I should begin by mentioning that I am (was) a moderator of three subreddits: one large subreddit, one NSFW subreddit and a medical-related subreddit. After u/spez's calamitous AMA, I joined Lemmy and haven't looked back. I am really enjoying the Lemmy/KBin vibe. It is very much an alpha (almost beta) product and the ad free, corporate free, decentralized nature of the fediverse has a thrill of its own.
Over the past couple of months, Reddit has done everything it can to show its moderators that they are low-value and easily replaceable. They've done this by removing technical tools, killing off third party applications, crippling API changes and jaw-droppingly bad public relations. Heavily used products like /r/toolbox are no longer being actively developed. When Reddit API implements a breaking, non-backwards compatible change, that tool will also die.
Yet the moderators of Reddit continue to moderate. They stay and help Reddit build Reddit. They continue to work for free; to allow Reddit to make money off of their work despite being abused. When I see things like the comment section on this post, I no longer feel sorry for the Reddit moderators still on the site. I see them as a sad, sorry group who cling to the false hope of a corporate turnaround. They could leave Reddit. They should leave Reddit.
These moderators are in an abusive relationship with Reddit, Inc. I might understand the argument, "we built this community, we can't just abandon it". But would you give the same advice to someone else in an abusive relationship? I get that the analogy between the mods and the corp is an imperfect one, yet it is similar enough to be valid, in my opinion.
Moderating is really hard. It is hard and thankless and never-ending. Finding good moderators who can handle the marathon nature of the gig is incredibly difficult. If Reddit moderators were to delete their moderating bots, downgrade their automod "code" and dial back their modding efforts to 5 min/week or less, it would materially hurt Reddit as a product.
The sunk-cost fallacy is a real thing. If the Reddit mods understood this, they'd take their talents elsewhere. But as long as they continue to help Reddit build Reddit, one shouldn't feel sorry for them.
They could leave. I did and I've never been happier.
Wait, people felt bad for the mods??
I never did. Far too many of them were power-hungry douchebags. We all knew they officially worked for free, but you won't convince me that there weren't some kind of backdoor deals which gave them money or other perks from advertisers. Plus there were at least some of them who were there to spread propaganda - when a Bernie Sanders sub is actively trying to promote the idea that a vote for Trump is the best pick for liberals, then you know some crazy shit is going down.
Yeah, so I have no idea why anyone would feel bad for them. They have put themselves in that position, all so SPEZ can take Reddit public and make a few billion dollars over the deal.
how would that stay secret
I have no proof, but I find it difficult to believe that /r/gadgets mods spammed every thread for months with raycon earbuds giveaway only for the good of the community and got nothing in return. Raycon, the same brand that pays every other youtuber for advertising their earbuds.
I won't generalize that all mods were making money from modding, but what is true is that if you have some authority, there is almost always some opportunity for corruption.
That is a good example. No way were (some) of these guys not getting free swag or some other compensation. Especially some of the more esoteric political subs right at the height of the previous big election cycle. Bad actors where flooding Reddit with misinformation so there is no way some of the mods weren't in on it.