Earlier quoted context omitted.
Think about a Reddit mod's incentives. They: - Don't get paid - Spend time having to do some really thankless work - Don't really have a regular work schedule So what kind of person is going to do it? Someone who is willing to do the work for no pay. For smaller subreddits and areas where the work of moderation isn't that heavy, you'll find passionate individuals. Mods that moderate more time consuming content or the…
There should be a public service campaign telling users something like "Even in the best case scenario, the moderators are weirdos. Most likely they're shills". People with careers, families, friends and hobbies are mostly not going to spend their limited free time being a digital janitor for an anonymous online community. People sitting alone in their apartment with nowhere to go and nothing to do and no one to spen…
Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator
#811I think it's a bit tougher than that. On top of what zahlman said, a lot of "casuals" don't really bring much value to a social media site. If you comment once a year you're not really offering much to the conversation. That's what makes this problem so tricky. The most motivated users are usually motivated by something more than intrinsic motivation. The least motivated users just aren't very good users of the platform. A better incentive structure would help incentivize the "moderately motivated" user.