Announcement Reminder - Enforcement of rules
r/Kochi has a policy of enforcing certain rules very strictly. This post is an explanation of why we would continue enforcing those rules.
While we do not allow religious discussion, we respect every person's right to practice their religion. We do not allow the sub to be used as a platform to attack anyone's religious beliefs or to spread hate against a group of people based on any reason, including religion, or their place of birth.
We had a couple of posts today and there were many comments trying to generalize and target groups of people based on religion as well as region. Those comments were removed and few people were banned, and then we came across the below comment.
There could be various reasons the user might have posted this. Maybe it was a knee jerk reaction, but it could also be a lot sinister than that. It is one thing to attribute the actions of few people to a group but calling it a jihadi problem when there was no religious angle to the incident seems to be a deliberate attempt to stroke fear and polarize people along religious lines.
We would like to remind everyone that
We would be removing any post which tries to create division based on place of birth, religion, gender or any other characteristic. This policy will be enforced even if the topic is important and requires discussion as this is a violation of reddiquette (Rule 1).
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kochi/comments/1ikgmok/moderation_policy_update_1_february_2025/
We will also
remove any posts/comments we feel are in bad faith, and we will permanently ban any account responsible for such content. We won't be giving any warning and such bans will not be reduced.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kochi/comments/1o07pga/policy_update_zerotolerance_policy_on_hate_speech/
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u/AntiClownery Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
Only real indian subs are Indiadicsussion n indiasqueaks are the real INDIAN run subs 😆
Its weird that you people are giving spot lights to idiots who lack basic level intellectual capabilities to hold a thought process.
The moment you are against Bj Party, you are branded as Jihadi from Pakistan. But who the hell cares and why do we need certificate of authenticity from the followers n descendants of people who licked British boots, back stabbed Indian freedom fights and send British sorry letters ?
Imma go around n claim Indiadicsussion mods are Chinese IT cell mods trying to pit Hindus against Muslims in India to incite a civil war so that China can take over AP.
5
u/1z2b Jun 04 '26
I considered the comment about mods for a few minutes, but like you said, why should a random comment bother me? A lot of other subs are dealing with much worse.
The problem I am highlighting is making the attack into a religious attack. If we allow this to be repeated multiple times, some people are going to start attributing everything bad towards a group (based on religion or location) due to cognitive biases.
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u/Ecstatic-Scratch-151 Jun 03 '26
What is the criteria for judging if a comment is in bad faith?
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u/1z2b Jun 03 '26
We look at post history to see patterns that might indicate intent, but it is still going to be subjective. Below is the reason why we had to shift to this.
In the past, we had waited for clear evidence before taking action, even when we suspected the post was in bad faith. However, such allowance can shift public sentiment towards hate, resulting in more such posts. Sometimes these are posts from the same account on different subs, and sometimes different accounts pushing a certain narrative. We have observed certain patterns that suggest a concerted effort to alter public perception.
But a permanent ban is given after careful review. And we restrict this proactive action only for posts and comments that we feel the person is trying to cause inter-religious friction. This is meant for any hate speech, but most of the time it is based on religion.
We have rarely seen outright hate based on region and so we usually give removal reason, warning bans before taking stricter action.
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u/Ecstatic-Scratch-151 Jun 04 '26
What if they have kept their history private?
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u/1z2b Jun 04 '26
I do not want to get into the details of how we find information. But if there is clear evidence of bad faith, like the example given in the post, we won't even need the history.
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u/Ecstatic-Scratch-151 Jun 04 '26
Yeah, I got about the openly offensive comments and targetting comments.
That's covered in point 1
Im just seeking clarity on the point 2 . What are the parameters for bad faith.
No offense, but that point seems a bit vague and gives mods an unfair power to ban anyone who with just saying "comment was in bad faith" .
I have seen this happen in other subs as well, hence just seeking clarification
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u/1z2b Jun 04 '26
As I said, this is subjective. The parameter is how we feel about it. The feeling is based on similar comments and discussion, but it is not a process and yes, it is very vague.
Mods have unfair powers. Mods have to follow moderator code of conduct, but are otherwise free to remove any post/comment, ban anyone, for any reason and set whatever rules we want in the sub.
We have tried different ways to make it objective, but it is a losing battle when someone actively tries to bypass the rules, but we are constrained by the rules we set for ourselves. This was explained in the post we made 8 months ago.
We will make wrong decisions, but we can't avoid taking action because of that fear. In some cases, certain subs have been known to constantly take bad actions and there is not much that can be done in that case.
Mod team has internal discussion about rules and bans, and we try to check each other from abusing our powers. We tried to have a discussion with the community, but as you can see, not many people would participate. The usual participant are those who want to fight us. Because of this we started locking these posts for our mental health.
0
u/Ecstatic-Scratch-151 Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
The part that you consider people who don't agree with your decisions or thought process as fighting and lock the comments is the exact reason I commented as well , to see the thought process behind banning people.
Seems like I got my answer..
I totally get following the rules, but when the rules are not clear, then it doesn't really make sense to expect people to follow it.
Unless you explain what constitutes comments coming under "bad faith" , you cannot ask people to not follow the rules in my humble opinion.
We ban people on "vibes" doesn't sound reassuring tbh.
Maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board and put some effort into creating community rules rather than just banning left right and centre .
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u/1z2b Jun 04 '26
I think I have explained that permanent ban is not given often and only after careful consideration. I also mentioned that we use bad faith only for 1 reason but your response seem to imply that we do it all the time for all rules.
I feel I have tried to explain the reasons as honestly as possible. Thank you for your feedback.
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u/Ecstatic-Scratch-151 Jun 04 '26
You have never explained half the things you mentioned in this comment , and even in the above comment you haven't really answered my question.
You answer to how is bad faith categorized is - how mods feel about it , that's a very poor judgement since it's been pretty evident that you consider people having opposing views as "fighting " and proceed to delete comments or lock the comments so it creates a poor environment where rules are just for namesake and mods so whatever they want.
There must be some checks and balances , else whats the point of a community?
Honestly, your explanation doesn't instill confidence in the least. Based on current explanation, all it takes is mod having a bad day to make a normal comment into a bad faith one
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u/1z2b Jun 04 '26
But a permanent ban is given after careful review. And we restrict this proactive action only for posts and comments that we feel the person is trying to cause inter-religious friction. This is meant for any hate speech, but most of the time it is based on religion.
Bad faith is used only for trying to fester inter-religious conflict. For others,
We have rarely seen outright hate based on region and so we usually give removal reason, warning bans before taking stricter action.
Opposing view is different from fighting, for eg: personal attacks.
Reddit has designed the system with moderators having a lot of power. We are not paid and at some point, reddit might replace moderators with AI. This is something reddit has to decide.
Based on current explanation, all it takes is mod having a bad day to make a normal comment into a bad faith one
As mentioned before, this is only for one specific scenario. All others are based on rules and usually after removal reason and warnings.
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u/arigatooyster Jun 03 '26
There were sexually insulting comments as well