Context: I started !norway@sopuli.xyz to be an English-language comm for Norway. There’s an existing Norway comm which focuses on Norwegian-language content and discourages too much English in the comm. I posted a simple “Hey I’m starting this comm” post, because obviously relevant. The mod took down my post without any comment, reply, or reason. Now they lurk in my English version comm, and downvote like half the posts. They’ve never actually upvoted a thing.
Oh, they also reported one of my posts as ‘Not relevant to community’.
Talk about petty. They didn’t even start the comm themselves, they took it over a few months ago because it was abandoned, and have done pretty much nothing to drive activity in it since taking it over. I decided to post here instead of YPTB because I don’t feel like it crosses the line into mod abuse, it’s just annoyingly petty.
I don’t get why anyone views being a moderator like ownership. It seems to attract a lot of narcissism in that mindset. I don’t think mod posts are relevant to growing a community. Quite the opposite, I think forced posts are worse than none. It is a matter of how the community resonates with users and the total number of people on the platform. The more niche the group, the harder it is to find an audience. The community belongs to users that post. The only community truly owned by a mod is the one where they are the only one that posts. Mods serve the community not the other way around.
Compare pet care.
If humans are your pets, you are a slave owner
I fully agree. The comms I’m modding, I’m doing so because I want them to exist and they wouldn’t if I stepped away from them right now. The moment I think they can get by without me I’m finding some other sucker to take them over.