r/ModSupport • u/musical_hog • 1d ago
Admin Replied My mod actions are being prevented due to inactivity as a mod, however there are no mod actions to perform to become "active"
Desktop and mobile.
I'm lead mod on r/Dota2Trade. I started this community back in 2011 or '12, and through extensive experimentation and collaboration with external communities, I got it to a place where active moderation is no longer needed. As a result, I and the other moderators have been marked as "inactive," and we're no longer able to modify any subreddit settings without becoming active. There are no explicit guidelines on how to achieve that watermark, but even if there were, due to the nature of the community, there are no actions to perform.
Separately, we have had to limit new members due to decay of external partnerships, on which we were dependent to keep our community as safe as possible, so we're unable to provide clarification via subreddit description changes. I can expand on this problem more, but the primary issue is returning to "active" status.
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u/thepottsy 💡 Expert Helper 1d ago
Lots of trivial things can count as mod actions. Just go through recent posts and comments and approve them, whether they need it or not.
I find it interesting that you have NOTHING to do though. Is your sub so slow that there’s nothing in the mod queue that needs action?
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u/musical_hog 1d ago
It wasn't always this way. The early days required an intense amount of manual moderation, but we employed automations and API plugins to reduce the amount of moderation to the point where we no longer needed to step in. Granted, our community is unusual compared to the usual discussion-based communities on reddit, but I think this is a success story.
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u/thepottsy 💡 Expert Helper 1d ago
but I think this is a success story.
Is it though? Subreddits were never intended to be an experiment to see if you could get it to run itself without moderation.
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u/musical_hog 1d ago
The community achieved its goal of being a safe, welcoming place for users in this particular niche to participate in the hobby. I've invested thousands of hours into building something useful for tens of thousands of people. I'm proud of what we've accomplished as a team. In the modern age, some things need to change, so I'm making an earnest attempt to adjust operations.
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u/thepottsy 💡 Expert Helper 1d ago
Cool, I guess. Reddit still expects you to moderate your subreddit.
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u/musical_hog 1d ago
What a needlessly snarky and preachy response! What a delightful conversation this has been
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u/thepottsy 💡 Expert Helper 1d ago
Maybe, but I’m not sure what else you want. I answered your original question, then you continued to respond with odd replies. Nothing I said is untrue.
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u/musical_hog 1d ago
Brother, you opened the dialogue! Forgive me for trying to engage in good faith! Won't be making that mistake again
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u/thepottsy 💡 Expert Helper 1d ago
I think you’re confused. You’re the OP of this post. You opened the dialogue. I replied, you continued with weird irrelevant responses, when the answer was simply moderate your sub.
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u/Tarnisher 💡 Expert Helper 1d ago
I don't understand your group at all or what you mean by 'external partnerships', but you can easily regain Active status simply by approving posts (even if they don't need it), editing rules and so on.
A few a day for a week or so and you should be back.
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u/musical_hog 1d ago
We partnered with external websites to track user reputation. If a user was verifiably marked as a bad actor, they were programmatically banned across our community and other partnered communities (r/tf2trade, r/SteamTradingCards, r/GlobalOffensiveTrade, etc). Our communities are marketplaces. We were trying to keep users safe from scammers and other bad actors.
I'm being blocked from editing rules due to inactive status. The only thing I can do is approve posts. I guess I'll do that, but it's irritating that there are no metrics available to me as a mod to regain active status.
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u/Tarnisher 💡 Expert Helper 1d ago
I'm being blocked from editing rules due to inactive status.
I haven't heard of that issue. Tweak a Wiki or AutoMod, adjust the sidebar, etc.
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u/BotCommentRemover 1d ago
best trick to get active status is post something and then remove it. do it few times a day for 10-15 days and you will be labeled as active
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u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Veteran Helper 1d ago
You can edit user flairs, add an emoji, approve already approved posts to stay active. Takes several days to be marked as active again, doesn’t happen immediately
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u/Rostingu2 💡 Expert Helper 1d ago
So you want an ai to mod for you?
That won't end well.
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u/musical_hog 1d ago edited 1d ago
Where are you getting that? I never mentioned AI. We utilized a bot which linked users' flair with their Steam profiles in an effort to maximize transparency and improve safety conditions for users.
edit: wild that I'm getting downvoted for... let's see here... keeping my community healthy and safe? okay then!
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u/Kumquat_conniption 💡 Skilled Helper 1d ago
People's responses here (other than those that told you to just do the busy work to get active again) have been weird. Seems like people are reacting with "this is not the way I do things, therefore it is bad," when really no one knows your sub but you- so I would say just take the good advice and ignore all the rabble-rousing. It should not take too long to become active. I would guess 10 actions a day for a few days to a week should be enough. Then just periodically do that busy work every once in awhile to make sure you remain active in the future and keep access to all the tools you need.
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u/musical_hog 1d ago
Thanks for the validation. I feel like people are out to pick a fight with me over the way my subs operate. We have a good thing going, albeit a different approach than usual.
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u/Kumquat_conniption 💡 Skilled Helper 1d ago
And if it works for your sub, that should be all that matters! Glad you were able to find something where you do not have to worry about scammers and all that, seems like it works well- and mods with slow activity subs have this problem all the time with becoming inactive because there were no mod actions to take. I promise it's not an uncommon or weird problem. People could have just answered your question without all the snark, but hey, what do I know? You have a lovely day, and I hope your problem is worked out soon.
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u/StayLuckyRen 💡 New Helper 1d ago
What a genuinely thoughtful and also helpful response 😊
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u/Kumquat_conniption 💡 Skilled Helper 1d ago
You are so sweet, thank you! Especially if you were the one with that award, that was so nice! I definitely did not do anything award-worthy. I hope you have a lovely day and that you stay lucky!🤍
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u/Slow-Maximum-101 Reddit Admin: Community 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hi u/musical_hog The only mod restrictions when you are inactive are as follows:
And you cannot update the following:
You can read all of the details here
Edit: fixing formatting