Reddit threatened multiple moderators of subreddits, after they made the decision to remain closed as a continuing protest against the upcoming API charges that killed the popular third-party app Apollo.
Effectively, they have been told that the subreddit will be taken away from them unless they re-open. Additionally, Reddit is forcing rule changes that are likely to reduce the quality of posts …
Background
The mess started three weeks ago, when it Reddit revealed would be demanding $20M a year for access to the API used by popular third-party app Apollo. The developer responded that the app would have to close as a result. A planned protest by what was initially a few dozen of the biggest subreddits eventually turned into more than 8,000 subreddits going dark for at least 48 hours. Others found a simple way to demonetize their subreddits.
Things got so bad that Reddit CEO and founder Steve Huffman had to warn employees not to wear the Reddit logo in public, all the while making it clear that he had no interest in the views of Reddit users. He doubled down by threatening to replace moderators. Even the bad guys were on the side of users.
Reddit threatened protesting moderators
More than 2,500 subreddits have remained dark well beyond the initial 48-hour period, and several moderators have said that Reddit threatened them in response.
Some of the wording was gentle, while other messages had more of a “nice little subreddit you have here, be a shame if something happened to it” kind of feel.
Top comment by Nitro
“Oh no, they’re going to take away my unpaid job if I don’t give up my principles. Better just do what they say”
Maybe try actually standing up for what you believe in and understand there could be repercussions. But stand up to them.
The Verge reports.
A Reddit admin — an employee of Reddit — has told unpaid volunteer moderators of a subreddit that the “expectation here is that communities reopen,” according to a message shared publicly by a moderator of r/DIY.
The pressure worked. The community was closed, but it reopened on Thursday, and a mod said that fears of Reddit actions forced the team’s hand: “We’re re-opening because if we don’t, the mods that Reddit appoint may not care about the subreddit the way we do,” the mod wrote […]
To the moderators of r/homeimprovement the admin said that “to be very clear you cannot remain closed so we need to know if any mods here wish to participate in opening the community.”
To the moderators of r/harrypotter, the admin account wrote that “keeping the community closed is not an option” — even though users have voted for the subreddit to be private, according to a post from a r/harrypotter mod.
Many moderators contacted appear to have given in, though one very publicly expressed their outrage at the tactic, posting a screengrab of the threat, and calling it “harassment and intimidation” in a post titled “Reddit is a bully.” Here’s the text of the message they received from an admin:
We are aware that you have chosen to close your community at this time. We are reaching out to find out if any moderators currently on the mod team would be willing to take steps to reopen the community. Subreddits exist for the benefit of the community of users who come to them for support and belonging and in the end, moderators are stewards of these spaces and in a position of trust. Your users rely on your community for information, support, entertainment, and finding connection with others who have similar interests. The ability to find and make these connections is incredibly important to many people and ensuring that active communities are able to remain stable and active (and open) is very important.
Our goal here is to work with the existing mod team to find a path forward and make sure your subreddit is usable for the community which makes its home here. If you are not able or willing to reopen and maintain the community please let us know.
They responded:
Alright, I reopened it.
However, this is harassment and intimidation. Admins do not support mods and yet you talk about “community” and imply we have a duty to keep our subs open and stable.
We report rampant vote manipulation (not just me but many other mods) and nothing is done. We report spam bots that post clickbait at a rate that a team of mods can not keep up with and nothing is done. Now with these api changes the few bots we have to combat these things are disappearing. How are we supposed to run a stable subreddit? The app is crap and you can’t mod effectively from it. New Reddit isn’t any better and old Reddit is too cumbersome on mobile.
Reddit earlier told The Verge that it would not be further commenting on the issue unless corrections were needed. No correction was offered here.
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