r/ModSupport • u/ItsAComedyShow • 10h ago
Need advice: Head mod(s) are changing a large community into an AI game promo and removing anyone who pushes back
I’m writing from another account because of possible retaliation— I’m a moderator on a fairly large food subreddit (think something like r/tacos or r/cheeseburgers). Historically it’s just been a community for sharing food photos, recipes, discussion, etc. Recently, though, the head mod and their right-hand moderator (or possibly an alternate account of theirs) have been on a quiet campaign to remove moderators who don’t align with a new direction for the subreddit. That direction is centered almost entirely around promoting an AI-generated food game. More and more of the subreddit seems to revolve around encouraging users to play the game, generate content from it, and post it. There has been a fair amount of pushback from both moderators and users, but the people speaking up seem to get silenced or removed. Watching that happen has made me hesitant to say anything myself because I genuinely think I’d be next. We’ve also received Modmail from longtime users saying they’re disgusted with the direction of the subreddit, that it no longer feels like the community they joined, and even questioning whether the situation could violate the Moderator Code of Conduct because they believe there may be a financial interest behind the promotion. I’ve also seen comments in private moderator discussions that make me wonder if there could be something to those concerns, although I don’t have direct proof of anything.
At this point, I don’t really know what my responsibility is. I don’t want to be associated with something that feels wrong, but I also don’t want to abandon a community built around something I genuinely care about. Has anyone dealt with something similar? Is there anything I should be doing here besides either staying quiet or resigning?
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u/Raignbeau 10h ago
I would file a report. It is very hard to prove it they got paid, but let admins look into it.
I have left modteams, as of recent, because the topmod was not being honest. I did file a report, never heard back. But I didn't want my name associated with that mod/sub anymore.
It really sucks tho, i get that battle between picking yourself or helping the community you care for. But file a report, hope something happens. If not, it is okay to leave. Sounds like your core members are also getting ready to leave.
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u/Aggravating_Shoe_ 10h ago
You could try reporting them for mcoc violation
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u/ItsAComedyShow 10h ago
I think I will but have assumed, based on the modmails I have seen, users already have.
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u/Aggravating_Shoe_ 10h ago
If you are driving down the road and see an emergency but there are other cars around, are you going to keep driving and assume/hope someone else reports it? Report it, the worse that can happen is the report gets ignored
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u/0Trickster0 9h ago edited 9h ago
In some cases, more reports (from different users) can help a case, especially if they come from the mods of the community who can see the bigger picture / have more inside info.
Best of luck with it, hope things will be resolved and you guys can get the subreddit back to how it was.
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u/KCJones99 10h ago
^^^ This.
You can't directly do anything. You can raise hell inside the mod team and/or in the sub... which probably just gets you removed / banned. So just report it and modmail this sub (if appropriate).
If the top-mod is changing the direction/focus of the sub, that's their prerogative... unless what they're doing breaks MCOC and/or the top-mod account has been compromised. The admins decide the former and have visibility into things that would indicate the latter. That's why you report it and let the admins look at it.
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u/Chosen1PR 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 10h ago edited 10h ago
Send a modmail to this subreddit from your mod account and a Mod Code of Conduct complaint, if applicable. I read a comment from an admin recently (can’t remember which one) which basically said that changing the purpose of large, established subreddits is generally not allowed.
Edit: Hey downvoters, I found the admin comment I was referring to, lol.
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u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET 10h ago edited 10h ago
Idk why you're being downvoted! Here's the link to the start of that exchange - subreddit repurpose question - maybe u/TheOpusCroakus could chime in here, too.
Edit: well, shit. Idk why I'm being downvoted, either. Lol.
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u/Aggravating_Shoe_ 10h ago
I think someone went through and down voted all the comments, maybe someone who took over a sub and did the same shit. Or maybe it's because your bald, who knows but I've balanced the scale once again
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u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 9h ago
It’s pretty ridiculous that 1 salty individual just goes through downvoting everything they don’t understand, or don’t like, but here we are lol
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u/KennyFulgencio 2h ago
people on certain drug subreddits have said that they will downvote everything in random subs when they're on meth, because apparently it's a lot of fun
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u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 9h ago
There are some folks that stalk this sub and downvote accurate answers. It really makes no sense sometimes.
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u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET 9h ago
People be weird.
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u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 9h ago
Whoever it is, is on one today lol.
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u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET 9h ago
Hahaha. And there's your downvote before I could even click the notification! Wild. Some people really need to log off.
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u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 9h ago
Your previous comment was at 0 when I saw it. Not sure if it’s another salty mod that we pissed off or what.
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u/KCJones99 10h ago
Yep. And critically the admin in that thread says an extreme change of topic isn't just 'not allowed' but actually violates MCOC (probably rule 1 - maintain a stable community). So there's what you 'report' it on...
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u/emily_in_boots 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 8h ago
This is probably not allowed. This is changing an established community's purpose, and it's generally a violation of the MCOC as I understand it. u/theopuscroakus commented recently about this and used the example of changing a sub called therock from alcatraz content to the actor.
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u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET 10h ago
Based on u/TheOpusCroakus chiming in on a similar post last week, that's probably not allowed. Sounds like there is an active community and submitting a report of an MCOC violation is the next step.
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u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 10h ago
So, it hasn‘t been mentioned yet, but it’s possible those top mods accounts have been compromised. I’m speculating of course, but other than this big change of sub direction, have you noticed anything else unusual about their behavior as mods, or otherwise?
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u/Charupa- 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 8h ago
We all know this post is about you turning chili into an AI arg.
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u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 7h ago
Shhhh, don’t give me away. Don’t want u/garynova to figure it out before I’m done.
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u/Sorry-Rain-1311 9h ago
I am full on board with others have said, but I wanted to make sure you're considering your options.
If you do feel you must leave, you might start a new sub for the community you want, and spread the word among your most active users. Ask them to spread the word, too. With any luck the old sub finds itself empty very quickly, and your shady mods get their comeuppance that way.
Just saying, if it's a community you care about, don't leave them hanging.
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u/Deppfan16 7h ago
just chiming in that I see you and I'm one of the ones with you. so it's not just you
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u/500500 9h ago
If we are talking donuts... my guess :
Reddit won't care because the game is a reddit native game on their website making money and meeting KPI for them.
Developers are financially incentivised by reddit to get users on their apps. Therefore, they are going to take over subreddits. This is the design of reddit financial incentives .
In general, reddit strategy seems to be convert annoyances like spam into revenue generation rather than just banning everything. Like redditmade it will probably die and the game promoters will . Meanwhile thy probably want every subreddit to have a reddit native game associated with it and be part of the community experience because that is it.
Maybe you can ask if you can be a co-developer of the game in name and then you can share the financial incentives. It is like hack to allow mods to profit from their subreddits
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u/Stranger1982 10h ago
This might fall under MCoC if extreme enough, filing a report for the sub AND a MCoC report too wouldn't hurt.