The New Double Standard: How Reddit Moderators struggle under the Reddit Ecosystem

In-depth interviews expose the struggles moderators are dealing with, including bad actors brigading their community in an attempt to get it banned, to the inherent lack of transparency the website displays that affects their mental health. The moderators only have their own ethical and philosophical ideology to refer to when dealing with controversial content and cannot rely on a broken structure. The research question delves into the perspective of these moderators that are stuck in a toxic ecosystem only incentivized to generate profit, leaving informal processes to affect the space unchecked. These informal processes, although some advantages, endanger users on the site and the mainstream, polarizing, radicalizing and potentially pushing political agendas. Law makers and other legal involvements seem to move slowly to have a proper impact on the space and lack the knowledge for a rapid and effective response that requires to be flexible in the rapidly changing online space. Among interviews there also exists the discussion of nuance and internet culture, depicting a discussion around wider problems in society that are imbedded within the content that is posted on some of the subreddits. Interpersonal relationships play a large role depicting power balances in the ecosystem, delegating of the incompetent and apathic to the pleas of change regarding illegal content and user conduct. Naturally, case studies and lived experiences of said case studies become the centre of attention as the main vehicles for constructing a final point. One of the most contentious topic of controversial content online is revealed to be viewed at incorrectly by official institutions which ask the wrong question of where to draw the line and why. One has to apply themselves to the discussion to understand and verify controversiality, requiring empathy, sympathy and knowledge of internet culture. Finally, discussion of bots, auto moderator and the algorithm reveal the undeveloped spaces and networks that are pressured to use those tools for moderation. To accommodate the several themes found within the data, and to make sense of its interpretation, the method thematic analysis is applied by Braun and Clarke (2008). Conclusions drawn from the analysis of data reveal a slow and broken system, ideological fanatical moderators and apathetic corporate shareholders that do not care to see change unless it increases their profit endeavours.