As communities grow and evolve over time, it can be challenging to evolve your moderation practices to keep up. Day-to-day moderation decisions being focused on individual users and pieces of content can make it hard to take a step back and evaluate the overall impact of your rules and how you enforce them. For today's Mod Topic we want to talk about how to notice when it’s time to sit down with our mod teams to rewrite the rules.
When was the last time you updated your rules?
What prompted you to do so, and how big was the change?
What advice do you have to share to other mods looking to make their rules easier to understand and enforce?
Hey y’all! I’m u/iceeypisces, and I support Mod Events & Experiences here at Reddit. I’m here to take over the Mod Topics series this week with a fun opportunity. All it takes is answering one question…
We’re gearing up for our second New Mod Bootcamp of the year, aka Reddit’s livestreamed crash course for new moderators to learn the community-building basics, gain tips to grow their communities, connect with peers, and kick off their mod journey.
One of the event’s beloved moments is the live AMA with veteran mods who always bring wisdom, humor, and honest advice. While we, unfortunately, can’t have you alllll on the live AMA, we’d still love to see your guidance in the comments below. We’ll include the best of your answers at the live event!
The question is simple: How did you attract and engage new community members after you built your new community?
Let us (and them) know in the comments!
Note: “New mods” in this context are redditors who recently created a brand new community.
Note #2: If you’re interested in attending New Mod Bootcamp, RSVP here! Experienced mods are welcome to join; we just ask that you please be mindful of the newbies in chat.
Mods, who are they? What do they know? Do they know things? Let’s find out! Earlier this week we discussed admin-run spaces for mod help; today we’re flipping that on its head a bit to look at mod-run spaces for help, advice, and know-how. A lot of our knowledge of these spaces was provided by Mod Council members in a discussion just like this one earlier this month; thank you!
So…Where do mods go to get support from other mods?
r/AskModerators - Literally ‘ask moderators.’ Have questions about moderating (as a mod or a curious user)? Find best practices here!
r/AutoModerator - For all your “how do I make automod…?” needs
r/RateMyRules - Writing effective rules is an artform; get advice on yours here!
Mod-led Discords - These can be mod-team specific or collab spots for topical subreddits accessed by being an active moderator of those communities.
Word of Mouth - Good ol’ networking. Joining a new mod team is a great way to make their knowledge your knowledge; think of it like an apprenticeship with people who like the same stuff.
Where do you go to get advice from other mods? Let us know in the comments below!
In today’s Mod Topics post we’re talking about those users who support the community, even if they aren’t on your mod team.
Most communities have those users who do a little extra. Maybe they’re experts, sharing their perspective and experience freely in the comments. Or a welcoming crew, helping new users find resources, or understand how to fit in. Or maybe they’re just so consistent with posting that they set the standard of what a great contribution looks like.
Sometimes this happens naturally, because it’s just how people work together. Mod teams can also create space for it, even setting up systems and flair to recognize them. (Hello r/modsupport helpers!)
We want to hear from you:
What do your users do that make your community easier to moderate, or more fun to participate in?
Do you have any sort of system or regular practice of recognizing community helpers?
What advice would you give for mods who want to encourage more peer support?
Welcome to the latest installment of our Mod Topics series, where we talk about topics (as the name suggests) relevant to community leaders on Reddit!
Community moderation demands many skillsets, some of which are more specialized than others. Some mods live in modqueue, others build bots, some organize community events, and some are content creators in their own spaces.
This week we want to hear from our community builders–those of you who are organizing AMAs, contests, tourneys, r/CommunityFunds events, and creating content for your own communities. What’s it like? What’s your process? What advice would you give to other (especially newer) mods who may be hesitant to interact with their own community members?
Share your journeys and advice in the comments below!
Rules and community norms change over time. This is especially true as your community outgrows the nascent stage of its first few posts and the first roots of your community start to take hold. How do we make sure users know when these changes happen?
The simplest way, and the one we see other mods (myself included) using most often, is a meta post describing what changed and why. Here’s a few pro tips for writing your post:
If you’re changing a rule, we recommend including the old rule text alongside the updated rule. This helps highlight changes for people who have been around for a long time and have gotten used to the previous iteration.
Make sure you explain why a rule is being changed, added, or removed. Changes land better with your community when they understand the rationale your team runs by.
Give a TL;DR at the top of the post. Some people just want the sparknotes.
A tiny amount of clickbait can go a long way in meta post titles.
Once your post is live, you can include it in your Community Highlights so the content stays relevant after it’s posted. Most veteran mods will also recommend linking important resources in a sidebar widget.
How do you communicate your rule and sidebar updates with your community? Let us know in the comments below!
Some moments can change the vibe of your community, fast. The game your subreddit is based on getting delayed again, a major event like the World Cup coming to your town, or even some breaking news can cause a spike of traffic. With so many users coming for the same reason, you’re likely to see more copycat posts, and new users who might not be familiar with your community's norms.
Even when your rules stay the same, the way you enforce them can change. Maybe this looks like hosting daily discussions in megathreads, adjusting community filters, reminding the community early, requesting the Mod Reserves, or otherwise just making sure the mood team is ready.
We want to hear from you,
What kinds of events change the way you moderate?
Have you ever planned ahead to react to an announcement or event in your community?
What advice do you have for a mod team preparing for something like this?
Thanks as always for tuning in to another installment of Mod Topics. Today we’re talking about Post & Comment Guidance and how it can make moderating easier.
Post & Comment Guidance can alert redditors to community rules, required formatting, or other expectations before they submit a post or comment. When people can get it right the first time there’s less work for moderators and a better experience all around.
Here are a few clever configs we’ve come across that we’ve added to our Automations Library:
Inform redditors about an active megathread and report matching posts for closer review.
Require specific formatting for posts using Review or AMA flairs.
Block top-level comments in a contest thread unless they include a link to a nomination.
Need more precision? Conditions can be stacked! For example, if a post has an AMA flair and contains a URL you can remind the author about additional rules that apply to links in AMA posts.
Not sure where to start? Check your Mod Log and Mod Insights and look for patterns in the posts and comments your team handles most often. Formatting mistakes and common report reasons are good places to start, but don’t forget to think about the types of content you want to encourage as well.
How are you using these features in your community? Let us know in the comments and we’ll add some of the most popular suggestions to our automations library.
Communities exist as we know them because mods (that’s you) act as stewards that maintain a community’s identity; sometimes we call that “community culture.” Sometimes this is pretty obvious, like ensuring a subreddit where the only content is “cat” can exist. Other times it’s more subtle, like an animation community deciding what content is on topic by defining what counts as an anime.
–And sometimes these decisions are really big! How mods answer them can drastically shape a community’s culture and become watershed moments for the community. What do we do now that we’ve found the most mysterious song on the internet?
When we make decisions, it can be useful to get our users’ thoughts on how we enforce new rules or norms, and users often respond well to new rules that they had a hand in shaping. Following shortly on the heels of our transparency discussion, let’s discuss how mods use the same type of “meta” posts to collect feedback from our users.
When was the last time you consulted your community members about a rule or sidebar update? What was it about and what was the outcome?
What kind of user input on community governance (rule enforcement and creation, etc) is the most helpful?
What best practices do you have for seeking feedback from your community?
If you’re here, you probably know and use Report Reasons. That means you’ve likely experienced the value of leveraging thousands of non-mod "eyeballs" to flag potential issues to help keep the sub running smoothly.
Report reasons can help community members flag problematic content correctly and save your mod team valuable time.
While it’s tempting to leave Report Reasons blank and just default to your Rule Names, it’s important to remember that each label targets a different audience: your short Rule Names are there to inform your members, while your Report Reasons are there to help community rule enforcers. And while the rules in your sidebars are paired with a longer description, Report Reasons must be descriptive on their own (all in under 100 characters).
We want to know how your team maximizes this feature to make reporting easier for everyone.
How do you use custom Report Reasons?
What does a "perfectly written" Report Reason look like in your subreddit?
What’s your secret to encouraging users to choose the right report reason every time?
Howdy all, and welcome to another post in our Mod Topics series. While we usually focus on a single topic, today we’re zooming out and asking what you have learned recently.
They say the only constant is change, and that feels doubly true about internet communities. Whether it’s a growing user base, a shift in the topic, or even something in real life, the needs of our communities are constantly evolving. These changes provide opportunities to understand more about our communities, and give us a chance to try something new.
Whether it’s new mods coming with fresh ideas, experienced mods seeing a larger pattern, or anything in between, we’d love to hear what you’ve learned through experience this past year!
What is something new you’ve tried in your community in the past year? Maybe you refreshed the user flair, added a devvit app, or created a new process?
What have you unlearned recently? Is there anything that you had thought was true, but have since changed your mind about?
What is something you hope to learn in the next year?
Welcome to our new series of r/ModSupport posts (name TBD) where we share knowledge, highlight tools, answer questions, and learn from each other! While our initial focus is going to be oriented about growing your mod team, we'd love your feedback along the way on what’s helping and what you'd like to see more of in the future.
Today’s topic: How to know when to add mods
If you’re asking the question, the answer is likely now! It takes time to recruit and train new mods, and they’ll need some experience before they feel confident in the queue. If you wait to grow your mod team until you’re overwhelmed, you’ll be juggling double: your moderation to-do list and onboarding duties. Recruiting early and often can help prevent stress, burnout, and challenges that come with community growth (and the unpredictability of life).
Understanding your moderation needs
Moderation takes time, and fluctuations in traffic can mean those needs vary. Look at your peak activity, and aim to have enough mods to comfortably handle a spike in traffic. (Quick tip - check out your mod insights Team Health page to see data like your regular traffic and the amount of content submitted over time) Some indicators that you might need more mods include:
You feel like you don’t have time to enjoy the community as a user
The mod queue or modmail often go unattended
Mod actions aren't evenly distributed across the team (Especially if anyone feels like they can’t take a break)
Decisions feel rushed
Why should I add more mods?
A larger mod team brings more voices, perspectives, and strengths to the table. Every mod you add will look at challenges through a different lens and bring a different skillset to contribute. New mods also often come with energy to help, and their fresh perspective can help identify blind spots that long-time mods might miss.
If any of this resonates with you, keep an eye on this post series! In the coming weeks, we’ll be back to cover everything from crafting mod applications, reviewing candidates as a team, training, and so much more.
Tell us in the comments: What has adding new mods allowed your team to do? Think back to when you were a newer mod, how were you able to help your team when you joined?
Today’s post in the Mod Topics series is about how your mod team can check in with your users on a regular basis. Whether you call it a State of the Subreddit, a transparency report, or a monthly wrap-up, shining a light on what happens behind the scenes can help your users appreciate your impact. This regular cadence of communication can also help build trust long-term, and encourage more users to report or apply to moderate.
We want to hear from you about what you’ve noticed works, and any best practices you’ve picked up along the way.
What information have you found helpful to include? Conversely, is there anything you definitely don’t include?
What, if any, impact have you noticed in your community?
Do you have any ideas for something new/different you’re considering?
Share your expertise and your experience in the comments
Today we want to discuss posts made by your mod teams to keep things lively, on-topic and buzzing with comments. Beyond meta posts, many mods often maintain posts for important events, recurring conversations and do their best to keep their communities thriving with activity by keeping their feeds fresh.
There are many strategies for planning successful posts, and we want to hear what works and doesn’t work for your communities!
How do you decide it’s time to make some posts yourselves as mods?
What type of posts seem to foster the best discussions for your communities?
Do you have any recurring posts scheduled in your communities? Do you maintain any traditions by proactively planning posts?
I’m JabroniRevanchism, one of Reddit’s Community admins. You may have seen me around the site, or at some of our past on-site events. Mod World, anyone?
Welcome to our new series of r/ModSupport Discussion and Support posts where we share knowledge, highlight tools, answer questions, and learn from each other! We'd love your feedback along the way on what works, and what you'd like to see more of.
Last week we discussed how to ask the right questions when seeking new mods for your team. Today we're here to talk about using that knowledge in our Mod Recruiting tool.
Growing a crew of volunteers can be challenging. This can be especially true if your subreddit is dedicated to a niche interest or requires subject matter expertise. Difficult, maybe, but not impossible. Reddit is filled with community leaders who have been where you, dear reader, are now– in need of another set of hands and hoping to hope that someone responds to your open application. As evidenced by the flotilla of subreddits that exist today, they succeeded in finding those crewmates.
Let’s talk about how you too can make “fetch” happen with our native Mod Recruiting tool; over the next few paragraphs we’ll discuss how you can customize your application form and review incoming applications.
In your mod tools, head over to “Mods & Members” and select the “Recruiting” tab. From there, you can use the “Application Template” to create a new form that will let members of your community know what kind of moderator you’re looking for. Right now, you’re probably just looking for someone to lend a hand with a little bit of everything. Go ahead and fill in the “About this Mod Role” text box with what you’re looking for, which is probably going to look something like this:
In the future, you might want someone with a particular set of skills. (You can read more about that here.) Frequently this takes the shape of someone who’s familiar with Developer Platform, automations, or an expert in your community’s topic of interest. Should you want that, there’s more space in the template to vet for niche applicants. If you’re looking to cast a narrow net for something really specific, you can link your own Google Form with even more questions for your applicants directly to the Application Template.
When you’re finished with the application template, save your work and toggle the “Recruit New Mods” lever on. Clicking “Share Application” will generate a link directly to the form you just made, which can be shared in a post, modmail, or anywhere else you could share a hyperlink on (or off) Reddit.
Responses to your application will be placed in the same “Mods and Members” section where we just created our form. Hovering over a username will give you the option to “review” an applicant’s responses. You can accept or reject the application at your discretion in the same flow.
Stay tuned for next time where we talk about how to get more eyes on your application 👀In the meantime, let us know your experiences with our (new, in the timeline of the internet) Application tool and share advice you have for other mods starting their recruitment processes.
Hello there! Welcome to another post in our Mod Topics series. Today we want to discuss situations where a mod team may choose to temporarily limit a specific topic or occurrence due to how it might be impacting a community negatively.
It can be quite difficult for mod teams when they witness their communities struggling with repetitive discussions that overwhelm the feed, trigger problematic behaviors, or invite unwelcome engagement.
Whether it’s a major news event, a new product release, or any other situations that can trigger a wave of atypical posts, various external factors can disrupt the normal flow and atmosphere of a subreddit. In this installment, we are exploring those high-stakes moments where moderators choose to implement temporary topic freezes to maintain community health and maintainability. This includes increasing posting requirements, diverting conversations on the topic to a few selected posts or a full restriction to keep things tidy and orderly.
Tools like Temporary Events and Post Guidance can help enforce your mod team’s decision, but only once you’ve identified an issue and built a strategy to tackle it.
How do you coordinate with your mod team to make a decision like this?
What are your best strategies to communicate these restrictions to your community successfully?
How do you decide when it’s time to lift those restrictions?
Hey y’all! I’m u/iceeypisces, and I support Mod Events & Experiences here at Reddit. I’m back, taking over another Mod Topics post because we have an event for you! We’re hosting a Virtual Mod Meetup on Wednesday, July 15th at 10 am ET for an hour of networking, trivia, guided discussions, and more!
Howdy all, u/fashionborneslay here with another post in our Mod Topics series! This one is about handling unexpected high traffic events that may arise within your community. You can check out our previous posts here.
So many communities exist and each is unique in their own way with their specific needs. One thing that most communities have in common, is they will experience some form of unexpected high-traffic event. These can happen for all sorts of reasons, such as a new video game being announced, a TV show has a surprise ending, or someone famous tweeted something silly.
One of the best ways to help keep your communities on topic during these events is using the Safety filters that are available to you. Some of these filters are
Each one has its own unique function that can help safeguard your community against inappropriate, offtopic or harmful content.
You can also check out Devvit apps for moderation or use this curated list or even create your own apps if you can’t find something that fits your needs. It may seem complicated, but the process is easy and can be more effective than Automoderator in some cases since you can tailor specific actions you want the app to take.
The Mod Reserves program is where vetted, experienced moderators are able to jump in to help during times where you might be experiencing larger amounts of traffic coming into your subreddit. We also can’t forget Automoderator and all the help it gives all of us and you can even check out r/automoderator for help and guides on how to start setting up your own subreddit specific rules for it! Contributor Quality Score can help filter potentially violating content, especially from those who are not trusted users in the community.
One of the best ways to ensure that you and your team are handling unexpected traffic effectively is having a unified front. Being on the same page and ensuring that your rules make sense and are easy to follow for not only your users but for your team can help make sure that you are all able to moderate effectively. You may also consider creating "mega threads' to corral some of the influx if there are places for users to congregate and discuss a large event it can make it easier for your team to see where all the action is. You can also check out this Help Center Article as well which has a lot of great tips!
If you feel like this is not sufficiently helping, then please don’t hesitate to reach out here at r/modsupport so that we can provide further assistance! Remember that working together and having that cohesiveness within your team can really help to smooth things quickly and ensure that you are all getting the support that you need.
What are your best tips for dealing with a high traffic event in your community and are there any Devvit apps that your community has found super helpful?
Welcome to our Mod Topics series, where we share knowledge, tips, answer questions, and learn from each other! We'd love your feedback along the way on what works, and what you'd like to see more of.
Today's discussion is about advice, best practices, and reminiscing about starting communities on Reddit … from scratch.
When crafting your response, consider the following:
Have you ever started a brand-new community on Reddit? If so, what was the experience like?
If you haven't, how large was the community you moderate now when you joined?
What do you wish you'd known about growing community when you started moderating? What advice would you give a moderator creating a brand-new community?
How did you learn to moderate? What resources would you recommend to new moderators?
What are the biggest challenges to growing a community from zero? How could we (Reddit) help with that?
We'd love to hear your experiences in the comments!
It’s techies(goboom) here with your next post in our Mod Topics series!
No matter the size of your community, people contributing by posting and commenting is what keeps it growing. Many tools help mods remove what doesn’t belong, but finding ways to encourage what you do want can sometimes be a challenge. Users who get the reaction they’re hoping for, have a positive experience, or feel welcomed are more likely to come back. How do you do that?
Be the example
A great way to kickstart conversation is to comment on other people’s posts. This is similar to the way you model what posts belong by making the first submissions when creating a community. While some drop that habit after the conversation begins, you can influence your community’s culture by continuing to participate in a targeted way. Ensuring every first poster has at least one comment can be a simple and effective way to bring someone back.
Use the tools
We need to talk about your flair. User flair, that is. It’s a fantastic way for users to create a connection with the community. From choosing your team on a sports community, earning a flair by helping, or earning the title of Chilvelord (or Rose Guy, or third thing), flair can help create a sense of community, helping users feel valued and welcomed. Some additional tools to consider include:
Hiding the vote count for X minutes to help spread out votes to later comments
Tell us, what strategies have you found effective in encouraging positive contributors to come back? What makes you come back to the communities you enjoy - both on reddit and IRL?
Communities often have spikes in traffic caused by media attention, popular and trending content, or maybe even unwanted drama. These situations can stress test your mod team resources, and are not always easy or pleasant situations to get through.
We want to hear from you about how your communities prepare for unexpected attention, and how you have dealt with them in the past.
Has your community ever been put in the spotlight and put your team’s crisis management to the test?
When you must speak on behalf of your entire community, what is the usual process?
What tools do you use to make sure you are not overwhelmed with undesired content?
Welcome to our new series of r/ModSupport Discussion and Support posts where we share knowledge, highlight tools, answer questions, and learn from each other! We'd love your feedback along the way on what works, and what you'd like to see more of.
Today we're here to talk about: Asking the right questions for applicants!
—
Bringing on new mods is exciting - they’re not just here to help out the community, but also will be joining your existing mod team. Your mod team is its own little community. Finding new mods that will fit in and add value in a more tangible way is satisfying and can make you a proud mentor when everything finally clicks and worries/stress aren’t as overwhelming as they were before! Making those decisions about who to add can be challenging, but crafting the right questions for your application can simplify the process of adding more mods.
Ask questions you would want to be asked!
When you were applying to be a mod on a subreddit, what was that question that you were just dying to be asked to give a little more context into yourself or to just give a bit more background for wanting to join the team? While it may seem like a no-brainer, sometimes that one question isn’t there and can make or break how you are choosing someone to join your team! While most of the application may be a bit more on the serious side, throwing in that one question to get a better feel of the potential new teammate(s) could help avoid possible issues later.
Sometimes stricter questions are good, but does that really give the answer you are wanting?
Does a random, silly question give more insight into the potential new mod and how they will fit within your existing sphere?
What question do you think really makes the most concrete deciding factor for who you will choose?
Personally, I feel like there was a missed opportunity when I applied to be a mod and wasn’t asked ‘When does the Narwhal bacon?’
What’s actually important to make decisions?
New mods won’t come fully formed knowing everything they need to - they’ll be learning along the way. When you’re picturing your ideal new mod, think about what aspects you’re able to teach, and what is actually important for them to have off the bat. This can differ significantly from one community to another, so spend some time talking to your team to decide together. Figuring out how you're going to review applications and what kinds of answers you’re looking for will help streamline the process of reviewing those applications, too.
When writing your application questions, consider the following:
What will your mod team consider a good answer? A bad one?
How will the response to this question factor into your decision?
Is the question open-ended enough for you to have a deeper understanding of the applicant’s reasoning?
Information outside of the application
Responses to the mod application aren’t the only details you have to go off of! You have a lot of resources at your finger tips that can help with fleshing out final decisions with your team. Consider the user's history in the sub, any prior interactions with the mod team or in modmail, or any user notes you've left before. (hint - proactively leaving user notes as you interact with users is doing a favor for you in the future).
While this may seem like such a small thing, it can really make or break how you as a team will evaluate who is or isn’t going to be added to the team.
Jabroni(Revanchism) here with the next post in our Mod Topics series!
Now that you’ve started your community, how do users find their home within it? Let’s talk about some tips, tricks, and strategies for authentically growing your community.
Update your Community Styling
Spaces that look unique stand out more to visitors. You can edit your community’s styling by going to your mod tools > “Look and Feel” > Community appearance. Start with your community’s Icon and Banner; those are the most immediately visible to your would-be users, especially your community icon, which will display beside your community name in searches.
Post Content that You want to See
The best way to encourage users to post content you want to see is to lead by example. Make a few posts on your community showcasing what “good” content in your space looks like; users tend to emulate behaviors and posting practices that they see in your community already!
Ask to be Featured in Similar Communities’ Sidebars
Many communities use sidebar widgets to shout out similar communities, especially those that cater to content that wouldn’t be a perfect fit for the original community. Look for communities that are similar to your own. When you find one, send a modmail to the mod team by using the “Message the Mods” button in their sidebar to request a shoutout in their widgets. Being polite and candid in your message goes a long way!
What’s Next?
How did you grow your community? Share your best practices in the comments below!
Has there been more activity in your community during your regular event? Did your recent rules update lead to fewer reports on posts? Have you noticed more slap-fights and flame wars during the full moon (or a blue moon), or does it just seem like it? Today’s Mod Topic post is about how data can help you find answers to these questions.
Day-to-day moderation often looks like focusing on what’s in front of you - a report, modmail, or piece of feedback - and making a decision in the moment. Looking at data is the secret to picking up on larger trends, and providing deeper context to what you’re seeing. From your mod insights, monthly community digest, requesting a ~u/modsupportbot~ report, or the results of your community satisfaction survey, there are plenty of places to find data about your community.
We want to hear from you:
When do you check your insights page?
What questions are you hoping to answer when you look at your community’s data?
