
The moderator problem: How Reddit and related news sites decline - exolymph
https://jakeseliger.com/2015/03/16/the-moderator-problem-how-reddit-and-related-news-sites-decline/
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DoreenMichele
_The same is happening to Hacker News, too, or it has already happened, though
not as severely: Hacker News has an advantage in that its survival and the
intelligent commentary on it is tied to a business that is in turn tied to
ideas. Its moderators have a stronger incentive to get it right, since they’re
not driven primarily by ego or overwhelming fear of “spam.”_

I don't know much about the back end here, but the lead mod on Hacker News is
a paid position. He takes his job seriously and he does good work.

I suggest you take this post with a grain of salt. I think the author is
unaware of some things.

The moderator problem is real and the fact that most moderators are unpaid has
issues and I've talked about that on and off over the years. The fact that HN
has paid moderation is one of the reasons it's better than most other spaces.

The fact that the author imagines Hacker News has slid into the toilet makes
me feel the author doesn't really know that much about HN.

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dred_prte_rbrts
Huh, from reading the article I came to the exact opposite conclusion, the
author feels that Hacker News has not decayed as much as reddit and never will
as the incentives are different.

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DoreenMichele
I don't think it's _decayed_ at all. It's certainly _changed._ Change and
decay aren't actually synonyms.

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GhostVII
It is shocking to me how much Reddit had declined since ~2016, at least from
my perspective. Maybe I just am not remembering it correctly, but I don't
think there was nearly as many blatantly false articles, echo chambers, posts
praising hate groups, etc. on the front page back then. Even subreddits like
/r/pics have been taken over with constant misleading political posts.

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CincinnatiMan
It really is shocking. All the default subs' content on the front page these
days is political or very politically-related. I don't know when it shifted,
but sometime between now and 2012 when I joined.

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treeman79
Some of the subreddits are fine, but man, the hate groups do their best to
break into those.

For medical advice, Oddly facebook groups are often much bigger, and have very
up to date advice. Yes tons of mom stereotypes, but a strong core of people
who research stuff and give advice.

