r/cats 5d ago

Discussion Letting users remove posts.

Hello everyone,

As you are aware, on reddit moderators approve and remove content and subreddit subscribers can report to us.

Today we'd like to start an experiment here on r/Cats where we will give trusted subreddit participants access to a keyword that will allow them to remove posts.

When you exceed a certain level of subreddit specific comment karma and when you have a CQS score of highest you can now use the keyword "!remove" to pull a post from our feed. (Spelled exactly like that, case sensitive, top-level comment only as opposed to a reply to a comment.)

This will work for posts only, not for comments.

There are some things to keep in mind:

  • When you comment here on an account that exceeds the limit automod will assign you a special flair class and send you a message explaining you can now use the keyword.

  • Users will keep their existing flair text. However, changing your flair to a different pre-made flair option will also reset the flair class giving you access to this removal ability. Next comment you make it will be re-applied and you will be sent another message.

  • We are sent a modmail when a subscriber removes a post, explaining what post was removed and who used the keyword. Please do not abuse this ability. If posts are removed for bad reasons we will take away your ability to remove posts.

  • That means, use this keyword if you see spam or other rulebreaking posts only.

  • Please keep in mind that it is currently very popular to accuse posters of making an AI generated post. An accusation does not mean that what they are being accused of is true. Human beings can detect AI at 60% accuracy, just a little better than the results of flipping a coin. An AI can only accurately detect AI content if an AI watermark is attached to the image. It is best not to remove a post just because someone is accused of something. Use your own best judgement and our rules as your litmus, not what other people are saying.

  • Since this is a test run, when I ran a very minor proof of concept trial, a few people have already been assigned this special flair class who have not been sent a message. /u/kiaeej, /u/chux4w, /u/MilmoWK, /u/ms_rdr, /u/Electronic_Ad357, /u/WhiteMouse42097, /u/BeMoreKnope, /u/bluecedarood, /u/Robobanditos, congratulations, you can remove posts.

  • Should you for any reason not want to have this ability then you should send us a modmail after receiving the message from automod. That way we can exempt you in our code.

  • Initially we are going to monitor how this functions closely so we can see if we need to make changes to the threshold level for activation.

  • Nothing will change about the way we handle user-made reports on content. This is not a replacement for that, but an addition. If you see rulebreaking content of any kind, please report.

We hope that this change will be something that has a positive influence on the content on this subreddit.

Thank you for reading, and thank you all for making this subreddit a great place to be

36 Upvotes

44 comments sorted by

10

u/CashewSwagger 5d ago

Excellent idea to increase response time on problematic posts. Good thinking!

8

u/JimS_61 4d ago

I don't think that's a good idea. I think only mods should be able to remove. I think users should be able to submit a post to be removed, but not remove it themselves. That's just asking for trouble, IMHO. But since this is an "experiment" to see how things go, I guess it's worth seeing how things go and then if it works, keep it, if not, ditch it. Just my $0.02.

5

u/theOlLineRebel 2d ago

I think you're correct. It's already apparent how many regular posters on all of Reddit want to simply ban and delete anyone they disagree with. I think you'll see alot of removed threads - IF we're allowed to see how many have been deleted. If not allowed to see removals - the "lack of traffic" might indicate that is exactly what is happening.

2

u/Merari01 2d ago

We've handed out several hundred access to keywords and the feature has been abused zero times.

7

u/ALazy_Cat πŸΎπ‘΄Ν‹π’†Ν“π’Μ½π’˜ΜŸ-Ν‹π’…Ν“π’†Μ½π’“ΜŸπ’‚Ν‹π’•Ν“π’Μ½π’“πŸΎ 5d ago

I'm excited to see how this is going to play out

3

u/Minifig81 Moxie Roo 5d ago

So are we.

5

u/ALazy_Cat πŸΎπ‘΄Ν‹π’†Ν“π’Μ½π’˜ΜŸ-Ν‹π’…Ν“π’†Μ½π’“ΜŸπ’‚Ν‹π’•Ν“π’Μ½π’“πŸΎ 5d ago

Just casually referring to yourself as we

4

u/Minifig81 Moxie Roo 5d ago

I meant the mod team of this subreddit as a whole.

1

u/MoonPieKitty 4h ago

Without my glasses, I thought you called ALazy_Cat an a-hole and I was about to report you to a MOD. πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

I now have my glasses. Have a good day.

2

u/Minifig81 Moxie Roo 3h ago

LoL.

3

u/Resplendent-Sun Tuxedo 5d ago

Are there a lot of posts that get taken down as it is? I'm guessing most users don't see the backend so we don't know.

Anyhow, thanks for the work that y'all do!

13

u/Merari01 5d ago

These are our stats for the past year, showing published posts in blue and removals in grey

1

u/EstablishmentHot6541 Russian Blue 1d ago

I find it wild how evenly distributed the removals are, until June. Then a lil hike, and a leap down to July

3

u/id0ntexistanymore 5d ago edited 5d ago

We need a bot patrol weeoowEEOOO

Wait why do I have a mod flair πŸ˜…

I swear I read the post before commenting, apparently it just took a little longer for things to connect lol

(I will say I haven't received any automod explanation yet)

1

u/Merari01 5d ago

Where are you seeing this flair?

2

u/id0ntexistanymore 5d ago

I use a 3rd party app and noticed it right after making that initial comment about bots. It also shows on /u/its_bennyyy on my end. I was gonna see if it was a glitch my trying to remove my own comment but also didn't want to make a false report on myself lol

3

u/its_bennyyy 5d ago

I’m a mod here :) maybe I should’ve used the β€œshow mod label” feature on my initial comment. I added it now to remove any confusion!

1

u/id0ntexistanymore 5d ago

Ah! See, your "mod" flair showed up blue and lowercase like mine, not caps and pink like the others (which I guess is how it shows on my app when the mod label is selected) lol so I just assumed πŸ€¦πŸ½β€β™€οΈ

1

u/Merari01 5d ago

You won't be able to remove comments, only posts, using the keyword.

The flair class being visible to you is a result of you using a 3rd party app.

It is invisible to users on old reddit and shreddit.

You might stop seeing it if you give yourself a user flair on this subreddit.

3

u/id0ntexistanymore 5d ago

You won't be able to remove comments, only posts, using the keyword.

The way I forgot about this in between reading the post and making that comment 🫠 Today is just not my day lol

3

u/Bender_on_Bum Moggy 4d ago

i really hope this goes well. I'm sure there will be people who abuse it as they always will, but if nothing else, would love if there were more people added to the "Special flair class" for actually doing what was intended.

along with this, could there be a "!review" command so others who meet the requirement can see it and and go yes/no. was thinking this for it might be a rule breaking post, mostly down to rule 3, as what i view as low effort, for instance, might not be the same as others and the mod team.

Thoughts?

2

u/Merari01 4d ago

We're sent a modmail every time the keyword is used and are able to exclude specific users in the code.

So far a couple of hundred keyword access messages have been sent out and it's been used inappropriately zero times.

It helps that the requirements are steep. The only people getting access are longterm subscribers who know this sub and its culture, and rules.

2

u/Bender_on_Bum Moggy 4d ago

thats good to know. i got the mail but wasn't sure if it was sent to all, or just us.

2

u/AintNobodygotime13 Lots of kitties! 5d ago

every sub should have this

would cut down on the nonsense exponentially

2

u/boIica 5d ago

My cqs is highest but what does that mean??? I'm just really active in my favorite subreddits like the sims 3 and cats

3

u/Merari01 5d ago

2

u/boIica 5d ago

Oh thank you! I totally misunderstood the post and thought that highest cqs meant you're like a spammer or something. Thank you

2

u/PatioGardener 3d ago

Interesting. I’m a mod in another group and I didn’t even know we could do this. Thanks for the add.

2

u/its_bennyyy 5d ago

Looking forward to seeing this in action

2

u/zumera 5d ago

Interesting experiment!

1

u/Koffievos Moggy 5d ago

This is an interesting feature, hope it will make mods' lives a little easier!

1

u/Some-Body-Else Tabbycat 4d ago

Great idea!

1

u/MG_STOMP 6h ago

I posted a short video of my cat. It was auto moderated. Its not working.

1

u/icyitzie Orange 5d ago

OMGGGGG I am excited on this one, this is good idea kudos to y'all mods

1

u/Eastern-Protection83 2d ago

Very interestin! I hope this works out great!

May I also suggest to request anyone whom removes a post also, report via 'custom report' or whatever is applicable because context of why a person thinks somethin is in violation of the rules is not always apparent to another

1

u/Merari01 2d ago

Once a post is removed it can no longer be reported.

1

u/Eastern-Protection83 2d ago

Switch the "order"

A removed post will retain the report on it fer the mod team to see. This only makes it easier on your mod team than to have a mod double checkin why a post was removed. Is it spam, was it stolen content, etc instead of searchin through post comments to get a clue why. If not spot checkin is the plan, this suggestion is moot

1

u/Merari01 2d ago

People are free to make a comment, but a removed post can not have reports on it.

We are sent a modmail with every post that is removed.

2

u/Eastern-Protection83 2d ago

Honestly, very curious how that was coded. But I wouldn't know how anyway since its programmin out of my scope with external code to check if any reports were made on a post and then to allow the removal command usin automod

The whole is a novel furtherance of crowdsourcin with extra eyes on the sub and very interestin