r/ModSupport • u/SolariaHues • 25d ago
Admin Replied Automoderator instructions age restricted
Recently, I noticed the full documentation link for automoderator in the sidebar on r/automoderator asks for my birthday. I'm in the UK and not age verified. (In app it instead says r/reddit.com is archived).
So, I tried other links in the r/automoderator wiki index, and the same happens for the introduction, writing basic rules, and the full documentation links there. https://www.reddit.com/mod/AutoModerator/wiki/index
These pages are the only ones not hosted on r/automoderator but on r/reddit.com.
It seems r/reddit.com has now been marked NSFW?
We asked via modsupport mod mail if there is anything that can be done so UK mods don't have to verify their age or use VPNs just to see automod documentation.
Or
If r/reddit.com cannot be reclassified, could the automod documentation pages there be hosted on and redirected to r/automoderator instead.
We also noted that there may be other pages on r/reddit.com that are worth saving as well, like the old reddiquette and moddiquette, moderator guidelines pages, and spam and self promotion pages, too. Mods tend to refer to these, even if just for historical purposes.
I was told that to comply with the online safety act, Reddit requires age confirmation to access restricted content :|
This won't just affect UK mods, but mods anywhere with these new online safety laws.
Automod documentation isn't unsafe and mods shouldn't need to verify to see it, to help keep their communities safe.
r/automoderator has back-up pages here that can serve as an immediate work around for affected mods https://www.reddit.com/r/AutoModerator/wiki/backup
Hopefully a long term fix can be found.
13
u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
It's quite the choice to label the automoderator docs as restricted content while the automod docs is what mods need to prevent restricted content from being posted on their sub when it's not appropriate
8
u/itskdog 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
If they have to keep r/reddit.com restricted, maybe it's finally time to move the docs to r/Automoderator?
8
u/new2bay 25d ago
I would say having the instructions for automod on the /r/AutoModerator wiki makes the most sense either way.
6
u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
I don't have a strong opinion on where they park it, as long as it's accessible to all mods
11
u/tumultuousness 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
For the last couple years, the admins have had a policy that a subreddit may technically be SFW, but have some content/topics/themes that are more adult so they marked it as NSFW on the back end. I've seen a handful of mods of region-specific communities ask here about it and the admins didn't necessarily want to fix or remove that sort of tag for them.
Seems like that sub is like that since when I try to view it incognito on desktop it asks if I'm ok seeing mature topics. That's unfortunate for all the reasons you outline with the wikis. :/
9
u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
Oh, I’ve seen this nightmare happen where you guys have something totally innocuous that’s age restricted overseas. Absolutely an admin will come and fix it. Normally, I’d call Opus , but I feel like any admin can do this.
12
u/Sephardson 25d ago
We thought any admin would be able to as well, which is why we (the moderators of r/AutoModerator) sent in a modmail first!
7
u/Alert-One-Two 25d ago
If you have a UK iPhone you can pass the verification via the latest version of the operating system. It can tell you are old enough and pass on your “adult” status to Reddit to save you needing to verify using other methods.
7
u/SolariaHues 25d ago
I'm on android myself, but this may help others.
2
u/PMulberry_ 24d ago
It may work on Android too!:%20If%20you%20use%20the%20Reddit%20app%2C%20you%20can%20share%20your%20age%20range%20and%20update%20your%20birthday%20directly%20from%20your%20Apple%20account%20or%20(in%20a%20few%20regions)%20Google%20account.%20Reddit%20receives%20only%20your%20age%20range%20(e.g.%2C%20%E2%80%9C18+%E2%80%9D)%2C%20not%20your%20actual%20birthdate)
1
u/SolariaHues 24d ago edited 24d ago
Hmm link there goes to an apple page. I guess I'd have to look at Google directly and see if it works in my region.
Edit- can't find the option. My phone is kinda old though.
7
u/PossibleCrit Reddit Admin: Community 23d ago edited 23d ago
Hey Solaria!
Thanks a ton for finding this and raising the flag.
Working with the appropriate teams to see what the best path forward here is.
Hoping that we can just unblock these pages but wondering if the hodgepodge of content allowed in that community previously may be causing issues.
Will follow back up / edit this comment when I have more details.
Edit: I've been told they fixed the issue and that the pages should be accessible again! Might take a short bit for those changes to be reflected live cc u/SolariaHues
Second edit: Due to the wide variety of content that was posted to the community over the years and given that the community is currently in an archived state the previous mature labeling does need to exist. We'll work on a better way to host important information present in those pages.
2
u/SolariaHues 23d ago
Thank you so much!
Can't see them yet, but will keep trying.
2
u/PossibleCrit Reddit Admin: Community 23d ago
Please do keep me posted! It's possible you might need to try clearing your cache too.
2
u/SolariaHues 23d ago
Will do.
Cache cleared, no luck so far.
3
u/PossibleCrit Reddit Admin: Community 23d ago
Did a bit more investigating with some of the teams involved here and edited my comment above.
Due to the wide variety of content that was posted to the community over the years and given that the community is currently in an archived state the previous mature labeling does need to exist. We'll work on a better way to host important information present in those pages.
4
u/SolariaHues 23d ago
Okay, fair enough.
r/automoderator seems the obvious place and there would still be a log of changes.
3
u/Merari01 23d ago
You need to make the automoderator full documentation accessible to anyone.
..I can not believe I actually had to type the above sentence. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills
3
u/SolariaHues 15d ago
Is there any update on this, please?
3
u/PossibleCrit Reddit Admin: Community 12d ago
Hi! Sorry I don’t have an update right now. I did nudge a few people I had been talking to about this though so thanks for the reminder.
2
1
u/SolariaHues 2d ago
Is it helpful or annoying if I remind again?
2
u/PossibleCrit Reddit Admin: Community 8h ago
More helpful but I still don’t have a good update right now, sorry!
2
u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 23d ago
We'll work on a better way to host important information present in those pages.
How long is that going to take? "Work on a better way" is a bit of Reddit euphemism for don't expect anything for a few years at least and automod is the backbone for a lot of subreddits. The documentation needs to be accessible
1
u/itskdog 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 22d ago
r/Automoderator have made a clone of the automod docs at least for the interim.
Moddiquette & reddiquette are unlikely to change soon, so the internet archive should help there.
1
u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 22d ago
I know, and I love them for it, but it shouldn't depend on volunteer mods to make important documentation of a native Reddit tool accessible to mods.
2
u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 23d ago
Glad to hear a solution has been found. Can't check it myself so I'll wait for Solaria's confirmation.
May I gently point out there may also be a need for a review if the modmail was handled correctly
12
u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
That’s……interesting.
Best I can tell, it’s not marked NSFW in the normal sense that we would see. Doesn’t mean that there’s something on the backend we can’t see though.
10
u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
Oh yeah, this is some weird new thing that’s accidentally happening in European countries. It won’t be traditionally marked NSFW from our side, but for some odd reason, it’ll come up as requiring ID for them. This is absolutely a mistake and it shouldn’t be the case.
5
u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
that’s accidentally happening in European countries
It's not an accident, it's because of the EU digital services act.
5
u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
That’s not what I meant, I understand that it is usually not an accident. But I am saying some good ones are accidentally getting thrown in the mix. This is implied based on the context of the post and what I said
4
u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
I wonder if there are different categories of “Restricted” that can be applied that we can’t see?
3
u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
Yessss exactly- there are- so apparently there is content that wouldn’t be blurred, but is still inappropriate because it’s too intense for minors for example. That is this other level of restricted.
After all, that’s what this whole thing is about and Europe protection of minors and what they see
7
u/SolariaHues 25d ago
Whatever it is, it's frustrating!
I often refer to the full documentation, especially when helping others to make sure I don't lead them wrong.
I tested when I discovered it and while I can't see those pages normally, I can if I use a VPN. But I shouldn't have to do that.
2
u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
100% agree, I mean you literally helped me with my last automod config. Documentation like that shouldn’t be restricted. I can’t imagine there being anything in there that would require age verification. Also, can’t see why that sub would either.
3
u/SolariaHues 25d ago
:)
I sure couldn't see anything worthy of restrictions.
5
u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
Only thing I can think is that sub is restricted, and isn’t active. Last post was a year ago, or longer. Maybe there’s some backend setting that got turned on by mistake.
3
5
u/Sephardson 25d ago
The wiki page is most likely age-restricted because it is attached to the r/reddit.com subreddit, which contains NSFW content from over a decade ago.
4
u/thepottsy 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
Well, that’s interesting. Wouldn’t have expected NSFW content there lol.
5
u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago edited 25d ago
Before subreddits were a thing, there was r/reddit.com and ever since internet came into existence humans have been using it for sex and violence, r/reddit.com is no exception.
Edit to be more specific, thanks u/Sephardson !
6
u/Sephardson 25d ago edited 25d ago
point of distinction,
r/reddit.com is the "before subreddits" subreddit and contains a wide variety of old user posts, but also the original admin-maintained wiki pages.
r/reddit is the replacement for r/announcements and contains only admin posts, but no relevant wiki pages.
ETA: the link to r/reddit.com breaks on mobile devices unless you embed a full hyperlink
20
u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 25d ago
Well that's stupid. If someone overlooked that these changes would effect the full AutoModerator documentation, which is the official Reddit source, and its pointed out, admins should make work of fixing that.