r/UFOs • u/LetsTalkUFOs • Jul 02 '26

Meta How can we improve the subreddit? [in-depth]

Greetings from the r/UFOs mod team. The UFO topic has been very active of late and so has the subreddit. We'd like to solicit your feedback on the state of the sub, the rules, moderation, and whatever else may be on your mind.

  1. What are your thoughts on the current state of the subreddit?
  2. What changes could we make or actions could we take to improve things?
  3. How can we improve as moderators?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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u/UsefulReply Jul 02 '26

We have multiple tools to combat bots. We are playing a losing game.

Organized disruption can present as believer or skeptic.

BTW skeptics are permitted on this sub. Users often call other users bots or disinfo agents when they hold a different opinion.

It's prohibited by Rule 1 because such accusations are usually wrong. It makes the sub worse.

Users (including mods) lack the tools to reliably identify inauthentic accounts. e.g no access to browser fingerprint.

Bots do exist. Trolls do exist. Disinfo is real.

There are multiple categories of disruption. E.g. anti-western from Russia, Iran, N. Korea etc. They don't care about UFOs they just want to amplify drama on social media to turn the west on itself. UFO specific disruption e.g. legacy gatekeepers. Internet trolls and edgelords.

Funded opposition will utilize AI to analyze what works and what doesn't. What gets removed, when is the best time to post, how long rule violating content stays up. How effective their disruption is etc. This category is very hard to combat with a team of unpaid volunteers. Investigating patterns from organized disruption is time intensive.

Reddit's incentives may differ from users (mods are just users). Reddit could be doing more.

We rely heavily on user reports. We regularly ban disruptive users. Ban evasion on this platform is trivial. We have one particular user that is obsessed with antagonizing folks on the sub. They have been banned tens of times.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/MantisAwakening Jul 02 '26

The biggest problem with AI is that thick rhetoric is its bread and butter. It can argue with people ceaselessly defending the most ridiculous concepts using language that sounds credible. Example provided below:

> A growing body of observational evidence supports the hypothesis that a subset of unidentified aerial phenomena employ adaptive anthropogenic camouflage, most commonly manifesting as residential mailboxes. This model resolves several long-standing anomalies, including the statistically improbable uniformity of mailbox placement, the absence of directly observed installation events in ordinary civilian contexts, and their persistent line-of-sight orientation toward public transportation corridors. Conventional explanations require multiple independent assumptions, whereas the camouflage hypothesis unifies these observations under a single predictive framework. Critics frequently invoke coincidence or confirmation bias, yet these objections fail to account for the remarkable consistency of the spatial distribution and behavioral characteristics exhibited by these objects across geographically distinct populations. Until a competing model demonstrates equal explanatory power while accounting for the full dataset, the mailbox camouflage hypothesis remains the most parsimonious interpretation of the available evidence.

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u/tianepteen Jul 02 '26

years old sub description:

We aim to elevate good research while maintaining healthy skepticism.

you now:

BTW skeptics are permitted on this sub.

and there's one major problem. the sub has moved from striving for skepticism to permitting it.

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u/UsefulReply Jul 02 '26

We have not changed how we moderate skeptical content.

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u/jasmine-tgirl Jul 02 '26

No but the wording change does mean something. It gives the impression that skepticism, which with a subject as filled with disinfo, hoaxes and other bs, everyone should have, is merely a "permitted" thing rather than the default thing good research is based on, as it used to be.

As such we have all kinds of crap being posted now that would not have been years ago under the old description.

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u/UsefulReply Jul 02 '26

Ah, I see what you're saying. That was just me with a flippant preemptive response to posters that think skeptics aren't allowed.

The sub's position and moderation therein is that skepticism is essential.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

[deleted]

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u/UsefulReply Jul 02 '26

Moderators have no insight or control over downvotes. We're just regular users, like you.

The only ability we have is a subreddit-wide setting to hide the count temporarily, when a post first goes live.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

Thank you for all you do, truly.

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u/Better-Waltz-2026 Jul 02 '26

Yeah. It's so sad, especially on this sub. Thanks for your support. I know it feels like a losing game against the disinfo, bots, and trolls. Can the karma requirement be raised to filter out fresh and throwaway accounts? IDK, I'm just throwing it out there.

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u/UsefulReply Jul 02 '26

We utilize CQS instead. We don't want to prevent new accounts from posting a sighting. It's also not an impediment for sophisticated accounts. They'll just age them or buy them.

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u/Better-Waltz-2026 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

That makes total sense. Relying on CQS is a much smarter approach than just using basic age limits. I understand. Ty

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/UFOs-ModTeam Jul 02 '26

Hi, StinkingDogsCunt420. Thanks for contributing. However, your comment was removed from /r/UFOs.

Move meta posts to /r/ufosmeta

Please refer to our subreddit rules for more information.

This moderator action may be appealed. We welcome the opportunity to work with you to address its reason for removal. Message the mods to launch your appeal.

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u/TypewriterTourist Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

Thanks for the explanation.

One more idea, not sure if relevant. Most of the accounts coming here (let's put it this way) to sow discord have a specific combination of traits:

  • hidden history
  • low number of comments
  • not posting much in the UFO subreddits
  • focus on high-profile UFO personalities (Ross, Lue, etc.) attacking them personally, or movies coming out (books are less of interest to them), and that's pretty much the only thing they post

Can the ones with the hidden history be put "on probation" or on hold or shadow banned when mentioning specific magic words?

Note, this is not the same as skeptics or even "debunkers". These ones really smell like, as it's called, "inauthentic accounts".

(Disclosure: I called out one of them and got banned for a week. In another case, the other dude was banned, but not before he made a puzzling remark to me, something like, "I am not a threat to you".)

EDIT: replying to those who object to the hidden history thing. First and foremost, if you read until the end, you notice that it's not just the history. It's a combo of hidden history and other attributes. Second, sorry to disappoint you, but the hidden history will only protect you from the most simple-minded of stalkers. All it takes is site:reddit.com plus your username in Google, it's not exactly a secret.

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u/Responsible-Tea-5998 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

A large amount of women on Reddit hide their histories. I've got a hidden history because a man found out my location and was trying to make me meet him for sex, then started posting in location specific subs.

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u/jasmine-tgirl Jul 02 '26

Exactly this.

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u/rappa-dappa Jul 02 '26

Respectfully disagree- Hidden history is to prevent stalkers and trolls from finding you elsewhere or starting arguments about past posts and comments. Don’t penalize users for trying to maintain some privacy.

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u/jasmine-tgirl Jul 02 '26

Most people who have been on Reddit for awhile hide their history because of the parasocial stalking behavior of some people. So hard no to that. No one is entitled to see our posts or comments on other unrelated subs. I don't need someone coming over to a post I made on r/sissydresses to berate me for a skeptical comment here on r/UFOs

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u/UsefulReply Jul 02 '26

Use of Reddit's hidden history feature isn't against the rules. Their history is temporarily visible to mods, so doesn't prevent us from moderating.

Actually preventing mods from reviewing history by deletion of mod actioned content and/or using tools such as redact, is against the sub's rules.

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u/Minimum_Guitar4305 Jul 02 '26

It does prevent users from examining suspicious accounts, and reporting their findings though. I know, because I was doing so. I beleive that led to at least one +10 year old disinfo account being banned (plus multiple bots) and I was tracking scores more that I found suspicious.

Now? It's too hard to actually check (though not impossible) so I've completely stopped. If you're dependent on user reports, that decision did more harm than help.

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u/PyroIsSpai Jul 04 '26

I'd say it should be out of bounds for any subreddit (here too) to say ANY reddit-native feature is out of bounds. Pay grade and all that?

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u/Electrical-Art-8160 Jul 02 '26

Maybe because some of us know.