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Shortcomings of current models of moderation have driven policy makers, scholars, and technologists to speculate about alternative models of content moderation. While alternative models provide hope for the future of online spaces, they can fail without proper scaffolding. Community moderators are routinely confronted with similar issues and have therefore found creative ways to navigate these challenges. Learning more about the decisions these moderators make, the challenges they face, and where they are successful can provide valuable insight into how to ensure alternative moderation models are successful. In this study, I perform a collaborative ethnography with moderators of r/AskHistorians, a community that uses an alternative moderation model, highlighting the importance of accounting for power in moderation. Drawing from Black feminist theory, I call this intersectional moderation. I focus on three controversies emblematic of r/AskHistorians' alternative model of moderation: a disagreement over a moderation decision; a collaboration to fight racism on Reddit; and a period of intense turmoil and its impact on policy. Through this evidence I show how volunteer moderators navigated multiple layers of power through care work. To ensure the successful implementation of intersectional moderation, I argue that designers should support decision-making processes and policy makers should account for the impact of the sociotechnical systems in which moderators work.
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This content will become publicly available on May 2, 2025
ModeratorHub: A Knowledge Sharing and Relationship Building Platform for Moderators
This design project arose with the purpose to intervene within the current landscape of content moderation. Our team’s primary focus is community moderators, specifically volunteer moderators for online community spaces. Community moderators play a key role in up-keeping the guidelines and culture of online community spaces, as well as managing and protecting community members against harmful content online. Yet, community moderators notably lack the official resources and training that their commercial moderator counterparts have. To address this, we present ModeratorHub, a knowledge sharing platform that focuses on community moderation. In our current design stage, we focused 2 features: (1) moderation case documentation and (2) moderation case sharing. These are our team’s initial building blocks of a larger intervention aimed to support moderators and promote social support and collaboration among end users of online community ecosystems.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1928627
- PAR ID:
- 10562697
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9798400703317
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 6
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Honolulu HI USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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