Hey everyone,

We want to be completely transparent about what’s been happening behind the scenes.

Over the past few weeks, Reddit admins have started cracking down on subs that post political, off-topic, or “low-effort” content — even when it’s obviously satire or harmless shitposting. Unfortunately, r/CirclejerkSopranos got flagged in that wave.

We were told, directly and indirectly, that if we didn’t clean things up, the subreddit could be taken down permanently.

What This Means

To avoid a ban, we’ve had to remove a lot of posts that don’t fit Reddit’s updated enforcement standards. That includes:

Political jokes or memes — even if they use Sopranos screenshots

Non-Sopranos posts, current-event edits, or general internet memes

Some of the more “random” or off-topic shitposts the sub used to allow

We know that kind of content was part of the sub’s identity and humor. We didn’t want to change it — but Reddit’s moderation team made it clear that if we didn’t comply, the entire community could be wiped out.

The mod team isn’t happy about this either. None of us want to over-moderate or kill the vibe — we’re just trying to keep the sub from getting banned.

Anyways $4 a pound. It’s up to you guys if you’d like to keep this sub around.

EDIT:

Whatever happens to this sub, thank you for the last 8 years. It’s been an honor to be joined by men of honor.

Ah salud

https://www.reddit.com/r/CirclejerkSopranos/comments/1ob5b3n/mod_update_reddit_cracking_down_on/

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
    38·
    2 days ago

    So Reddit administrators are deciding what subs should be about now? And enforcing their preconceptions? That’s bizarre. Even for Reddit admins that’s fucking weird.

    • SaraTonin@lemmy.world
      11·
      2 days ago

      Remember when the excuse for allowing subs dedicated to jerking off to pictures of children was “free speech”? What a difference a few years makes.

        • SaraTonin@lemmy.world
          2·
          2 days ago

          Was GamerGate really only 11 years ago? That’s spun my head a little, TBH. I mean, it’s the root of QAnon, from there Trump, and just so much about the current US. I could have sworn it was 10 years before Trump got elected, not 2.

          • Corgana@startrek.website
            3·
            2 days ago

            Yep. IMO, the experience of using social media was pretty good (far from perfect but pretty good) going into 2014, but 2014 set in motion what became 2015. When gamergate-style ““debate”” tactics took over well, everything.

            EDIT: And more importantly those tactics weren’t banned by most subreddits

    • Corgana@startrek.website
      61·
      2 days ago

      Reddit (the company) deciding what communities can be about is actually not new and I wish it were widely known. The first big example I know of goes back to 2018 when the admins overrode a subreddit creator to force their community to be for (pro) gamergate content.

      • Skavau@piefed.socialEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        I mean this is also true of many instances here. If someone deliberately subverted a notable community for their own purposes, against much of the audiences userbase - I imagine the instance admins would feel they have to step in.

          • Skavau@piefed.socialEnglish
            2·
            2 days ago

            Oh I agree. I’m just saying that it would be justifiable in some instances for instance owners to remove moderators for how they run a community.

            • Corgana@startrek.website
              1·
              2 days ago

              Oh yes, I believe it is the responsibility of instance admins, as I believe it is the responsibility of the Reddit admins too. And if Steve Huffman wants Reddit to be a pro gamergate right wing website he absolutely has that right. What I wanted to highlight is that Reddit has a long history of enforcing their policies selectively in ways that just-so-happen to allow right wing propagandists free access to everyone else’s communities.