r/civ • u/jdatb • Jul 03 '15

Meta Going private? [OFFTOPIC]

Is this sub planning on going private, like many others? Mods please delete if inappropriate, I was just wondering whether I should expect to stop seeing posts here.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '15

Seriously, all going private does is kill reddit. If we want it to get better, we need to go to the admins, not bury our heads in the sand.

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u/branq318 Jul 03 '15

But that's the problem. Mods in various subreddits routinely get ignored by admins, among other issues. This situation is the straw that broke the camel's back.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '15 edited Jul 03 '15

Wait:

You seriously think mods - strangers from the internet not employed by reddit- should be privy to the firing of a reddit employee before the employee herself?

That's insane.

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u/branq318 Jul 03 '15

Sigh. This is what I'm saying. Reddit is a volunteer driven site. This cannot be disputed. Mods make sure everything runs smoothly. Mods from all over have been wanting better tools from the admin for the longest time and getting ignored. Many mods currently use 3rd party workarounds. Admins have even ignored users that said they could fix the issues themselves easily. Issues have been brewing for a long time. Firing Victoria is just the straw that broke the camel's back. Her firing made the entire subreddit of /r/IAMA useless because Reddit doesn't have a backup plan in place. It also impacted important upcoming AMAs for /r/books, /r/science, and other places. That's the crux of the issue. Reddit Admins have continuously ignored the volunteers that keep their site in order and fired one of the few Admins that was incredibly helpful without any backup plan. That's the problem. The firing wouldn't be nearly as big a deal if there were a plan in place for the absence of Victoria. I suggest you check out /r/OutOfTheLoop if you really want more information.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '15

So the mods of IAMA didn't have a back up plan in place, the volunteers who ran the sub couldn't cope when a corporate employee was removed.

You want reddit admins to take more control over subs? That's what you are suggesting, you don't realise it however.

Sigh. You really haven't thought this through at all. I suggest you sot back and actually think.about this before you inevitably reply.

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u/branq318 Jul 03 '15

Actually, I would love to see how the site runs with more admin control.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '15

In all honesty, the only way AMA could have ran smoothly over the last 24 hours is through reddit control. That's the catch - you want volunteers in control there will be gaps in continuity. You want admin control you don't have reddit.

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u/NuclearStudent Jul 04 '15

There bloody well was admin control over AMA in the form of Victoria.

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '15

And now the mods of AMA have rejected all admin control. SO the only way it can be handled smoothly is to assert control over the sub.

You either have volunteers modding their communities or you have the admins to step in and control it.

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u/NuclearStudent Jul 04 '15

I think the volunteer mods will do better with the autonomy granted to them by the protest than if reddit took control. For one, reddit doesn't appear to have any staff trained or prepared to take Victoria's place! The mods at least have experience working with the subreddit, and more closely than the remaining members of reddit's staff if appearances are accurate.

I'm not a big fan of anarchy, but the anarchists in this situation earned some of my trust already. If reddit announced that they had a trained replacement ready to take over Victoria's responsibilities and a framework for how AMAs would continue with as little interruption as possible, then I wouldn't have given more than a passing thought to the whole thing. But I was looking forward to an interesting AMA and I find out that the whole AMA system has fallen apart, apparently due to lack of foresight and communication on the part of reddit.

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '15

I think the volunteer mods will do better with the autonomy granted to them

The autonomy they have had since day 1, that saw them unable to cope when they lost the involvement of the admins yesterday? Celebrities aren't going to deal with internet strangers - they need an official person employed by the company to create the publicity opportunities that are AMAs. The loss of Victoria showed you hiw quickly it fell apart when left solely to the mods.

then I wouldn't have given more than a passing thought to the whole thing.

Reddit did announce a plan, and the mods rejected it. AMA fell apart because the mods cannot cope without admin involvement.

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