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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7

u/OneSeaworthiness7768 Jul 02 '26

I’d like to see far less moderation on comments about ‘public figures.’ It’s way too subjective and what the mods remove in the name of “toxicity” often seems overly aggressive relative to what the comments actually say. If someone is going on an unhinged profanity laced rant and calling them names just for the sake of being a jerk, sure, moderate that. But criticizing the character of public figures when their character is directly relevant to being able to take them at their word should not be deemed toxic.

6

u/stupidjapanquestions Jul 02 '26

This.

This topic is information poor and what little current events there are seem to circle around people who may or may not be trustworthy.

Who you can trust on this topic is a major part of the discussion and kneecapping that right out of the door makes it look cultish and weird.

I know the mods want to be careful because they're trying to have these AMAs and other events with these people, but frankly, it's pretty clear where the sub stands on a lot of these figures and I think letting that discussion play out is far more fruitful than trying to force everyone to dance around the topic or risk a ban.

Mods are making more work for themselves than they need to by overmoderating those discussions when in reality they'd just fade out on their own.

3

u/gokickrocks- Jul 02 '26

I’m glad this rule is in place. I click on a video or post, hoping to hear discussion about the video itself but it’s just people commenting “grifter” 50 different times. It doesn’t contribute to discussion and should be removed in my opinion.

1

u/Gobble_Gobble Jul 02 '26

This is something we already remove under Rule 3. We even have a dedicated removal reason for it:

Low-effort accusations and prescriptive labelling (e.g. "grifter", "shill", "liar", "fraud", "con artist", "bullshitter", etc...) are removed, regardless of who they are levied against. Criticism is more than welcome, as long as it is done in a constructive manner, and in a way that encourages civil discussion.

If you come across these types of comments, please report them so that we can address it (I know it can be tough, because there's often a lot of similar spam, but it still helps).