this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023

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submitted 1 year ago by justlookingfordragon to c/support

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

@JPthePirate has created their account 2 months ago (like many redditfugees) and created 40+ communities, only to never log back in. The communities are for the most part empty and completely unmoderated - and a lot of them are "brand names" like the names of videogame studios (!bethesda, !blizzard, !devolverdigital, !activision) and somewhat popular videogames like !cultofthelamb and !diablo4.

Would it be possible to delete the ones that are completely empty anyway so that users who actually want to do something with those communities are able to create them from scratch?

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[–] MrCenny 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hey there! Thank you for bringing this up! As the user @[email protected] says, the normal route for community "takeover" is to report them to us, and ask for the community that you want. I also see that you didn't want any of the communities, but thanks for reporting it! I've just now taken this up with the internal admin team :)

[–] justlookingfordragon 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you ;)

[–] MrCenny 7 points 1 year ago

No problem!

[–] PriorProject 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The more normal transfer path is to offer to take over a specific community or communities by:

Reaching out to the existing mod and asking to be added to the mod team.
Documenting their lack of response after a few days or a week.
Documenting the failure to abide by Lemmy world moderation guidelines: https://lemmy.world/post/424735 by linking spam or off-topic posts and to communities that lack rules/useful-sidebar-content, etc.
Posting this info in [email protected] and offering to takeover moderation.

This is better than mass deletion because it keeps whatever small list of existing subscribers and post content intact across the transition. For moderation, Lemmy world admins will get notified of reports and can address anything that violates instance rules.

[–] justlookingfordragon 8 points 1 year ago

About the moderation guidelines ...

Please create a sidebar with some contents, at least a description of the community and some extra rules when applicable

They did not do that even after 2 months.

Adding a banner and icon for the community makes it prettier. Please do.

They also did not do that, even tho it is an action that takes all of five minutes to do.

Every community needs enough moderators.

The only mod is simply not present, so noone is actually moderating.

People are a lot less likely to participate in a community if the first thing you notice is that the creator doesn't give a sh*t about it. And like I explained in another comment, "regular" users can not fix this - only a mod can add a banner, the sidebar, rules, featured posts etc. so even on the off chance that someone decides to post there despite the first bad impression, the community will continue to have that first bad impression anyway.

[+] schmidtster -6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A mod not answering a request would break which rule to report them under?

If these places are empty without posts, the moderation is being done since none is to be done.

[–] PriorProject 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

...create a sidebar with some contents... At least some of these communities have empty sidebars.
Every community needs enough moderators. A single-mod community is not "enough" for a healthy community because things can blow up when you're asleep or away, even in a community that was previously inactive. If a community member reaches out to offer to join a single-mod team... that contact warrants a response from the existing mod. Not necessarily to immediately accept the offer, but at least to discuss the possibility of extra mod coverage.
It's just not at all true that if others aren't posting there's no moderation work that could be done. Mods of inactive communities can jumpstart them by soliciting feedback on proposed rules, advertising them elsewhere, making scheduled discussion posts, and more. Some of these things can be done by a "regular" community member as well, but if community members try to include mods in discussions about how best to promote the community and the mods ignore them... that's a sign that the community is abandoned.
If a mod is notified that they're their community is about to get reassigned and they don't respond... the community is definitely abandoned.

All of which is to say, there are lots of way to detect abandoned communities when post volume is low, and the process I highlighted is the standard way to request a takeover.

[+] schmidtster -6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Want to finish posting the rest of that sentence…?

Please create a sidebar with some contents, at least a description of the community and some extra rules when applicable

When applicable changes that entire premise! It’s only applicable when it’s large enough to warrant.

One mod is perfectly fine for communities with posts of about once a week down to a day, not breaking anything there either….

Can’t have a discussion when no one else comments or posts! You’re suggestion fixes to issues that don’t exist in these particular communities yet.

You also suggest that someone posts a bunch of rule breaking posts to make a point… that’s not going end well… hey I just broke all your rules to point out someone else was, let me have their role! Lmfao.

There’s nothing to report the mods for until someone starts posting legitimately and proves they are. Buddy wants the communities without the initial legwork just to have to legwork…? They aren’t posting themselves and want the communities? Does that make a shred of sense to you…?

[–] justlookingfordragon 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

One mod is perfectly fine

There are, however, currently ZERO mods, as the only one listed as a mod is no longer here.

Buddy wants the communities without the initial legwork just to have to legwork…? They aren’t posting themselves and want the communities?

Where did I say that I want these communities? I'm perfectly happy with the ones I already mod. I just think it's easier to free up these names for OTHER people so that they have the chance to actually create the communities from scratch themselves instead of having to deal with the mess someone else left behind after scribbling their name on it. I also asked to delete the ones that "are completely empty anyway" which would leave the ones that already have content alone.

I really don't get why that upsets you so much.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think we've found the missing mod: schmidster.

[–] schmidtster -5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And there is no content for them to mod?

How can they pin non-existent posts?

How can they engage when the users don’t? Give them something to work with.

You also say people won’t want to post in these places without xyz people post where they want to, without other posts they are going to skip right over them. Gotta have content before you go flashy dude… can’t put lipstick on a pig, gotta have the pig first as well for that matter…

And what mess? They are empty lmfao, how is an empty community a mess?

What is your point here if you don’t want empty subreddits and you think there’s stuff for other people to clean up when there isn’t?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Good bot

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago

There is nothing stopping people from joining those communities no? I would see this as an issue if people were posting a lot but there was no moderation, but at the moment it seems like the issue is a lack of posts :(

[+] schmidtster -13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People can still post? Why does someone need to take over?

And if it’s empty what moderation is needed?

[–] justlookingfordragon 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Abandoned communities discourage interaction. While it is technically possible for anyone to post there, why should anyone want to interact with a community that's been sitting empty for two months? If a theater is abandoned, then yes, visitors can technically sit down and look at the empty stage, but why should they want to do that?

It is less of an issue if there is an empty plot that anyone who wants to actively participate can build from scratch. As it is now, people will take one look at those communities and go "eh, just lots of dead space and a mod that doesn't care, no use in staying here" and go elsewhere.

And moderating is more than just deleting posts for whatever reason. Banner, sidebar, rules, news, featured posts, advertising the community elsewhere, interacting with different instances etc. is also part of that, and a mod that hasn't logged in since the day they created their account is not doing any of these.

[+] schmidtster -8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If there’s no posts how is it abandoned? They could be waiting for posts, start posting before claiming it’s abandoned.

It’s only empty since you also don’t post mate.

What’s there to mod until there’s some content and users to mod? Just taking over a community isn’t going to suddenly make people active mate. Gotta fix problem one before barking about moderation.

You said it yourself, dead communities. They aren’t dead from moderation issues.

Also lots of mods use alt accounts, if there’s no reason for me to log in to my alt for communities without interaction, why would I?

[–] justlookingfordragon 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What’s there to mod until there’s some content and users to mod?

And moderating is more than just deleting posts for whatever reason. Banner, sidebar, rules, news, featured posts, advertising the community elsewhere, interacting with different instances etc. is also part of that, and a mod that hasn’t logged in since the day they created their account is not doing any of these.

All of this has to be done before user-generated content shows up, or at least soon after. What the communities got instead, are 2 months of inactivity.