Announcing Remove as a Subreddit

=> https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/wpy5c8/announcing_remove_as_a_subreddit/

created by ac_oatmeal on 16/08/2022 at 16:05 UTC*

625 upvotes, 91 top-level comments (showing 25)

Hey Mods!

Throughout the years, we’ve heard many of you express hesitation at sharing removal reason comments from your personal accounts and have long requested the ability to post removal reasons as your subreddit.

Well, we come to you with some exciting news[1]! Over the next few days, you’ll have the functionality (across both desktop and mobile) to be able to post removal reasons on behalf of your mod team.

=> 1: https://i.redd.it/fwq2ap0z5zg91.gif

​

=> https://i.redd.it/wm62giysm3i91.gif

This is the first milestone towards our greater goal of enabling moderators to post all types of content as their subreddits mod team[2].

=> 2: https://i.redd.it/1aimzsnq90i91.gif

A couple of things to note:

• In order to pull this cool new mod trick off, we created a brand new account for your mod team - u/SubredditName-ModTeam. Removal reason comments will be posted from this account, allowing your team to communicate publicly without concern of a member being singled out.
• In the interest of user transparency, this account’s history will be publicly visible (similar to other user accounts).
• At this time, you will not be notified of the messages that this account receives. If the intent behind posting a removal reason comment is to engage in conversation, we suggest using your personal accounts.
• As a heads up, we are thinking about funneling the messages this account receives into mod mail. We’d love to hear your thoughts on if this would be helpful.

In other exciting news, we launched the ability to lock your removal reason comment thread at the time of post (or rather, unlock your comment thread…all removal reason comments are now locked by default). This feature is currently only available on desktop but will launch on mobile soon!

We hope these combined features[3] will make it easier for you to share removal reason comments with your community members.

=> 3: https://i.redd.it/8p8dfuccd0i91.gif

We’re excited to hear your feedback, so please drop any questions or thoughts in the comments below.

EDIT: We've fixed the issue that was causing automod to action r/subredditname-ModTeam accounts due to the the account being new.

Comments

=> Comment by Tetizeraz at 16/08/2022 at 16:11 UTC*

190 upvotes, 4 direct replies

This seems a pretty good idea, and apparently we can avoid issues like an account getting hacked (never happened afaik, but very possible).

• Will we know which mod used the account on mod log?* The current issue, so to speak, is that there's nothing registered about which mod did what on Reddit with a subreddit account. It's all done in good faith, but this shouldn't be necessary.

As a heads up, we are thinking about funneling the messages this account receives into mod mail. We’d love to hear your thoughts on if this would be helpful.

Do it ASAP. However, I know that mods sometimes get reddit chat messages. Maybe talk with the team working on that for those that need to see those messages?

=> Comment by PotatoUmaru at 16/08/2022 at 16:25 UTC

70 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Would love messages to that account to be funneled into modmail. It is so common for users to DM mods for mod questions and sometimes we miss them. Would not want users thinking we as mods are ignoring them.

=> Comment by kc2syk at 16/08/2022 at 16:32 UTC

342 upvotes, 11 direct replies

Please expose APIs for this so /r/toolbox can implement this for old reddit. Most moderators use old reddit.

If you do so, I may be able to retire /u/radiomod, which currently performs a similar function of commenting on behalf of mods.

=> Comment by KKingler at 16/08/2022 at 16:09 UTC

79 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Can a third-party make accounts such as: u/gaming-ModTeam. Would this disrupt things?

Can the comment be edited? Can all mods edit the comment?

Will there be an API call to comment as our mod team? This is important for third-party tools like Toolbox.

=> Comment by myweithisway at 16/08/2022 at 16:31 UTC

25 upvotes, 2 direct replies

As a heads up, we are thinking about funneling the messages this account receives into mod mail. We’d love to hear your thoughts on if this would be helpful.

Very much needed, especially if future plans include the ability to post other content beyond just removal reasons. In terms of actual implementation though, please create a separate filter or "inbox" or tab in modmail so that all replies to the mod account can be aggregated in one place. This makes it easier to prioritize as replies to removal comments are often not the highest priority.

=> Comment by BoneAppleSea at 16/08/2022 at 16:38 UTC

45 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Did you make the account immune to automod actions and crowd control?

Reddit added in a feature post removal reasons as the subreddit instead of from your personal account.

However, this feature creates a brand new account that is named subreddit-ModTeam. Since it's a new account with no history, automoderator rules that remove new accounts posts remove it, so does reddit's spam filter and crowd control policies. It's not well implemented (for example, you can't edit the remove reason after it's posed, since it's not from your account)

It was alarming to see an account created seconds ago and not on our subreddit moderators list post a distinguished and locked comment that was automatically filtered by Reddit and reported by our automoderator.

=> https://old.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/wlat6y/removal_reasons_are_being_posted_from_a_brand_new/ijsi3rk/

=> Comment by eriophora at 16/08/2022 at 16:47 UTC

53 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Please oh please make this possible in old reddit via API. I am begging you.

=> Comment by CX52J at 16/08/2022 at 16:45 UTC*

19 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Are there plans for anonymous mod team comments. Since sometimes moderators have to make unpopular announcements and it would be healthier to have the comment made by the joint sub account than any singular mod who may then receive multiple uncivil PMs.

Is there also anything stopping moderators removing a post, editing the removal reason to say anything we want and then re-approving the post to achieve the same outcome?

I think I speak for most mods that having mod team posts and comments everyone can edit would be incredibly helpful.

EDIT: Also off topic but the ability to run vote based contests on reddit is a desperately needed feature. I've gone round multiple different subs to see how other subs run contests and all are inefficient and make it painful for the users to engage with.

Something that allows mods to post multiple images and allows users to vote for different images would be incredible.

=> Comment by LydiaAgain at 16/08/2022 at 17:03 UTC

13 upvotes, 0 direct replies

THANK YOU. I never use the removal reasons feature as it often leads to mod abuse from angry users.

=> Comment by SampleOfNone at 16/08/2022 at 16:31 UTC

10 upvotes, 0 direct replies

As a heads up, we are thinking about funneling the messages this account receives into mod mail. We’d love to hear your thoughts on if this would be helpful.

Maybe add the default “contact the mods” footer when posting a removal message as ModTeam?

=> Comment by MajorParadox at 16/08/2022 at 17:02 UTC

19 upvotes, 1 direct replies

This is awesome! Although the implementation is more limiting than expected. I would love to be able to make posts and leave comments as the subreddit without removing something. Some use cases:

• The post is getting out of control and we want a warning stickied to the top
• We want to ask for more details without removing the post. For example they posted artwork without a source
• The user is shadowbanned and we want to approve their post/comment and inform them
• Probably many more?

This current change is welcome though. No longer must we rely on flair bots (although it seems we still need them for the mods who refuse to stop using 3rd-party apps 😆)

=> Comment by MisterWoodhouse at 16/08/2022 at 17:36 UTC

26 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Please please please expose this in the API so that Toolbox users on old reddit can make use of it.

I'm not switching to new reddit any time soon, as the mod experience there is still subpar for my user flows.

=> Comment by trebmald at 16/08/2022 at 21:57 UTC

13 upvotes, 1 direct replies

You do realize that without supporting this in old Reddit it's useless for 60% of us, don't you?

=> Comment by papasfritas at 16/08/2022 at 20:12 UTC

17 upvotes, 1 direct replies

this is useless without old reddit/toolbox support. Redesign is awful for moderation, as is the mobile app

=> Comment by [deleted] at 16/08/2022 at 16:49 UTC

5 upvotes, 1 direct replies

[deleted]

=> Comment by Runsfromrabbits at 16/08/2022 at 16:37 UTC

12 upvotes, 2 direct replies

When will we get back the feature to remove without going through that reason window?

When you remove 100+ a day it's a total waste of time.

But yes commenting as the subreddit is a good new thing.

=> Comment by i_Killed_Reddit at 16/08/2022 at 20:15 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Can the mod team nominate a sub specific bot account to do the work of the subredditName-ModTeam as many subs have already made u/subredditName as a bot account to do this work to avoid individual mod names to be used for such distinguished comments?

=> Comment by japed at 17/08/2022 at 00:20 UTC

5 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Any chance of separate removal reason lists for posts v comments?

=> Comment by Blue_Three at 17/08/2022 at 16:03 UTC*

5 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I noticed that our team account had been created because the app had suddenly defaulted to sending it through that.

What do we do when somebody accidentally submits the wrong removal reason?

Since we have no direct access to the "xxx-modteam" account, the message can't be edited or deleted, only (mod-)removed/hidden.

=> Comment by desdendelle at 16/08/2022 at 16:09 UTC

43 upvotes, 4 direct replies

Will this also be coming to Old Reddit, or are you continuing with your apparent policy of planned obsolescence?

=> Comment by Zavodskoy at 16/08/2022 at 16:38 UTC

8 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Does this support toolbox removal reasons or is it the new Reddit ones only?

=> Comment by DrBoby at 16/08/2022 at 16:40 UTC*

8 upvotes, 0 direct replies

1. Locked removal reason by default needs to be in settings. I want to opt out, because I'm too lazy to un-tick the box every time.

2. Don't funnel replies to Modmail, this will overcrowd it with useless replies. Or at least let us choose. Or only funnel the removed user's reply, not everyone.

Mod team account is nice, I noticed it released by mistake for an hour on 11 august (proof[1]). At the time it was not treated as a moderator and was removed by our automod for being a new user.

=> 1: https://www.reddit.com/user/UkraineRussiaReport-modteam

=> Comment by ohvalox at 16/08/2022 at 20:38 UTC

8 upvotes, 1 direct replies

As always with these it's a very good feature, but sadly not useful in practice due to lacking old reddit support or in this case no API so it can't be added to toolbox. I hope you realize how much we all rely on old reddit and toolbox and change that.

=> Comment by NaijeruR at 16/08/2022 at 16:47 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

This is something I've thought has been much-needed, natively, for a long time. Glad it's finally coming!

=> Comment by Blue_Three at 16/08/2022 at 17:03 UTC*

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

all removal reason comments are now locked by default

I had noticed this a few days ago and very much welcome it.

We already specify to "please reach out to the modteam via modmail if you believe this removal was made in error", so unless we'd want to invite public mod-user arguments, there really is no reason to not have it be locked.