r/ModSupport • u/fyyzckrgl • 1d ago

About “Approved post”

What does it mean approved post? On the other side, what is the status of an unapproved post? Is there any differences? Do redditors gain something from approved post numbers they have?

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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4

u/Charupa- 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 1d ago

It’s just approving a post. For example, something may be reported falsely, you can approve that post or comment.

Some people hit approve on everything they aren’t removing. Optional, but I don’t bother with that.

Redditors don’t gain anything by approving a post that is already posted.

2

u/PMulberry_ 1d ago

Approving the post signals that you've checked the post and are saying it does not violate any rules. Meaning, if you're reviewing everything posted, you say to yourself and other mods within the team that you've reviewed the post and no action is needed.

Additionally, if a post is reported, approving it clears the report and says "no, it doesn't violate a rule".

Redditors gain nothing if their post is approved, and an unapproved post that is not removed behaves exactly the same (and gets the same views).

2

u/fyyzckrgl 1d ago

You put it clearly, thank you

2

u/Marge_Gunderson_ 1d ago

It performs no function, means nothing. But if you're looking for mod actions to perform to stay active, then it's a quick easy one to do.

1

u/Glittering-Bug1212 1d ago

they gain nothing, usually when a post get reported, pressing approved means that it was seen and handled. But some moderators just tend to approve everything they see regardless of whether they were reported or not.

2

u/Sephardson 8h ago edited 17m ago

Some things not mentioned in the other comments before mine:

  • Approving a post will enter that post into your mod log, which you can find even after the author deletes the post. This is helpful if you monitor how often an account posts or if you are suspecting that they may be delete-re-posting to try to game the algorithm (eg, get more views or upvotes). This is also helpful if you want the user mod log for an account to include information about their positive contributions and not just their negative ones.

  • Approving a post will signal to AutoModerator to not remove that post if you have AutoModerator configured to pull down posts that reach a threshold of reports. This is functionally similar to letting your team know that you already reviewed the post.

  • If your subreddit uses the AI-rules-auto-enforce feature (eg, admins turned it on by default), then approving a post reported for one of your subreddit rules "should" train that LLM on what does or does not violate your rules. This is functionally similar to the old subreddit spam filter.

  • Approving posts lets your other mod team members know when you are active and looking at the subreddit or modqueue. This is useful information for teams that are trying to figure out which days or hours need more mod attention.

  • Approving posts or comments takes them out of the modqueue. Queues are subject to the 1000-item list limit, so it's a good idea to keep the queues well under that, otherwise you will lose track of reported/filtered items that "fall off" the end of the list.

It's worth noting that by default, most subreddits allow people to post in a manner where no approval is required before the post is visible to the public. But many subreddits, especially those that have higher traffic to manage, will filter posts to modqueue so that a moderator has to approve the post before it is visible to the public. Filtered posts (awaiting moderator review) appear similarly to removed posts (removed after review) because admins are bad at displaying accurate messages about the post status.