this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2024
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Moderators protect us from the worst of the internet. That comes at huge personal cost. (theconversation.com)
submitted 15 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 hours ago

As a moderator and admin for countless Discord communities, yeah, I've seen some vile shit.

Pretending that it doesn't have an impact doesn't help in the long run. Secondary Trauma is a thing. Create a workflow to distance yourself from the content, plan breaks, and please talk to someone (qualified) about it.

https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/33166

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 hours ago

Well, it's one of those things where you either learn to compartmentalize, or you quit fast.

I moderated forums back in the early days of the internet. It was rough some days, to the point I had someone show up at my house because I wouldn't let them abuse other users.

I moderated on reddit, and it was both easier and worse. People like to complain, but automod being able to filter out so much of the worst without having to see it at all made the job bearable. If I'd had to wade through the bigotry, the worst slurs, and similar stuff that a well crafted automod rule could magic away, I wouldn't have done it at all.

But the fact that you have to constantly adjust the automod to catch up with the most persistent assholes is draining.

And that's not getting into the stuff that isn't hate speech, misogyny, bigotry, and that kind of infection. People think they can say anything they want, any way they want, and you stopping them means you're the asshole, even after that went on a rant about fucking someone's wife and kids (seriously, that's a ban I had to make) because someone didn't agree with their opinion of a flashlight. Seriously, that fucking happened.

Point being that while there are mods that go too far, the internet, and places like reddit or lemmy, would be unbearable without it. There has to be someone making those calls, keeping things from turning into the non stop scroll of venom and porn that used to be way too common back in the day.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I was a moderator on a web forum many years ago. I also had my own forums for a while. Some of the stuff that people would post probably scarred me for life. It was a time when things like rotten.com and goatse were popular. I can only imagine what it's like now on a big web site like reddit where they probably have a lot more traffic.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Right there with you. I moderated on Gaia Online back in the day, and every now and then someone would get their jollies off by posting gore and CSAM. And of course, the mod team would have to clean it up because that’s what they do.

I actually had a better time modding on Reddit. At least no one posted CSAM once a month.

Though Reddit is the place I ended up modding a video that fucked me up for a little while…

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Was it Mr Hands?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago

Nah, it was a Rick Roll.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

I can imagine having to go through hours to days worth of post related to hatespeech alone. How many months has Lemmy been around now?

[–] [email protected] 34 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Having done it for a living for a few months, you cannot possibly imagine how bad it gets.

No, seriously. I already had very little faith in humanity going in, and thought I'd seen the worst the internet had to offer. Scraping the actual bottom of the barrel is difficult to even describe. I had to force a stunned sense of humor about it to detach myself a bit as a coping mechanism.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

You get paid a living to moderate Lemmy?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

It sounds like it might be a good job for sociopaths. Since nearly everything I've read from those who have actually done that moderation is about the effect on them due to their empathy, a lack of natural empathy seems like it would be advantageous.

I wonder if there's been a study on that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 37 minutes ago

You need empathy to moderate. What other reason is there to do it? You want to make the community a better place by keeping things civil and on-topic. You also need to be able to level with people about their criticisms and concerns.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 12 hours ago

Those folks are too busy being CEOs of the worlds largest companies abusing their workers.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

I think it's actually been around for three or four years, but I didn't start using it until the Reddit API stuff last June (2023).

[–] [email protected] 10 points 13 hours ago

I tried to moderate in a large subreddit and all I did was protect people who I did not like, or who got into slap fights. Quit after a few months.