No apologies as Reddit halfheartedly tries to repair ties with moderators

Reddit is publicly extending an olive branch to the moderator community that it largely enraged over recent weeks. In a post on Wednesday, a Reddit employee detailed outreach efforts from the company, including new weekly feedback sessions, that it hopes can help repair ties with the social media platform and over 50,000 volunteer mods that it relies on. But as you might expect, mods remain skeptical.

Extending an olive branch

A Reddit admin going by Go_JasonWaterfalls on the site and claiming the title of Reddit VP of community (Ars attempted to confirm the identity of /u/Go_JasonWaterfalls, but Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt declined to confirm the employee's identity by name) acknowledged the shattered relationship between mods—who spend thousands of hours providing free labor and have recently engaged in variously disruptive forms of protest over API pricing on the site—and Reddit—which has responded to said protests by ousting some protesting moderators from their posts. The company has also offered contentious interviews with CEO Steve Huffman. Reddit also reportedly forced some subreddits that moderators labeled "not safe for work" as a form of protest (claiming to have taken member polls beforehand) to revert back to "safe for work" and threatened to forcibly reopen subreddits that had gone private in protest.

"So, we’ve all had a... time on Reddit lately," Go_JasonWaterfalls wrote. "And I’m here to recognize it, acknowledge that our relationship has been tested, and begin the 'now what?' conversation."

Noting that Reddit's "role is facilitation" and to give mods a platform they "can rely on," including necessary tools and resources, Go_JasonWaterfalls emphasized the need for "consistent, inclusive, and direct connection" with mods before detailing outreach efforts, like Weekly Mod Feedback Sessions.

The sessions will take place every Tuesday and Thursday through October and "continue into the future as valuable," the Reddit admin said. Redditors have to fill out a form of interest to participate. Reddit can easily turn away those with inactive accounts or who it views as currently being in violation of Reddit's mod or content policies.

Go_JasonWaterfalls said Reddit will share notes from feedback sessions in the r/modnews subreddit.

Go_JasonWaterfalls also underscored Reddit's Mod Council and Partner Communities programs, the next monthly meeting for the Accessibility Feedback Group, and upcoming in-person events in the US, Brazil, Canada, England, France, and India.

Mods have low expectations

Mods, meanwhile, traumatized by a tumultuous past couple of months, have very low expectations of Reddit's efforts. Ars spoke with some who have already participated in similar efforts, like feedback sessions or the Mod Council, and claimed mixed results in regard to Reddit making actual moves in response to mod critiques and suggestions.

"The Reddit Mod Council in particular has been one where they will yo-yo on whether or not they listen to moderators. Sometimes they do, most times they don't," Alyssa Videlock, a mod for numerous subreddits, including large ones like r/tumblr and r/lgbt, told Ars.

Reddit is refusing to give way on virtually any of the mods' demands, which has included things like more accessible API pricing or more time to adjust to the new pricing for apps they value and broader exemption for apps used by users (including mods) with accessibility needs. Reddit's removal of troubling mods has also helped to obliterate Reddit community trust.

Akaash Maharaj, an r/equestrian mod who also participates in Reddit's Mod Council, told Ars he doesn't think the recently outlined efforts will mend broken relations on their own. That's because the problem wasn't a dearth of communication channels but, rather, corporate leadership showing consistent "contempt for the advice it has received during those communications":

Increasing the frequency of communications without changing how the corporation responds to what it hears will not heal divisions, but widen them. If Reddit’s corporate leaders are serious about undoing the damage wrought by their behaviour, they must address users’ legitimate grievances, rather than simply invite users to repeat their grievances in small groups.

Videlock is reconsidering being a Reddit mod these days but said Reddit's outreach is an appreciated step in the right direction. When asked how Reddit could restore its relationship with moderators, her answer was simple: an apology.

"After what [CEO Huffman] has said, the lies, the false starts for compromise. It's a lot. I can understand some of the frustration from Reddit's top brass, kinda; however most of the admins I speak with seem to not be willing to speak on the topic, afraid to express their true opinion on the matter," Videlock said.

Maharaj, meanwhile, questioned whether Reddit can, in fact, fix its relationship with mods:

"I genuinely do not know if it is possible for the existing leadership to draw itself back from the brink," he said.

"It has displayed catastrophically poor judgment, poisonous disdain for the Reddit community, and a self-serving impulse to place the vanity of its officers above the interests of the platform. Reddit’s corporate leaders seem to prefer plunging the platform into the iceberg over admitting that they charted a poor course."

The moderator suggested that Reddit's corporate leaders prepare to "show humility," "concede their more egregious errors," and "demonstrate contrition through deeds from the top."

Reddit declined to comment on conversations Ars had independently with mods.

A deep hole

Reddit went forward with its API pricing changes on July 1, resulting in many third-party Reddit apps closing and some cautiously attempting paid-for models. Since then, some longtime users, including moderators and communities, have exited Reddit, with some encouraging community members toward other social platforms, like Lemmy and Discord.

Meanwhile, there are still 1,962 private subreddits in protest of Reddit, according to the Reddark_24/7 tracker. And some Redditors are already using r/place, which relaunched today and lets Reddit users change pixels on a virtual canvas as a way to air their grievances, as you can see from this partial screenshot of the canvas taken about two hours after it relaunched:

Reddit's hasty implementation of API fees and its belittling of protests (both internally, reportedly, and to the press) and complaints are frequently cited by mods Ars has spoken to as elevating the protests beyond a debate on what the formerly free API should cost. Reddit has dug itself into a sizable hole that it will likely be unable to crawl out of through typical methods. This has been the largest protest in Reddit history, and virtual discussions and the continuation of already established communication programs won't be sufficient to convince scorned mods that the new Reddit not only cares about its users but also considers their opinions actionable.

Advance Publications, which owns Ars Technica parent Condé Nast, is the largest shareholder in Reddit.