When moderators go bad

The Dark Side of Reddit

I browsed through the Reddit site, and at first, I thought it was just another interesting website where users voted on the content. However, after reading this site, which I stumbled upon while trying to understand how to use Reddit, I see that it's a community, and that community can be a little feisty.

Apparently a common problem in this surprisingly exclusive community is banishment. But the site doesn't just ban a person; it does so without telling the victim. Fear of confrontation? Gerald Webber writes about this rude phenomenon.

Honest truth, I'm not even going to bother to start a new reddit account, because what gives reddit the right to delete my account without warning or notice.

And I don't appreciate the fact that individual moderators have the ability to delete my submission just because they don't like it or have a submission of their friends they want to promote. I don't have proof that they are doing this but its simple to see, if you give these types of powers to users, they will abuse it discreetly.

The Internet Journal (the source of the picture above) addresses the issue in its article about the FAQs of Reddit.

Why are my comments invisible to everyone except myself?

The reason: you are banned, my friend. Reddit way of banning is really unique (and can be treated differently).

I call it "ghost banning" – you think you still exist but no one can see you any more. You still come daily, vote for stories and leave comments but your efforts are invisible to the community- because you no more exist, sorry.

As we said in class, "users are a necessary evil." Banning people, indiscriminately, gives the message to users and contributers that they're not necessary in this superior community. Big mistake. And, banning without even informing the person is just bad form.