The subreddit r/steam, about the digital game storefront, received as many other subreddits a notice to open the community again, or else the mods would be replaced by those who abide.

The mods followed suit posting the following automod message under every new post:

As ya’ll likely know, we’ve been dark to support the blackout against reddit’s antagonistic behavior towards its own userbase. The admins sent us a message today saying we must open or get removed, so here we are.

For those of you browsing this subreddit on non-official apps (Reddit is Fun, Apollo, Sync, Boost, etc), they will break on July 1st due to reddit’s new policies. We’re opening back up but will leave permanent stickies in the subreddit and threads to keep folks in the know.

Our Discord [contains link to https://discord.gg/steam] server is active, don’t forget to check it out.

Good luck and god speed.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

On visit, you quickly notice there is a community wide effort to focus on the literal topic of the given name and post about vapors, steam trains, and kitchen appliances. While posts about the gaming platform get downvoted.

  • LinkOpensChest.wav@lemmy.oneEnglish
    9·
    2 years ago

    This blackout has really shown which subs have actual in-touch moderators, and which ones are just the admins’ puppy dogs

    A while ago, I had a comment auto-removed on WPT and got a message it was because my account was “not in good standing.” When I messaged the WPT mods, they explained that they were test piloting a new tool the admins plan to use. For example, if you have a throwaway email address, no email address, or are connecting via VPN, you may be “not in good standing.”

    With things like that on the horizon, even if they roll back on what they’re doing now, we’re still not likely to have a very good time on that site.

    I can’t blame the mods who are trying to make change through protest (and who may not even be aware of the “not in good standing” BS), but I don’t plan to stick around, and I don’t foresee a very bright future for reddit at all.

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        That explains why I got banned a while back and was told I violeted the TOS, but the crime they listed (Abusing the report button) was neither in the TOS nor something I actually did.

    • zalack@kbin.social
      1·
      2 years ago

      To try and be charitable to the WPT mods: that sub is a magnet for bots and bad actors. All those measures sound like a shotgun approach to combating spam to me.

      I really don’t envy having to moderate a large politically oriented sub like that. I imagine it burns you out fast to being open and fair-minded in how you approach moderation due to the sheer avalanche of bullshit you’re confronted with cleaning up.

      • Nepenthe@kbin.social
        0·
        2 years ago

        Combating bots by banning anyone without an email is understandable and seems doable for the near future, but like it would mostly be a hiccup for the people churning them out.

        Google ignores any periods in an email address, so if you want to sign up with the same email all you have to do is fill it with differently-placed periods. What are they gonna do? Ban everyone who shares your name from having a reddit? Ban Gmail? If they did, there’s still the plus trick that isn’t specific to gmail

        • TechnoBabble@lemmy.world
          0·
          2 years ago

          The plus and period thing isn’t difficult to filter out in their email check.

          But I do agree that requiring emails is a non-issue for spammers.

          I mean, look at any other platform that requires email, and they’re all covered in spam.

      • LinkOpensChest.wav@lemmy.one
        0·
        2 years ago

        I do understand that point of view, but the fact that they’re piloting a really invasive tool on behalf of the admins and subsequently refused to go black – these make me feel far less charitable

    • Cynosure@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      Honesty I think the big political subs are incredibly bot infested. Political content is an amazing way to make people mad and get them to spend more time on a platform, increasing engagement and letting reddit deliver more ads. It’s not like it would be the first time they used bots to drive engagement and make communities look bigger.

      • LinkOpensChest.wav@lemmy.oneEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        The whole site is bot infested! Especially the large subs, but I’ve personally had scambots pop into my posts even on smaller subreddits.

        People who say they won’t leave reddit because “there’s no good alternative” really have their head in the sand about how bad it really is. Nearly every alternative I’ve seen suggested is at least better than reddit (except for the really far-right ones like voat).

        • enragedchowder@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          2 years ago

          Pretty much any big sub is totally unusable. The only reason to be on Reddit is for the niche hobby subs

            • Reoru@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              2 years ago

              I absolutely resonate with both your comments, it’s the best function reddit served imo. The big mainstream subs were just content factories to create posts to doomscroll through.

          • Jeremy [Iowa]English
            0·
            2 years ago

            Can confirm. You don’t need to go far to find dog-piling groupthink ruining discussion.

      • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        Don’t forget that for many years reddit was the home of the most inciteful Donald Trump propaganda platform with r/t_d.

        • goat@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          01·
          2 years ago

          and dont forget reddit is also the home of the most inciteful Chinese propaganda platform with /r/sino

    • quortez@kbin.social
      0·
      2 years ago

      I can’t imagine a website so anti-CCP it utterly internalized the social credit meme (despite it being somewhat more nuanced in reality, I still don’t approve of it, just learned it gets exaggerated in the west) would take well to an invisible ‘reputation system’ that demands data collection and punishes privacy actions.

      The vibes continue to deteriorate.

    • QuestioningEspecialy@kbin.social
      0·
      2 years ago

      A while ago, I had a comment auto-removed on WPT and got a message it was because my account was “not in good standing.” When I messaged the WPT mods, they explained that they were test piloting a new tool the admins plan to use.

      I’mma need some sauce for dat pasta. That’s too wild to not post screenshots.

  • Hypersapien@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    Reddit is trying to go to war with the kind of people responsible for Boaty McBoatface and they think they’re going to win.

    • Fihn@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Reddit execs don’t care when people post like this. They aren’t browsing the sub, all they see is user engagement is back up and that’s a win. They can sell that to advertisers as a win. If you showed them the page they’d think it’s weird but they probably wouldn’t know it have ever been any different.

      The only win to be had with the sub re-opening is to post nothing at all.

      • nexguy@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        Hardly anyone is going to spend hours browsing pictures of steam and engaging with it vs actual content so this certainly is not great for reddit.

        • underisk@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          2 years ago

          Yeah but that’s not what they’re doing. They’re doing a contrarian circlejerk that’ll get boring after a few days or until the next thing happens with the steam platform that they all want to talk about. There’s already a highly upvoted post there about the UI update.

  • jaydev@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    Loving this age of anti-Reddit malicious compliance creating content for Lemmy!

    • Ørez⁶⁶@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      It’s a great way to kickstart this place! I found my way to malicious compliance solely because I wanted to see what the subreddits were getting up to without opening the official reddit app.

    • Badass_panda@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      The rationale is: profit. Ultimately reddit relies on users for content, and they’re hoping if the remove the organisers of the strike (the mods) and replace them with scabs, that the users will stop striking.

    • Hypersapien@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Subreddits being controlled by the mods and community is just reddit’s public face. Behind closed doors, the reddit admins see themselves as the masters.

    • Hypersapien@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Subreddits being controlled by the mod and community is just reddit’s public face. Behind closed doors, the reddit admins see themselves as the masters.

    • CmdrShepard@lemmy.oneEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      It seems more like they just want to give mods the illusion that they can make executive decisions about the subs they run so that they’ll work for free to Reddit’s benefit.

      • JuxtaposedJaguar@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        A few days ago, Reddit said that they “supported communities’ decision to go private” (or something like that). Now that communities actually did it, they’re backtracking.

    • Protegee9850@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      There will be scabs eager to volunteer their time as moderators - at least for now - solely for the perceived power.

  • bill_1992@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    Would be nice if along with that link to Discord, they had a link to an alternative! I’ll try not to spoil a good thing though.

  • CorrodedCranium@lemmy.fmhy.mlEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    This is going to be interesting in the long term for a lot of subreddits when people sort by top posts. Similar to when ever sub had a net neutrality post stickied

    • DudePluto@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Nothing better than looking for some good NSFW content, going to the top of all time, and seeing nothing but net neutrality posts

      I’m glad those were there but they did lead to some funny situations

  • d_bradr@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    Epic sub bouta get pretty poetic. Wonder if we can pull it off with other subs. Trees being about trees, Rimjob Steve being about a man named Steve who makes vehicle rims, Piracy with actual pirates, Cats vs tech being about cats actively destroying pieces of technology etc

    • Fluba@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Rimjob Steve? Am I missing out or should I just not dive into that rabbit hole?

      • d_bradr@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        Rimjob Steve is about situations like a guy named PeeIsSquirt giving you financial advice

    • Chris@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Trouble is there is both trees and marijuanaenthusiasts subs so that would kinda cancel each other out

      • d_bradr@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        As if marijuanaenthusiasts is filled with enthusiasts and not just stoners. There’s a big difference between a gourmand and somebody who just loves eating

        • Chris@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          Not sure if I am missing the joke but that sub is about trees, the tall woody plants that give you shade and not the kind that get you high.

  • wotsit_sandwich@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    I love these wonderfully petty reactions to the Reddit issues.

    Are there any other good examples out there for me to enjoy (I have already seen r/pics.)

      • ewe@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        It’s perfect. It really should just be ONE thing that all the subs do (like john oliver related content). This will be funny to start, get old, and people will still enjoy posting it but it just won’t end, they’ll stop coming and reddit will die in a pile of John Oliver’s sexiness from across all the big subreddits.

    • Aurix@lemmy.worldOP
      0·
      2 years ago

      u/spez tries to paint it was just mods trying to be powertripping and not standing for the communities. This refutes the sentiment along with the reactions of /r/pics and the likely coming r/aww action.

      • LittlePrimate@feddit.de
        0·
        2 years ago

        That though process won’t even cross their mind. More like “See? The reopened communities are very active and actually generate MORE clicks now. We were right to force them open!”. Only if the new direction would produce less clicks or advertisers are bothered by it (“I wanted to advertise my camera in r/pics but the new direction makes it unprofitable”) they might look into where that “sabotage” is coming from and care about it.

  • GhostCowboy76@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    The best way for the Reddit community to fight back is to leave to another community. In order for that to happen the Fediverse options have to keep growing and improving, like they are, so that people leaving feel comfortable knowing they have a good option. Reddit will be dead in 6 months.

    • Draconic NEO@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      I agree, although it can’t hurt to also accelerate that process by making it unbearable for scabs and normies to use the site. It also helps by setting a precedent for any future centralized social sites (like squabbles) who may try to profit off their users or go to war with the internet. Maybe it might even make them open to the idea of federation (probably not but at the very least it’ll make them leery of doing stuff like Reddit, unless they’re just blatantly stupid like Huffman is).

  • Dogbane@pawb.socialEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    People can complain all they want about reddit, as long as it’s on reddit, reddit is fine with it. People do the same about twitter, youtube, facebook all the time and it doesn’t hurt shareholders.