Ask HN: Why doesn't Reddit give it's mod's a revenue cut | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why doesn't Reddit give it's mod's a revenue cut

5 pointssf4lifer18 comments

There's no need to pay the mods when they're already doing it for free, with many more willing to take their place. Some of the mods do it for power, but I would hope most do it for their love of good discussion and their community.

If it really comes down to it, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Reddit admins just kick out all the protesting mods, finding replacements will likely be pretty easy.

Edit: Mass removal is already happening. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36412619

The mods of several large subreddits were all kicked out, leaving the subreddits unmoderated. Multiple of these removed mods are also locked out of their accounts.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/14eq8ip/the_entir...

Because they took 1.3 billion dollars from investors who want their money back, moderators currently do the job for free, and Reddit is looking to _cut_ spend, not increase it.

Reddit's biggest risk is community revolt. Financially incentivizing moderators to keep the community aligned with the company's interest seems like something investors would reward (even if the profit margin goes down a little).

In general I agree with you, but the actions of Reddit's leadership over the past few months (and especially the past few weeks) lead me to believe they've completely lost the plot and don't understand the dynamics of their own community. They can say all they want that they value the contributions of the moderators, but their actions speak the truth.

Exactly. Seems like the Mods should form a union and demand a rev share. I have to imagine leadership would capitulate

Supply exceeds demand for free moderators. They have no incentive to change this.

Well, the current situation seems like enough incentive to at least discuss this as a possible solution...

What does paying them solve? They’d just become even bigger entitled control freaks.

Why not pay the users instead of the mods?

If there's a market for paying users directly for content, and also as a way to not need mods, someday this market will bubble up.

It's a minimum wage / gigwork job at best. You pay for it, you'll get that quality of work.

If you pay people in power, as they do, people will put their heart and soul into it. Not everything is a monetary transaction, and there are better incentives.

What's the average tenure of a mod?

It’s worth noting that people don’t pay for a lot of online services, such as access to information in platforms such as reddit. Advertisement is also loathed by public. It’s a tough business, and there isn’t all that much to trickle down.

Youtube's revenue was $30B last year

They have no reason to pay them. Hell I think Reddit could find a cheaper way of using ChatGPT and making their own inhouse mods then pay existing mods who go on strike.

Because Reddit took VC money and need to give their investors a return from it, in the form of an IPO.

Giving money to mods won't help their IPO roadshow or make them profitable.

I think investors will welcome the model. Youtube/tiktok pay content creators. Paying mods doesn't seem that far fetched...

Because Langley already pays them plenty.

Mods are overrated, easily replaceable and do not contribute to Reddit's success.

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