I'm not super emotionally invested in the final outcome, as much as I believe reddit and the CEO are torching a valuable marvel of humanity without an ounce of ???? (I'm seriously speechless) but instead with utter tonedeafness and serial doubledowns.
(Although, I cared enough to edit out my comment history by hand in support, since my overall count isn't high.)
/caveats /disclaimers
"It's a private||public company that answers to its shareholders||board." Fine.
> why [is] losing mod powers [..] such a big deal?
You're doing a disservice to the protesting by reducing their message to "drama" over having their moderator positions seized.
"[A] reddit community" alone is as many different things as there are the number of subreddits, to the same broad degree as your label just trivialized them.
(e: last P. hopefully now sounding more discussive and less accusatory)
Drama it is, by dictionary definition.
> "[A] reddit community" alone is as many different things as there are the number of subreddits, to the same broad degree as your label just trivialized them.
I think it's rather poor spirit to belittle someone for not knowing, when they have specifically asked to learn.
If you have a compelling reason to argue that losing moderation powers is not trivial, you are very welcome to share it, and it will be appreciated.
I guess my earlier ode to the tire fire that is reddit right now, which has, in its time, captured and digitized so much of humanity (and in one place, to boot), is largely my appeal. Your response to a sibling thread, while accurate as far as I see it, feels like it operates off of a narrowed definition of "personal gain".
On the subreddit scope: it's a neighborhood watch for residents. It's tech support for PEBKACs. It's a woodworking learning center for aspiring careerists and hobbyists. It's a coordination hub for criminals. It's a porn portal for the hormonally befuddled or sinfully licentious, depending on who you ask. It's where future spouses-to-be and predators-and-victims meet. I'm not trying to say you don't realize this or that people can't do these things just about anywhere else; just that maybe you're completely glossing over the human element to it, if anything. Maybe you and certainly I are among these people. If you want to keep to your distanced vantage point, I'd posit that it'd serve as a pretty relevant case study for decades, at the least. "One for the history books." As we already know, nothing lasts forever.
Didn't mean to accuse; and definitely didn't mean to belittle.
> It seems threatening to take it away is making them compromise on their values quite effectively.
What exactly are you referring to here? I see this narrative in a lot of places and I’m confused about what “values” mods supposedly collectively have? So much discussion online paints moderators as some sort of a connected cabal with alternative motives instead of unrelated nerds who enjoy niche content.
significant group indeed became well organized in aggressively pushing one sided narrative, it is possible you are not a member of that group.
Taking communities private was a stand for values (or shown as such). Now that's being reversed when these mods are threatened with removal. So there seems to be some significant value in modding they don't want to lose.
> So much discussion online paints moderators as some sort of a connected cabal with alternative motives instead of unrelated nerds who enjoy niche content.
I wouldn't describe it as a cabal (some secret, influential, political org). But these strikes have been coordinated half-publicly[0] and half-privately among mods of subs. And the goal is to influence Reddit in a way that the group prefers. In a political context, that would be close to a cabal. Regardless, I don't think cabals are immoral unless their goals are.
So most of the personal value comes from being able to influence this part of the internet in a positive way?
I'm not being sarcastic and I am fairly far detached from the Reddit drama. Just trying to understand the value that exists in moderating a Reddit community for free. It seems threatening to take it away is making them compromise on their values quite effectively.