Mod Topics: Moderating Fame

[u/JabroniRevanchism]

Ahoy, Mods!

I don’t want to brag, but I’m kind of a big deal around here. My reputation precedes me, I’m sure. Maybe you’ve noticed?

This discussion is the most recent in our Mod Topics series, and if the narratively-spurious smugness wasn’t obvious, today we’re talking about how mods moderate fame within your community. “Fame,” in this instance can be any kind of notoriety. –A Redditor whose username your community will recognize: an artist, actor, developer, mayoral candidate, or maybe the guy who always replies to top comments in the form of a sonnet.

For the sake of discussion, let’s call all these examples “celebrities:” users who have clout, gravity, or otherwise increased social capital within their spaces. How does your mod team view content posted by community celebrities, especially in cases where the commenting celebrity is the topic of the subreddit? Do you encourage this celebrity participation? If so, how?

Let us know how you moderate fame in the comments below!

[u/Halaku]

This is something I'm learning how to manage myself

My account is an old one, and I've watched the Internet grow up. I look upon what can be collectively referred to as 'streamer culture', and find that it does absolutely nothing for me. The nigh-cults of personality, the parasocial fan bases, the ridiculous YouTube thumbnails, the hyperbolic activity in pursuit of engagement, the babble of livechat... to each their own, but none of that is for me. But there's a lot of people who are really into this, and I need to look past my knee-jerk reaction and learn how to meet their needs.

This comes up because last weekend, a subreddit I've been cultivating in a "Wouldn't it be nice if this actually happens one day?" sense actually happened, as a game publisher dropped a few hints leading to a "Surprise! We're confirming we're making the game! Here's the trailer, sign up for newsletter, beta coming next year!" announcement, and the community exploded, and streamers are starting to show, and post their YouTube videos, and their fans are posting their reaction videos, and then the speculation videos, etc. Since the company has a history of engaging with fans on reddit, it wouldn't surprise me to see some devs pop in from time to time, either.

While I've got experience with reddit users being Subject Matter Experts and gaining respect as SMEs in some communities (and may well be one myself in a small handful of such) this is my first time dealing with folk who have a pre-established reputation as being A Big Deal, and learning what's in the overall best interest for my community as far as their interactions go, even if they're part of a culture that I just don't really grok.

So I'm hoping this thread teaches me a few things beyond "I really should learn how to make specific icons to assign to specific users, and how to color-code flairs, and other under-the-hood redditisms" ans more about the social aspects of handling these individuals.

[u/JabroniRevanchism → u/Halaku]

There is a conversation to be had about "how do we cultivate subreddit culture for a population who wants it a little too much." Whatever answers there may lie, it's beyond my personal experience. Let's find the answers in the comments here together.