Hacker News Reader

What escalation? These mods need Reddit, but Reddit doesn't need them at all. Suppose Reddit banned every single mod today. They'd have a rush of incoming volunteers, and the quality of moderation might actually improve if anything. I'm saying this as someone who is pretty bummed about losing 3rd party apps.

View on HN

I think you have this quite backwards? Moderating is awful, thankless, unpaid work. Why would a mod "need" an awful thankless unpaid job and why would Reddit have a rush of competent, honest, qualified people willing to replace the mods?

> Why would a mod "need" an awful thankless unpaid job and why would Reddit have a rush of competent, honest, qualified people willing to replace the mods?

It meets some psychological need. That might be a sense of belonging, power, purpose, etc. It's why you don't need to pay mods to do this "awful" work. The reason why Reddit would instantly see a rush of people willing to replace them is because that many people want to be mods, for the same reasons.

Whether they're "competent, honest, or qualified" is another question. It's why I love to see technology automate out the role (e.g. community notes).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com