While I’m sympathetic to the view that ~$2M is too much to spend, the quality of moderation here is much higher than in any open-access, high-volume space I am aware of on Reddit.[1] So I don’t think it is helpful to compare the mod workload here with what “reddit mods handle” (usually large mod teams on the major subreddits).
I think some subreddits do a good job of moderating to create a culture which is different from the default reddit culture, e.g. /r/askhistorians. See this post for an example, where there are a bunch of comments deleted, including one answer which didn’t cite enough sources. Maybe this is what you have in mind when you refer to “moderating with an iron fist” though, which you mention might be destructive!
Seems like the challenge with reddit moderation is that users are travelling between subreddits all the time, and most have low quality/effort discussion norms. Whereas on the Forum, the userbase is more siloed, which I guess would make good quality moderation easier.
While I’m sympathetic to the view that ~$2M is too much to spend, the quality of moderation here is much higher than in any open-access, high-volume space I am aware of on Reddit.[1] So I don’t think it is helpful to compare the mod workload here with what “reddit mods handle” (usually large mod teams on the major subreddits).
Curating higher-quality content by moderating with an iron fist is easier, but would destroy a significant portion of the Forum’s value in my opinion.
I think some subreddits do a good job of moderating to create a culture which is different from the default reddit culture, e.g. /r/askhistorians. See this post for an example, where there are a bunch of comments deleted, including one answer which didn’t cite enough sources. Maybe this is what you have in mind when you refer to “moderating with an iron fist” though, which you mention might be destructive!
Seems like the challenge with reddit moderation is that users are travelling between subreddits all the time, and most have low quality/effort discussion norms. Whereas on the Forum, the userbase is more siloed, which I guess would make good quality moderation easier.