Yesterday, Reddit mistakenly banned over 90 subreddits, only to restore them later, attributing the error to a software bug. However, many moderators are expressing their concerns about what this incident could imply for the platform’s future.
The banned subreddits primarily featured NSFW content, which is often associated with adult entertainment yet includes a variety of communities, such as r/cubancigars and r/transgender_surgeries.
Each of the banned subreddits had moderation, yet they were classified as unmoderated, leading to their temporary shutdown. Engadget reported that it identified more than 90 subreddits newly appearing in r/BannedSubs.
Reddit attributed the blunder to an overly aggressive automated system aimed at eliminating unmoderated NSFW communities.
Thank you to everyone for highlighting the issue about subreddits being banned due to ‘lack of moderation.’ We identified a bug in one of our tools that incorrectly led to the banning of those subreddits. We are actively working on a resolution, and many of your communities are back in operation.
Despite this statement, some users are skeptical, pondering Reddit’s intentions regarding NSFW subreddits.
So it was undone? Fine.
1: where’s the RCE or incident report, and will there be any public disclosure?
2: what new functionality was being integrated that caused this issue?
3: did this issue solely impact subs marked as NSFW, or were there other unintended consequences that we are not aware of?
4: if significant changes are being pushed live, why was there no prior announcement?
5: was the functionality being implemented designed to further limit access to NSFW-marked subreddits? If that’s the case, why?
Others pointed out that this wasn’t the first occurrence of such an issue, sparking discussions about contingency strategies.
“The explanation provided in r/modsupport falls short in my view. I was quite upset and disappointed by the lack of communication to us,” commented a moderator from r/rule34 to Engadget. “We currently don’t have a contingency plan in place for future incidents, but we’re exploring options to establish one with assistance from other moderators in and outside our subreddit.”
Nevertheless, some Reddit users believe that it is reasonable for the platform to automatically ban unmoderated and neglected subreddits, as such spaces are often taken over by spammers, scammers, and individuals distributing CSAM.
Image: Screenshot over background by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
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