Reddit is trying to make nice with its moderators. They aren’t buying it.
Reddit has reached out to its moderators, declaring that while their relationship has been “tested,” it’s ready to work on it and move forward from here. In response, the mods told them to go pound sand.
In a post to r/modnews on Wednesday, a Reddit employee identifying themselves as its VP of Community announced the company’s renewed efforts to work with its volunteer moderators. Starting from July 25 and running until Oct. 17, Reddit will virtually host twice weekly feedback sessions with mods “to discuss the needs of users, mods, admins, and communities (including how subreddits are, and should be, governed).”
“Moderators are a vital part of Reddit,” wrote u/Go_JasonWaterfalls (Reddit currently lists its VP of Community as Laura Nester). “You are leaders and stewards of your communities.”
“Your CEO called us Landed Gentry,” r/indiasocial mod u/iKR8 bluntly retorted. It is the post’s top response at time of writing.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman infamously likened its moderators to wealthy nobility last month, dealing a significant blow to the company’s already abysmal relationship with the volunteers. Huffman had been discussing the widespread moderator-led protests against Reddit’s overwhelmingly unpopular decision to start charging developers for access to its application programming interface (API) — a decision which caused the end of popular third-party apps such as Apollo and BaconReader.
Reddit’s insistence on enacting its new API policy despite moderators’ concerns has them unconvinced that these new feedback sessions are anything more than an empty gesture. The fact that Reddit threatened to remove mods unless they ended their protest didn’t help either. The company has been making a slew of widely derided decisions as of late, from sunsetting Reddit Gold, to deleting users’ chat logs, to changing the default Reddit iOS icon to a gross little pixel art thing.
“What good is our feedback when reddit seems perfectly happy to ignore all of it?” asked r/northernireland mod u/Ketomatic. “What’s the point?
In response, u/Go_JasonWaterfalls noted that while Reddit considers feedback from its users and moderators, it can’t apply all of it due to business concerns. Even so, few moderators are willing to trust that Reddit respects them or is acting in good faith after its CEO’s words.
“Instead of trying to open up dialogue and respond to legitimate concerns raised by moderators and users alike, your CEO insulted us and told us that our opinions and our actions didn’t matter,” wrote r/explainlikeimfive mod u/RhynoD. “If your CEO thinks we don’t matter, why are you surprised that we don’t think we matter to you? …Reddit lies and ignores us all the time. This isn’t new. Stop pretending Reddit is going to listen to us now.”
“Stop lying,” wrote r/denvernuggets mod u/IdRatherBeLurking. “Please, just stop lying. We are ‘landed gentry’ to you, and you want to pretend like we have a seat at the table? You should be ashamed.”
The announcement post further reminded moderators of the existence of the Reddit Mod Council, as well as the platform’s Partner Community program. Few moderators currently seem inclined to join either.
“The relationship hasn’t been tested; its been destroyed,” wrote r/preppers mod u/TheRealBunkerJohn. “This general, feel-good PR post just indicates how removed and warped the executive suite is from Reddit as a whole.”
Reddit also revealed it is starting a monthly Accessibility Feedback Group, and will resume Mod Roadshows in August after having suspended them last year. Mod Roadshows are events held by Reddit staff wherein moderators are invited to a hang out and enjoy free food, drinks, and entertainment. Though most of the events currently planned will be in the U.S., locations such as London, Mumbai, and São Paulo are also on the list.
In previous years, mods might have appreciated the offer of snacks and swag. Unfortunately, with current relations between Reddit and its volunteers in tatters, the whole endeavour feels a bit like a clueless CEO throwing their over-exploited staff a pizza party.
