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[–]atomheartother 151 ポイント152 ポイント

Something's bugging me. You guys - /u/TheSkyNet and /u/Doctor_McKay - keep saying "We don't want /r/technology to become like /r/politics" or "/r/news", and that's perfectly commendable of you.

But when you say that, you mean it in the sense, "We don't want to have everything, related or not, on our subreddit", and "We don't want to have people fighting over everything all the time".

Wait a second, that's not at all how people are comparing /r/technology to /r/news and /r/politics. Right now /r/technology is being just as bad as /r/news and /r/politics in the sense that it seems to censor very specific topics and then justify that with "Oh, it's not relevant to this subreddit", however relevant it seems to be to every single other person who saw this post before you.

If you "don't want /r/technology to become like /r/politics" there seriously needs to be the question of just how transparent moderation is and how much of it is due to lack of mods (Which everyone understands) and how much is due to some people in the /r/technology staff having, if not an agenda, at least opinions that heavily influence how they interpret the rules.

[–]CognitiveJots 55 ポイント56 ポイント

surprise surprise /u/TheSkyNet didn't respond

[–]nallalalla 5 ポイント6 ポイント

I find it funnier that Doctor_McKay responded in exactly the obtuse manner that the comment is pointing out about his other responses.

[–]Doctor_McKay 32 ポイント33 ポイント

Hopefully, provided there is no more pushback from the higher mods, we'll be able to revise our policies and then I'd like to post a "State of the Subreddit" modpost.

[–]atomheartother 14 ポイント15 ポイント

Thanks for the answer. Was I dreaming when I saw you were a /r/technology mod when this AmA started and now you're not? I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it.

Edit: Woops, it's back. I guess some drama is happening behind the scenes, all good.

[–]Bouzique 16 ポイント17 ポイント

Well at least /u/TheSkyNet and /u/Doctor_McKay are answering a lot of questions here. This kind of transparency should have been more obvious on the subreddit, including the lack of mods. What matters now is removing obstructing mods and engage a debate about moderation on /r/technology so that the rules in the future will be clear and there won't be another drama.

[–]SamSlate 3 ポイント4 ポイント

upvote to get the word out -anything else posted on /r/technology from this sub will end up right back here.

[–]astarkey12 7 ポイント8 ポイント

Yea, look at their moderator page. Most of them have been re-added in the last few hours.

[–][deleted]

[deleted]

    [–]temporaryaccount1999 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    There is no filtering for those topics in /r/politics

    Yet, weird things do come up for /r/politics (just not as frequently as /r/worldnews).

    Such as the very recent Princeton study that happened to conclude that the US could be classified as an oligarchy. One such post on /r/politics hit frontpage (at +2239), and was also removed.

    There easy to find thanks to /r/undelete and /r/longtail

    [–]Peglius 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    ...staff having, if not an agenda, at least opinions that heavily influence how they interpret the rules.

    Truth

    [–]brocket66 57 ポイント58 ポイント

    What angers me the absolute most is the way some mods have filtered entire topics from discussion. We're not allowed to talk about net neutrality, we're not allowed to talk about the Comcast-TWC merger, and for a while it seemed like there was a filter on Tesla until a huge uproar caused a reversal. What the hell justifies the need for such heavy-handed tactics when it's incredibly clear that many community members consider such topics to be worthy of discussion and relevant to technology?

    [–]salaciaboat 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    Can we talk about the Real Issue. Previous administration Politicians are invading Silicon Valley.

    [–]urban_hermit 224 ポイント225 ポイント

    I'm of the mind that simply making /r/undelete a default sub might alleviate some of the problems mods in other subs have about deleting posts that have already made it to the front page. Thoughts?

    I'm not affiliated with the administration of /r/undelete in any way.

    EDIT: How can we go about getting the reddit admins to do this?

    EDIT2: Ayo! Thanks for the gold!

    [–]IAmAnAnonymousCoward[M] 69 ポイント70 ポイント

    I'm of the mind that simply making /r/undelete a default sub might alleviate some of the problems mods in other subs have about deleting posts that have already made it to the front page. Thoughts?

    I like the idea of having a place for popular posts that don't in fit any of the default subreddits very much. Does anyone remember /r/reddit.com? (Pepperidge Farm remembers.) I still believe that the best solution would be to get rid of default subreddits and make /r/all the default frontpage though.

    [–]FactNazi 45 ポイント46 ポイント

    get rid of default subreddits and make /r/all the default frontpage though.

    Serious question, have you browsed /r/all recently? Without the default ranking algorithm, /r/all just displays the highest voted submissions with no filter. Instead of spreading out exposure, it concentrates it into the largest of the defaults. Right now, more than half of the top 50 submissions on /r/all are either from /r/Funny, /r/Pics, or /r/AdviceAnimals.

    That's objectively making the front page worse. /r/All is essentially an image board now. If I wanted 4chan, I would go to 4chan.

    [–]TheRedditPope 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    These types of comments never get the exposure they need while everyone is all pumped about some magic bullet idea the logistics get completely swept under the rug.

    [–]temporaryaccount1999 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    That's probably because we need a formal discussion on how to improve reddit.

    Not one where people pull out ad hominems (on both sides). I see so many comments simply dismiss the entire issue with fake rules, 'it's right because it is,' 'start your own subreddit', and that people who bring up the problem at all are jumping to conclusions/conspiracy theorists. Another part of the problem is that these stories and events are very frustrating and do destroy trust, making it harder for certain people to effectively argue their views (which I trust is where you're coming from).

    My point is that only serious discussion can help us sort through "magic bullet ideas," with arguments, counter-arguments, and counter-counter-arguments...not sporadic comments that we may or may not agree with.

    [–]Uphoria 8 ポイント9 ポイント

    /r/all sans NSFW unless turned on IMO

    [–]Maddwithherbox 9 ポイント10 ポイント

    unless turned on

    that would be awesome but I don't know how they'd be able to tell ;D

    [–]IAmAnAnonymousCoward 4 ポイント5 ポイント

    /r/all sans NSFW unless turned on IMO

    That's how it works right now already.

    [–]GodOfAtheism 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    Does anyone remember /r/reddit.com? (Pepperidge Farm remembers.)

    Well, /r/misc was started as a replacement, as was /r/redditdotcom, but neither has caught on as a all-purpose sub.

    [–]TheSkyNet[S] 43 ポイント44 ポイント

    i like that idea.

    [–]conzorz 4 ポイント5 ポイント

    Enough to implement it? However that is done.

    [–]urban_hermit 5 ポイント6 ポイント

    Enough to upvote it? :)

    [–]Stoet 4 ポイント5 ポイント

    This happens more often in /r/longtail, but a possible problem would be GW posts that OP deletes (for whatever legitimate reason).

    [–]IAmAnAnonymousCoward[M] 16 ポイント17 ポイント

    This happens more often in /r/longtail, but a possible problem would be GW posts that OP deletes (for whatever legitimate reason).

    Nope, the bot ignores removals by users.

    [–]Stoet 4 ポイント5 ポイント

    Cool, well done. How about if personal information is visible and a witch hunt on the way? I've seen a few of those here I think.

    [–]IAmAnAnonymousCoward[M] 7 ポイント8 ポイント

    Personal information is being manually removed asap.

    Should you ever see a post that needs to be removed, report it and message the mods.

    [–]m0nk_3y_gw 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    GW mods also delete fakes, troll posts, posts by jealous ex-BFs, etc.

    [–]IAmAnAnonymousCoward[M] 5 ポイント6 ポイント

    Sure, but fakes and troll posts for example aren't a problem here.

    Revenge porn is obviously removed here as well.

    [–]urban_hermit 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    Is that a worse problem than mods deleting posts off the front page of default subreddits?

    [–]Stoet 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    no, but a problem still. We also see a few post every now and then on /r/undelete that are deleted because personal information is visible and a witch hunt on the way.

    [–]Stoet 91 ポイント92 ポイント

    I unsubscribed from your subreddit because of the awful moderation (with or without an open agenda), but what hinders other subreddits like /r/technews etc from growing large and being filled with interesting content is that your subreddit is a default one. What are the chances of removing /r/technology from the default ones?

    Edit: it seems like /r/technology was removed as a default!

    [–]Stoet 76 ポイント77 ポイント

    reading /r/technology is a bit like reading news through a FOX / CNN / Russia Today filter. I feel dirty by doing it. However, I just realised I can get most of the censored posts through /r/undelete. Thanks /r/undelete!

    It's a shame most of the censoring is effective though, and some news won't reach the masses for whatever reason. Electric cars, Kickstarters, cryptocurrency and net neutrality is exactly the sort of stuff I would expect on a technology related news site. But not on /r/technology

    [–]kattoo_new 4 ポイント5 ポイント

    Subscribe to /r/longtail , subreddit created by the same people - it tracks a truckload of more posts, you won't regret it.

    [–]TheSkyNet[S] 39 ポイント40 ポイント

    right now, big.

    [–]Stoet 34 ポイント35 ポイント

    How can I increase them?

    [–]Doctor_McKay 11 ポイント12 ポイント

    Removing /r/technology from the defaults would not be the best course of action. It really wouldn't accomplish anything, there's no other tech subreddits that are big enough to take over the position.

    It would be better to work to get the mods that are holding back progress removed.

    [–][deleted] 29 ポイント30 ポイント

    It really wouldn't accomplish anything

    It would allow the sub to talk about tech related things again.

    I mean not being able to talk about bitcoins because it offends someone is pretty silly.

    [–]PeteRusso 16 ポイント17 ポイント

    It would allow the sub to talk about tech related things again.

    Not really. Not if the mods continue to remove anything without discourse.

    [–]Stoet 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    well, you'd have to pick a tech subreddit without corrupt mods. I mean, yes, it sounds hard, but a subreddit that exists only because /r/technology is horribly censored is bound to have moderators that doesn't support censorship

    [–]Doctor_McKay 8 ポイント9 ポイント

    That's not why Bitcoin articles are usually removed. They usually don't have anything to do with tech.

    I used to feel the same as you. It's not fair that Bitcoin articles are just removed. Ironically, my first action was to remove an article about Mt.Gox because it didn't relate to any technology.

    Articles about Bitcoin exchanges or Bitcoin politics don't belong. Wouldn't you think that an article about some smartphone retailer would be inappropriate? Why is an article about a Bitcoin company any better?

    [–][deleted] 15 ポイント16 ポイント

    Wouldn't you think that an article about some smartphone retailer would be inappropriate?

    I heard there was drama earlier when the /r/technology mods were removing anything to do with the Amazon phone.

    That stuff does belong on the sub.

    [–]Bouzique 12 ポイント13 ポイント

    But aren't crypto-currencies a new technology? Technology is the application of science to industrial uses. I understand you don't want to be flooded with bitcoin/whatevercoin related articles, especially since there are subreddits dedicated to them. But deciding on your own what is and is not technology is very restrictive I think.

    [–]Doctor_McKay 7 ポイント8 ポイント

    Cryptocurrencies are definitely technology and I find them very fascinating. The fact of the matter is, just because something is affiliated with a cryptocurrency doesn't mean it's tech news.

    A company doing something with Bitcoin is not tech news, it's Bitcoin news and it belongs in its appropriate subreddit.

    [–]Bouzique 7 ポイント8 ポイント

    If I understand you correctly, posts or links about bitcoin itself would be allowed, but not links to the surrounding bitcoin industry? Why then enfore a blanket ban with bitcoin as a banned word?

    Also, why then are submissions about 'Google fiber is coming to XX city' allowed? (example today, Kansas City). If I follow your reasoning submissions about Google fiber in general should be ok, but not every news about its deployment.

    [–]jkfgrynyymuliyp 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    But reddit isn't segregated by topic. There is overlap.

    [–]Iohet 3 ポイント4 ポイント

    Sure it is. If Cisco files for bankruptcy, that is definitely "Tech News" even though the details of the article aren't explicitly technical

    [–]fight_for_anything 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    Wouldn't you think that an article about some smartphone retailer would be inappropriate?

    No. And I dont need or want a moderator to tell me how I should answer that. This is something up votes and down votes should decide.

    [–]OnlyHeStandsThere 7 ポイント8 ポイント

    So? /r/atheism was removed from the defaults and no atheistic subreddit replaced them. Yes, the mods could be changed. But the current fans of the subreddit might actually prefer their mods.

    [–]IAmNotHariSeldon 4 ポイント5 ポイント

    The users of /r/technology seem to have wildly different ideas of what belongs there than the mods do.

    I dare say the fans of the way /r/technology is being run are far outnumbered by the users who have a problem with that automod list, assuming they are aware it exists.

    [–]smooshie 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    Admins defaulted /r/sports, why can't they default an alternate subreddit like /r/tech or something in /r/technology's place?

    [–]TheSkyNet[S] 12 ポイント13 ポイント

    How can I increase them?

    its not gonna be down to the users.

    [–]SmokinSickStylish 99 ポイント100 ポイント

    Ah fuck, I figured Reddit was all about making a better experience for users for a minute there.

    [–]aHead4anEye 28 ポイント29 ポイント

    Ha ha, glad I'm not the only one drunk this early in the morning!

    [–]noNoParts 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    Daydrinkers, untie!

    [–]paulfromatlanta 24 ポイント25 ポイント

    its not gonna be down to the users.

    In a nutshell, why I avoid /r/technology

    [–]lordthat100188 11 ポイント12 ポイント

    Thats unacceptable. The users are what drives this website, and they must have a say in this in order for anything of value to happen.

    [–]33degree 13 ポイント14 ポイント

    its not gonna be down to the users.

    So who is running the show behind the curtain? How many suits at Conde Nast give you orders? Is there one guy or is it a "board of directors"?

    [–]Avakar 7 ポイント8 ポイント

    I don't suppose we could send a polite message to the admins, can we?

    [–]zakos 6 ポイント7 ポイント

    I did exactly that two days ago, trying to voice my concerns about the mods of tech... They never responded or gave any indication that my message was received.

    [–]TenuredOracle 4 ポイント5 ポイント

    Then go fuck yourself.

    [–]IAmAnAnonymousCoward 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    Fingers crossed.

    [–]Bouzique 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    I unsuscribed too, but the other subreddits are clearly lacking in news.

    [–]Tantric989 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    I unsubbed from most of the defaults after I joined, but after finding /r/undelete, it seems like most of the good content from /r/technology shows up here anyway.

    Of course I'm just making a snarky comment, but that's kind of the point of why a tech mod is doing an AMA here, of all places.

    [–]smooshie 42 ポイント43 ポイント

    So from what I understand, the main problem in /r/technology is that the top mods (/u/maxwellhill, /u/qgyh2, etc.) are basically doing the Reddit equivalent of domain squatting, using their position to block any helpful policies (addition of new mods, sidebar updates, transparency), while remaining on top for that glorious ego boost.

    Given this, why not either resign, and let the "top mods" deal with the shitstorm themselves (which would likely end in /r/technology being undefaulted, maybe even in favor of a better moderated tech subreddit), or petition the admins to do something radical?

    [–]SolarAquarion 13 ポイント14 ポイント

    Given this, why not either resign, and let the "top mods" deal with the shitstorm themselves (which would likely end in /r/technology[4] being undefaulted, maybe even in favor of a better moderated tech subreddit), or petition the admins to do something radical?

    They'll never deal with the shitstorm themselves. They just want to get link karma.

    [–]AssuredlyAThrowAway 20 ポイント21 ポイント

    They just want to get link karma.

    Or they want to drive traffic for money. Either way.

    [–]SolarAquarion 8 ポイント9 ポイント

    Could be. But he only submits content to places where he knows it will be approved by him.

    [–]AssuredlyAThrowAway 3 ポイント4 ポイント

    [–]Jackten 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    Please answer this, mods. All I hear from you is blame shifting

    [–]Doctor_McKay 36 ポイント37 ポイント

    [–]atomheartother 7 ポイント8 ポイント

    Holy shit.

    [–]totes_meta_bot 4 ポイント5 ポイント

    This thread has been linked to from elsewhere on reddit.

    I am a bot. Comments? Complaints? Message me here. I don't read PMs!

    [–]throwaway_account_69 5 ポイント6 ポイント

    Holy shit Maxwellhill just went all the way, especially removing permissions on Davidreiss666, who mods a bunch of other subreddits.

    [–]Fetish_Goth 47 ポイント48 ポイント

    Why don't you make the list of banned words and topics public, on the side bar, so there is no question about it anymore?

    EDIT: Thank you for doing an AMA.

    [–]TheSkyNet[S] 69 ポイント70 ポイント

    we can't change the side bar because maxwellhill and anutensil (both dont actually do any moderating btw) wont let us.

    [–]PeteRusso 29 ポイント30 ポイント

    If they're not active or contributing to the subreddit, why can't you oust them as mods? or the admins?

    [–]Doctor_McKay 35 ポイント36 ポイント

    maxwell is too high up and can only be removed by Xiphorian or qgyh2, neither of whom will do so.

    anutensil was removed when he removed myself and all the other new mods, but maxwell reinvited him.

    And now I have been removed again, along with the other new mods.

    Edit: I was previously re-invited, but now /u/maxwellhill has locked down all the mods who could have done anything.

    [–]astarkey12 13 ポイント14 ポイント

    Jesus, this is a clusterfuck.

    [–]TheRedditPope 10 ポイント11 ポイント

    She*

    [–]TheRedditPope 58 ポイント59 ポイント

    Having been in this exact situation in other subs that these problem mods are in charge of I will answer this for SkyNet.

    First off, the admins aren't going to do anything. You can cry and moan like the people in r/Atheism or you could act like your rallying people against this site like it's your job and the admins don't care. Their line is drawn in the sand, they are "hands off" when it comes to subreddits as long as they aren't breaking any of the 5 rules of reddit.

    Now, the way reddit works the higher you are on the mod list the more power you have over your other mods. As a top mod you can remove anyone below you. The technology mods tried to simply add a couple of mods after a ton of discussion and /u/Anutensil repaid them by removing those mods. This is how mod bullies ruin subreddits. Anu was kicked out as a mod for her loathsome behavior by a higher up mod with who rightly put and end to her harassment, but I think one of her buddies added her back unfortunately.

    When mods are over worked and desperate and the top mods threaten to remove them every other second for every little thing this can cause terrible damage on a subreddit and lead people like these lower technology mods who actually do work in the sub to have to take extreme measures like adding words to AutoMod filters.

    Anu and Q and some of these other people don't do anything in their subreddits and are not connected to the users at all. They merely care about their power and will wield it at any chance. The lower mods are helpless in this situation. They can't get the basic things they need to try and be more compassionate when it comes to removals. Human eyes are good when judging submissions, much better than robot eyes.

    Technology just needs to get rid of these do-nothing mods that are hindering everyone else and making real progress in Technology impossible.

    [–]beargolden 19 ポイント20 ポイント

    The WorldNews mods tried to simply add a couple of mods after a ton of discussion and /u/Anutensil repaid them by removing those mods.

    I was checking out some of the new worldnews mods and one seems to be a pretty blatant spammer. How is that even allowed? He/she submits dozens of articles from a single domain, every day. I thought the admins had a 1:10 ratio or something. That person is clearly affiliated with Japantimes.co.jp.

    [–]TheRedditPope 10 ポイント11 ポイント

    That doesn't seem out of place to me, but I can run a scan for you if you want to show exactly what the percentage of submissions this person submits goes to that site. If you are interested in that let me know and I'll get it together for you.

    This person mods NorthKoreanNews and from their history it seems they are really into Asian stuff and anime and things like that. Their comment history shows +28,000 comment karma so clearly they are genuinely participating on Reddit.

    My guess is that this person gets their Asian related news mostly from this site and that's all they are particularly interested in sharing. Out and out spammer profiles look a lot different. The big problem spammers are the ones that use a lot of different legit sources to cover up their spamming of a single source.

    [–]beargolden 16 ポイント17 ポイント

    My guess is that this person gets their Asian related news mostly from this site and that's all they are particularly interested in sharing.

    Nobody submits that much, from a single source, every day for years without being paid to do it. There are millions of Asian new sources. If they were really interested in sharing Asian news, their submission history would be as varied as their browsing history. There would be submissions from all kinds of Asian news sources but their history is limited to Asahi and Japantimes.

    What they're doing goes way beyond "interest". They're literally submitting every single article that the website produces.

    If you are interested in that let me know and I'll get it together for you.

    I am definitely interested. Thanks.

    [–]TheRedditPope 5 ポイント6 ポイント

    I am definitely interested. Thanks.

    No problem, give me a few minutes and I'll get it together for you.

    [–]TheRedditPope 7 ポイント8 ポイント

    Ok, it's really not so bad. Only 25% of submissions go to that one domain. The next highest is another source which accounts for 19%. Take a look:

    http://www.reddit.com/user/madazzahatter/submitted

    Redditor for 7 months.

    40 page(s) analyzed.

    999 posts from 8 urls.

    Domain Count %

    japantimes.co.jp
    257 25.73%

    asahi.com
    199 19.92%

    the-japan-news.com
    194 19.42%

    mainichi.jp 163 16.32%

    japantoday.com
    65 6.51%

    reuters.com 60 6.01%

    bloomberg.com
    43 4.30%

    tokyoreporter.com
    18 1.80%

    [–]ky1e 9 ポイント10 ポイント

    That's above the 10% allotted by the reddit rules, right?

    [–]TheRedditPope 5 ポイント6 ポイント

    No, that's not really how that "rule" works. The 10% is just sort of a guideline. What Reddit admins want to rule out is actual spammers, otherwise they would just have a bot that bans you once you get above 10%.

    There are other facts to take into account, like other submissions, comments, voting behavior, etc.

    [–]u-void 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    Nice work

    [–]Mustaka 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    Please run the scan.

    [–]TheRedditPope 6 ポイント7 ポイント

    Ok, it's really not so bad. Only 25% of submissions go to that one domain. The next highest is another source which accounts for 19%. Take a look:

    http://www.reddit.com/user/madazzahatter/submitted

    Redditor for 7 months.

    40 page(s) analyzed.

    999 posts from 8 urls.

    Domain Count %

    japantimes.co.jp
    257 25.73%

    asahi.com
    199 19.92%

    the-japan-news.com
    194 19.42%

    mainichi.jp 163 16.32%

    japantoday.com
    65 6.51%

    reuters.com 60 6.01%

    bloomberg.com
    43 4.30%

    tokyoreporter.com
    18 1.80%

    [–]TheRedditPope 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    Ok, give me a few minutes and I'll get it together.

    [–]astarkey12 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    What up, TRP? Nice to see you outside of mod mail. Is there anyway you could explain how someone would run a scan like that? I'd be interested in learning that for identifying spammers in some of my subreddits and just for future reference.

    [–]SolarAquarion 4 ポイント5 ポイント

    That's because of anutensil and there is on one doing spam checking on the users.

    [–]TheRedditPope 14 ポイント15 ポイント

    Anu just removed mods out of spite. There was no other justification. The majority of the mods wanted new mods and she didn't so she removed people who disobeyed her dictator-like commandments.

    [–]PeteRusso 5 ポイント6 ポイント

    Great insight! Thank you for taking the time to write all of that out.

    [–]TheRedditPope 3 ポイント4 ポイント

    Sure, no problem. I know at times like this tension can run high and it's hard to get all the different various answers to your questions so I'm glad to have the opportunity to talk about this very important subject.

    [–]wtjones 3 ポイント4 ポイント

    I like that /u/Anutensil is a moderator of r/redditcensorship.

    [–]Melloz 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    Thanks for the insight. Sadly, that means there is no fix and power mods will ruin the place.

    [–]TheRedditPope 3 ポイント4 ポイント

    Perhaps, but Reddit has an answer for that. You must vote with your feet and spend your time in a different sub.

    [–]puterTDI 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    This reminds me so much of modding IRC chat rooms back in the day.

    [–]Fetish_Goth 10 ポイント11 ポイント

    Are you able to post a sticky? Subreddit rules should not be secret if you expect people to follow them. Pretty much the whole reason people are frustrated is because the rules have purposefully hidden been behind a curtain of shadows.

    [–]whtml 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    Can you post the list here?

    [–]rabidwombat 1 ポイント2 ポイント

    That is the crux of it, isn't it? Realistically, how many of the issues described here have any chance of being fixed, if the top mods "won't let you"?

    That's a shame.

    [–]silentprophet 26 ポイント27 ポイント

    You coming to this subreddit with an AMA suggests you realize r/technology has a unique place on reddit in terms of deleting content that has attracted popular attention (i.e. front page with thousands of upvotes). Why do you think r/technology stands out amongst its default subreddit peers in this manner?

    [–]PeteRusso 11 ポイント12 ポイント

    • Why do you guys remove stuff without stating why?

    • Why do you even have a list of keywords that you purposely filter? Why not make that list public, since it's widely acknowledged anyways?

    • What can we, as users, do to make the subreddit better?


    Edit: Adding two more questions:

    • Can we make the mod logs public?

    • Which mod is the one that is aggressively removing stuff?

    [–]Doctor_McKay 5 ポイント6 ポイント

    Most of the mods don't leave comments because they feel like it's too much work, which to be fair, it is with only a couple active mods.

    [–]PeteRusso 6 ポイント7 ポイント

    But if you don't leave a comment as to why something was removed, how will we start to learn what content is acceptable and what is not?

    [–]Doctor_McKay 9 ポイント10 ポイント

    Don't shoot the messenger, I agree with you.

    [–]PeteRusso 4 ポイント5 ポイント

    I'm not shooting anybody. I appreciate that you guys are doing this AMA.

    I want to improve the state of /r/technology. Which is why I am asking so many questions. i want to get all of this out there so that users/mods can see that users are concerned with these issues.

    [–]X019 2 ポイント3 ポイント

    Why do you guys remove stuff without stating why?

    It gets super repetative. "removed for being off topic" "removed for being spam" "removed for being racist".

    Why do you even have a list of keywords that you purposely filter? Why not make that list public, since it's widely acknowledged anyways?

    There weren't enough active mods to handle the sub, so they needed to do something to manage. Was it overkill? Probably. Will the list go away? Of course.

    What can we, as users, do to make the subreddit better?

    Downvote crap, upvote good content. Submit good content and report things that need to be reported.

    Can we make the mod logs public?

    Probably not a good idea. There's not really anything to see. These 5 mods were removed, these 5 mods were re-added. And some meta drama. Nothing really to see.

    Which mod is the one that is aggressively removing stuff?

    It appears that it was maxwellhill and anutensil.

    [–]PeteRusso 10 ポイント11 ポイント

    It gets super repetative. "removed for being off topic" "removed for being spam" "removed for being racist".

    But it would give users a better idea of what they did wrong, so we could correct that behavior and not make the same mistake again... thus, making less work for you guys in the long run.

    There weren't enough active mods to handle the sub, so they needed to do something to manage.

    Add more mods from different time-zones so there is always somebody moderating and keeping an eye on things.

    Will the list go away? Of course.

    That's great news! When will this happen?

    Downvote crap, upvote good content. Submit good content and report things that need to be reported.

    I already do that. I also submit a bunch of stuff from a wide variety of domains, and a lot of it gets removed with no explanation.

    Probably not a good idea. There's not really anything to see. These 5 mods were removed, these 5 mods were re-added. And some meta drama. Nothing really to see.

    It would allow us users to see WHOM removed different stories. And if the same mod is removing stuff for BS reasons, we would know who is making this community worse. we could then start a conversation with that person, and spare the other mods the drama and pitchforks.

    Which mod is the one that is aggressively removing stuff?

    According to other tech mods, Max & Anut aren't doing any moderation. But, the mod logs should be able to tell you without a doubt who is removing stuff. Which is why it's important to make public.

    [–]redkemper 56 ポイント57 ポイント

    About half a dozen times over the past year, I have submitted things that have screamed up the front page of /r/technology, gotten hundreds or even thousands of votes, gotten a huge number of comments, and then been deleted by mods with no reason (or a BS reason) given.

    It's not just my submissions, of course. I see it happen to other stuff all the time.

    When there's something that is that popular, it's obviously something people are interested in and something they want to discuss.

    What on earth compels you guys to delete it?

    [–][deleted]

    [deleted]

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 11 ポイント12 ポイント

      i'll look into it in a minute i'm trying to respond to all the questions 1st.

      [–]JayEnTea 7 ポイント8 ポイント

      Why address /u/ohange (no disrespect) and not /u/redkemper? I see a lot of solid questions being asked but are not being addressed.

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 7 ポイント8 ポイント

      because 228 comments?

      [–]SolarAquarion 14 ポイント15 ポイント

      It's just mod philosophy and the fact that no one wants to flair posts or add a group of post flairs to the CSS. On the other hand it could be because of Anutensil or Maxwellhill.

      In /r/politics we flair every submission that we remove.

      [–]fritzly 6 ポイント7 ポイント

      but that is so much work....

      [–]SolarAquarion 20 ポイント21 ポイント

      If you want to mod you need to put in the work and do your best to be transparent.

      [–]fritzly 13 ポイント14 ポイント

      why cant I have the power of a mod without any responsibilities?

      Why isnt everything in life just handed to me?

      [–]SolarAquarion 7 ポイント8 ポイント

      It's easy to do that. Just be Qghy2!

      [–]fritzly 7 ポイント8 ポイント

      Are you saying if I stay inactive for sometimes months at a time, people will start modding me to default subs?

      [–]SolarAquarion 7 ポイント8 ポイント

      No. Only if you created the subreddit or been part of the mod clique from the beginning.

      EDIT: Thanks /u/grafeno for pointing it out.

      [–]Grafeno 2 ポイント3 ポイント

      Clique

      [–]fritzly 1 ポイント2 ポイント

      shucks... well I guess Ill never be a mod :(

      [–]nallalalla 3 ポイント4 ポイント

      Nothing about your comment is in any way to the question redkemper was asking.

      I can't imagine why you think anyone gives a shit about flairing posts when they're asking why heavily upvoted posts are deleted.

      If the other r/politics mod are as divorced from reality as you I can see why you guys convinced yourselves it was a good idea to humiliate yourselves by banning a massive list of sources.

      [–][deleted] 1 ポイント2 ポイント

      [–]atomheartother 11 ポイント12 ポイント

      Was this actually a thing?

      Edit: Just to be clear to future readers, I was the first post on this thread and I thought this was an old thread that got deleted, like every thread on this SR, thus the "was".

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 13 ポイント14 ポイント

      this is a thing

      [–]atomheartother 12 ポイント13 ポイント

      Holy shit, what.

      Okay, then, a lot of concerns have been voiced over the wordfilters on /r/technology, notably from this article, but also about other things like Tesla vehicles.

      What's the deal with that, and what's your answer to that criticism?

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 16 ポイント17 ポイント

      There is a keyword filter, rtechnology like any sub can turn into a shit show fast. One thing we try and do is keep /r/Technology focused on Technology.

      We don't want to become the next /r/politics and get remove by the admins.

      NSA , Snowden and other stuff like that is so tangentially related to Technology it really shouldn't belong there. It's not limited to /r/news[7] and /r/politics[8] . There is also /r/WorldPolitics[9] , /r/Worldnews[10] , /r/Libertarian[11] , /r/AnythingGoesNews[12] , /r/Offbeat[13] , /r/RepublicofNews[14] , /r/RepublicOfPolitics[15] , /r/Worldevents[16] , /r/InternationalPolitics[17] , /r/NewsoftheWeird[18] , /r/NewsOfTheStupid[19] , /r/nottheonion[20] , /r/Futurology[21] , /r/Geek[22] , /r/Science[23] , /r/EverythingScience[24] , /r/misc[25]

      Tesla was just a result of burned out mods, jaded to the community and pissed of with all the inactive mods.

      [–]RobertK1 15 ポイント16 ポイント

      Tesla was just a result of burned out mods, jaded to the community and pissed of with all the inactive mods.

      Out of curiosity, you have to be aware there is currently a large and well-funded campaign to keep Tesla motors from being allowed to sell directly to consumers. And that this campaign essentially relies on consumers not getting angry enough to apply political pressure to politicians directly, since the actions of the car dealers does not benefit anyone besides them.

      So when you cut all the Tesla articles out of /r/technology, a default subreddit, you directly help ensure that people don't find out more information about Tesla, which in turn generates backlash against car dealers seeking to ban it (since the information is near-universally good, it's a very high tech car).

      Do you see how this looks extremely poor, especially when the information about the ban is so poorly communicated (it was kept secret from users)? Do you see how this looks like under-the-table dealings? Especially when no one can name the mod who did it?

      How do you know its moderator burnout if you can't name the mod?

      Since your mods are so burned out, have you considered having them reduce the number of subreddits they mod? You yourself mod 12, which makes you one of the most focused moderators on that subreddit. Why should a "burned out" mod moderate hundreds of subreddits?

      [–]Doctor_McKay 1 ポイント2 ポイント

      Being a moderator in a bunch of subreddits doesn't mean that you moderate a bunch of subreddits. I'm a moderator in 9, but /r/technology is the only active one.

      [–]RobertK1 6 ポイント7 ポイント

      We're not talking subreddits like /r/suicidesheep or /r/backpackTFExtension

      Maxwellhill moderates /r/worldnews, /r/funny, /r/humor, and /r/economics. Do you suppose these subreddits don't need moderation? Do you suppose they're easy tasks to manage?

      qgyh2 moderates /r/pics, /r/worldnews, /r/nsfw, /r/comics, /r/humor, the list kind of goes on and on. Do you suppose these are all simple?

      These are just some examples. I see /r/bestof, /r/science, /r/history, and many other large or moderately large subreddits in there.

      Especially when moderators can approve stories from themselves or their alts, or from alts of anyone they want (there's truly a disturbing number of fairly new accounts that post front page stories) you see how this web of entanglement is alarming? Especially when the "inactive mods" seem to be approving stories and otherwise taking mod action (including demodding people), just not actually doing any moderation?

      To be clear: I see the need for moderation of subreddits. I do not see why there are people who are clearly active, approving and deleting stories, who moderate many major, major subreddits, but don't seem to be doing any actual moderation. It makes me wonder if they have found something more valuable to do with their moderation powers.

      [–]Doctor_McKay 6 ポイント7 ポイント

      I do agree that qgyh2 and maxwell have too many.

      [–]SolarAquarion 3 ポイント4 ポイント

      Qghy2/Maxwellhill are the top 3 mods of most of them.

      [–]atomheartother 2 ポイント3 ポイント

      This whole thread of posts is terrifying and more people should read it.

      [–]Chilangosta 6 ポイント7 ポイント

      The problem is that /r/technology filters are hidden and not explained. All it would take (or rather, would have taken, since the readers are howling for blood now and likely won't ever forgive the current mods) is some more effort explaining what the mods don't want and why specific articles don't meet the criteria for submissions on the subreddit.

      Of course, they could just give people what they want and stop trying to delete posts that are obviously popular, but hey let's not rock the boat too much here...

      [–]atomheartother 10 ポイント11 ポイント

      Thanks for the answer!

      Snowden-related posts have been getting deleted from every major subreddit, and /r/technology doesn't seem to mind hosting posts about Internet freedom in general, things like the Pirate Bay project to create a peer-to-peer internet , while I understand there is a difference between that and a post about Snowden, surely a term as broad as "technology" could apply to some of the NSA Leaks posts, things like a recent unveiling that the NSA is using the internet to control people's opinions.

      The problem is people are comparing /r/technology to /r/politics a lot lately, not through possibility of being removed by the admins, but because it feels more and more like content is being heavily filtered.

      So will we be seeing Snowden-related posts on /r/technology again in the foreseeable future?

      [–][deleted] 6 ポイント7 ポイント

      It would be a good thing if /r/technology was removed from default though.

      The admins want the front page to be all memes and cute animal pictures.

      [–]Doctor_McKay 1 ポイント2 ポイント

      Animals aren't controversial and a Cat Censorship Conspiracy doesn't make very good news.

      [–]Purpledrank 1 ポイント2 ポイント

      I see now. The mods are really victims. The unsung heros reddit needs.

      [–]AssuredlyAThrowAway 4 ポイント5 ポイント

      We don't want to become the next /r/politics[2] and get remove by the admins.

      Isn't that why you filtered the word "NSA", so the admins would let your sub stay a default ;)?

      [–]Doctor_McKay 10 ポイント11 ポイント

      It is true that certain keywords trigger automatic removal of posts, but it's not due to censorship.

      /r/technology is understaffed (more mods are being added right now, but not without pushback from higher-up, inactive mods) and the current list of mods was unable to keep up with the traffic. Certain topics that are not appropriate for the subreddit were automatically removed in order to make it possible to moderate the subreddit effectively.

      For example, a post about a tech company filing for bankruptcy is not about technology and should be submitted to a more appropriate subreddit, like /r/news or /r/business.

      Keywords that are often associated with such articles were added to the filter as a precaution. If a legitimate post has been filtered, its submitter should contact us to get it approved.

      New mods are currently being added (I'm one of them) and therefore the list of filtered keywords is being shortened due to the increased moderator presence. Tesla has already been removed from the list, for example.

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 16 ポイント17 ポイント

      and im sorry but /u/maxwellhill just removed you.

      [–]atomheartother 3 ポイント4 ポイント

      he did get removed

      what

      [–]SolarAquarion 11 ポイント12 ポイント

      He was added as a mod and then removed by Maxwellhill.

      [–]atomheartother 8 ポイント9 ポイント

      Thanks for the answer. Does this mean we'll be seeing NSA-related posts back on /r/technology in the forseeable future?

      The automatic deletion of 90% of articles related to Snowden in every default/major subreddit that's related to the topic in some way (/r/news, /r/worldnews too anyway, let's not even talk about /r/politics, and finally /r/technology) is extremely worrying to a lot of people, it's come to the point where /r/conspiracy is the only big subreddit you can get your info from on the matter, it'd be nice if /r/technology could clear up some doubt on allegations of having an agenda.

      [–]zakos 11 ポイント12 ポイント

      • why do mods intentionally break the rules that they overzealously enforce upon us?

      • can we get a whole new set of mods?

      • can we get rid of the keywords and just add a bunch of mods to help remove stuff that doesn't belong? I would volunteer to help.

      • can you start leaving a reason as to why you removed something, like they do in other subreddits? Not this bullshit two-word generic tag.

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 7 ポイント8 ポイント

      can we get rid of the keywords and just add a bunch of mods to help remove stuff that doesn't belong? I would volunteer to help.

      apparently not.

      [–]SamSlate 8 ポイント9 ポイント

      this needs more upvotes. closest thing to an acknowledgement I've seen on /r/technology. .../r/UndeletePredictions

      [–]SolarAquarion 23 ポイント24 ポイント

      <redditBot> r/technology has 10 mods: qgyh2, Xiphorian, maxwellhill, ketralnis, DrJulianBashir, davidreiss666, AutoModerator, technology_mod, anutensil, and TheSkyNet

      To everyone in this subreddit Anutensil and Maxwellhill are the reason why there is a lack of transparent moderation. Anutensil doesn't do any modding because of the fact that she wants to accuse everyone else of censorship. Maxwellhill is a mod so that he can approve all the posts that are removed by automod.

      The reason why it's so shitty is because of the classic group of moderators of reddit who like "Free Market moderation" and is unwilling to do any moderation even if it means not having a more coherent mod team or any unity as a mod group.

      Moderation on reddit is a sliding scale of good to horrible.

      [–][deleted] 9 ポイント10 ポイント

      davidreiss666

      This guy is a drama magnet, I don't even know what he moderates but I've heard a lot about his poor behavior.

      [–]getToThePoint8041 11 ポイント12 ポイント

      Why wasn't Heartbleed a sticky front-page post on /r/technology when the exploit was announced?

      I can't help but think how irresponsible it was not to have this as a priority posting for a full week given how devastating the world-wide leak has been (and continues to be, albeit with fewer servers vulnerable this week than last).

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 2 ポイント3 ポイント

      we were gonna do manga threads as a solution to the clutter. but:

      • lots of work

      • lack of mods

      • Inactive mods not letting us

      [–]LucasTrask 12 ポイント13 ポイント

      lack of mods

      Then let the community decide what's worth reading.

      [–]CFGX 14 ポイント15 ポイント

      The answers in this AMA make no sense to me. Clearly, /r/technology is suffering from a seriously overactive mod team that is trying to railroad subject matter away from things they personally dislike, and the problem is "inactive mods"? Wut?

      [–]SolarAquarion 6 ポイント7 ポイント

      The answers in this AMA make no sense to me. Clearly, /r/technology is suffering from a seriously overactive mod team that is trying to railroad subject matter away from things they personally dislike, and the problem is "inactive mods"? Wut?

      The mod team isn't overactive. It's underactive.

      [–]zakos 13 ポイント14 ポイント

      Underactive in using their eyes to moderate.

      Overzealous in removing certain keywords no matter if they are related to tech or not.

      Both of these are problems that need to change.

      [–]SpaktakJones 2 ポイント3 ポイント

      Do you mean that because some mods are overactive and others not at all and it destroys the balance?

      [–]SolarAquarion 3 ポイント4 ポイント

      Yes. There is almost no public/private communication between moderators either on reddit or via IRC.

      [–]XavierMendel 5 ポイント6 ポイント

      What would you say is the main cause of /r/technology's internal problems?

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 20 ポイント21 ポイント

      inactive mods. we tried to fix it. but /u/anutensil /u/maxwellhill are now being children both inactive mods.

      [–][deleted] 4 ポイント5 ポイント

      Whoever demodded agentlame did the right thing.

      [–]Doctor_McKay 3 ポイント4 ポイント

      agentlame was one of the few mods who actually did anything.

      [–][deleted] 7 ポイント8 ポイント

      What he did was generate drama like we are seeing now.

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 9 ポイント10 ポイント

      no that was /u/maxwellhill agentlame just didn't throw him under a bus cus hes a boss like that.

      I on the other hand am a massive dick so fuck that guy.

      you see this link http://reddit.com/r/technology/comments/233b38/yes_net_neutrality_is_a_solution_to_an_existing/

      /u/maxwellhill came up with the rules and then post that link to wave his dick about, that is maxwellhill.

      [–]troggbl 4 ポイント5 ポイント

      How long do you think it will be before /u/maxwellhill unmods you for doing this AMA?

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 8 ポイント9 ポイント

      6

      [–]Purpledrank 4 ポイント5 ポイント

      he was trying to usurp the top mods and install himself. The dude has 350 subs he moderators. He is just looking to get what they had.

      [–]AssuredlyAThrowAway 13 ポイント14 ポイント

      Why did Alexis resign right as the list of shadow censored words started trending?

      Is the term "antique jetpack" on your auto filter list?

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 9 ポイント10 ポイント

      because childish drama.

      [–]SomeKindOfMutant 13 ポイント14 ポイント

      because childish drama.

      Have you talked to him about it, or are you making that assumption?

      Yesterday he said this on Twitter: "i haven't been an active mod on any subreddits in years, when I realized I was still a mod, I deactivated."

      The thing about that is, I messaged him about a month ago (and he replied), pointing out the conflict of interests surrounding Antique Jetpack and his moderation of subs like /r/technology, /r/gadgets, /r/apple, and /r/business.

      In other words that tweet, which implies that he very recently realized he was still a mod on /r/technology and removed himself when he remembered, is a lie.

      [–]ale_xi_s_is_evi_l 2 ポイント3 ポイント

      You are absolutely right. He is a total liar and a complete manipulator.

      Shills and Alex's team have infiltrated this thread and most related threads. He is a sellout and should be ashamed of himself. Don't listen to the uninformed or willfully ignorant/deceptive people responding to you and and the others in this thread. You hit the grand slam.

      He even had the phrase "antique jetpack man" deleted from every related listing of words, plus there are plenty more words filtered than what the lists now specify. Check any thread. It's not there anymore.

      abandon ship. abandon. ship.

      [–]TheRedditPope 3 ポイント4 ポイント

      Clearly he doesn't want to tangle the admins up in some mod drama. I don't blame him. He has better things to do with his life than act as arbitrator in internet fights.

      [–]Bouzique 7 ポイント8 ポイント

      Moderator from 35 minutes ago. Did you just wake up to kill us all?

      [–]Doctor_McKay 22 ポイント23 ポイント

      One of the higher-up mods (Sky can name names if he wishes) decided to be petty and remove/reinvite some of the mods that have been around for a year or more in order to get them ranked below the new ones.

      Edit: petty, not pretty

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 21 ポイント22 ポイント

      [–]MonkPreston 11 ポイント12 ポイント

      /u/maxwellhill is already pretty, he doesn't need to decide to be more pretty.

      [–]alllie 13 ポイント14 ポイント

      All across Reddit censorship is growing. I can't believe these similar decisions are being made independently. Do you know of any mod who seemed to have been contacted by the admins? Or Reddit's owners? Was there a relatively new mod pushing/encouraging these decisions? Cause I can't believe that the mods on sub after sub woke up one day and decided Reddit should operate like a police state.

      [–]zakos 6 ポイント7 ポイント

      Or a user that is a mod in all of those same subreddits.

      [–]nallalalla 9 ポイント10 ポイント

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_narcissism

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group-serving_bias

      People in an in-group nominally responsible for a large and diverse out-group, but actually totally unaccountable, develop stereotypes of the out-group and policies which differentiate them from said out-group in ways which satisfy their own egotism.

      [–]MegaBonzai 3 ポイント4 ポイント

      Being mods and having experience within the whole reddit moderating system what are your opinions on power mods (Mods with moderation responsibilities in at least +100 subreddits)? Do they help? Are they part of the problem? It just seems ridiculous to have one Mod running +300 subreddits (even if some are satire or lowly trafficked subs).

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 2 ポイント3 ポイント

      Depends from mod to mod, most can.

      I babysit subs I find a lot of spam on but I hand them over if requested.

      [–]DaBigFlippa 2 ポイント3 ポイント

      Why is /r/technology a default sub? If the sub is too crowded and the mods are inactive, wouldn't it be better to no longer make this a default sub?

      Edit: spelling

      [–]TheRedditPope 2 ポイント3 ポイント

      That's a question for the admins.

      [–]ky1e 9 ポイント10 ポイント

      You didn't treat this AMA seriously (happening status: happening), just like the mods of /r/technology don't treat moderation seriously.

      [–]fb39ca4 3 ポイント4 ポイント

      How do you feel about /r/technology being removed as a default subreddit?

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 1 ポイント2 ポイント

      Glad

      [–]Jux_ 3 ポイント4 ポイント

      Have you or any other /r/technology mod ever accepted payment, cash or otherwise, for taking specific actions?

      [–]TheSkyNet[S] 12 ポイント13 ポイント

      to my surprise noone has ever offered.

      [–]Bouzique 1 ポイント2 ポイント

      What do you think you can do to make /r/technology less circlerjerky? Right now it's impossible to criticize Google for example.

      [–]ldonthaveaname 1 ポイント2 ポイント