And for those of us with no interest in following the mods, can /r/Startrek be opened again? If the old mods moved platforms, there’s no need to keep this private.
People openly talk about this as the reason that HackerNews continues to be such a vibrant community.
Replacing the mods will change the community, full stop. Could be for the better , could be for the worse.
Conversely, the mods can also be mercurial and act like little tyrants over the subreddit. /r/StarTrek in particular is known for stifling criticism around 'new trek' and spinoff subreddits like /r/DaystromInstitute were created by people tired of the mods' actions.
It also raises an interesting question as to why the mods have so much power in the first place and if any community recourse should exist when subscribers do not like the mods' actions. For one thing it does seem weird that the mods of r/StarTrek are allowed to unilaterally close the subreddit.
I also don't think mods should be able to turn /r subs private. The private subs should be on a different path like /p. If you turn a /r sub private then it converts to /p and the /r subname becomes available again.
I suspect that some reform around private subs will be instituted in the near-ish future since it is the primary tool used by mods in the boycott.
Reddit should be removing these mods, adding new ones, and reopening subs. Mods shouldn't get to hold entire communities hostage when they throw a tantrum.
Anyone can moderate a subreddit, these mods aren't special and they're completely replaceable. They should be reminded of this.
You're volunteering?
A sub like /r/startrek is going to be popular by default. That's why people are squatting on subs like /r/ps8 right now even though a PlayStation 8 is probably 20 years away from being an actual product.
It's hard to get a real idea how much support there is amongst the user base.
I standby what I said though, mods shouldn't have the power to take away entire communities.
Any 'big fish in a small pond' personality type who gets a kick out of exercising what little power they have. There is generally no shortage of people signing up for that position
> they’re completely replaceable
Not really. The pool of people both willing to do the above and are any good at keeping the peace is pretty finite
Above is why I stopped being a mod. It’s a pretty thankless task
They have far more power than regular users, they are by definition some of the most privileged users on the site. If a mod makes a decision that's it for regular users, there's nothing they can do about it.
> It’s a pretty thankless task
Reddit mods have earned their reputation. It's not surprising it's not only thankless, but generally despised.
There are instances where reddit has given other users control of a sub because the mods were MIA. There is a whole subreddit where people request to be given mod rights for inactive subs - /r/redditrequest.
This was happening well before the boycott.