Mods still catch quite a bit of spam, which needs to be removed. Mods should also be able to manage their communities as they see fit unless they break the instance rules. It's not ideal to have comment removal, but it's what we got. (TBH, it seems you underestimate the dedication to shit posting that some trolls have.)
this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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Mods should also be able to manage their communities as they see fit unless they break the instance rules.
That’s already the case. And it would not change. Mods would not lose any power.
(TBH, it seems you underestimate the dedication to shit posting that some trolls have.)
Can you elaborate? The underestimation you speak of supports the status quo. I’ve seen how rampant it is. Which is exactly why the job is unsurmountable for just the mod.
What would you have the mod do in the thread I linked to solve the problem? Do you expect mods to read every post, work out the thesis, and determine whether each comment is conducive to the purpose of the thread?
I moderate a dozen communities just on this instance; not to mention other instances. I don’t have time for that. I rely heavily on someone to send me an alert. And when I get an alert about something relatively minor, I’m annoyed by my time being wasted. The OPs are bigger stakeholders in their own threads than I am. The OPs care more about getting the feedback they are after in their own thread than I do as a mod.
It’s not my job as moderator to care whether OPs get the feedback they are after, given the tools as they are. I care abstractly at a high level (hence the purpose of this thread), but certainly not enough to read every comment, only to face an overly blunt corrective tool.
I’m not sure I’m on board with your proposed solution. Perhaps comments are the non-censorship way to combat comments that provide little value. And a thread can contain comments of highly different value can become a thread of high value. And that level of value can vary greatly from user to user reading the thread. And then there’s the case when incredibly stupid satire reveals something profound about a topic that dry analysis just can’t capture or convey.
I understand your preference is to not have to see the trolling. And for you, mods deleting comments or users blocking other users is too heavy handed. But it sounds like your solution would force your preferred paradigm on everyone.
Some people are here for the peanut butter. Some are here for the chocolate. And some appreciate two great tastes that taste great together.
Perhaps comments are the non-censorship way to combat comments that provide little value.
Two problems with this:
- engaging threadcrappers and trolls stimulates them (“don’t feed the trolls”). Even downvotes are a positive for them b/c they know they triggered someone.
- when the thread becomes trashed, this discourages intellectuals. They step into a place of garbage and think “I’m not going to put energy into a comment that will be buried in a hot mess of other garbage and possibly have to fend off assholes myself”. IOW, it’s not just the OP who is damaged -- it’s all those who want a civil discussion.
Readers don’t have time to pick through garbage, but the OP does (as they get notifications).
But it sounds like your solution would force your preferred paradigm on everyone.
Everyone already is forced by a paradigm -- one of a single master with limited time and blunt tools.
The OP is a stakeholder who invested constructively into the thread. If an OP does not value their own investment in time and labor, they would not have to use a platform that empowers them to organise clowns and hecklers into a separate branch of visiblity. The popularity of the idea would be evident in who chooses to post under that paradigm.
In fact, it could be configured on a post-by-post basis. If you create a new post, you could have a tickbox “do you want to have clown control?” If they tick the YES box, the trolls may not even bother with such threads (good!). If they tick the NO box, the OP gets more engagement (but they may not like the result).
Its not censorship when someone who controls a space manages that space.
If I kick you out of my home because I don't like what you say (or vice-versa), that's not censorship.
I say this as someone who thinks many mods are overly heavy handed.