this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2024
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Moderators protect us from the worst of the internet. That comes at huge personal cost. (theconversation.com)
submitted 5 months ago by Dot@feddit.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] krafty@feddit.online 54 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I was a moderator on a web forum many years ago. I also had my own forums for a while. Some of the stuff that people would post probably scarred me for life. It was a time when things like rotten.com and goatse were popular. I can only imagine what it's like now on a big web site like reddit where they probably have a lot more traffic.

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Right there with you. I moderated on Gaia Online back in the day, and every now and then someone would get their jollies off by posting gore and CSAM. And of course, the mod team would have to clean it up because that’s what they do.

I actually had a better time modding on Reddit. At least no one posted CSAM once a month.

Though Reddit is the place I ended up modding a video that fucked me up for a little while…

[–] db2@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Was it Mr Hands?

[–] RedditRefugee69 2 points 5 months ago

Nah, it was a Rick Roll.

[–] sfxrlz@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Im afraid to ask but also don’t wanna look it up. What’s happened to the mister‘s hands ?

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

Nothing, his hands were fine, he was just horsin’ around.

[–] T156@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago (3 children)

For a direct answer, he had penetrative intercourse with a horse (receiving). Surprisingly, he survived the attempt, but perished from complications.

[–] db2@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

He didn't survive long. The video has a sound like a big piece of velcro getting opened.. it wasn't velcro.

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[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 months ago

Nah, that type of stuff never phased me.

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 52 points 5 months ago

Well, it's one of those things where you either learn to compartmentalize, or you quit fast.

I moderated forums back in the early days of the internet. It was rough some days, to the point I had someone show up at my house because I wouldn't let them abuse other users.

I moderated on reddit, and it was both easier and worse. People like to complain, but automod being able to filter out so much of the worst without having to see it at all made the job bearable. If I'd had to wade through the bigotry, the worst slurs, and similar stuff that a well crafted automod rule could magic away, I wouldn't have done it at all.

But the fact that you have to constantly adjust the automod to catch up with the most persistent assholes is draining.

And that's not getting into the stuff that isn't hate speech, misogyny, bigotry, and that kind of infection. People think they can say anything they want, any way they want, and you stopping them means you're the asshole, even after that went on a rant about fucking someone's wife and kids (seriously, that's a ban I had to make) because someone didn't agree with their opinion of a flashlight. Seriously, that fucking happened.

Point being that while there are mods that go too far, the internet, and places like reddit or lemmy, would be unbearable without it. There has to be someone making those calls, keeping things from turning into the non stop scroll of venom and porn that used to be way too common back in the day.

[–] Rob200@lemmings.world 38 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I can imagine having to go through hours to days worth of post related to hatespeech alone. How many months has Lemmy been around now?

[–] subignition@piefed.social 49 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Having done it for a living for a few months, you cannot possibly imagine how bad it gets.

No, seriously. I already had very little faith in humanity going in, and thought I'd seen the worst the internet had to offer. Scraping the actual bottom of the barrel is difficult to even describe. I had to force a stunned sense of humor about it to detach myself a bit as a coping mechanism.

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

It sounds like it might be a good job for sociopaths. Since nearly everything I've read from those who have actually done that moderation is about the effect on them due to their empathy, a lack of natural empathy seems like it would be advantageous.

I wonder if there's been a study on that.

[–] SuiXi3D@fedia.io 31 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Those folks are too busy being CEOs of the worlds largest companies abusing their workers.

[–] Vilian@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 months ago

And politians

[–] Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You need empathy to moderate. What other reason is there to do it? You want to make the community a better place by keeping things civil and on-topic. You also need to be able to level with people about their criticisms and concerns.

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

There are varying levels of moderation, and not all moderation is unpaid volunteer like lemmy and reddit. Not all moderation is just morons fighting or porn being posted where it shouldn't. There are dedicated moderation teams that handle the worst things like child sexual abuse verification and reporting at sites like Facebook, etc. Those are pretty objective based determinations that don't need to handle moderation criticism or concerns in any way shape or form.

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[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 20 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I think it's actually been around for three or four years, but I didn't start using it until the Reddit API stuff last June (2023).

[–] donuts@lemmy.world 38 points 5 months ago (1 children)

As a moderator and admin for countless Discord communities, yeah, I've seen some vile shit.

Pretending that it doesn't have an impact doesn't help in the long run. Secondary Trauma is a thing. Create a workflow to distance yourself from the content, plan breaks, and please talk to someone (qualified) about it.

https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/33166

[–] namarupa@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Thank you for your service o7

[–] actually@lemmy.world 16 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I tried to moderate in a large subreddit and all I did was protect people who I did not like, or who got into slap fights. Quit after a few months.

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago

You did the right choice this is not a proper thing to waste your life on and the people you did it for don't want it either.

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 10 points 5 months ago (14 children)

I detest moderators, I do not trust them, I do not want them skewing my reality, get out GET OUT, I don't want your help, I don't want you, I don't like you I rather wade through a terabyte of spam and cheese pizza than tolerate you silently altering my worldview one more fucking time.

[–] MoogleMaestro@lemmy.zip 24 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It's literally crazy to say something like this on Lemmy of all places.

Don't like moderators? Fine, try to host your own instance and your own communities. You'll find quickly that it turns to shit because it's actually pretty hard to do well.

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Don't care, hard disagree, I rather complete chaos than a boot on my throat.

I can handle chaos just fine.

It's my decision, moderation should only ever be an optional subscription service rather than a jackbooted imposition.

[–] tb_@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Then go to 4chan or some other lawless place, what are you doing here?

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 5 months ago

Funnily enough, 4chan is quite actively moderated

[–] chaonaut@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I miss when signal-to-noise ratio was common parlance of the Internet.

Making usable spaces is tough work, but having worthwhile content drowned in an ocean of noise is seemingly the default of corporate controlled media anymore, so much have they abandoned paying attention to what they publish. That you don't know who is editorializing and moderating the places you frequent and have opinions on the job they're doing says to me that you're not doing the work that being media literate requires, which is all the more important when so much of it is generated content with no consideration given to reality.

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Give me noise all day long, I can't pull signal that got squelched out.

Moderation must be a subscription.

Raw feed or die.

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[–] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 6 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Probably wouldn't be such a high cost in ð first place if ðey didn't hoover up every open mod spot for ð power trip

[–] LucasWaffyWaf@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (7 children)

Unrelated, but genuine curiosity - Why the usage of the ~~thorn~~ eth rather than spelling the word "the" out? Ain't bothered by it or nothin', just interesting to see out in the wild online!

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 5 months ago

They’re just trying to be quirky.

[–] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That is not the thorn. Þ is the thorn.

ð is eth.

[–] LucasWaffyWaf@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

Corrected, thanks.

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[–] femtech@midwest.social 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I was only a mod on 1 subreddit and the vial stuff people would post to be assholes was sad, like they had nothing better to do then search for nasty gore shit to post on a nice meme sun because they were offended by others happiness.

[–] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 7 points 5 months ago

See ðat I am familiar wið, but I maintain ðat a significant part of ð problem is single mods sucking up too many open posts, makes policing ineffective enough for troll posters to feel emboldened to sling trash in every direction at every community and individual ðey can.

[–] T156@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

But this isn't voluntary moderation (though that might also have that issue), this is about the people who moderate for a living. So people on Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter), who see the posts that you report, and have to work with all of that.

Those people typically aren't going around just hoovering up a mod spot for the fun of it.

[–] Mocheeze@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

On the other hand, I'm a mod for /r/GameCubeHacks and it's great because I have access to all the piracy links the other mods remove. 🤙

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

kinda nice to know i am the worst of the internet. hope it costs them a lot more for the priviledge

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