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Reddit has enacted a significant change on the platform, giving site admins greater powers over communities.
Moderators on the site will no longer be able to change their subreddit from public to private or not safe for work (NSFW) without first gaining approval from staff.
The new policy means a request will need to be sent to admins, for all community types, if a change is to be made.
Many will view the change of direction as a punitive step and it will have an impact on users’ ability to maximize protest actions as happened last year over Reddit’s API pricing changes.
By going from public to private, content on the platform is less accessible to the casual viewer and makes the site more difficult to use.
Going private also has negative implications for Google searches.
The action against the API changes resulted in many third-party Reddit apps ceasing operation. Moderators turned the screw by turning their content private and increasing the volume of NSFW images and memes.
On that occasion, Reddit removed some moderators until the protests ran their course, but the company did intimate such protests could hurt its financial position. It also stressed the actions violated the rules of the online mega-site, which combines elements of social media, messageboards, and news aggregation.
Reddit “Cannot Allow Actions That Deliberately Cause Harm”
More than a year later, Reddit is in a normal state of operations but bosses clearly feel this step is required to act as a deterrent for further actions, as well as to increase control.
Reddit’s VP of Community Laura Nestler, who uses the moniker Go_JasonWaterfalls on the platform, said “We have a responsibility to protect Reddit and ensure its long-term health, and we cannot allow actions that deliberately cause harm.”
In the announcement posted on r/modnews, the company representative outlined their position that the ability to make instant changes to subreddits was being abused, as a tool to orchestrate protests and bend the rules.
Reddit did consult its Mod Council over the changes, made up of around 160 moderators.
The reaction from many was said to be “measured”, with an acknowledgment of why it was happening, even if they disagreed with it. There was a feeling that it was a direct result of the earlier protests, seizing the opportunity to take power from users.
Reddit has pledged to review requests to take communities private or NSFW within 24 hours, while fledgling subreddits under 30 days old or with less than 5,000 participants will receive automatic approval.
If a community wishes to restrict posts temporarily (up to a week) due to moderator downtime or a sudden surge in traffic, it can do so without requiring approval using the “temporary events” feature.
