In the course of site-wide protestsallegedly about some API changes But Really With some Reddit moderators coming under attack due to the increasing repression of what has traditionally been a community-run corporate site, some Reddit moderators have decided to hit CEO Steve Huffman on the only place it seems it hurts: his wallet the site.
After a disastrous round of press interviewswhere Huffman sounded more like a drill tweet as a CEO and it realized mass blackouts would not change his mindMods from some of the biggest Reddit communities have decided to switch their subreddits to NSFW (Not Suitable for Work), a toggle usually reserved for things like porn and, crucially, a sort of subreddit where Reddit doesn’t have ads can switch, and so on can not make money with it.
Communities that made the switch included r/MildlyInteresting, r/TIHI (Thanks I Hate It), and r/interestingasfuck. It’s a smart move (and more legal than…). Ransom for the company with stolen data), and one that shows how long mods will protest the actions of Huffman and his team, but it’s also one that Reddit says violates their “content guidelines and moderator code of conduct.” As a result, and how The edge reportthese mods are now “logged out and banned from their account” by “a Reddit admin account” and their subreddits – with millions of the members – appear as completely unmoderated. The accounts of these former mods were also banned for seven days.
It’s incredibly funny to see the effort Huffman and his staff put into this. They are in a big panic about their profit margins –and more importantly in her case, potential future stock value– for ignoring the fact that all of Reddit’s value is based on unpaid labor. The site is literally Nothing without its users (who “provide content”) and mods (who work for free), and Huffman worrying about ad revenue out here where none of those users see a dime? And send the message that he’d rather leave entire communities unmoderated than put up with a few protests?
The Internet has brought many dangers to our civilization, but it is one has good for publicizing how stupid these CEOs really are.
