this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2023
1522 points (99.1% liked)

Malicious Compliance

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People conforming to the letter, but not the spirit, of a request. For now, this includes text posts, images, videos and links. Please ensure that the “malicious compliance” aspect is apparent - if you’re making a text post, be sure to explain this part; if it’s an image/video/link, use the “Body” field to elaborate.

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Also check out the following communities:

!fakehistoryporn@lemmy.world !unethicallifeprotips@lemmy.world

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

The subreddit r/steam, about the digital game storefront, received as many other subreddits a notice to open the community again, or else the mods would be replaced by those who abide.

The mods followed suit posting the following automod message under every new post:

As ya'll likely know, we've been dark to support the blackout against reddit's antagonistic behavior towards its own userbase. The admins sent us a message today saying we must open or get removed, so here we are.

For those of you browsing this subreddit on non-official apps (Reddit is Fun, Apollo, Sync, Boost, etc), they will break on July 1st due to reddit's new policies. We're opening back up but will leave permanent stickies in the subreddit and threads to keep folks in the know.

Our Discord [contains link to https://discord.gg/steam] server is active, don't forget to check it out.

Good luck and god speed.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

On visit, you quickly notice there is a community wide effort to focus on the literal topic of the given name and post about vapors, steam trains, and kitchen appliances. While posts about the gaming platform get downvoted.

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[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 200 points 1 year ago (11 children)

This blackout has really shown which subs have actual in-touch moderators, and which ones are just the admins' puppy dogs

A while ago, I had a comment auto-removed on WPT and got a message it was because my account was "not in good standing." When I messaged the WPT mods, they explained that they were test piloting a new tool the admins plan to use. For example, if you have a throwaway email address, no email address, or are connecting via VPN, you may be "not in good standing."

With things like that on the horizon, even if they roll back on what they're doing now, we're still not likely to have a very good time on that site.

I can't blame the mods who are trying to make change through protest (and who may not even be aware of the "not in good standing" BS), but I don't plan to stick around, and I don't foresee a very bright future for reddit at all.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 90 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What a great idea. Just use an algorithm to ban any unprofitable user. Can't lose!

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[–] Cynosure@lemmy.world 49 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Honesty I think the big political subs are incredibly bot infested. Political content is an amazing way to make people mad and get them to spend more time on a platform, increasing engagement and letting reddit deliver more ads. It's not like it would be the first time they used bots to drive engagement and make communities look bigger.

[–] linearchaos@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Worse than bots. Active foreign influencers.

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[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The whole site is bot infested! Especially the large subs, but I've personally had scambots pop into my posts even on smaller subreddits.

People who say they won't leave reddit because "there's no good alternative" really have their head in the sand about how bad it really is. Nearly every alternative I've seen suggested is at least better than reddit (except for the really far-right ones like voat).

[–] enragedchowder@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Pretty much any big sub is totally unusable. The only reason to be on Reddit is for the niche hobby subs

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[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't forget that for many years reddit was the home of the most inciteful Donald Trump propaganda platform with r/t_d.

[–] goat@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 year ago

and dont forget reddit is also the home of the most inciteful Chinese propaganda platform with /r/sino

[–] onepinksheep@kbin.social 41 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Ah. So basically China's Social Credit system, but for Reddit.

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[–] zalack@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

To try and be charitable to the WPT mods: that sub is a magnet for bots and bad actors. All those measures sound like a shotgun approach to combating spam to me.

I really don't envy having to moderate a large politically oriented sub like that. I imagine it burns you out fast to being open and fair-minded in how you approach moderation due to the sheer avalanche of bullshit you're confronted with cleaning up.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 18 points 1 year ago

I do understand that point of view, but the fact that they're piloting a really invasive tool on behalf of the admins and subsequently refused to go black -- these make me feel far less charitable

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[–] quortez@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago

I can't imagine a website so anti-CCP it utterly internalized the social credit meme (despite it being somewhat more nuanced in reality, I still don't approve of it, just learned it gets exaggerated in the west) would take well to an invisible 'reputation system' that demands data collection and punishes privacy actions.

The vibes continue to deteriorate.

[–] QuestioningEspecialy@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A while ago, I had a comment auto-removed on WPT and got a message it was because my account was "not in good standing." When I messaged the WPT mods, they explained that they were test piloting a new tool the admins plan to use.

I'mma need some sauce for dat pasta. That's too wild to not post screenshots.

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[–] Hypersapien@lemmy.world 123 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Reddit is trying to go to war with the kind of people responsible for Boaty McBoatface and they think they're going to win.

[–] Fihn@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Reddit execs don't care when people post like this. They aren't browsing the sub, all they see is user engagement is back up and that's a win. They can sell that to advertisers as a win. If you showed them the page they'd think it's weird but they probably wouldn't know it have ever been any different.

The only win to be had with the sub re-opening is to post nothing at all.

[–] nexguy@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Hardly anyone is going to spend hours browsing pictures of steam and engaging with it vs actual content so this certainly is not great for reddit.

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[–] DarthRedLeader@lemmy.world 62 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I think these malicious compliance subreddit responses are as fun as the next person, but honest question: doesn't this work out in Reddit's favor? They don't care what's posted as long as content is being generated and traffic being driven to their site, right?

[–] Aurix@lemmy.world 77 points 1 year ago (3 children)

There is the nuance to it. The subscribers did not sign up for this initially. Therefore they will have to build a new community up which certainly won't have as many subscribers for a very long time and none of the post history.

At the same time posts actually asking about the Steam platform get downvoted heavily and thus dissuade further interaction.

Effectively the sub becomes useless, just the same as if it had stayed closed. It will drop in engagement in the long term.

The John Oliver memes attract more mainstream attention and clearly signal to investors the platform is not healthy, irrespective of the traffic it causes.

With more and more subreddits joining in on this, the All page gets flooded with shitposts annoying everyone. Those who stay certainly won't want to deal with this all the time and unsubscribe.

Of course group dynamics are unpredictable at times, but reddit is certainly more in turmoil than whatever traffic.

[–] Chailles@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Not to mention that the argument that moderators are acting in bad faith against what the users want isn't really holding up if a rather decent chunk of active users are in favor of doing this.

[–] ramennoodle@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

r/pics held a poll and their users CHOSE the john oliver memes. other subs are doing something similar, giving 'go back to normal' as an option because otherwise the admins might just remove them anyway for not giving users a real choice.

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[–] Furbag@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Not really. The traffic they're getting from it is unsustainable and any would-be investor who is paying attention will notice this. This is really more a tactic to shatter the narrative that the mods do not represent the will of the general user and they are forcing the protests onto them.

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[–] DesTeufelsAvocado@feddit.de 43 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It makes me sad to see what happens on Reddit, but actions like this keep my hopes up. Not for Reddit itself, but for the community and its people, wherever it will be. :)

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[–] sin_free_for_00_days@lemmy.one 38 points 1 year ago (8 children)

On one hand, I really wish there was a RES add-on for Lemmy. Just so I could filter out the cascade of posts about reddit. I left the site and don't give a shit if it burns or not. On the other hand, this is pretty funny to read about.

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[–] wolfeh@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago

This is absolutely hilarious.

[–] wotsit_sandwich@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love these wonderfully petty reactions to the Reddit issues.

Are there any other good examples out there for me to enjoy (I have already seen r/pics.)

[–] LufyCZ@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

r/art is now only allowing artsy John Oliver pics...

[–] TurboDiesel@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I honestly can't wait to see this episode of Last Week Tonight

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[–] GhostCowboy76@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The best way for the Reddit community to fight back is to leave to another community. In order for that to happen the Fediverse options have to keep growing and improving, like they are, so that people leaving feel comfortable knowing they have a good option. Reddit will be dead in 6 months.

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[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago

This is the way.

[–] a_crappy_pirate@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago

lmao that's fucking beautiful and gives me a few ideas .....

[–] BasicWhiteGirl@kbin.social 24 points 1 year ago

Those beautiful, beautifil soldiers on the frontline.

[–] d_bradr@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Epic sub bouta get pretty poetic. Wonder if we can pull it off with other subs. Trees being about trees, Rimjob Steve being about a man named Steve who makes vehicle rims, Piracy with actual pirates, Cats vs tech being about cats actively destroying pieces of technology etc

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[–] CorrodedCranium@lemmy.fmhy.ml 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is going to be interesting in the long term for a lot of subreddits when people sort by top posts. Similar to when ever sub had a net neutrality post stickied

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[–] root@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

From an ad revenue point of view, does this matter? Posts/ views/ clicks are all the same to them, no?

[–] SomethingBurger@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago

People will eventually stop visiting if a subreddit no longer contains content that is interesting for them.

[–] pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"It's an Albany expression" - so good :D

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[–] _Hyperion@kbin.social 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Why funny, this just gives Reddit noise and numbers regarding blackout and numbers

[–] Aurix@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago (1 children)

u/spez tries to paint it was just mods trying to be powertripping and not standing for the communities. This refutes the sentiment along with the reactions of /r/pics and the likely coming r/aww action.

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[–] Mishmash2000 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This is terrible! I went to /r/steam to learn about steamed hams but they were clearly grilled! I'm not even sure they were hams?!? 1 star, would not visit again!!

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It's brilliant.

[–] FizzlePopBerryTwist@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Uh

c/steam ?

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