-ups to function properly, essentially just stepping in to carry out whatever tasks are assigned to them on a daily basis.
The only consistent complaint I hear regarding this forum is that the leadership... He doesn't actually read the complaints from the Reddit users with any real understanding..
If things actually worked that way, I guess those two guys I just replied to would have blue usernames too...
They aren't the only ones, either. For instance, you've got this person who is basically walking fashion disaster material—they really ought to consider changing their font color.
Days... just days.
P.S. Have you ever noticed how quickly someone changes their Custom User Title to something aggressive the second they get appointed as a moderator?
If you aren't paying close enough attention...
Honestly, it feels like everyone around here is trying to be some kind of Terminator lately...
I mean, just try to wrap your head around a scenario where someone actually gets licensed to kill within a single month. It’s a wild thought, isn't it? I guess you have to wonder how that kind of authority would even be vetted in such a short timeframe. Maybe it's possible, but honestly, it seems like a massive Risk to me. Just an interesting thing to ponder, I suppose.
You know that old saying people always toss around—that if I were given just five minutes of power...
That's about it, I suppose.

🙏🙏🙏

Look, without being sarcastic or trying to hide behind some subtext here, I gotta say—you are dead on.

(And honestly, that goes for everything, but I’m really zeroing in on that one massive issue)

I’m actually digging the direction this conversation is heading in right now
(not trying to be a jerk here)
So, what I'm wondering is, what's the absolute best way to tackle this specific part of the problem?
The ground rules are simple: we need to keep it honest and stay completely objective.

hollowtrucker77 said:I’m actually digging the direction this conversation is heading in right now
(not trying to be a jerk here)
So, what I'm wondering is, what's the absolute best way to tackle this specific part of the problem?
The ground rules are simple: we need to keep it honest and stay completely objective.

Maybe appoint someone specifically to handle oversight—not necessarily to process the grievances themselves, but to monitor them.
By tracking the complaints filed against moderators, this person could have the authority to remove a moderator from their position, or at least formally recommend it to the higher-ups...
The fundamental requirement would be that they aren't part of any moderator cliques, though I suppose you guys would probably deny that such factions even exist.
If you’re asking for a name, there is one moderator who is more than capable of handling this.
They're young, incredibly fair, knows all your flaws, and wouldn't just look the other way when a moderator makes a mistake.
But I won't say who, because under these specific circumstances, I'm certain they wouldn't accept the role anyway...
By the way, looking at how you track complaints, it's obvious that custom user Titl govnar is being targeted again, and you all know it, yet it seems like nobody really cares.
And honestly, that’s where your constant criticism comes from.
Do you realize what this kind of behavior leads to?
It leads to a certain number of people becoming perpetually frustrated, having to be incredibly loud and persistent just until a moderator finally loses their cool and quits.
And I wonder why that happens?
But then again, that tactic doesn't work on the thick-skinned types, like the second-in-command or the elders. It fails because any user who complains gets labeled as some sort of revolutionary, so no one takes them seriously, and they often end up catching a ban in the process...
That's pretty much it.
Merry Christmas!

Jeremy Diaz9 said:Maybe appoint someone specifically to handle oversight—not necessarily to process the grievances themselves, but to monitor them.
By tracking the complaints filed against moderators, this person could have the authority to remove a moderator from their position, or at least formally recommend it to the higher-ups...
The fundamental requirement would be that they aren't part of any moderator cliques, though I suppose you guys would probably deny that such factions even exist.
If you’re asking for a name, there is one moderator who is more than capable of handling this.
They're young, incredibly fair, knows all your flaws, and wouldn't just look the other way when a moderator makes a mistake.
But I won't say who, because under these specific circumstances, I'm certain they wouldn't accept the role anyway...
By the way, looking at how you track complaints, it's obvious that custom user Titl govnar is being targeted again, and you all know it, yet it seems like nobody really cares.
And honestly, that’s where your constant criticism comes from.
Do you realize what this kind of behavior leads to?
It leads to a certain number of people becoming perpetually frustrated, having to be incredibly loud and persistent just until a moderator finally loses their cool and quits.
And I wonder why that happens?
But then again, that tactic doesn't work on the thick-skinned types, like the second-in-command or the elders. It fails because any user who complains gets labeled as some sort of revolutionary, so no one takes them seriously, and they often end up catching a ban in the process...
That's pretty much it.
Merry Christmas!

Well, yeah. Groundbreaking stuff. Truly revolutionary thinking right there. 🙂

hollowtrucker77 already keeps an eye on all the user complaints here. Plus, the admins are watching too. The admins have the ultimate authority to kick a moderator loose, and honestly, we've actually seen moderators get replaced because of certain complaints before. Personally, I think the system works just fine. 🙂

The system works, it just doesn't move nearly as fast as people apparently expected it to
🙂
To me, that part of the equation is perfectly human and easy to grasp, especially when you consider this whole modern era of consumerism we’ve stumbled into, where everyone’s internal monologue has basically boiled down to "I want it now!"
Unfortunately, reaching that point where you can actually step back, see the bigger picture, and truly wrap your head around how and why things happen the way they do—well, that takes time, whether we like it or not.
It’s entirely possible that everything could move along at a much more rapid pace if we were talking about people whose full-time job was managing a professional site like Reddit,
but when you're dealing with volunteers who actually have real lives outside of being on Discord, you have to account for the time, the effort, the persuasion, the constant back-and-forth, and all those messy human elements that we’re usually so willing to grant ourselves while denying everyone else.

feraltrucker5 said:Well, yeah. Groundbreaking stuff. Truly revolutionary thinking right there. 🙂

hollowtrucker77 already keeps an eye on all the user complaints here. Plus, the admins are watching too. The admins have the ultimate authority to kick a moderator loose, and honestly, we've actually seen moderators get replaced because of certain complaints before. Personally, I think the system works just fine. 🙂

Really?
Maybe try browsing through the complaints and grievances or the ban corner for a bit...
If you filter out the people who are just here to troll and actually look at the serious complaints, then sure, you can say the system works perfectly.
Should I also point out that the issue regarding the PDF policy hasn't been resolved for years now?

Oh right, I guess I'm not basking in pure sunlight, so I clearly can't see the big picture; I'm just stuck in my limited perspective seeing only what suits me.🤣
Anyway, enjoy your self-satisfaction...
You all ask to be told what isn't working, but once someone actually tells you, it's just followed by this orchestrated attempt to convince everyone that my view—or our collective view—is somehow wrong.
And don't even get me started on the top ten dumbest explanations for moderation decisions...
It shouldn't be this hard to just state a single sentence like, "You were penalized for this, period."
Instead, there’s always this push for quasi-academic justifications, as if the whole Reddit community needs a lecture.
Take care!

Kenneth Peterson5 said:@Eminem
Man, what can I even say... honestly, massive respect to you!!!

It would be absolutely incredible to actually pull this off—if there was even a way to make it happen. I’m talking about wiping the slate clean once and for all. No more warnings, no more temporary bans, and definitely no more permanent bans—unless, obviously, you're just spamming ads on Reddit. If someone can't handle whatever goes down, they can just hit that delete button and get lost. Period.

Finally, we’re actually gonna see the full spectrum. Everything's about to get colorful.

Look, let’s be real—if we actually let people talk about certain topics without any filters, freedom of speech would hit its absolute limit. And honestly? I don't even know if a "limit" like that even exists in the first place.

So, look, there’s this massive, glaring issue hanging over the whole thing—and I’m gonna lay it out as a question for you. Since you’ve clearly spent way too much time obsessing over this beautiful little idea, maybe—just maybe—you actually have an answer.

So, how do you actually fix the whole mess of nationalism, religious fanatics, dealers, creeps, and all those other "honorable" citizens? Honestly, it feels like trying to plug holes in a sinking ship with pieces of gum. You’ve got people obsessed with their borders and flags, zealots who think they have a direct line to God, and then the absolute bottom-feeders—the pushers and the predators—just running around like they own the place. It’s a goddamn circus. There isn't one magic button you can press to make society stop being a dumpster fire, but man, if we could just get everyone to chill out and stop acting like their specific group is the only one that matters, we might actually stand a chance. But hey, that's probably asking too much from this world, right? 🙄😁 Think about all the absolute characters in this modern society of ours—the kind of people who would definitely crawl out from under their rocks if everyone was allowed to moderate their own threads. ☕

@Jeremy Diaz9,
Honestly, I don't care what anyone thinks—actually, scratch that, I love it when people disagree with me. Like, seriously, give me all the contrarians you've got. It’s way more entertaining when everyone isn't just nodding along like mindless drones; things get way more interesting when there's actually some friction in the room.
Not you? Seriously?
Whatever, whatever—I actually ended up reading that greeting from that legendary permanently banned user, Krule. 😍)

I believe I addressed how to handle those specific issues in my previous post.
There would be supervisors in place to prevent inappropriate topics from surfacing. 🙂

Jeremy Diaz9, regarding this... it is actually quite useful to see people's true colors.
Not all threads would turn out that way... I think you're mistaken. Not everyone is prone to being a sycophant. 🙂

Do you see how Jeremy Diaz9 absolutely nailed why your (and my) suggestion is totally off base, rowdyhawk10?
No?
Figures.

@Jeremy Diaz9,
That idea of yours about appointing someone to actually pay attention to user complaints is great and all, but honestly, I think you’d need at least three people doing it. It’s not easy to grasp the heart of an issue—especially when things get messy, which happens way more often than people think.
For instance, it took me three whole months to realize that behind that now-permanently banned account "ja_sanja," there wasn't some paranoid freak, but rather a situation where the moderators completely misrepresented her. It was just straight-up unfair to her and to the community's core values (which I keep in my signature), and regarding the philosophy of the place where everything went down—I've been writing about it for a while now. So, yeah, it's pretty wild to me that it took me that long to figure it out.

rowdyhawk10 said:I believe I addressed how to handle those specific issues in my previous post.
There would be supervisors in place to prevent inappropriate topics from surfacing. 🙂

Jeremy Diaz9, regarding this... it is actually quite useful to see people's true colors.
Not all threads would turn out that way... I think you're mistaken. Not everyone is prone to being a sycophant. 🙂

You seem to think you'd just fix everything, but I guess that mindset itself is actually the fundamental flaw within your moderation team.
I won't even get into who is actually thinking and who is just talking!
To be completely honest, two of the mods—specifically the head mods—used to be at the very top of my most hated list.
One ended up leaving, while the other is actually a decent guy and a veteran here.
But ever since you and Nicole James have been running things on this Reddit, there hasn't been anyone quite like you.
The two of you really ought to be permabanned rather than being allowed to serve as moderators.
You both serve as prime examples of how ego can surface and cloud one's judgment.
Honestly, you're an embarrassment to the rest of the moderator team.
Satisfied?
And that serves as a response to that one moderator who claims that user complaints are thoroughly reviewed and that the admins evaluate mods based on that feedback....
If that were actually the case, these two wouldn't be in their current positions.
And yeah, that cigar looks good on you—if we're talking about licking boots. 😍

I was just asking myself who the Devil would even be on this thread. 🙄
If, if... Not like I actually need this. 😁

Nah, if someone's getting on your nerves, there are plenty of other subreddits out there for you to check out... 👋

Jeremy Diaz9 said:You seem to think you'd just fix everything, but I guess that mindset itself is actually the fundamental flaw within your moderation team.
I won't even get into who is actually thinking and who is just talking!
To be completely honest, two of the mods—specifically the head mods—used to be at the very top of my most hated list.
One ended up leaving, while the other is actually a decent guy and a veteran here.
But ever since you and Nicole James have been running things on this Reddit, there hasn't been anyone quite like you.
The two of you really ought to be permabanned rather than being allowed to serve as moderators.
You both serve as prime examples of how ego can surface and cloud one's judgment.
Honestly, you're an embarrassment to the rest of the moderator team.
Satisfied?
And that serves as a response to that one moderator who claims that user complaints are thoroughly reviewed and that the admins evaluate mods based on that feedback....
If that were actually the case, these two wouldn't be in their current positions.
And yeah, that cigar looks good on you—if we're talking about licking boots. 😍

I've been on this site since yesterday, though I've spent plenty of time on others—even serving as an admin myself. I disagree with the proposal because it would just lead to total anarchy. No moderator is perfect, but there are users out there a hundred times worse than any mod, and that's just something you have to deal with.

Regarding that quoted post, on my old forum (not trying to run an ad here), that user would have been reported for flame wars. On my previous site, they would've slapped them with a preemptive three-day ban just for inciting conflict; even a smile wouldn't have saved them from that. 🙂

Jose Barrett said:I've been on this site since yesterday, though I've spent plenty of time on others—even serving as an admin myself. I disagree with the proposal because it would just lead to total anarchy. No moderator is perfect, but there are users out there a hundred times worse than any mod, and that's just something you have to deal with.

Regarding that quoted post, on my old forum (not trying to run an ad here), that user would have been reported for flame wars. On my previous site, they would've slapped them with a preemptive three-day ban just for inciting conflict; even a smile wouldn't have saved them from that. 🙂

It’s probably for the best I wasn't on your forum, and frankly, I couldn't care less about your old site.
We're talking about this specific forum and these moderators, whom you've somehow managed to get to know in just one single day, of course...🤣

The numbers don't lie:

If you want the ultimate proof of what kind of mods we’re dealing with, just look at the homepage—it's staring you right in the face. Like, check the stats next to the PDFs. We’ve got something like 40 people hitting the Psychology PDF right now, then 35 for the Religion one, maybe 6 for Spirituality, and only 4 for Philosophy. It's pretty obvious if you actually bother to look.

When you factor in the fact that the views on the Spirituality, Philosophy, and Religion PDFs are constantly tanking while the Psychology one just keeps climbing—well, it’s easy to draw a conclusion. It shows that the moderator over at Cocaine Nights is actually sharp, fair, tolerant, and creative. Plus, they actually have a sense of humor and, more importantly, they're the kind of person who can own up to their mistakes and fix them.

So, here's the thing: if the admins actually know their moderators as well as everyone on this Reddit thread claims, then it’s actually in their best interest for the traffic on certain PDFs to drop. And why would that be? Those same admins know exactly why.
To me, the whole thing is just a total enigma.

And how exactly do you explain the fact that Psychology and Religion share the same moderator? 😁

It's basically like how evil kefir 😁 barely sticks around in Psychology at all.

Or, let me rephrase this specifically for the occasion:

Look, listen—every single one of my, shall we say, theories has its own glaring hole. 😢
Because if they didn't, all of them would pretty damn quickly be recognized in those high-brow scientific circles 😲 as being actually relevant.

Kenneth Peterson5 said:The numbers don't lie:

If you want the ultimate proof of what kind of mods we’re dealing with, just look at the homepage—it's staring you right in the face. Like, check the stats next to the PDFs. We’ve got something like 40 people hitting the Psychology PDF right now, then 35 for the Religion one, maybe 6 for Spirituality, and only 4 for Philosophy. It's pretty obvious if you actually bother to look.

When you factor in the fact that the views on the Spirituality, Philosophy, and Religion PDFs are constantly tanking while the Psychology one just keeps climbing—well, it’s easy to draw a conclusion. It shows that the moderator over at Cocaine Nights is actually sharp, fair, tolerant, and creative. Plus, they actually have a sense of humor and, more importantly, they're the kind of person who can own up to their mistakes and fix them.

So, here's the thing: if the admins actually know their moderators as well as everyone on this Reddit thread claims, then it’s actually in their best interest for the traffic on certain PDFs to drop. And why would that be? Those same admins know exactly why.
To me, the whole thing is just a total enigma.

Right now, there are 103 users in the automotive section, so does that mean those are the best moderators? 🙄

Listen, that has absolutely nothing to do with the moderators; it simply reflects how much interest people have in the specific subject matter of each subforum.

Hey there, hiddenhound3,
I’ll happily throw in a few more details just for you, because I want to make sure we're totally on the same page here.

Look, if you look back about six months—back when the Religion section had maybe 60 active members, while Psychology was sitting at around 30, and Philosophy and Spirituality combined were hovering around 27.

So, what’s the takeaway?

It tells me that certain moderators—you know, the ones who love "editing the threads whenever they feel like it"—are basically driving away anyone who doesn't fit into that boring, mediocre middle ground. And that middle ground? They absolutely love to follow them blindly, whether they're worshipping them or just spitting on any content that isn't strictly "standard." It's a joke, because those outsiders are usually the ones serving up the best stuff.

Since I'm not sure if my little math lesson above made sense, I'll take the liberty of giving you some real-world examples. Let's talk about the actual users who aren't with us anymore—people without whom "things just aren't the same"—like alim, ja_sanja, mislim..., Musliman.hr, sjena., Adura, Zeev Zion, hija del zion, crno&bijelo, Aganor, and plenty more.

That's just a tiny list of names, really. Some got banned just for being "different," others were chased off by constant belittling from the mods and their little cliques, and some just lost the drive to participate in such a sterile environment where creativity and actual intelligence aren't exactly welcomed with open arms.

On top of that—and I don't know how much you know about this—there are tons of users constantly venting about how these specific sections are managed, which you can clearly see over in the "complaint and grievance" section, and sometimes even in the "ban corner." If my memory serves me right, hiddenhound3, you actually filed a completely valid complaint against one of the mods a while back, and—surprise, surprise—you never got a single shred of feedback from the admin team.

If my "numbers game" still hasn't clicked for you, well, maybe it's just me being unable to connect the dots clearly—so bear with me, okay?

Best, and happy scrolling!

Kenneth Peterson5 said:Hey there, hiddenhound3,
I’ll happily throw in a few more details just for you, because I want to make sure we're totally on the same page here.

Look, if you look back about six months—back when the Religion section had maybe 60 active members, while Psychology was sitting at around 30, and Philosophy and Spirituality combined were hovering around 27.

So, what’s the takeaway?

It tells me that certain moderators—you know, the ones who love "editing the threads whenever they feel like it"—are basically driving away anyone who doesn't fit into that boring, mediocre middle ground. And that middle ground? They absolutely love to follow them blindly, whether they're worshipping them or just spitting on any content that isn't strictly "standard." It's a joke, because those outsiders are usually the ones serving up the best stuff.

Since I'm not sure if my little math lesson above made sense, I'll take the liberty of giving you some real-world examples. Let's talk about the actual users who aren't with us anymore—people without whom "things just aren't the same"—like alim, ja_sanja, mislim..., Musliman.hr, sjena., Adura, Zeev Zion, hija del zion, crno&bijelo, Aganor, and plenty more.

That's just a tiny list of names, really. Some got banned just for being "different," others were chased off by constant belittling from the mods and their little cliques, and some just lost the drive to participate in such a sterile environment where creativity and actual intelligence aren't exactly welcomed with open arms.

On top of that—and I don't know how much you know about this—there are tons of users constantly venting about how these specific sections are managed, which you can clearly see over in the "complaint and grievance" section, and sometimes even in the "ban corner." If my memory serves me right, hiddenhound3, you actually filed a completely valid complaint against one of the mods a while back, and—surprise, surprise—you never got a single shred of feedback from the admin team.

If my "numbers game" still hasn't clicked for you, well, maybe it's just me being unable to connect the dots clearly—so bear with me, okay?

Best, and happy scrolling!

That tells us quite a lot, actually.
The last time you checked the user counts was during a weekend tied to Christmas, which hardly constitutes a statistically sound sample. People were away on vacation, spending time with their families, and attending to various obligations; in truth, it would have been more concerning if forum activity had spiked during that period.

As of Monday morning, there were 12 members active in Psychology, 4 in Philosophy, and 6 in Spirituality. One cannot overlook the fact that Philosophy and Spirituality are separate subforums, which naturally results in lower individual member counts. Furthermore, the number of people truly engaged in studying philosophy is significantly smaller than those seeking help in the Psychology section, making such direct comparisons somewhat absurd.

Regarding the Spirituality section, the situation is evolving. People are learning, we have a new moderator providing much-needed assistance, and the aggressive agitators who used to cause trouble there have vanished. Consequently, we are persevering, and it appears that everyone is finding the environment quite pleasant.🙂