Moderating a Reddit subforum

I’ve gone through all the subreddit rules, and I’m honestly not sure if this falls within them, so I’d really appreciate some clarity if possible.

The core issue is that the Reddit subforum hasn't been properly moderated for quite a while now. It feels like the moderators have just checked out and aren't interested in keeping things in check anymore.
A few of us users have been asking the mods to step up and handle moderation properly, but they either don't want to or simply can't find the time.

For instance: the main Reddit thread (and the rest of the subforum) has basically become an unmoderated wasteland lately. No content is being categorized correctly, and no warnings are being issued for off-topic posts. When we actually tried to point out that they weren't sanctioning the right stuff, they just locked the whole thread and deleted it—which is why I can't even provide a direct link.
They did the exact same thing to the "best of" thread.

I also can't link you to a specific post that sat in the Fashion corner for days despite being totally irrelevant. It was only removed just now, after we complained about the lack of oversight and used that post as an example. If we hadn't flagged it, who knows how long it would have stayed there.

I realize both threads have attracted a crowd of users who don't quite grasp what belongs in this sub, leading them to post things that don't fit, but I don't think just giving up and wiping everything out is the solution.

Just to be clear on one thing—I have nothing against those two users; I think they're great people. But ever since she had her baby, she's been around much less, and he's barely here since he started his new job.

I've been an active part of this sub for a very long time, and it genuinely breaks my heart to see what it's turned into.
I'm not necessarily proposing a massive overhaul—maybe just bringing on an additional moderator to help out, especially since the current ones seem to have lost interest or run out of time.

As one of the drivers behind this whole movement, along with gentlehound9, I have to agree. It feels like ever since Princess Leia started venting here on the sub, the admin hasn't handed out a single ban.

The main thread on Reddit just got shut down—and why? Because they can’t be bothered to moderate.

Look, I have nothing against you personally, but locking this thread is probably the only thing you've actually moderated on Reddit since you took the job. Don't get me wrong—I like you as a user, you're great for joking around in the chat—but as a moderator, you either don't have the time or you're too afraid to actually moderate.

The admin is a case of his own. He’s either way too strict or far too lenient. He can't seem to find the middle ground. 🤷

Let's be real: Reddit isn't some massive, unmanageable platform; it can be handled with maybe ten minutes of attention a day. None of us are asking for moderators to lurk there 24/7, but if someone just cleared out the garbage once a day, people wouldn't be leaving in droves.

There are people I used to see on that board all the time who have completely vanished now.

Regarding that other thread, it's a shame it was closed, but honestly, it had everything in it except for actual quality content.

What we’re demanding is simple: either the mods start putting in a bit more effort to maintain the sub, or they bring in new moderators who actually know how to do the job.

Is it possible they just nuked the thread to clean things up and plan on bringing it back?
Has this happened before?

Getting rid of it entirely is just pointless. 😢

Oh sure, deleting that thread on Reddit was a stroke of pure genius from you. Truly. 🙏

That was easily one of the most legendary threads on this entire site—and you just wiped it out. Honestly, you should just step down as a moderator yourself... before you cause any more damage.

briskmoose90 said:Is it possible they just nuked the thread to clean things up and plan on bringing it back?
Has this happened before?

Getting rid of it entirely is just pointless. 😢

No, they nuked it for good. If they just wanted to tidy things up, they would have locked it instead.
Look: her response when I asked her about it

gentlehound9 said:No, they nuked it for good. If they just wanted to tidy things up, they would have locked it instead.
Look: her response when I asked her about it

Every subreddit has its own flagship thread where everyone ends up congregating. Deleting that thread isn't going to trigger a sudden wave of new posts, nor will it breathe life back into old ones.
The shutdown of that one specific thread proved it.

I don't agree with this move.

Personally, I haven't posted anything in that thread for ages. I don't have the time to scroll through Reddit that much, and I really don't want to post anything on Reddit. I think the thread was kept alive by a handful of people who actually care about quality control, not by some random trolls posting whatever comes to mind.

Wait, there's really no way to get them back?
The mods should have just locked the thread instead of nuking it; now all those great posts that lived there are just gone forever.

I’ll admit the quality on this thread—and honestly, a few others on Reddit lately—has definitely taken a nosedive. But deleting everything feels overkill; a simple lock would have done the trick.😢

briskmoose90 said:Every subreddit has its own flagship thread where everyone ends up congregating. Deleting that thread isn't going to trigger a sudden wave of new posts, nor will it breathe life back into old ones.
The shutdown of that one specific thread proved it.

I don't agree with this move.

Personally, I haven't posted anything in that thread for ages. I don't have the time to scroll through Reddit that much, and I really don't want to post anything on Reddit. I think the thread was kept alive by a handful of people who actually care about quality control, not by some random trolls posting whatever comes to mind.

It was basically just me and Kate Foster12 keeping it afloat. We were essentially moderating without any actual tools, manually stepping in to tell people stuff didn't belong there or reminding them to use quotes properly since the actual mods weren't doing their jobs.
The admins—well, until we called them out—had basically just checked out from the entire subforum. They let it turn into a total wasteland instead of actually enforcing the rules.

dustycrane8 said:Wait, there's really no way to get them back?
The mods should have just locked the thread instead of nuking it; now all those great posts that lived there are just gone forever.

I’ll admit the quality on this thread—and honestly, a few others on Reddit lately—has definitely taken a nosedive. But deleting everything feels overkill; a simple lock would have done the trick.😢

No, locking her wasn't the move—she should have been moderated instead. She isn't lost forever... she’s probably just sitting in the trash.

It shouldn't have been locked—certainly not deleted. All that was needed was some basic moderation. People who don't grasp what constitutes junk content should simply be given a warning—yellow or red cards, if you will—and directed toward the pinned thread defining our community standards...

I assume that would be far too much work... ☕

gentlehound9 said:It was basically just me and Kate Foster12 keeping it afloat. We were essentially moderating without any actual tools, manually stepping in to tell people stuff didn't belong there or reminding them to use quotes properly since the actual mods weren't doing their jobs.
The admins—well, until we called them out—had basically just checked out from the entire subforum. They let it turn into a total wasteland instead of actually enforcing the rules.

To add to my earlier point—when we actually tried to warn people, they just laughed in our faces. I mean, if the moderators don't give a damn, why should we bother wasting our breath...

Now that they’ve already wiped out the two biggest threads on Reddit, what's next? Are we just waiting for them to delete the entire subreddit altogether?

gentlehound9 said:It was basically just me and Kate Foster12 keeping it afloat. We were essentially moderating without any actual tools, manually stepping in to tell people stuff didn't belong there or reminding them to use quotes properly since the actual mods weren't doing their jobs.
The admins—well, until we called them out—had basically just checked out from the entire subforum. They let it turn into a total wasteland instead of actually enforcing the rules.

Yeah, but Africa is too.
Doesn't matter. Look, is it really impossible to find mods on this entire site who would actually deal with this thread? Why does the Politics sub have five moderators (don't get me wrong, I have nothing against that specific PDF), while Reddit, which is its own special case, can't manage to have at least three people looking after it?

Alex Hall4 said:Now that they’ve already wiped out the two biggest threads on Reddit, what's next? Are we just waiting for them to delete the entire subreddit altogether?

Let's be honest... without its main thread, this whole subreddit is basically pointless. 🤷

Kate Foster12 said:Let's be honest... without its main thread, this whole subreddit is basically pointless. 🤷

Exactly, which is why I'm asking. 🤷 😢

briskmoose90 said:Yeah, but Africa is too.
Doesn't matter. Look, is it really impossible to find mods on this entire site who would actually deal with this thread? Why does the Politics sub have five moderators (don't get me wrong, I have nothing against that specific PDF), while Reddit, which is its own special case, can't manage to have at least three people looking after it?

There are already two who do absolutely nothing. ☕

briskmoose90 said:Yeah, but Africa is too.
Doesn't matter. Look, is it really impossible to find mods on this entire site who would actually deal with this thread? Why does the Politics sub have five moderators (don't get me wrong, I have nothing against that specific PDF), while Reddit, which is its own special case, can't manage to have at least three people looking after it?

Oh right, I totally forgot about her. Yeah, she's part of the problem too.

Kate Foster12 said:No, locking her wasn't the move—she should have been moderated instead. She isn't lost forever... she’s probably just sitting in the trash.

It shouldn't have been locked—certainly not deleted. All that was needed was some basic moderation. People who don't grasp what constitutes junk content should simply be given a warning—yellow or red cards, if you will—and directed toward the pinned thread defining our community standards...

I assume that would be far too much work... ☕

To add to my earlier point—when we actually tried to warn people, they just laughed in our faces. I mean, if the moderators don't give a damn, why should we bother wasting our breath...

I didn't phrase that quite right. 😁
I don't think the thread should have been locked, much less deleted.

What I was actually getting at was the moderators and their attitude toward the Reddit subforum.
If they really felt the thread had run its course, they could have just temporarily locked it, cleared out the clutter, and then brought it back to life once things settled down.

There's already a pinned thread in that subforum that lays out exactly what qualifies as junk. People looking to contribute something meaningful likely checked that out and followed the rules.
As for those just posting whatever popped into their heads, they should have just been warned and shown where they went wrong.
I know some would have kept doing it anyway, but that shouldn't be a reason to punish everyone else who was actually enjoying—let's call it that—following or participating in the discussion.

Look, if they don't have the time, why not just say so? They’re constantly recruiting new mods anyway.

The core Reddit community has at least seven regulars, including you three. If any of you actually want to moderate, go for it.

Honestly, any thread can be abused. That’s why moderators exist.
I don't know enough about those two to offer an opinion, so I won't. Personally, I haven't had any bad experiences, but I will say this: whatever the reasoning behind this decision was, it's a terrible move.

I just nuked my Reddit account! 😲

I wasn't a huge poster there, but I definitely lurked! I think the whole idea of what constitutes "trash" was probably messed up from day one. Most people don't even seem to get what this sub is actually for or where the line is drawn. Honestly, I haven't quite figured out the definition myself either 😬

The whole subreddit is pretty niche, and I really think the mods need to step up and actually enforce the rules more often 😁 So, I guess I agree with the suggestions above: bring the thread back, start fresh, clarify the definition of trash, issue warnings (like yellow cards) for every link posted without quotes, and hire more moderators! 🤷

Anyway, I see Kate Foster12 and gentlehound9 are already acting like they want mod spots, so maybe give them a break 🤣

I’d say more, but I don't want to get banned 🙂

I actually enjoy Reddit and its various threads. 😍
I feel bad about the state of this Reddit subforum because it really used to be a great space; I truly hope they clean up the clutter and bring it back to its former glory.

gentlehound9 said:It was basically just me and Kate Foster12 keeping it afloat. We were essentially moderating without any actual tools, manually stepping in to tell people stuff didn't belong there or reminding them to use quotes properly since the actual mods weren't doing their jobs.
The admins—well, until we called them out—had basically just checked out from the entire subforum. They let it turn into a total wasteland instead of actually enforcing the rules.

There is a specific reporting function for a reason.
Users shouldn't try to act as moderators, regardless of how qualified they think they are for the role.
Personally, I find posts that don't belong here just as irritating as the posts that call them out.

gentlehound9 said:It was basically just me and Kate Foster12 keeping it afloat. We were essentially moderating without any actual tools, manually stepping in to tell people stuff didn't belong there or reminding them to use quotes properly since the actual mods weren't doing their jobs.
The admins—well, until we called them out—had basically just checked out from the entire subforum. They let it turn into a total wasteland instead of actually enforcing the rules.

If you want to complain about the moderation team, there's a formal channel for that. You shouldn't do it in random threads, as that ruins the quality of those discussions just as much as the posts you're complaining about.
The only thing I don't understand is why these public call-outs aren't being penalized themselves. 🤷

velvettrucker52 said:I actually enjoy Reddit and its various threads. 😍
I feel bad about the state of this Reddit subforum because it really used to be a great space; I truly hope they clean up the clutter and bring it back to its former glory.

There is a specific reporting function for a reason.
Users shouldn't try to act as moderators, regardless of how qualified they think they are for the role.
Personally, I find posts that don't belong here just as irritating as the posts that call them out.

If you want to complain about the moderation team, there's a formal channel for that. You shouldn't do it in random threads, as that ruins the quality of those discussions just as much as the posts you're complaining about.
The only thing I don't understand is why these public call-outs aren't being penalized themselves. 🤷

Up until now, we handled these issues internally—hoping the moderators would actually listen.

This time, however, Simple took things far too personally. She interpreted feedback as a direct attack on her rather than her moderation style... effectively digging her own grave as a moderator by deleting those two threads.

The line has been crossed. We are calling on the admins to step in. First order of business: remove Simple File from the Reddit moderation team.