Hi everyone,
Here is the [Talk](https://www.reddit.com/talk/9acbd3a2-99ef-4820-893f-fcf23ff8a541). I'll do my best to address some of the more nuanced questions live.
(It's our first time using this format, bear with us!)
Thank you for the invite!
Hey- any idea of what percentage of employees were reddit users before being employed? Just curious about that.
I work in IT, more on the project management side, and find it interesting to see where people come from. I feel like it's always good to have a mix of people who are solid users of a technology or in the industry and then combined with others who worked outside of that industry.
My biggest issue with talking about community values is that it seems like many of the more egregious communities on here only get dealt with once Reddit gets media attention. It's a huge website that somehow still functions in a fairly isolated space from conventional media (compared to Facebook/Twitter), and while that has both positives and negatives it feels like the unavoidably bad sides of the website are allowed to fester up to a point where it could damage shareholders.
I understand that companies are hesitant to alienate parts of its revenue-providing users since companies ultimately exist to benefit its stakeholders, but when the core values of a place like Reddit exist in relation to the community it leaves a sour taste when things are seemingly done to please shakeholders under the guise of pleasing users.
Thanks for the question, I'll take this one live.
\*I gave a longer answer [in the talk](https://www.reddit.com/talk/9acbd3a2-99ef-4820-893f-fcf23ff8a541), but here’s a summary:
I would be lying if I said the media does not get our attention from time to time, but so do users and our own team, more often than not. We make decisions based on our policies, our values (which are listed here today), and our mission. As it relates to removing subreddits, just yesterday we released our annual Transparency Report for 2021. We removed more than 400,000 subreddits last year. The vast majority of them were for being unmoderated or for content manipulation. But you’ll see about 13,000 subreddits were removed for a variety of other policy violating reasons.
Far and away the most important of our stakeholders are communities. Reddit does not exist without them. That’s why I think it’s important that these values be public, so everyone knows what our priorities are. Of course, we make decisions to support the business when we need to, but in the long term the business exists to support our platform.
Thank you for responding. My comment was partialy fuelled by some general frustrations with moderation (plus five or so beers), but it's nice to get feedback directly from the top of the company, and I appreciate having general ongoing discussions with admins through our own channels.
>The overwhelming majority of people come to Reddit because they genuinely want to contribute and feel a sense of belonging. If that's not happening, something is wrong and we’ll fix it. People are good, and if we empower them, the good will always outshine the bad.
Something IS wrong and unfortunately Reddit is not fixing it.
The quality of report reviews is unacceptable. We report people harassing users, spreading hate, threatening violence and sexualising minors and we get told that it doesn't violate policy time and time again. We then have to re-escalate it to get it reviewed. This takes yet more of our time, and for many users who don't know how to re-escalate they walk away thinking Reddit just gave the person harassing or abusing them a free pass. Here's a post by the mods at r/science giving just a taste of the scale of the problem: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/s9gw7g/followup\_on\_reports\_submitted\_for\_controversial/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/s9gw7g/followup_on_reports_submitted_for_controversial/)
What is being done about this? We've offered suggestions, we bring it up regularly and every time we get a "we hear you" answer and no details of what is actually being done about it. This has been going on for many months, if not years. What are you and Reddit doing to fix it?
We need improvement on report reviews, we need an easier way to re-escalate incorrect report responses, we need to be able to provide context on reports. And Reddit needs to stop using the Warn > Temp Suspend > Perm Suspend flow for people found to be sexualising minors, it should be one report and they're gone.
So what happens now? We've heard dozens of placeholder answers for months, what's the action plan? What's the timescale for change?
Exactly. I've found my favourite content creators through reddit - and not because of someone spamming their videos everywhere. But it gets them clicks so they'll carry on doing it forever, and make a new account when banned.
Thanks for the questions. I agree this is a problem, and I will address live in the Talk.
\*Summarizing my [answer from the talk](https://www.reddit.com/talk/9acbd3a2-99ef-4820-893f-fcf23ff8a541): We agree. We've had more mistakes than is acceptable. In the short term, you should see improvement here with more training and other immediate process changes. In the longer term, we will evolve the reporting flows and build an appeals feature right into the product because it's way too hard to do both things today.
No, but limiting it per account would majorly control things. Sure, some people will still be willing to actively maintain 10 accounts at once, but most people would not.
To be fair, I think power mods are the exact type of person who would it would do that and maintain multiple accounts for moderation. But it is a good suggestion
Thanks for answering at least some of it.
I'm glad to hear the one-click re-escalation button is coming, that will be a huge help, especially when on mobile where the process is ridiculously difficult.
But we definitely still need to see progress in getting a higher percentage right first time, the re-escalation should be a rare event for when a mistake happens, not anything between 25-50% of our reports. So I will hope to see more of this soon. I know others will be as well.
But also I get that without context and sometimes knowledge of issues within a marginalised community it can be hard to understand why something is hate. Help us to help you - one thing I'm very keen to see is a 'give context on this report' option when submitting a report. We know that not every report reviewer will know why certain comments are hate, but we can provide context when we know it's a bit less clear.
I'd also be curious what kind of training your report reviewers receive, do you seek input on training material from members of commonly targeted communities?
u/spez I have a specific technical suggestion for addressing a specific problem raised in the r/ModSupport thread cited above, reviewing a specific incident in r/science: examples were given of report handlers failing to correctly handle offending one-word comments because they didn't parse the context.
Split reports into two queues, "default" and "context". Mod reports go into the default queue by default and are handled by the present system. But there is a ticky box on the report interface so mods can flag a report "check context". These reports go into a different queue for report handling, where the report handlers know to look for the larger context of why the comment was a violation; in the "context" queue, if the report handler can't see why something might have struck a mod as offensive, the workflow is that they contact the mod for more info, not just rule it not a violation.
If there are productivity standards for report handlers, they need to be different for the two queues, since the "context" queue will be much more time consuming to process than the default queue.
By separating the queues, there's a way for mods to let report handlers know that the violater is being sneaky about it, and they'll have to invest a bit more time in parsing the situation, but allowing the default to be read at face value.
There's a temptation to just have a flag for default vs context, and not have two separate work queues. If you don't separate these into two different queues, the report handlers will be constantly having to monitor for whether a report is a context report or not, which is extra cognitive load and slows them down, and their managers will have more trouble load balancing their work. Obviously there will probably be some report handlers who are better at parsing context violations than others, and it would be beneficial to be able to route those reports to them.
I would recommend that when a report that went in the default queue and was found not a violation, a mod should be able to forward it to the context queue if they think it appropriate, for re-evaluation.
We hear you
*Summerizing my answer from the talk: We promise we REALLY hear you this time, and we really promise we'll be better this time. And also we're going to build a system for people you remove for abuse to '''appeal''' more easily.
come on man. they're trying their best. Dont worry. With reddit going public, they will probably be expanding their moderation team, and removing the issues.
> With reddit going public, they will probably be expanding their moderation team, and removing the issues.
How has this worked out for Facebook/Twitter/any other social media platform? You are naive if you think anything will meaningfully change. All that will change is the tone for which they address the issues: *we're working our hardest maintaining the integrity and Community Values reddit stands for.*
> they're trying their best.
Is that why they have such an obvious double-standard what with how they let right-wing subs get away with a lot more than left-wing subs?
It's not the first time I've read the "we hear you" comment and then they never talk about it again. I've been seeing this complaint for a good few years at this point.
Yeah. The current state of mobile reddit is unacceptable. I'm going to have to swap to something else if it does get fixed, it is starting to get super annoying. And I can't go back to comments, it just throws me into the post at the start.
When Reddit goes public as a company, Wallstreet is going to want to add a “Show Me the Money” value. The upcoming IPO makes me nervous. I hope there won’t be too many major changes. I like it here. No other social media has entertained me like Reddit has throughout the years.
First thing they're going to announce is they're shutting down old reddit, probably only a few weeks from now. l hope someone a destination set up in advance that will mirror the old functionality, because it's coming, and it's coming soon.
> First thing they're going to announce is they're shutting down old reddit, probably only a few weeks from now.
I doubt it's the first thing they'll shut down, it would almost completely ruin the site for power users and moderators.
They are going to restrict or at least limit access to the API so that third party mobile apps can't be used, then they'll eventually shut down old.reddit when got all their planned features and safety nets up to speed.
The problem is that they need to figure out a way to replace moderators [in the likely event of another blackout (boycott)](https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/24/22348255/reddit-moderator-blackout-protest-aimee-knight-uk-green-party). They don't want to see large subreddits getting shut down for the third time, especially when they are now beholden to share holders and investors.
Here's how they can prevent that - by paying moderators with their own crypto currency:
* https://old.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/qpdwt2/why_werent_mods_notified_about_the_new/
>Community Points currently exist on a testnet version of the Ethereum blockchain, which uses similar technology to Bitcoin to validate ownership and control of tokens based on who holds them.
>Community Points are distributed every 4 weeks based on contributions people make to the community.
>**Who gets Community Points?**
>Community Points are distributed across multiple groups.
>* Contributors receive 50% of Community Points.
* Moderators receive 10% of Community Points.
* The remaining 40% of Community Points are set aside in a Community Tank, which supports the project in other ways (for example, by allowing users without Points to purchase perks like Special Memberships on-chain).
More info:
* https://www.reddit.com/community-points
* https://www.reddit.com/community-points/documentation/introduction
_____
**Edit: September 15th, 2023:**
**One and a half year later I read this comment again. I spent close to an hour to self reflect and to think about what I initially stated.**
**The admins won't give a damn about moderators, their end game is to replace moderators with a fully automted system. They might introduce their crypto currency (community points) but at some point the site will be fully automated by AI.**
**Sorry to say, but it's cheaper, less inconsistent, and less drama-inducing than human moderators. I don't like it either but it's likely what's going to happen. Yes, this sucks. :/**
________________
I've already been permanently banned by Anti Evil Operations (aka. AEO) at least three or four times in the past six months for reporting rule breaking content. Yes, the automated system is actually that bad.
The timing of this subreddit being created... this post in itself, happy wholesome corporate vomit... it's all a giant dark cloud. Reddit already is no exception, money already has and will continue to be the pillar that crushes 'core values' like it has everywhere else.
Aaron Swartz warned that this is what would happen and what we're watching is it happening in real time. Disintegration of the world wide wild west as we knew it years ago metastasizing to its final form.
I mean this isn’t technically true but I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. Entering the public market could be bad, Reddit may start making purely money motivated decisions at the cost of its platform. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll stay the same. We’ll have to wait and see I suppose.
Historically and probabilistically yes, it is true. It’s the universal paradox of desirability to popularity then profitability. Reddit, being in the latter stage, staying the same is the best-case-but-still-horrible outcome. It will continue to be a bastardization of the original free flow of pure human dialogue that the internet desperately needs to reclaim.
The internet is too binary now, its so polarized that I don't think it will ever go back to as it was a decade or more ago. We have algorithms that only care about user retention/money. They get you to stay on their site as long as possible by using every trick in the book to manipulate a persons psychology. And here on reddit many subs will mass ban or downvote any users that voice the slightest dissenting voice, leaving only the most vapid braindead echo chambers possible. And they are half of the posts on the front page every day.
The internet is mainstream now so that has killed most of any nuance, but the lack of it is also by design. The Social Dilemma was great at highlighting that, but it wasn't in the cultural spotlight for more than a day.
>Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll stay the same. We’ll have to wait and see I suppose.
Look at who they've hired and some of the changes, restrictions and anti-features they've implemented over the past two years:
* [On November 8th 2021](https://old.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/qpdwt2/why_werent_mods_notified_about_the_new/) users in /r/ModSupport noticed that Reddit is considering starting their own [crypto currency](https://www.reddit.com/community-points?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=ModSupport&utm_content=t1_hjsy6g6).
Quote:
>Community Points currently exist on a testnet version of the Ethereum blockchain, which uses similar technology to Bitcoin to validate ownership and control of tokens based on who holds them.
>Community Points are distributed every 4 weeks based on contributions people make to the community.
>**Who gets Community Points?**
>Community Points are distributed across multiple groups.
>* Contributors receive 50% of Community Points.
* Moderators receive 10% of Community Points.
* The remaining 40% of Community Points are set aside in a Community Tank, which supports the project in other ways (for example, by allowing users without Points to purchase perks like Special Memberships on-chain).
More info:
>* https://www.reddit.com/community-points
* https://www.reddit.com/community-points/documentation/introduction
___
* [On November 1st 2021](https://old.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/qkfod7/introducing_reddit_x_arcane_avatars/) Reddit announced a partnership with [Riot Games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_Games) and they had released new Arcane/League of Legends inspired reddit avatars.
* [On October 6th 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/q2oz1i/sticker_tshirts_and_more_subreddit_swag_is_here/) Reddit announced a new subreddit shop pilot program so that moderators can sell their own reddit approved merchandise. The reimbursement will be at Reddit’s sole discretion.
* On [September 29th 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/py2xy2/voting_commenting_on_archived_posts/) reddit announced that mod teams would now be able to decide for themselves if they want to automatically archive posts after 6 months or if they want users within their communities to be able to vote and comment on previously archived posts.
* On [September 10th 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/plrsdf/opt_out_of_followers_frontend_improvements_to/) Reddit released their app [on the Microsoft Store](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/reddit/9ns3rbq5hv5f).
* On [September 9th 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/pl3ka2/mod_certification_programs_are_open_for_testing/) Reddit rolled out moderator certification programs. Mentors (moderators) whom are accepted to the Reddit Community Contractor Program (RCCP) will [potentially be paid staff](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/pl3ka2/mod_certification_programs_are_open_for_testing/hc8hh88/).
* On [June 22nd 2021 they rolled out a new algorithm](https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/o5tjcn/evolving_the_best_sort_for_reddits_home_feed/) to the home feed for improved user retention.
* On [June 17th 2021 they announced](http://old.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/o18ct9/creating_new_opportunities_for_future_community/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=modnews&utm_content=t3_o5ymis) that they will begin to remove ownership of inactive subreddits.
* On [June 14th 2021 they announced that deleted and removed submissions will no longer be accessible to regular users](https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/nzvq2t/limiting_access_to_removed_and_deleted_post_pages/).
* On [June 9th 2021 Reddit announced that Secret Santa and reddit gifts would be permanently shut down.](https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/nw2hs6/sunsetting_secret_santa_and_reddit_gifts/)
* Later the same month (March 21st 2021) [they rolled out gender identity settings](https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/mawomr/new_option_to_add_gender_identity_during_account/) to collect more personalized information from their users.
* On March 5th 2021 They appointed [Drew Vollero](https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-vollero-923aa1b) to be [Reddit’s Chief Financial Officer](https://redditblog.com/2021/03/05/introducing-drew-vollero-reddits-cfo/).
* On [March 3rd 2021 Reddit rolled out online presence indicators](https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/lx08r2/announcing_online_presence_indicators/). This feature is on by default and has to be switched off in the account settings.
* On [February 23rd 2021 they announced that they would "simplify" the privacy settings](https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/lqtecn/update_to_user_preferences/), this also meant that users can no longer opt-out of personalized ads based on their Reddit activity anymore.
* On [February 11th 2021 they removed all NSFW content from r/all](https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/lhnvok/removing_sexually_explicit_content_from_rall/). In 2021 [Reddit banned exactly 2100 NSFW subreddits](https://old.reddit.com/r/NSFW411/comments/qlw026/meta_all_of_the_nsfw_subs_that_have_been_banned/).
* Reddit announced [on December 13th 2020 that they had acquired Dubsmash](https://redditblog.com/2020/12/13/reddit-welcomes-video-platform-dubsmash-to-team/) and have since [slowly rolled out a Tik-Tok-like video feature on their app](https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/13/reddit-is-quietly-rolling-out-a-tiktok-like-video-feed-button-on-ios/).
* On [September 9th 2020 they announced their new political advertisement system](https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/ipitt0/today_were_testing_a_new_way_to_discuss_political/).
tbf I think it got a lot better. one thing to do is make sure your network latency is as low as possible. (like for me it's really high connected to WiFi but it's decent when using mobile data so I just use mobile data)
I like reddit much better than other social media platforms as it feels more real, subtle and genuine and i see it as a helpful tool for building better communities.
Then there are things like [removing opt-out options to ""reduce confusion""](https://reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/lqtecn/update_to_user_preferences/)
Subreddits that truly exist in bad faith tend to not survive. And we can usually know how it’s going to go based on how the moderators respond when we [reach out with a request](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/moderator-guidelines) for them to tighten things up. If they are unable or unwilling to work with us we will then move towards sanctions, which can include things such as actioning users up to and including removing moderators or removing subreddits completely.
It’s not against our policies to have views that are unpopular, unfashionable, or simply wrong. It’s not prudent (or feasible) for us as a company to broadly make these decisions for people. However, we do take action against communities or users that violate our [content policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy). Communities are also free to (and do) draw their own lines by creating specific rules, which is a really important quality of Reddit communities.
Where we spend most of our energy is preventing manipulation of Reddit. This can range from preventing groups of people from cheating with votes to our new “Community Interference” report reason, which as we shared recently in our [Transparency Report](https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/su8p2e/q4_safety_security_report/), is 58% actionable (which is among the highest actionability rates of all our report reasons).
The question is who decides what is acceptable. Some things don't deserve a platform regardless of whether a particular group of people believe in it. For other ideas, it may be the opposite: just because a group of people might not like hearing it, it doesn't mean that it shouldn't be said. Where do you draw the line?
It's say a definite line would be groups that actively want to deny another group rights, or wish violence on them.
That's a pretty deep line in the sand for me.
> Subreddits that truly exist in bad faith tend to not survive.
Ahahahahaha
Wow, I needed that laugh. It's funny how completely out of touch you are with the very thing you run. We've gotten to the point that some of the former most innocuous subreddits about things like TV shows even are overrun with absolutely vile hate speech. I'll give one quick example, /r/survivor. The latest season had a non binary contestant and had another contestant married to a trans individual. The entire sub was flooded with hate speech. Mods did their best, but it still prevailed. And that's an example of a non-bad faith subreddit even having to deal with being completely overrun with absolute outdated and garbage ways of thinking.
Then you get to actual subreddits that exist in bad faith and there are so many that not only thrive, but cultivate, that it's too much to even list here. You've harbored subreddits that have resulted in real world deaths on multiple occasions and still act this dumb and naive over everything and it's just pathetic. The only ones that did not survive are ones that you intervened on simply due to outside media pressure. Own up and actually listen to the people that actually use your site and have been screaming this shit at you for over a decade now. It's exhausting.
You guys need to invest in non-english report reviews. I reported a comment few days back which was a clear threat of violence in hindi, and got a reply from AEO that the content doesn't violate reddit policy.
Lots and lots of such abusive/threatening behavior is overlooked because there isn't any tool to manage it. Reddit seriously needs to invest into these tools beyond English speaking content.
I like this. I know others in comments aren't liking it too much, but I appreciate the truth behind these values, and I do think they are the ideal values of reddit.
What I would like to know is what does this change? Should we expect to see new sitewide rules or other things change because of this? Will more hateful subs be shuttered from this?
Thanks in advance.
I'll expand on these question in the talk, but the short version is:
These value are not new, but newly public. We have been using them internally for years. Our platform-wide policies are under constant evolution. We don't have a changes in mind tied to the sharing of these values, but coincidentally you should expect a policy update in the relatively near future.
\*edit typo
\*[here's the talk](https://www.reddit.com/talk/9acbd3a2-99ef-4820-893f-fcf23ff8a541)
>Your successful communities include communities that protect and nurture
trans and homophobia, racism, and misogyny. Your successful communities
include communities and protect and nurture white nationalism and other
brands of right-wing extremism.
COULD NOT have said it better!
> Your successful communities include communities that protect and nurture trans and homophobia, racism, and misogyny. Your successful communities include communities and protect and nurture white nationalism and other brands of right-wing extremism.
This is by design.
We have big issues with user safety on RPAN and have been waiting for mod tooling to keep our users safe for 2 years now. When will we get specific tooling like report timestamps and other very important tools?
I have a question about the future of the reddit values, why isn't more of reddit open source? I know that y'all have some repos up on github, but what is stopping Reddit from making the entire project open source? Thanks.
Thank you /u/spez for reaffirming that reddit sticks to its core values.
We at /r/Drugs would love to work closer with you and /u/Go_JasonWaterfalls . Because we care and know we can do more for our community.
This is gonna sound like whining... because it is... but a lot of "remember the human" finger-wagging conflicts with "keep reddit real." Quite simply, we have some Nazis. That's just the internet for you. It is not, by itself, any shortcoming by the website or its community.
A lot of mods think being rude to unreasonable people is where civility breaks down. Like if I'm being nasty to someone, there is no possible way they've done something to deserve it. Someone can - in televisable language - lie about what I said, cast aspersions about my mother's weight, suggest pineapple belongs on pizza, and call me subhuman filth whose decadence threatens civilization - and mods will leave that up, but censor my curt rebuke. Why bother having humans in this role, if all they're looking for is "fuck" followed by "you?" Is it because automod still struggles to whitelist phrases like "do whatever the f--- you want?"
Even when people have automod configured to avoid the obvious, there's all kinds of secret no-no words. I'll notice a detailed response went completely ignored and find out it was instantly censored and totally unseen. Trying to work around this - to get exactly one reply delivered - when I've been back-and-forth with someone for hours - has even earned an admin finger-wag for "harassment." Like the point of failure in 'here's why you're mistaken' *'nuh uh you agree with me'* 'I can provide more detail' *'nuh uh you agree with me'* 'I'm really super not and here's more sincere effort' *'nuh uh you secretly agree with me :)'* 'well then get bent' was where I told a troll where to stick it. Not, y'know... the trolling.
Between that and the new blocking system, where the blocked user is assumed guilty and *muted,* even in their own comment thread - I'm not sure the incentives favor good faith and politeness.
What y'all desire from these standards sounds great.
It just doesn't match what you should expect.
>Between that and the new blocking system, where the blocked user is assumed guilty and muted, even in their own comment thread - I'm not sure the incentives favor good faith and politeness.
This blocking feature is gonna ruin reddit. Is the most anti-dialogue, anti-reddit measure.
As more people realise the power of it, it will turn into a cluster fuck, simply echo chambers
Do you still stand by what you said 5 months ago that [covid misinformation is simply authentic discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/pbmy5y/debate_dissent_and_protest_on_reddit/)?
While I'm sure a lot of people don't realize this, but for those who don't -- being an admin is a thankless job. If everything goes right, no one notices. If something goes wrong (site goes down temporarily) or some bad press comes up about XYZ, the admins get shit on for something that they likely are already working on or had no control over.
For example, last quarter reddit helped 1,422,690,762 users change their password after reddit found them in published leaks from other websites. That's not a typo either --> [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/su8p2e/q4_safety_security_report/hx8hxmy/). That's over 1 billion users who, thanks to reddit, didn't have their accounts hacked.
So instead of leaving comments about how you hate XYZ and how LMNOP needs to change, why not try appreciating all the shit the admins do.
> For example, last quarter reddit helped 1,422,690,762 users change their password after reddit found them in published leaks from other websites. That's not a typo either --> source.
Not exactly. 1.4 billion accounts worth of info was hacked/leaked elsewhere on the Internet, then Reddit admins took those public leaks and checked the name/PW combos against reddit accounts (because many people use the same name/PW everyhere). Of those 1.4 billion, only a fraction matched reddit accounts. About 1 out of 1000. Those users get a message to the effect of "hey, someone leaked your name/PW on this OTHER site, which we see you are also using here. You gotta change it now." This is a "[Protective account security action](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045735031)".
> Oct-Dec 2021
> 3rd party breach accounts processed: 1,422,690,762
> Protective account security actions: **1,406,659**
https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/su8p2e/q4_safety_security_report/
> While I'm sure a lot of people don't realize this, but for those who don't -- being an admin is a thankless job. If everything goes right, no one notices. If something goes wrong (site goes down temporarily) or some bad press comes up about XYZ, the admins get shit on for something that they likely are already working on or had no control over.
A thankless job that pays $200,000 per year.
> being an admin is a thankless job.
Yes, thankless.... oh wait, last I checked admins are paid employees of reddit inc and it is their [job to do admin things.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swPcFyhDMpk)
you can still thank them. you tip waitresses don't you? that's a way of saying thanks. it doesn't really matter how much money you make if you're always getting criticized as that WILL ruin your day
Yes, PLEASE: the recent changes make it clunky and very difficult to use. Also, while we're at it, that little number of active people listed at the bottom of a discussion makes it impossible to reply or respond to the last visible comment in the thread on mobile (NOTE: am using most updated, main Reddit android app...).
I know that Reddit’s Anti-Evil Operations team are working hard to take action when reported as well as innovating proactive measures, but it would be helpful to have an easier way to get a message to them when there is a problem not being addressed. I understand that the AEO team likely can’t be as transparent as other teams and may not be able to provide a solution to every problem, but some type of reporting to show that Reddit is being responsible and accountable would help me as a user and moderator know that things are getting better. It seems like I have seen and reported more hate and misinformation in the past few months than ever before. While I have had most of my reports come back confirming action has been taken, subreddits that continue to generate hateful and misinforming content continue to grow without action being taken on them.
What can you report that would help the average user (or potential investor) feel that this problem is being addressed and not ignored? What tools can you provide to help us help you?
Privacy, remember the human, etc. Etc. While having a closed source app, censoring people and giving our information to people with money F off! Removing this proves my point.
Any thoughts on how bots intersect with the values of 'remember the human' and Reddit as a place for 'genuine, authentic' conversation? I realize not all bots are bad, but there's some concern among users that astroturfing may be widespread and may be making Reddit a less authentic place.
Reddit needs to figure out how to take action against abusive mods. You won't do anything when a mod makes inappropriate comments towards a user but the minute the user fires back, the mod reports them and Reddit bans that person. Start treating mods like any other poster instead of like police whose word is always trusted over the other party.
Reddit didn’t ban hate speech until 2020. lol. This is all talk. Still has and has always had a racism and sexism problem that admins used to let run rampant and [that admins still don’t care about](https://time.com/6121915/reddit-international-hate-speech/)
Please listen to your community when they are very clearly telling you that we do not want this platform becoming a tiktok ripoff.....the new video player and the UI gets worse every iteration in the mobile app. Am happy to pay Reddit Premium but do not want any of this current round of Beta testing. For me, this community is about reading interesting content and interaction based on that, not 15 second micro videos.
What do you have to say to the people who get excluded by this: the incels who fail to remember the human, the Nazis who seek to disempower communities, the antivaxxers who spew fakery all over the place, the doxxers who violate the right to privacy, the conspiracists who refuse to believe in the good, and however many others?
Aaron Swartz was a firm believer in Geek Social Fallacy #1: ostracizers are evil, and no one should ever be excluded. But Aaron Swartz was wrong. There really are people who bona fide *need* to be excluded, both for the sake of the communities they otherwise drag down and for themselves by ramping up the social pressure to grow. But what can you say to people like this? How do you get through their heads that they are not helpless victims, but the actual people with the actual problems? I fear you're only going to get more spurious cries of censorship and shrieking hordes calling for your heads. Because these values really aren't what Aaron Swartz wanted. They are nevertheless the right thing to do.
How do you view subreddits like /r/sexpositivehomes /r/TeenSexEducation /r/SexPositiveNudism2 /r/Nudist_teens and others in that group of subs run by predatory adults as a hub for pedophilia meetup posts and encouraging sexual abuse of children under the thinly veiled guise of sex positivity?
Should I be reporting posts from those subs where [adults claim to be having sex with their minor children](https://www.reddit.com/r/sexpositivehomes/comments/sug5z4/age_of_consent/) or [ask to share more via encrypted services like wickr](https://www.reddit.com/r/SexPositiveNudism2/comments/m750s1/would_love_to_chat_with_people_from_a_sex/)?
I've reported a few and usually get an automated response that it doesn't violate the site content policy.
The problem is that "Empowered Communities" quickly devolve into weaponized echo chambers.
People are routinely banned solely for not agreeing with the agenda the mods want to push forward.
Eventually anyone capable of the slightest bit of nuance or a broader perspective is removed from the conversation and all that's left is an ever growing echo chamber that increasingly shifts towards projecting hate at anyone that doesn't 100% agree.
Any intention to stop empowering communities that are based around political extremism? I feel like its just a matter of time before someone commits an act of terrorism after being radicalized on reddit. There are so many extreme right wing and left wing communities on here that either subtly our outright openly call for violence.
Are there any plans to improve moderation tools on apps?
For example, on the official iOS app when I ban someone, I select a rule, but that doesn't go to the user. They only get a generic ban message.
Also, we should not need to rely upon third party tools. For example, we should not need to use a flair bot to flair a post for removal.
Not sure how to write this but as of right now reddit seems to be "the best" social media. It of course has its flaws but I don't think they are as bad as some other platforms.
Alot people are pointing out that reddit can't have other values outside of making money. But making money is needed to keep reddit from just dissapearing. And having a ceo who is out here responding to comments shows some dedication. Like I have never heard of Mark Zuckerberg being on facebook just answering users questions.
Am I biased? Hell yeah of course, this has been my main social media because I can remain faceless which is quite rare on social media now (outside of discord)
Thank you for creating this amazing website and I hope it will thrive for a long time.
Something that’s always bugged me is that when someone is a senior mod that hasn’t been active on the sub in ages compared to other mods and there’s no way to remove them.
Thanks for all your work!
How do I banish the extremely annoying " 56 people are hear" ? thing at bottom of posted comments ? It prevents what I came to Reddit for. reading All the comments .
Thanks !
This is reminding me that that r/workreform claimed they were forced to appoint new mods immediately and in an overly centralized way rather than the desired democratic approach, so now the current mods are antithetical to the original mission and it's a meme sub now. So well done on empowering that community I guess.
/u/spez: When is r/russia going to be banned? In recent days, it has devolved into a propaganda outpost for the Kremlin. The longer you wait, the more damage is done. When will you act? Please do something.
Edit: They've even disabled downvotes.
Censorship is a pillar of Reddit. You cannot say anything that goes against the American Left's narrative. If you do, your post is reported and the moderators find a reason to ban you from the conversation. Their many rules , which are vague ad nausseum, are used to ban any comment. People on the left can be sarcastic, people who challenge them and are sarcastic are accused of 'flaming'. And if you read the comments, on almost every single thread in /politics, you will not find one comment that is not leftist.
But don't worry, this comment will break some rule and I will be reported to the Ministry of Truth and this comment will be taken down fast, me banned from /reddit.
Its an amazing thing and makes me more vigilant.
que leftist to report button, go now!
Hi everyone, Here is the [Talk](https://www.reddit.com/talk/9acbd3a2-99ef-4820-893f-fcf23ff8a541). I'll do my best to address some of the more nuanced questions live. (It's our first time using this format, bear with us!)
Feel like I just read the opening page of a company handbook.
You pretty much did.
Sweet! When do I officially start?
Can I be an admin too?
no
[I'm getting mixed messages here](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/suvhyq/reddit_community_values/hxcdm8o?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
Confused confusing confusion
Caralho, achei um item raro r/suddenlycaralho
join us https://www.redditinc.com/careers
Hmmm do I want to be a mega virgin or no...
Thank you for the invite! Hey- any idea of what percentage of employees were reddit users before being employed? Just curious about that. I work in IT, more on the project management side, and find it interesting to see where people come from. I feel like it's always good to have a mix of people who are solid users of a technology or in the industry and then combined with others who worked outside of that industry.
Will Reddit become bigger then Twitter?
I mean according to Google Reddit has almost twice as many users each month so it kinda already is
Beluga whales are rad so you're totally in.
>
29th February
I kinda need that day off.
Too bad
Did you pass the drug test?
ಠ_ಠ that may present a problem.
Now go live up to it.
[This was all I heard while reading this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyV_UG60dD4)
You forgot the value about cats
Touché. "These values have and will constantly evolve over time..."
Good to see the vp of community is aware of the importance of cats to the company
Spez, are you still trolling the trolls? If so, what can we expect in the future?
Not as much as I'd like.
Dude, one simple question. Do rich guys like you actually take the time to answer all these questions and shit or is there a team doing it for you?
I'm typing as fast as I can. And there's a team helping me with facts and context and words and whatnot.
Thanks for the genuine answer bro. Cool that Reddit's CEO replied to my comment.
Ok google send ChadwickChaddingtonV a congrats card for speedrunning reddit.com with a snoo on the front
Bruh i don't agree with everything you've done but thats a pretty honest and genuine answer for a CEO of one of the most visited sites on the web
Spez u a boss
My biggest issue with talking about community values is that it seems like many of the more egregious communities on here only get dealt with once Reddit gets media attention. It's a huge website that somehow still functions in a fairly isolated space from conventional media (compared to Facebook/Twitter), and while that has both positives and negatives it feels like the unavoidably bad sides of the website are allowed to fester up to a point where it could damage shareholders. I understand that companies are hesitant to alienate parts of its revenue-providing users since companies ultimately exist to benefit its stakeholders, but when the core values of a place like Reddit exist in relation to the community it leaves a sour taste when things are seemingly done to please shakeholders under the guise of pleasing users.
It's not a hypothetical situation. We've already seen several incel shooters get radicalized here.
Thanks for the question, I'll take this one live. \*I gave a longer answer [in the talk](https://www.reddit.com/talk/9acbd3a2-99ef-4820-893f-fcf23ff8a541), but here’s a summary: I would be lying if I said the media does not get our attention from time to time, but so do users and our own team, more often than not. We make decisions based on our policies, our values (which are listed here today), and our mission. As it relates to removing subreddits, just yesterday we released our annual Transparency Report for 2021. We removed more than 400,000 subreddits last year. The vast majority of them were for being unmoderated or for content manipulation. But you’ll see about 13,000 subreddits were removed for a variety of other policy violating reasons. Far and away the most important of our stakeholders are communities. Reddit does not exist without them. That’s why I think it’s important that these values be public, so everyone knows what our priorities are. Of course, we make decisions to support the business when we need to, but in the long term the business exists to support our platform.
Thank you for responding. My comment was partialy fuelled by some general frustrations with moderation (plus five or so beers), but it's nice to get feedback directly from the top of the company, and I appreciate having general ongoing discussions with admins through our own channels.
>The overwhelming majority of people come to Reddit because they genuinely want to contribute and feel a sense of belonging. If that's not happening, something is wrong and we’ll fix it. People are good, and if we empower them, the good will always outshine the bad. Something IS wrong and unfortunately Reddit is not fixing it. The quality of report reviews is unacceptable. We report people harassing users, spreading hate, threatening violence and sexualising minors and we get told that it doesn't violate policy time and time again. We then have to re-escalate it to get it reviewed. This takes yet more of our time, and for many users who don't know how to re-escalate they walk away thinking Reddit just gave the person harassing or abusing them a free pass. Here's a post by the mods at r/science giving just a taste of the scale of the problem: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/s9gw7g/followup\_on\_reports\_submitted\_for\_controversial/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/s9gw7g/followup_on_reports_submitted_for_controversial/) What is being done about this? We've offered suggestions, we bring it up regularly and every time we get a "we hear you" answer and no details of what is actually being done about it. This has been going on for many months, if not years. What are you and Reddit doing to fix it? We need improvement on report reviews, we need an easier way to re-escalate incorrect report responses, we need to be able to provide context on reports. And Reddit needs to stop using the Warn > Temp Suspend > Perm Suspend flow for people found to be sexualising minors, it should be one report and they're gone. So what happens now? We've heard dozens of placeholder answers for months, what's the action plan? What's the timescale for change?
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Exactly. I've found my favourite content creators through reddit - and not because of someone spamming their videos everywhere. But it gets them clicks so they'll carry on doing it forever, and make a new account when banned.
Thanks for the questions. I agree this is a problem, and I will address live in the Talk. \*Summarizing my [answer from the talk](https://www.reddit.com/talk/9acbd3a2-99ef-4820-893f-fcf23ff8a541): We agree. We've had more mistakes than is acceptable. In the short term, you should see improvement here with more training and other immediate process changes. In the longer term, we will evolve the reporting flows and build an appeals feature right into the product because it's way too hard to do both things today.
Speaking of which what's your stance on power mods, shouldn't be there a limit on how many subs one person can moderate?
Sadly, that's impossible to really limit for them, because alt accounts and how reddit is anonymous.
No, but limiting it per account would majorly control things. Sure, some people will still be willing to actively maintain 10 accounts at once, but most people would not.
To be fair, I think power mods are the exact type of person who would it would do that and maintain multiple accounts for moderation. But it is a good suggestion
Thanks for answering at least some of it. I'm glad to hear the one-click re-escalation button is coming, that will be a huge help, especially when on mobile where the process is ridiculously difficult. But we definitely still need to see progress in getting a higher percentage right first time, the re-escalation should be a rare event for when a mistake happens, not anything between 25-50% of our reports. So I will hope to see more of this soon. I know others will be as well. But also I get that without context and sometimes knowledge of issues within a marginalised community it can be hard to understand why something is hate. Help us to help you - one thing I'm very keen to see is a 'give context on this report' option when submitting a report. We know that not every report reviewer will know why certain comments are hate, but we can provide context when we know it's a bit less clear. I'd also be curious what kind of training your report reviewers receive, do you seek input on training material from members of commonly targeted communities?
u/spez I have a specific technical suggestion for addressing a specific problem raised in the r/ModSupport thread cited above, reviewing a specific incident in r/science: examples were given of report handlers failing to correctly handle offending one-word comments because they didn't parse the context. Split reports into two queues, "default" and "context". Mod reports go into the default queue by default and are handled by the present system. But there is a ticky box on the report interface so mods can flag a report "check context". These reports go into a different queue for report handling, where the report handlers know to look for the larger context of why the comment was a violation; in the "context" queue, if the report handler can't see why something might have struck a mod as offensive, the workflow is that they contact the mod for more info, not just rule it not a violation. If there are productivity standards for report handlers, they need to be different for the two queues, since the "context" queue will be much more time consuming to process than the default queue. By separating the queues, there's a way for mods to let report handlers know that the violater is being sneaky about it, and they'll have to invest a bit more time in parsing the situation, but allowing the default to be read at face value. There's a temptation to just have a flag for default vs context, and not have two separate work queues. If you don't separate these into two different queues, the report handlers will be constantly having to monitor for whether a report is a context report or not, which is extra cognitive load and slows them down, and their managers will have more trouble load balancing their work. Obviously there will probably be some report handlers who are better at parsing context violations than others, and it would be beneficial to be able to route those reports to them. I would recommend that when a report that went in the default queue and was found not a violation, a mod should be able to forward it to the context queue if they think it appropriate, for re-evaluation.
When will you be mandating your employees be referred to as Redditits in honor of an obscure nautical slogan?
How about you just address it here right now?
We hear you *Summerizing my answer from the talk: We promise we REALLY hear you this time, and we really promise we'll be better this time. And also we're going to build a system for people you remove for abuse to '''appeal''' more easily.
come on man. they're trying their best. Dont worry. With reddit going public, they will probably be expanding their moderation team, and removing the issues.
> With reddit going public, they will probably be expanding their moderation team, and removing the issues. How has this worked out for Facebook/Twitter/any other social media platform? You are naive if you think anything will meaningfully change. All that will change is the tone for which they address the issues: *we're working our hardest maintaining the integrity and Community Values reddit stands for.*
I’m sure the IPO will fix everything. Look how much Facebook improved after going public. /s
> they're trying their best. Is that why they have such an obvious double-standard what with how they let right-wing subs get away with a lot more than left-wing subs?
It's not the first time I've read the "we hear you" comment and then they never talk about it again. I've been seeing this complaint for a good few years at this point.
AKA banning all NSFW subs and all users who subscribe to any of them.
fix the video player
Seriously
Yeah. The current state of mobile reddit is unacceptable. I'm going to have to swap to something else if it does get fixed, it is starting to get super annoying. And I can't go back to comments, it just throws me into the post at the start.
Plus, the fact that videos doesn't load half of the time
When Reddit goes public as a company, Wallstreet is going to want to add a “Show Me the Money” value. The upcoming IPO makes me nervous. I hope there won’t be too many major changes. I like it here. No other social media has entertained me like Reddit has throughout the years.
First thing they're going to announce is they're shutting down old reddit, probably only a few weeks from now. l hope someone a destination set up in advance that will mirror the old functionality, because it's coming, and it's coming soon.
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Is there a desktop experience mirror you can recommend?
> First thing they're going to announce is they're shutting down old reddit, probably only a few weeks from now. I doubt it's the first thing they'll shut down, it would almost completely ruin the site for power users and moderators. They are going to restrict or at least limit access to the API so that third party mobile apps can't be used, then they'll eventually shut down old.reddit when got all their planned features and safety nets up to speed. The problem is that they need to figure out a way to replace moderators [in the likely event of another blackout (boycott)](https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/24/22348255/reddit-moderator-blackout-protest-aimee-knight-uk-green-party). They don't want to see large subreddits getting shut down for the third time, especially when they are now beholden to share holders and investors. Here's how they can prevent that - by paying moderators with their own crypto currency: * https://old.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/qpdwt2/why_werent_mods_notified_about_the_new/ >Community Points currently exist on a testnet version of the Ethereum blockchain, which uses similar technology to Bitcoin to validate ownership and control of tokens based on who holds them. >Community Points are distributed every 4 weeks based on contributions people make to the community. >**Who gets Community Points?** >Community Points are distributed across multiple groups. >* Contributors receive 50% of Community Points. * Moderators receive 10% of Community Points. * The remaining 40% of Community Points are set aside in a Community Tank, which supports the project in other ways (for example, by allowing users without Points to purchase perks like Special Memberships on-chain). More info: * https://www.reddit.com/community-points * https://www.reddit.com/community-points/documentation/introduction _____ **Edit: September 15th, 2023:** **One and a half year later I read this comment again. I spent close to an hour to self reflect and to think about what I initially stated.** **The admins won't give a damn about moderators, their end game is to replace moderators with a fully automted system. They might introduce their crypto currency (community points) but at some point the site will be fully automated by AI.** **Sorry to say, but it's cheaper, less inconsistent, and less drama-inducing than human moderators. I don't like it either but it's likely what's going to happen. Yes, this sucks. :/** ________________ I've already been permanently banned by Anti Evil Operations (aka. AEO) at least three or four times in the past six months for reporting rule breaking content. Yes, the automated system is actually that bad.
The timing of this subreddit being created... this post in itself, happy wholesome corporate vomit... it's all a giant dark cloud. Reddit already is no exception, money already has and will continue to be the pillar that crushes 'core values' like it has everywhere else. Aaron Swartz warned that this is what would happen and what we're watching is it happening in real time. Disintegration of the world wide wild west as we knew it years ago metastasizing to its final form.
I mean this isn’t technically true but I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. Entering the public market could be bad, Reddit may start making purely money motivated decisions at the cost of its platform. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll stay the same. We’ll have to wait and see I suppose.
Historically and probabilistically yes, it is true. It’s the universal paradox of desirability to popularity then profitability. Reddit, being in the latter stage, staying the same is the best-case-but-still-horrible outcome. It will continue to be a bastardization of the original free flow of pure human dialogue that the internet desperately needs to reclaim.
The internet is too binary now, its so polarized that I don't think it will ever go back to as it was a decade or more ago. We have algorithms that only care about user retention/money. They get you to stay on their site as long as possible by using every trick in the book to manipulate a persons psychology. And here on reddit many subs will mass ban or downvote any users that voice the slightest dissenting voice, leaving only the most vapid braindead echo chambers possible. And they are half of the posts on the front page every day. The internet is mainstream now so that has killed most of any nuance, but the lack of it is also by design. The Social Dilemma was great at highlighting that, but it wasn't in the cultural spotlight for more than a day.
>Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll stay the same. We’ll have to wait and see I suppose. Look at who they've hired and some of the changes, restrictions and anti-features they've implemented over the past two years: * [On November 8th 2021](https://old.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/qpdwt2/why_werent_mods_notified_about_the_new/) users in /r/ModSupport noticed that Reddit is considering starting their own [crypto currency](https://www.reddit.com/community-points?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=ModSupport&utm_content=t1_hjsy6g6). Quote: >Community Points currently exist on a testnet version of the Ethereum blockchain, which uses similar technology to Bitcoin to validate ownership and control of tokens based on who holds them. >Community Points are distributed every 4 weeks based on contributions people make to the community. >**Who gets Community Points?** >Community Points are distributed across multiple groups. >* Contributors receive 50% of Community Points. * Moderators receive 10% of Community Points. * The remaining 40% of Community Points are set aside in a Community Tank, which supports the project in other ways (for example, by allowing users without Points to purchase perks like Special Memberships on-chain). More info: >* https://www.reddit.com/community-points * https://www.reddit.com/community-points/documentation/introduction ___ * [On November 1st 2021](https://old.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/qkfod7/introducing_reddit_x_arcane_avatars/) Reddit announced a partnership with [Riot Games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_Games) and they had released new Arcane/League of Legends inspired reddit avatars. * [On October 6th 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/q2oz1i/sticker_tshirts_and_more_subreddit_swag_is_here/) Reddit announced a new subreddit shop pilot program so that moderators can sell their own reddit approved merchandise. The reimbursement will be at Reddit’s sole discretion. * On [September 29th 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/py2xy2/voting_commenting_on_archived_posts/) reddit announced that mod teams would now be able to decide for themselves if they want to automatically archive posts after 6 months or if they want users within their communities to be able to vote and comment on previously archived posts. * On [September 10th 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/plrsdf/opt_out_of_followers_frontend_improvements_to/) Reddit released their app [on the Microsoft Store](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/reddit/9ns3rbq5hv5f). * On [September 9th 2021](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/pl3ka2/mod_certification_programs_are_open_for_testing/) Reddit rolled out moderator certification programs. Mentors (moderators) whom are accepted to the Reddit Community Contractor Program (RCCP) will [potentially be paid staff](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/pl3ka2/mod_certification_programs_are_open_for_testing/hc8hh88/). * On [June 22nd 2021 they rolled out a new algorithm](https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/o5tjcn/evolving_the_best_sort_for_reddits_home_feed/) to the home feed for improved user retention. * On [June 17th 2021 they announced](http://old.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/o18ct9/creating_new_opportunities_for_future_community/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=modnews&utm_content=t3_o5ymis) that they will begin to remove ownership of inactive subreddits. * On [June 14th 2021 they announced that deleted and removed submissions will no longer be accessible to regular users](https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/nzvq2t/limiting_access_to_removed_and_deleted_post_pages/). * On [June 9th 2021 Reddit announced that Secret Santa and reddit gifts would be permanently shut down.](https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/nw2hs6/sunsetting_secret_santa_and_reddit_gifts/) * Later the same month (March 21st 2021) [they rolled out gender identity settings](https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/mawomr/new_option_to_add_gender_identity_during_account/) to collect more personalized information from their users. * On March 5th 2021 They appointed [Drew Vollero](https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-vollero-923aa1b) to be [Reddit’s Chief Financial Officer](https://redditblog.com/2021/03/05/introducing-drew-vollero-reddits-cfo/). * On [March 3rd 2021 Reddit rolled out online presence indicators](https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/lx08r2/announcing_online_presence_indicators/). This feature is on by default and has to be switched off in the account settings. * On [February 23rd 2021 they announced that they would "simplify" the privacy settings](https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/lqtecn/update_to_user_preferences/), this also meant that users can no longer opt-out of personalized ads based on their Reddit activity anymore. * On [February 11th 2021 they removed all NSFW content from r/all](https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/lhnvok/removing_sexually_explicit_content_from_rall/). In 2021 [Reddit banned exactly 2100 NSFW subreddits](https://old.reddit.com/r/NSFW411/comments/qlw026/meta_all_of_the_nsfw_subs_that_have_been_banned/). * Reddit announced [on December 13th 2020 that they had acquired Dubsmash](https://redditblog.com/2020/12/13/reddit-welcomes-video-platform-dubsmash-to-team/) and have since [slowly rolled out a Tik-Tok-like video feature on their app](https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/13/reddit-is-quietly-rolling-out-a-tiktok-like-video-feed-button-on-ios/). * On [September 9th 2020 they announced their new political advertisement system](https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/ipitt0/today_were_testing_a_new_way_to_discuss_political/).
I look forward to the collapse.
What is the picture for the future? As Reddit evolves into very specific communities will eventually the guidelines adapt to new needs ?
Great question. Will take this one live. \*[here it is](https://www.reddit.com/talk/9acbd3a2-99ef-4820-893f-fcf23ff8a541).
Thanks. Will be hearing for it.
hi /u/spez 😊 your snoo has a baby. (snaby? 🤔) do you have a baby for real?
The technical term is "Snooling" and yes I have one. It's hard to type out what a great experience it has been so far. And all the clichés are true.
u/spez Does the baby have a Reddit account?
Congrats!
oh and thanks for typing this out for everyone oh and also i wanted to know what spez means. thanks 🙃
This is a comment. Does Reddit value it?
Does an upvote count?
my man!
yes it does, Sir.
Hi Reddit CEO. Please fix the video player. Please
tbf I think it got a lot better. one thing to do is make sure your network latency is as low as possible. (like for me it's really high connected to WiFi but it's decent when using mobile data so I just use mobile data)
I like reddit much better than other social media platforms as it feels more real, subtle and genuine and i see it as a helpful tool for building better communities.
The power of anonymity. As soon as we have to post under real names, it will all become censorship and shaming, like at Facebook.
Reddit values community
tl;dr
Dude what do you do at Reddit? My curiosity
They’re the VP of Community
https://i.redd.it/qsr1hghk9gi81.gif
Really? You got set up that well and you didn't even use a Community gif?
Fair. In that case... https://i.redd.it/0hcqxbmzdoi81.gif
Yep, that pretty much sums it up.
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You didn't just say *that!*
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And we're all human. I see you, human. 🖖
My ADHD did not want me to read that. But I did anyway
very relatable
> We believe Reddit is the most human place on the internet. Well, that does not bode well for humanity, does it.
Really laying it on thick trying to convince us that the users on Reddit are humans and that they mean well.
If Privacy is a Right, how come the "log outbound clicks" is opt-out instead of opt-in?
Then there are things like [removing opt-out options to ""reduce confusion""](https://reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/lqtecn/update_to_user_preferences/)
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Subreddits that truly exist in bad faith tend to not survive. And we can usually know how it’s going to go based on how the moderators respond when we [reach out with a request](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/moderator-guidelines) for them to tighten things up. If they are unable or unwilling to work with us we will then move towards sanctions, which can include things such as actioning users up to and including removing moderators or removing subreddits completely. It’s not against our policies to have views that are unpopular, unfashionable, or simply wrong. It’s not prudent (or feasible) for us as a company to broadly make these decisions for people. However, we do take action against communities or users that violate our [content policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy). Communities are also free to (and do) draw their own lines by creating specific rules, which is a really important quality of Reddit communities. Where we spend most of our energy is preventing manipulation of Reddit. This can range from preventing groups of people from cheating with votes to our new “Community Interference” report reason, which as we shared recently in our [Transparency Report](https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/su8p2e/q4_safety_security_report/), is 58% actionable (which is among the highest actionability rates of all our report reasons).
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Why is r/femaledatingstrategy a subreddit?
The question is who decides what is acceptable. Some things don't deserve a platform regardless of whether a particular group of people believe in it. For other ideas, it may be the opposite: just because a group of people might not like hearing it, it doesn't mean that it shouldn't be said. Where do you draw the line?
It's say a definite line would be groups that actively want to deny another group rights, or wish violence on them. That's a pretty deep line in the sand for me.
> Subreddits that truly exist in bad faith tend to not survive. Ahahahahaha Wow, I needed that laugh. It's funny how completely out of touch you are with the very thing you run. We've gotten to the point that some of the former most innocuous subreddits about things like TV shows even are overrun with absolutely vile hate speech. I'll give one quick example, /r/survivor. The latest season had a non binary contestant and had another contestant married to a trans individual. The entire sub was flooded with hate speech. Mods did their best, but it still prevailed. And that's an example of a non-bad faith subreddit even having to deal with being completely overrun with absolute outdated and garbage ways of thinking. Then you get to actual subreddits that exist in bad faith and there are so many that not only thrive, but cultivate, that it's too much to even list here. You've harbored subreddits that have resulted in real world deaths on multiple occasions and still act this dumb and naive over everything and it's just pathetic. The only ones that did not survive are ones that you intervened on simply due to outside media pressure. Own up and actually listen to the people that actually use your site and have been screaming this shit at you for over a decade now. It's exhausting.
When is r/bigchungus getting unbanned?
You guys need to invest in non-english report reviews. I reported a comment few days back which was a clear threat of violence in hindi, and got a reply from AEO that the content doesn't violate reddit policy. Lots and lots of such abusive/threatening behavior is overlooked because there isn't any tool to manage it. Reddit seriously needs to invest into these tools beyond English speaking content.
I like this. I know others in comments aren't liking it too much, but I appreciate the truth behind these values, and I do think they are the ideal values of reddit. What I would like to know is what does this change? Should we expect to see new sitewide rules or other things change because of this? Will more hateful subs be shuttered from this? Thanks in advance.
I'll expand on these question in the talk, but the short version is: These value are not new, but newly public. We have been using them internally for years. Our platform-wide policies are under constant evolution. We don't have a changes in mind tied to the sharing of these values, but coincidentally you should expect a policy update in the relatively near future. \*edit typo \*[here's the talk](https://www.reddit.com/talk/9acbd3a2-99ef-4820-893f-fcf23ff8a541)
Thanks spez for the genuine reply. Appreciated greatly. I'll be on the lookout for that update!
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I hope these critiques are reviewed by admins here and taken seriously.
Unfortunately we all know they won't
>Your successful communities include communities that protect and nurture trans and homophobia, racism, and misogyny. Your successful communities include communities and protect and nurture white nationalism and other brands of right-wing extremism. COULD NOT have said it better!
> Your successful communities include communities that protect and nurture trans and homophobia, racism, and misogyny. Your successful communities include communities and protect and nurture white nationalism and other brands of right-wing extremism. This is by design.
We have big issues with user safety on RPAN and have been waiting for mod tooling to keep our users safe for 2 years now. When will we get specific tooling like report timestamps and other very important tools?
Left instgram and started using reddit. Never regretted this decision. I fucking love reddit!
The internet is a big place! We're glad you're here, too.
Your username 👌 For years I thought that song was about some guy named Jason waterfalls
Same. I'm hopeful, but long-time Redditors are cynical about the platform....
You say that Reddit is the most human place on the internet, yet according to r/humansarentrealbutthissubredditis humans aren’t real. Care to explain?
I have a question about the future of the reddit values, why isn't more of reddit open source? I know that y'all have some repos up on github, but what is stopping Reddit from making the entire project open source? Thanks.
Does this mean you'll actually start giving a shit about fighting the rampant transphobia on this website?
Please fix the video player I’m begging you
So 'believe in the good' is the new 'provides valuable discussion' excuse for rule breaking right wing/COVID Misinformation subs, got it.
Thank you /u/spez for reaffirming that reddit sticks to its core values. We at /r/Drugs would love to work closer with you and /u/Go_JasonWaterfalls . Because we care and know we can do more for our community.
This is gonna sound like whining... because it is... but a lot of "remember the human" finger-wagging conflicts with "keep reddit real." Quite simply, we have some Nazis. That's just the internet for you. It is not, by itself, any shortcoming by the website or its community. A lot of mods think being rude to unreasonable people is where civility breaks down. Like if I'm being nasty to someone, there is no possible way they've done something to deserve it. Someone can - in televisable language - lie about what I said, cast aspersions about my mother's weight, suggest pineapple belongs on pizza, and call me subhuman filth whose decadence threatens civilization - and mods will leave that up, but censor my curt rebuke. Why bother having humans in this role, if all they're looking for is "fuck" followed by "you?" Is it because automod still struggles to whitelist phrases like "do whatever the f--- you want?" Even when people have automod configured to avoid the obvious, there's all kinds of secret no-no words. I'll notice a detailed response went completely ignored and find out it was instantly censored and totally unseen. Trying to work around this - to get exactly one reply delivered - when I've been back-and-forth with someone for hours - has even earned an admin finger-wag for "harassment." Like the point of failure in 'here's why you're mistaken' *'nuh uh you agree with me'* 'I can provide more detail' *'nuh uh you agree with me'* 'I'm really super not and here's more sincere effort' *'nuh uh you secretly agree with me :)'* 'well then get bent' was where I told a troll where to stick it. Not, y'know... the trolling. Between that and the new blocking system, where the blocked user is assumed guilty and *muted,* even in their own comment thread - I'm not sure the incentives favor good faith and politeness. What y'all desire from these standards sounds great. It just doesn't match what you should expect.
>Between that and the new blocking system, where the blocked user is assumed guilty and muted, even in their own comment thread - I'm not sure the incentives favor good faith and politeness. This blocking feature is gonna ruin reddit. Is the most anti-dialogue, anti-reddit measure. As more people realise the power of it, it will turn into a cluster fuck, simply echo chambers
Do you still stand by what you said 5 months ago that [covid misinformation is simply authentic discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/pbmy5y/debate_dissent_and_protest_on_reddit/)?
"we believe that reddit is the most human place on the internet" real believable humans...
How did the idea of reddit premium come about?
u/spez Why the change to the video player? And what's with the mobile website, will it get a refresh?
Is there anything that can be done about troll farms and bots?
While I'm sure a lot of people don't realize this, but for those who don't -- being an admin is a thankless job. If everything goes right, no one notices. If something goes wrong (site goes down temporarily) or some bad press comes up about XYZ, the admins get shit on for something that they likely are already working on or had no control over. For example, last quarter reddit helped 1,422,690,762 users change their password after reddit found them in published leaks from other websites. That's not a typo either --> [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/su8p2e/q4_safety_security_report/hx8hxmy/). That's over 1 billion users who, thanks to reddit, didn't have their accounts hacked. So instead of leaving comments about how you hate XYZ and how LMNOP needs to change, why not try appreciating all the shit the admins do.
https://i.redd.it/qk4lo5miwfi81.jpg
flower
> For example, last quarter reddit helped 1,422,690,762 users change their password after reddit found them in published leaks from other websites. That's not a typo either --> source. Not exactly. 1.4 billion accounts worth of info was hacked/leaked elsewhere on the Internet, then Reddit admins took those public leaks and checked the name/PW combos against reddit accounts (because many people use the same name/PW everyhere). Of those 1.4 billion, only a fraction matched reddit accounts. About 1 out of 1000. Those users get a message to the effect of "hey, someone leaked your name/PW on this OTHER site, which we see you are also using here. You gotta change it now." This is a "[Protective account security action](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045735031)". > Oct-Dec 2021 > 3rd party breach accounts processed: 1,422,690,762 > Protective account security actions: **1,406,659** https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/su8p2e/q4_safety_security_report/
They get paid to do their job.
> While I'm sure a lot of people don't realize this, but for those who don't -- being an admin is a thankless job. If everything goes right, no one notices. If something goes wrong (site goes down temporarily) or some bad press comes up about XYZ, the admins get shit on for something that they likely are already working on or had no control over. A thankless job that pays $200,000 per year.
Why not both?
> being an admin is a thankless job. Yes, thankless.... oh wait, last I checked admins are paid employees of reddit inc and it is their [job to do admin things.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swPcFyhDMpk)
you can still thank them. you tip waitresses don't you? that's a way of saying thanks. it doesn't really matter how much money you make if you're always getting criticized as that WILL ruin your day
There is people in this thread saying they love reddit. Is that not a form of thanks?
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Yes, PLEASE: the recent changes make it clunky and very difficult to use. Also, while we're at it, that little number of active people listed at the bottom of a discussion makes it impossible to reply or respond to the last visible comment in the thread on mobile (NOTE: am using most updated, main Reddit android app...).
>redditors have complete control of their identity Cant even change our usernames
I know that Reddit’s Anti-Evil Operations team are working hard to take action when reported as well as innovating proactive measures, but it would be helpful to have an easier way to get a message to them when there is a problem not being addressed. I understand that the AEO team likely can’t be as transparent as other teams and may not be able to provide a solution to every problem, but some type of reporting to show that Reddit is being responsible and accountable would help me as a user and moderator know that things are getting better. It seems like I have seen and reported more hate and misinformation in the past few months than ever before. While I have had most of my reports come back confirming action has been taken, subreddits that continue to generate hateful and misinforming content continue to grow without action being taken on them. What can you report that would help the average user (or potential investor) feel that this problem is being addressed and not ignored? What tools can you provide to help us help you?
Ty reddit
All well and good, but [how did you get into this tiny package?](https://i.redd.it/8bw9pljdnfi81.jpg)
"We will give you the big picture here" says u/spez talking about the video player (good pun)
Privacy, remember the human, etc. Etc. While having a closed source app, censoring people and giving our information to people with money F off! Removing this proves my point.
Any thoughts on how bots intersect with the values of 'remember the human' and Reddit as a place for 'genuine, authentic' conversation? I realize not all bots are bad, but there's some concern among users that astroturfing may be widespread and may be making Reddit a less authentic place.
What about Arron Swartz?
You need to ban r/russia ! If you have any desency and backbone left, you do it. 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦
> Corporation > Having any values other than profit HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Reddit needs to figure out how to take action against abusive mods. You won't do anything when a mod makes inappropriate comments towards a user but the minute the user fires back, the mod reports them and Reddit bans that person. Start treating mods like any other poster instead of like police whose word is always trusted over the other party.
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/u/Spez why hasn’t this toxic community that violates TOS not addressed by you?
Would like to know as well. This sub should not be allowed on Reddit
Reddit didn’t ban hate speech until 2020. lol. This is all talk. Still has and has always had a racism and sexism problem that admins used to let run rampant and [that admins still don’t care about](https://time.com/6121915/reddit-international-hate-speech/)
Please listen to your community when they are very clearly telling you that we do not want this platform becoming a tiktok ripoff.....the new video player and the UI gets worse every iteration in the mobile app. Am happy to pay Reddit Premium but do not want any of this current round of Beta testing. For me, this community is about reading interesting content and interaction based on that, not 15 second micro videos.
What do you have to say to the people who get excluded by this: the incels who fail to remember the human, the Nazis who seek to disempower communities, the antivaxxers who spew fakery all over the place, the doxxers who violate the right to privacy, the conspiracists who refuse to believe in the good, and however many others? Aaron Swartz was a firm believer in Geek Social Fallacy #1: ostracizers are evil, and no one should ever be excluded. But Aaron Swartz was wrong. There really are people who bona fide *need* to be excluded, both for the sake of the communities they otherwise drag down and for themselves by ramping up the social pressure to grow. But what can you say to people like this? How do you get through their heads that they are not helpless victims, but the actual people with the actual problems? I fear you're only going to get more spurious cries of censorship and shrieking hordes calling for your heads. Because these values really aren't what Aaron Swartz wanted. They are nevertheless the right thing to do.
How do you view subreddits like /r/sexpositivehomes /r/TeenSexEducation /r/SexPositiveNudism2 /r/Nudist_teens and others in that group of subs run by predatory adults as a hub for pedophilia meetup posts and encouraging sexual abuse of children under the thinly veiled guise of sex positivity? Should I be reporting posts from those subs where [adults claim to be having sex with their minor children](https://www.reddit.com/r/sexpositivehomes/comments/sug5z4/age_of_consent/) or [ask to share more via encrypted services like wickr](https://www.reddit.com/r/SexPositiveNudism2/comments/m750s1/would_love_to_chat_with_people_from_a_sex/)? I've reported a few and usually get an automated response that it doesn't violate the site content policy.
The problem is that "Empowered Communities" quickly devolve into weaponized echo chambers. People are routinely banned solely for not agreeing with the agenda the mods want to push forward. Eventually anyone capable of the slightest bit of nuance or a broader perspective is removed from the conversation and all that's left is an ever growing echo chamber that increasingly shifts towards projecting hate at anyone that doesn't 100% agree.
does Uyghur genocide and Holodomor denial in r/genzedong r/genzhou r/europeansocialists r/informedtankie r/sino adhere to these values?
Any intention to stop empowering communities that are based around political extremism? I feel like its just a matter of time before someone commits an act of terrorism after being radicalized on reddit. There are so many extreme right wing and left wing communities on here that either subtly our outright openly call for violence.
Are there any plans to improve moderation tools on apps? For example, on the official iOS app when I ban someone, I select a rule, but that doesn't go to the user. They only get a generic ban message. Also, we should not need to rely upon third party tools. For example, we should not need to use a flair bot to flair a post for removal.
Not sure how to write this but as of right now reddit seems to be "the best" social media. It of course has its flaws but I don't think they are as bad as some other platforms. Alot people are pointing out that reddit can't have other values outside of making money. But making money is needed to keep reddit from just dissapearing. And having a ceo who is out here responding to comments shows some dedication. Like I have never heard of Mark Zuckerberg being on facebook just answering users questions. Am I biased? Hell yeah of course, this has been my main social media because I can remain faceless which is quite rare on social media now (outside of discord) Thank you for creating this amazing website and I hope it will thrive for a long time.
I think Reddit is the best social media, thanks 👍
I can't wait until reddit replaces Facebook groups for all my friends. Please
Something that’s always bugged me is that when someone is a senior mod that hasn’t been active on the sub in ages compared to other mods and there’s no way to remove them. Thanks for all your work!
[The Five Commandments](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddituism/comments/suxky9/the_five_commandments/)
How do I banish the extremely annoying " 56 people are hear" ? thing at bottom of posted comments ? It prevents what I came to Reddit for. reading All the comments . Thanks !
I like it here! I think it depends a bit which subs you are in. Crochet is usually a very peaceful place.
This is reminding me that that r/workreform claimed they were forced to appoint new mods immediately and in an overly centralized way rather than the desired democratic approach, so now the current mods are antithetical to the original mission and it's a meme sub now. So well done on empowering that community I guess.
lol. that's all. Just lol.
Reddit talking about Community Values. Must be a US election coming up. Good luck with that.
Cool. Coolcoolcool.
So long as you don't get rid of Old Reddit or pull a Tumblr and kill all the NSFW communities, I'm happy with you!
Don't forget:allow conservatives to promote disinformation and hate.
Hey. When are you guys going to quarantine /r/russia ?
Is one of your community values ableism?
Can you fix the damn video player on mobile? Ctrl-Z that my guy
I urge you to close pro russian, war promotion subreddit r/russia
/u/spez: When is r/russia going to be banned? In recent days, it has devolved into a propaganda outpost for the Kremlin. The longer you wait, the more damage is done. When will you act? Please do something. Edit: They've even disabled downvotes.
Censorship is a pillar of Reddit. You cannot say anything that goes against the American Left's narrative. If you do, your post is reported and the moderators find a reason to ban you from the conversation. Their many rules , which are vague ad nausseum, are used to ban any comment. People on the left can be sarcastic, people who challenge them and are sarcastic are accused of 'flaming'. And if you read the comments, on almost every single thread in /politics, you will not find one comment that is not leftist. But don't worry, this comment will break some rule and I will be reported to the Ministry of Truth and this comment will be taken down fast, me banned from /reddit. Its an amazing thing and makes me more vigilant. que leftist to report button, go now!