Ally, without them spaces like this here would be unusable and full of spam.
I think of them as people with a job to do. Some do it well, others do it less well. This is normal.
Yeah, it’s like asking “what does everyone think about bosses?” There are good ones and bad ones.
And then there’s the antiwork philosophy.
Just like a Janitor, or a Security team. If they do their job well most people won’t notice. If they do a terrible job everyone suffers. Kudos to anyone who does a passible job out of the goodness of their heart.
And even one person doesn’t do it well or badly all the time.
In most of the places I exist, I think of them like janitors. Doing appreciated, but not-very-fun work, to keep communities moving.
Honestly, if I was in a place with moderators that felt like adversaries, I might not stick around very long.
And, like janitors, they usually go unrecognized for the help they give and heavily criticized for anything that’s not perfect.
Allies.
This isn’t the 90s anymore. Today, unmoderated/poorly moderated online spaces are breeding grounds for the usual toxic assholes who ruin everything.
None of these online communities would exist without them. They do a lot of work for free so that we can enjoy them.
It’s easy as a user to say they are being heavy handed or whatever but without them it would be nothing but spam and ads. If they have to do things that seem unreasonable to make their jobs easier I don’t have a problem with it.
That said they are obviously just humans and some of them suck. This usually sorts itself out by either a community dieing or them being kicked off.
I think they spend a lot of their time holding back a wall of crap from falling on all of us. Unmoderated forums are so bad.
They’re necessary, but any power will always bring a chance that someone will abuse it. So I usually prefer moderators with a lighter touch, that talk to their users before taking more controversial actions.
They are an ally (that we sometimes dislike). The web would be too toxic for most without moderation.
Somebody has to do it. I’m just thankful that it is not me. I really don’t understand how you can’t appreciate the work of the mods.
I’m biased because I mod some large subs, but I’d say 95% of the time I see them as an ally.
Having seen behind the curtains, I’m glad they clean things up to keep the stage nice for me. You’d be shocked by the shit we see before it gets removed.
That said, that 5%-20% of mods that suck really suck.
Exactly. I’m a mod in a few subreddits, the biggest of which is /r/Showerthoughts. People don’t notice our existence unless we interact with them directly, and you rarely interact with users unless to ban them or to remove their content. So it is expected to be hated.
They’re just random people. Sometimes they take their power a little too seriously and overstep their bounds. It’s all up to the individual mod.
The best ones are the ones you never know about. If you know about them, it’s probably because they’re power-trippers.
Absolutely. I feel this way about referees/umpires in sports too. The best ones aren’t flashy but just enforce the rules.
The only place I’mma disagree with you on this one is in the case of wrestling referees; and that’s only because I got to watch Aubrey Edwards kick the shit out of Jeff Jarrett’s wife; and Edwards has a fantastic Figure-Four Lock. Beyond that kind of spectacle, you’re absolutely correct, nobody wants a referee who’s out for social media cookies or some shit in an actual sport.
No way of generalizing. Actions speak in this matter.
If you’re clearly communicating about rules and applying reason in enforcing them, ally.
If you wield the BAN HAMMER with furious vengance and abuse your power, adversary.
They need to exist but I don’t like them because I’m only reminded of their existence when they’re removing or Banning stuff.
It depends how vague or precise the rules are. If the rules are clearly defined, and the mods are applying those rules evenly then they’re an ally as they keep the community to a sane level for everyone else.
It’s when they start applying the rules unevenly or as if the rules don’t apply to them that they become an adversary.
It’s not always easy though, because they’ll something encounter participants that are acting in bad faith but withing the rules. Those can be frustrating for a moderator, but then it’s a good way to see if they’re following the rules or their emotions.
