I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, democracy simply doesn’t work
It was killed by a complete lack of engagement
Yeah exactly.
Users are not engaged enough and do not have enough incentive to do so. It takes a considerable amount of time and effort to know what’s going on and it’s BORING for 95% of people.
Reddit’s moderators are ultimately motivated by feeling like they “own” their communities. Reddit even knows this, which is why they have not infringed on moderators decisions about their own spaces as much as possible, the motivation of moderators is exceptionally important to the site. It is not only what keeps mods doing the work in spaces they currently run but also is what causes them to make new spaces.
It’s the only upside to moderating. I know r/modernart won’t have posts that aren’t about modernism if I’m actively removing the things which don’t fit the vision of the subreddit. I know r/snackexchange won’t be taken over by an import business or do corrupt promotions with them if I’m the person in charge and nobody except this one steak company has tried to bribe me. I know r/fifthworldproblems won’t become an even more cringe place taken over by Dr. Who/SCP/Star Wars fans if my first rule is that posts can’t reference existing canon. There’s no real power trip to it if the ants in your ant farm hate you, but the subreddit only has a defined purpose and culture if the same people are committed to those things.
Give it to someone apathetic or hostile to that original vision and the whole place goes to shit. The piggies only see shit, they see it get upvoted, and they only post shit because they know shit gets upvoted.
except this one steak company has tried to bribe me
Shit, did :trump-anguish: send you an email?
