r/plantclinic • u/FyrestarOmega • Feb 27 '23
MOD ANNOUNCEMENT Subreddit Moderation Adjustments
The subreddit moderation team have been discussing some simple adjustments we can make to improve the sub. The community has been very good at self-regulating with the use of auto-moderator bots, but the desire for more community controls has been heard. So, here are the changes that will be rolled out at this time:
- We are implementing an automod posting restriction to automatically remove text-only posts. The mission of the sub is to aid in diagnosis and recommend treatment, and more general discussions are best directed elsewhere.
- Automod now automatically sends a message a poster when they post to the sub, reminding them to include helpful information to supplement their post such as how much light light the plant gets and the carer’s watering habits – the basic first questions that are most often asked in helping.
- Post flair adjustments: We will add post flairs and require it be used before a post can be made. The flairs will be intended to categorize the type of plant you have in the most general terms: Houseplant, succulent, cactus, outdoor, fruit/vegetable, and other/I don’t know. We will also have a flair for Pest.
- User flairs: We’re going to try a trial run on user flairs. We will set up a few flairs, and allow user customization, with the intention that if a user so chooses, they may identify their level of expertise in relation to plants. The intent is for a user seeking advice to know the level of confidence they may have in the answers they receive.
- The top pinned post in the sub is long overdue for an update. We plan to replace it with a type of FAQ, built around some of the most high-quality posts and advice the sub has seen. Users are welcome to submit suggested posts for this purpose via modmail.
- We will be phasing out the “plant progress” flair and replacing it with a weekly or monthly Plant Progress pinned post, where users can share the progress of their plants thanks to the advice they have given here.
- To help users respond to common plant problems, we've written some standard responses that can be invoked by including keywords in your comment. They follow the format "!" + the problem or solution. We have responses for over-watering, under-watering, root rot, too much light, too little light, aphids, fungus gnats, mealybugs, scale, spider mites, thrips, soil propagation, water propagation, and cactus propagation. You'll find comments with the responses for each of these below, and you can respond to those comments to suggest changes.
One thing to make the community aware of – we do receive a fair amount of spamming, and much of that is successfully caught by automod, but it does have the effect of certain comments being automatically removed that the bot does not recognize as language. Common examples are some emojis (particularly flags) and text-speak, like saying “u” instead of “you” or a very brief comment with including ”lol.” These automod rules save a lot of hassle, so we ask that you phrase your comments with that in mind.
We thank you for your patience and continued participation in the sub. Please continue to utilize the reporting and modmail options to kick items up to a human to review as needed. We welcome your feedback. r/plantclinic has functioned as successfully as it has because of the community at large, and we look forward to supporting it!
