I wanted to comment on your recent Reddit article, but you had turned off comments already for some reason. Hopefully you will get this in a timely fashion.

It seems like you feel that subreddits are often moderated by one single user, similar to a Digg power user. This, in fact, is rarely the case, and thus I felt the need to correct your misconception. Moderators are extremely understanding and helpful, and do not want to block people unless it’s blindingly obvious that a particular user is a bot, a SEO, etc., and they are also degrading the content of a particular subreddit.

If you’re still reading at this point, you should check this series of screenshots out: http://www.imgur.com/ZSckq

I picked three popular subreddits to make a point: there is more than one moderator in each of those. There is more than two as well. In fact, in just those three subreddits, they range from four to twelve moderators, and that’s not including the admins, which are hidden to users, and have more “moderating power” than the moderators do.

I’m not sure why you couldn’t have just made a new account to look at this yourself, or if you are just bitter after having been found out, but you should try to do some research before you go and write an article about “something devious” going on at Reddit.

If you feel the need to respond to me, create a new user name and post a well-worded, legitimate self response that won’t get voted down immediately. If you do so, you’ll undoubtedly get plenty of trolls, flamers and general idiots, but you’ll be sure to get some good discussion going on the topic if you phrase it right and present both sides of the argument.

If Reddit is no longer your cup of tea, go for Mixx. I know nothing about it, but I’m sure it’s much, much better than Reddit.

Good luck in your internet travels

RECORD TRAFFIC SEJ post!

We sincerely appreciate and value your opinions and insights. :-)

Thanks for the info. I’ll certainly check it out.

Sea Man,

Not moderating your comment.

I was actually enjoying the Reddit community for the first 5 months. The problem is again partly the fact that sub Reddit admin that over see some of the main categories can simply delete submission simply because they personally do not like the submission or that user.

Reddits definition of spam is largely subjective and there is mostly individual personal opinion (and emotion) that goes into determining if something is considered spam. You don’t like a couple submission and BAM that makes them spam.

It really is unfortunate because there are some aspects of Reddit that are quite nice.

My approach to Reddit was the same as all other social media platforms I participate in. I submit content that I think is either useful, interesting, or entertaining and that I think other may also enjoy.

Of course people are not always going to agree and my understanding is, that is why there is a voting system but Reddit users go overboard and call it spam simply because dislike a particular submission or user and then they go on the personal attack, and then a mad Witch hunt ensues follow by well what seems to have been some recent MASS ghost banning of accounts.

Why don’t you give a try to infomate.org? It’s a non-commercial fully democratic online community. It works through a mixture of direct and representative democratic processes.

The friends system, community tagging and elected moderators(severely limited in power and their actions can be “overturned” by the community) ensure that there is little mob mentality on the site.

P.S. I’ll hang around here in case you’ve got questions.

I think people have a misunderstanding about the way subreddits work. They are individual communities that were created by the moderator, and the moderator is give full range on how they want to shape that community. They can enforce rigid standards to keep submissions or comments on topic, or they can be completely lax.

It’s not so much as the moderators are given permission to “play god” with submissions, but they certainly are allowed to play god with their personal subreddits that they created. If you don’t agree with a moderators behavior, submit to a different subreddit or create your own.

No not promotional. I submitted stuff to reddit that I found interesting, useful or entertaining. This is the essence of social media/user generated content.

@Canman,

I really don’t like ever deleting comments regardless of how opposing the opinions and viewpoints might be. I have even let a few of the ones with name calling and profanity stand just.

However It has been stated over and over to please mind your language. As long as you refrain from name calling and profanity the comments won’t be deleted.

This is much differnet from a Reddit sub reddit admin/user deleting a submission simply because they personally do not like the submission or users.

I do appreciate you leaving your comment and cleaning up the profanity this time. =)

Sounds like you’re trying to play with words to hide the truth: You’re a spammer. Based on the evidence, most of us aren’t buying what you’re selling.

Canman makes a good point. You whine and moan about how subreddit admins can delete submissions, but why would your submission get deleted of there was no reasoning for it? Abusive subreddit admins are no more welcome that yourself. I don’t see why this can even be an argument for you. When you’re clearly exhibiting SEO behavior, nothing else should be expected. Your submissions will be deleted. Your account will be disabled.

I dearly hope you see how low and disrespectful your operation is. I think of it as the internet equivalent of panhandling. No thank you sir, I don’t need my windshield cleaned, and I certainly don’t need my search engine optimized. Please, for the sake of legitimate reddit users, go to mixx. Actually, don’t go to mixx. Stop this altogether. Get a real job. There are some people that would have noticed, when all their accounts got deleted, that this is not a good thing to be doing. But you…you decide to go on your blog, blindly supported by your SEO buddies, and whine about it.

And I suppose this is good. Your SEO buddies will say “Hey, maybe reddit isn’t the right place to do this.” And it’s true. Reddit will find you and stop you. Yes, of course, you’ll say to the end of the earth that you weren’t spamming your clients’ websites on reddit, but the simple truth is that the system caught you doing it. And even if the system did make a mistake, you shouldn’t have any qualms with creating a new account if you weren’t doing it.

So in conclusion, you clearly were doing it, and you’ll get caught if you try it again. Leave reddit…NOW!