Moderators also ensure quality, by removing posts that don't follow rules.

For example, /r/ExperiencedDevs is one of my favorite subreddits. They have rules around the types of questions you can ask. These rules are put into place to prevent the subreddit from becoming like /r/CSCareerQuestions, or to prevent an influx of memes.

Without these tools or these moderators, I have a feeling some subreddits will become more generalist and possibly drop in quality.

I go to /r/ExperiencedDevs (and other subreddits moderated in a similar fashion) for a very specific set of posts and expectations for questions. I don't really want to see memes, jokes, etc. in the subreddit, as I have other ones to go for that.

> Less moderation and more open speech would drastically improve most subreddits.

This just isn't true. Subreddits without moderators get buried in spam (both thinly veiled self-promotion and outright unrelated spam link dumping).

(I've both moderated a small subreddit and tried to participate in subreddits with absent moderators.)

Every time I've participated in a small sub where the mod went AWOL it's been just fine. Often much better than your average Reddit sub.

You can even see this with smaller active subs that only have one moderator. The sub doesn't fill up with spam when the moderator is sleeping.

Less moderation doesn't mean we turn into some Ayn Rand-ian bastion of free speech and justice and the american way. It means you see more onlyfans spam and ads for VPNs.