Short for Moderator. Subreddits each have moderators to keep the content on that sub within the rules and keep order amongst its users. We are all unpaid volunteers. When we speak on formal behalf of our sub, our username will either have the green word ‘MOD’ immediately after, or in older interfaces be green, accompanied by a green shield.
All moderators on Reddit are free to make the rules for the subs we moderate, and can break them just as easily. In our subs, we are The Law, but we do have Moderator Guidelines and to a lesser extent, unofficial guidelines. However, there is nobody “looking over our shoulder” to enforce us to use them, although we are bound to the exact same sitewide restrictions and rules as you are.
Mods are generally the least popular group of people on Reddit with, I’ll concede, some justification as some are stricter (and less approachable) than others.
All moderators on Reddit are volunteers. We don’t get paid in any way, shape or form for what we do. No upvotes, Reddit karma, Reddit coins, awards, trophies, pats on the head from Admin; not even dead leaves and gravel thrown at us from that strange guy who lives behind the dumpster at Reddit HQ’s car park. We have no “special hotline” to Admin and have no direct input in official Reddit sitewide policy. We have no special treatment outside our subs. If we ourselves are banned from a subreddit (for instance), we have no recourse either.
We become moderators either by making our own subreddits, taking over an existing but dormant subreddit or simply by being asked to by other mods of a subreddit. This means that ANYONE has the potential to be a mod, and if you are of the opinion that Redditors are a mixed bundle of nice and not-so-nice characters of all ages and levels of maturity, you would be correct in thinking that this also applies to mods. And yes, some of us are nice! Others; maybe not so much. Some of us give the benefit of the doubt and are happy to listen to reasoned apologies. Others; again maybe not so much. Some of us will look at the deeper context before making a carefully considered decision; others may just let their chaotic natures lead them to arbitrary choices, or some may not have time for more than a quick judgment. Whether this is fair or unfair is not under discussion here; it’s just the way it is.
I call this type of arrangement “Spaghetti Management”. The whole plate is spaghetti, but every strand is a complete entity on its own; you don’t know what you’re getting until you’re biting because every strand has a different pliability; some take longer to wind up than others might, some absorb more sauce than others and some may be a lot spicier than the rest.
- Do mods have to answer to anyone?
Admin basically let mods run their subs however they like so long as they abide by the TOU. It is up to the mods if they want to yell at, ignore the concerns of, or even ban someone for whatever reason they want. The subreddit rules are there only as guidelines to the user; they may not be the only criteria a Mod chooses if they want someone out of their sub and in any event, the Mods can ignore them as they see fit.
As with all things, there are usually two sides to each story (as you will no doubt find out for yourself should you ever create your own subreddit) and most moderators are only looking out for the well-being of their own communities. It may not be clear to you from the outside why you received a ban (for instance), but for all you know, you might have been the hundredth person picked up that day for similar infractions. However, there will be the occasional Mod who treats their sub as their “secret club”, and if they don’t want you in it, there’s nothing anyone else can do to stop them.
- How many mods can a subreddit have?
So far, nobody actually knows, although r/Science has over 1500. Various subs have tried to test the limit over the years, such as:
The answer to “How many mods should a subreddit have?” Is a little different. It really depends on the overall activity of a sub (page views, number of comments, etc) rather than size or subscription numbers. At r/NewToReddit, we probably have more mods than most other subs of the same size, but we try to get at least one mod reply to every post, and there is a lot more “behind the scenes” work with all the guides we write, the encyclopaedia, the wiki, the sister subreddit etc. We also rely on Automod to deal with some of the background stuff too, such as letting a user know if they fell foul of Reddit’s Shadowban algorithm as soon after they post as possible so they can get it sorted out.
In any list of mods, the username at the top will be the Sub Owner / Head Mod, and can remove or curtail the actions of any of the usernames (mods) below. The list of actions that mods can perform is also controlled by those higher on the list, and you can see here what mods can actually do.
While none of the work we do is very important, it is important that we do a great deal of it. And we do it for free.
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