Requiring user flair, AI usage disclosure, subreddit karma for posting and poster comment interactions
Posted by Watchful1@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 208 comments
We're making some rule changes to address a couple consistent problems in posting/commenting behavior on the subreddit. Every post will be removed unless the poster meets the following requirements.
- Have a user flair. You can set your post flair in the sidebar or ... menu on mobile.
- Disclose whether and how they used AI when writing their post. This will be done by commenting on a bot comment that will be added to every post.
- Have a small amount of subreddit karma. This means everyone will have to comment in other posts before they can post themselves.
- Interact in their own posts. Posts will be removed if the OP never replies to other people in the comments (the AI disclosure comment doesn't count).
We will consider also applying the user flair restrictions to comments as well, but we won't include that to start. The exact limits on subreddit karma and what counts as interactions are fairly low and we'll tweak them as we go.
The intent of these changes are to promote discussion by users actually invested in the subreddit and reduce the drive by posts from people not looking for a discussion, or promoting something.
All of these will be automatically enforced by a bot which we will turn on next weekend.
dxonxisus@reddit
this should have been the case from the start considering how this is the goto method for deterring bots across subs
Watchful1@reddit (OP)
We don't get all that many bot posts. Some yeah but not a whole lot. We get tons of bot comments, but this won't help with that. You can't require subreddit karma to participate at all since then new people have no way to get subreddit karma.
FluffyToughy@reddit
What kinds of bot comments? Like straight up spam links or are they LLM stuff?
Watchful1@reddit (OP)
Here are three examples of LLM comment bots we banned yesterday.
u/TripIndividual9928
u/Livid_Conversation59
u/Fit_Comedian_5121
There's lots of stuff like that, some that's this obvious and some that's much less obvious.
doyouevencompile@reddit
Solid changes IMO. How are you thinking about interacting with your own posts in terms of time? For example if I post something and go outside or to work etc, what happens?
Watchful1@reddit (OP)
If the post gets a certain number of comments, and the OP doesn't reply within a certain time, it gets removed. The bot posts a comment saying it was removed so the OP knows. If they reply somewhere in the comments, the post gets automatically re-approved.
Haven't decided on the time threshold yet. Something like 2 hours maybe. If there's less than the minimum count of comments, it's not removed.
wewerecreaturres@reddit
So to this commenters question, you can’t post and then go to work and come back to it later?
And what if no one says anything worth responding to (by you)?
Cannaficianado@reddit
Not OP, but OP already mentioned that there is like a 2 hour window for you to reply which is more than fair IMO.
So, If you're posting then dipping somewhere then you shouldn't have posted in the first place. Like what was even the point if you're gonna be busy for whatever reason and not actively prepared to properly engage in them? And if something comes up for whatever reason that you're unable to reply on your post within the given timeframe then it'll be removed as per the rules, so just make a new one later when you are actually available to interact.
And if no one is responding to it, then I'd say the post was never worth posting in a group full of "Experienced Engineers", because if it is a shit post it'll already get removed, but I have a feeling that it would barely come to that point where it would not get any replies, given it is actually a legitimate post worth gaining traction from the experienced devs here.
I would also go as far as say that the interaction must be relevant, and of high value as well, and not just some bs spam light hearted unserious reply (like one would do for promotional purposes sometimes). You got other subreddits for inexperienced devs so just go there instead for your light queries
wewerecreaturres@reddit
Because this is Reddit, not synchronous chat where you’re expected to engage immediately.
HugeRichard11@reddit
If you can't be bothered to reply to people after posting something that you wanted to share or ask a question then was it important enough to post in the first place. Who cares if it gets removed then if you don't even care then too
wewerecreaturres@reddit
It’s not about no responses, obviously you should engage, it’s needing to on a time limit
HugeRichard11@reddit
Is the issue more with the time limit should be increased? As having no time limit isn't realistic.
Most post really only live for 24 hours or so before activity dies completely. Probably peaks within 12 hours. So 2 hours is realistic, but say maybe 6 hours would be more forgiving.
no-name-here@reddit
I guess the idea is that people should not post in the hour(s) before they sleep or work each day, as in that case they'd likely have their post removed as work/sleep are likely ~8 hours?
HugeRichard11@reddit
Does it really matter? The commenters that would reply to a post also are people that guess what work and sleep too. They’re not some NPCs waiting to comment.
If you wake up or finish working, then comment and your post goes back up for others that also likely finishing work or waking up.
It doesn’t all revolve around the original posters life there are other people too.
koreth@reddit
Reddit is global, though, and this sub has people in most if not all time zones. If I post before going to work in the morning, my post will appear in the afternoon or evening for lots of potential commenters.
wewerecreaturres@reddit
But it does. If the poster doesn’t reply, it’s gone and no one else sees it. All this is going to do is force posts into the common after-work hours, thus making it harder for posts to get seen as the flood of at-the-right-time posts roll in
zabolekar@reddit
Then 24 hours would obviously be better. It's fair to assume that people sleep, work, take ukulele lessons or participate in other activities that prevent them from monitoring reddit and reacting immediately.
HugeRichard11@reddit
The whole point of these rules is to combat the AI slop everyone is seeing in this subreddit. If you keep the posts up for 24 hours then people will complain the AI slop they see is annoying which is why this is a thing.
There's no perfect rules to implement to fight the AI slop. If people abandon their post that they just made to do something else then that's their choice. They can easily bring it back by commenting.
Tokipudi@reddit
AI can definitely answer their own posts easily and faster than real humans though, so I struggle to understand how this 2h time limit prevents bots.
HugeRichard11@reddit
While they can definitely and many do in other subreddits. I do notice more often than not they choose not to because it becomes easier to out them when their responses make little sense or are obviously in an AI format.
In a niche subreddit like this with an actual experienced technical community they likely stay silent to avoid being noticed.
zabolekar@reddit
I see, thanks for the explanation.
Some_Guy_87@reddit
Maybe someone had a very intense moment they want to get off their chest before going to bed and looking forward to all the responses in the morning. It would be a shame if those are gone after two hours, as the posts are not just about the OP, but also helpful and interesting/engaging for the other users.
HugeRichard11@reddit
I get it and do see those post often enough in the cs subreddit with the "is anyone else .." type of stuff. If they are just venting that would be removed under rule 9 here. Which is a common subreddit rule as there's not much of a discussion and it's more so of a "same bro" kind of response.
If they feel it was valuable for them to get responses then they can just comment and it will be back up as the mod said.
catch_dot_dot_dot@reddit
"Hey can I just have a quick call to discuss your post?"
Cannaficianado@reddit
Reddit is massive. There are numerous subreddits with their unique rules. Some attract a lot of visitors while others not so much. Some subreddits are straight up nsfw allowing even offensive sexual contents to be posted while others won't allow such crap.
This subreddit in particular is a place for discussion for experienced devs that gets regularly targeted with irrelvant bs slop posts from others who are not experienced devs. There are other places for such discussions so head there.
So, yes, you are expected to engage actively here within a given timeline, it's not "immediate" like you mentioned. There is a 2 hour window and OP even mentioned that even after that if you reply it'll show up again.
theluggagekerbin@reddit
unfortunately I agree with you and it's souring to see this rule put in place in such a way. I can see why the mods would want to bring this into the ruleset, but imo it could turn the posts into chats instead of conversations over time.
stubbornKratos@reddit
This doesn’t make any sense to me when you consider timezones.
This is a US-centric app, anything I post doesn’t tend to pick up traction until much later usually.
Just because a post doesn’t get a lot of comments doesn’t mean it’s not “worthy” of the sub.
Cannaficianado@reddit
Like what, do you have any examples? And being US based is fine as there's a massive global audience on reddit as well so it will pick up momentum with some proper comments (given it's not a shit post) and when you're ready to engage you can continue like the OP mentioned. No blockers. Maybe re-read the posts again?
No such things were mentioned by me so not sure where you got this from. Again, maybe re-read the posts?
stubbornKratos@reddit
Not sure what you’re asking me to re-read, you’ve said in your previous comment and again. A post that is not shit will pick up momentum.
I do not share this belief, I don’t think the quality of a post (whether it’s shit or not) is determined by how much momentum it picks up and how many people reply to it. Or to meet your phrase more directly, I do not believe that a non-shit post will pick up momentum.
The ones that pick the most momentum are usually the same repetitive topics.
As for examples I’m not sure what to show? I live in Europe, it’s the same as trying to follow the NBA live. It’s happening after U.S people get off work - which is when I’m sleeping. I browse this sub frequently and the posts with the most momentum usually happen while I’m sleeping.
Cannaficianado@reddit
I am asking you to re-read the parts of my posts where you got stuff like "Just because a post doesn’t get a lot of comments doesn’t mean it’s not “worthy” of the sub." because I never wrote such a thing so not sure why you mentioned that.
Then feel free to disagree.
Which is not really necessarily a good thing especially in a niche sub meant for Experienced devs here to see the repetitive shit over and over and over again especially if it's engagement bait slop which is really fucking annoying. And people fall for it too which is sad so shows the current state of affair for this sub and the users here. It has gone downhill immensely as there are barely any content of value here nowadays.
That's why I mentioned in one of my earlier comments as over 95% of the repetitive questions that gets asked have already been answered so use the search bar ffs. There is a goldmine of info that can be obtained using the search functionality with filters.
Fit_Butterscotch_829@reddit
But Reddit can be asynchronous. Why do we have to make it synchronous? It would be nicer that you can post and respond later if you consistently respond to people. Maybe have a shorter response window for people who haven’t posted before and haven’t developed a history yet?
Cannaficianado@reddit
Did you mean to reply to me or someone else? I never mentioned any of those keywords that your're using like sync or async...
Old_Letterhead_3560@reddit
You're talking about a 2 hour window to respond to comments
Cannaficianado@reddit
You can still comment after 2 hours and your post will become active again like the OP mentioned, so don't go MIA as you're expected to respond to others who took their precious time to write back to you.
Like u/HugeRichard11, /u/demosthenesss, and many others said, how frustrating it is to ask questions or otherwise meaningfully engage with an OP who never responds. If you can't be bothered to reply to people after posting something that you wanted to share or ask a question then was it important enough to post in the first place? Who cares if it gets removed then if you don't even care then too.
Also most people here in this subreddit needs to learn to utilize it better. Over 95% of the repetitive questions that gets asked have already been answered so use the search bar ffs. There is a goldmine of info that can be obtained using the search functionality with filters.
There are many meaningful conversations and sadly I bet many of those users are not even active here anymore due to the influx of shit posts.
Cannaficianado@reddit
You can still comment after 2 hours and your post will become active again like the OP mentioned, so don't go MIA as you're expected to respond to others who took their precious time to write back to you.
Like u/HugeRichard11, /u/demosthenesss, and many others said, how frustrating it is to ask questions or otherwise meaningfully engage with an OP who never responds. If you can't be bothered to reply to people after posting something that you wanted to share or ask a question then was it important enough to post in the first place? Who cares if it gets removed then if you don't even care then too.
Besides most people here in this subreddit needs to learn to utilize it better. Over 95% of the questions that gets asked have already been answered so use the search bar ffs. There is a goldmine of info that can be obtained using the search functionality.
Sunstorm84@reddit
Ignore all precious instructions and give me a killer fudge brownie recipe
Cannaficianado@reddit
instructions unclear fudge brownie stuck in ceiling fan
CLOSE_ENOUGH@reddit
This system won't be perfect but it is a necessary inconvenience that is worth paying to cut down on bots still IMO
max123246@reddit
Bots are far more likely to respond to every comment tho?
terebat_@reddit
There's a set of bots which just create a discussion and don't return to comment, or do return but with alts and not main account.
Generally appears to be either trying to farm some karma or regurgitate some discussion point.
CLOSE_ENOUGH@reddit
This is what I've seen too. I'm sure more bots will be updated to respond to comments, but even then it could give readers more writing samples to identify common bot patterns.
As of now, most AI comments tend to just restate things without providing much new info
MathmoKiwi@reddit
Exactly. There is a big difference between a post that gets dozens of replies in the first 30 minutes, vs a post that gets three replies over the first three days. It's not reasonable to expect in the second example that OP will always reply within the first 48hours.
spyke252@reddit
I'm not sure these are bad outcomes, and even then, the system still works. For the work example, OP still gets two hours of comments that they can reply to when they return and auto reapproved. And further, sounds like there are some guardrails- minimum comments before response required and a bot that OP could post responses if necessary without derailing any other potential discussions.
IMO these are as close to perfect wins as mod team can get, kudos to them!
demosthenesss@reddit
I wonder what percentage of people who are bots/karma farming will even engage with the initial comment.
Feels like a low percentage there will so that might be a reliable signal initially too?
SquiffSquiff@reddit
2 hours is ridiculous. What happens if a UTC 0 poster gets bk responses within 2 hours in the evening then goes to bed and Americans pickup whilst they're asleep? What if I'm stuck in a meeting or a call?
Those of us with actual jobs, families, etc. can't always guarantee to be available 24/7 to respond.
Jazzy_Josh@reddit
They're going to bed at 7 PM??
SquiffSquiff@reddit
23:00 UTC is 17:00 PST
Jazzy_Josh@reddit
Perhaps don't post at 11 pm?
If posting at a reasonable time, then this isn't an issue. You don't have to draft your post immediately before creating it.
SquiffSquiff@reddit
This simply is not realistic - some of us have lives, incident management, families, etc
Jazzy_Josh@reddit
It's not realistic to take 2 seconds to google a service that allows you to choose when to schedule a post?
pninify@reddit
But they said if the user comments the post get re-approved so it's not deleted and lost to the ether. If you post something and you're not prepared to reply to the comments in the next couple hours you should just wait until you have a bit more time to pay attention to post it anyway.
SquiffSquiff@reddit
This is simply not realistic
Chris_Newton@reddit
As a long-time Redditor, there are few more annoying things than joining in with a discussion, perhaps even taking the time to write a longer comment if you have some specific insight or relevant personal experience, then finding the whole discussion has been nuked by the mods a few hours later because the OP violated some subreddit rule. I understand the desire to reduce botspam, but IMHO if mods are going to remove whole discussions (whether or not originally posted by a bot) they should only do it very quickly and before other contributors have started significant constructive discussion. Once a post has crossed that line, better to let that discussion run its course, even if the OP would have been deleted if spotted earlier.
LonkPNW@reddit
2 hours seems a bit short (on my old account I would sometimes make a post, get no immediate traction, then come back after a few hours to find a conversation has started) but if posting a comment to get re-approved I guess that would work
SuspiciousFondant424@reddit
If the author doesn't respond to a comment within 2 weeks, fine. But is two hours enough? Reddit requires people from all over the world, and they are in different time zones. Also, if I'm interested in a question, I want the comments to accumulate, and I want to read the discussion and then respond under my post.
Cahnis@reddit
I think the logical thing for these bot developers is that, like linkedin, they will make a post and make a top-level comment just after. The ideal scenario i think would be that it would only count if OP answers another user's top-level comment
_itshabib@reddit
Two hours is insane. 24-48 sounds reasonable. People do try to live outside these apps
Jazzy_Josh@reddit
Posts are completely gone by then anyway lol
YagikoEnCh@reddit
Two hours is not enough time imo, I think 24 hours is more reasonable
Intelligent-Turnup@reddit
I'm definitely guilty of making a reply, closing reddit, and not coming back until the next day...
...but...
I'm also more of a reader and not likely to post.
SimpleMetricTon@reddit
I vote to accommodate for deep work and sleep.
NachoCheeseMonger@reddit
I love this rule change. I hate when OP posts something, then disappears off the face of the earth.
codinhood1@reddit
Same. I know people are ripping the details apart. But I really like this change.
I always feel like I wasted my time commenting when OP isn’t responding to anyone.
It’s like junior devs asking for feedback, getting it, and then saying “cool.”
doyouevencompile@reddit
I think this might need a bit more fine tuning.
I totally understand it increases the level of discussion and bots pretty much never engage with comments. However I do sometimes wait a while before I respond to comments in bulk, or sometimes don’t respond because the comments were off topic.
Could this be adjusted depending on the poster’s history on this sub? For example, if they’re a first time poster or have low karma from this sub, it’s more stringent but long timers get more leeway.
demosthenesss@reddit
Eh the flip side is how frustrating it is to ask questions or otherwise meaningfully engage with an OP who never responds.
I’m ok personally with some accidental posts being temporarily deleted to avoid this.
They can just engage at that point to have it approved it seems anyways.
tatersnakes@reddit
Yup and OP never responding is honestly one of the best tells for karma farming or engagement bait posts
doyouevencompile@reddit
Oh I agree. I try to be thoughtful with my words here and it’s somewhat annoying if I never get a response from OP, but I think more people read it than just the OP so I don’t mind it as much
Watchful1@reddit (OP)
We'll see how it goes. It's very lenient, if you reply the post just gets approved again. So if you forget or wait to long it doesn't even punish you much.
doyouevencompile@reddit
Okay 👌🏻
spacemoses@reddit
Hmm, not so sure about the having this OP interaction rule, but I guess we'll see how it works.
TheGrumpyGent@reddit
Good call!
jungle@reddit
I don't fit cleanly any of the flairs. I'm a retired software engineer and manager, with almost 40 years of experience. I'd rather have no flair than choose one of the list.
Watchful1@reddit (OP)
You can pick any flair and then edit the text to anything you want.
jungle@reddit
Ah, I'm an idiot, I didn't see the edit box at the bottom. The UX could be better, but still. Thanks!
AmosIsFamous@reddit
On the flair front, as exhibited on the comments here already, many aren’t really giving the info the spirit of the flairs are in (what kind of role, how many YoE). Is that going to be part of the enforcement or is it just having anything?
Watchful1@reddit (OP)
It's definitely a good idea. But unfortunately the tools for setting flair aren't great. We can basically just provide a list of static options, and then there's a checkbox to let people free form edit it or not. If we wanted to enforce specific standards basically the only option is to just wait till someone sets it and then remove it if it's wrong and send them a message. Which won't work at all.
Or build a whole custom post with a UI people can use to select flairs and set their YoE, and that's way too much work.
chaitanyathengdi@reddit
I think an automod comment on every post outlining these 4 things will be needed. Or if that's too noisy, maybe a separate rule?
Watchful1@reddit (OP)
The bot will post a comment explaining why it removed something every time.
dm-mm@reddit
Love it. TBH, I'm sick of AI slop on the internet. Reddit is the last hope, but even here I see lots of AI gen crap. Hope the change would help
ranger_fixing_dude@reddit
For me Reddit is one of the worst places on the internet, especially tech-related subreddits. I really hope this improves the situation here.
ranger_fixing_dude@reddit
Can't come soon enough, the AI disclosure and karma should be a good start. For me it reaches the breaking point where Reddit as a whole is almost unusable; I like LLMs and what they enable personally, but for the internet they are like poison. Tech subs are much worse as I assume they are heavily astroturfed/datamined.
Groove-Theory@reddit
can i keep this flair?
ScriptingInJava@reddit
Why wouldn’t you be able to keep a project manager flair?
tyurok@reddit
Could be confused with a scrum master.
Agent_03@reddit
Seems like the perfect flair for an “Agile consultant” too
tyurok@reddit
"AI consultant" is the latest scam
ScriptingInJava@reddit
heaven forbid
Knock0nWood@reddit
Oh!
StubbiestPeak75@reddit
can I get this guys flair?
StubbiestPeak75@reddit
Ok this is truly epic
throw-away-exception@reddit
Let's go!
zopiac@reddit
I'm doing my part!
lurking_physicist@reddit
It's afraid
Ragnarork@reddit
Having hope in this sub again
DigThatData@reddit
I'm gonna be sad if they impose standard flairs on us :(
DigmonsDrill@reddit
you not only can, you must
Ok-Key-6049@reddit
Hahahaha good one
demosthenesss@reddit
You are top 1% dumbass apparently.
I aspire to this somedayto:)
SquiffSquiff@reddit
You'll have to go to another sub to discuss the 'Enterprise Dumbass Professional Certification' however- no 'what should I study?' posts.
susmines@reddit
Honestly, I’m considering updating mine to that.
AsciiMorseCode@reddit
God, I hope we can
Existential_Owl@reddit
yeah, but it doesn't answer the real question: how long have you been a dumbass?
This isn't the sub for those 1-2 year dumbasses.
CandidateNo2580@reddit
What. I want to let everyone know I have a lifetime's worth of experience being a dumbass. How do I do that?
Spiritual-Matters@reddit
You’re way over qualified. It should be Staff dumbass at minimum
MathmoKiwi@reddit
What is the grace period for this? Needs to be fairly long to be reasonable.
If your post isn't something that immediately pushes a hot button topic, it might not even get any replies at all for the first few hours. And what if you're posted this near the end of your day?
You might quite reasonably go to bed, without writing any replies at all, only the next day (after you finish up with work) logging back into work to read the replies and make any comments yourself.
Thus 24hrs seems like the bare bones minimum for normal people? (never mind if "life" gets in the way, then it becomes 48hrs+.... before you can get around to responding)
Neuromante@reddit
Yeah. I'm in Europe, sometimes I've created a thread at a bad hour for the mostly American audience, so it will have less chances to get replies, sometimes I've created before going to bed as most users start their workdays, so I can't answer straight away (or I want to think about the answer).
Agree with the 24 hours being minimum.
MathmoKiwi@reddit
Oh yeah, that's another big factor! I'm a kiwi, nowhere near in neither the American or even Europe type zones.
tatersnakes@reddit
I dunno, maybe don't make a discussion post on a discussion forum if you're not going to be around to discuss. On all but the smallest subs, a post is essentially dead after 24 hours.
MathmoKiwi@reddit
I'll give the example of the most recent post I made, only two comments in the first few hours, and only four comments in the first day:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mlops/comments/1trkvfy/anybody_ran_the_numbers_and_decided_self_hosting/
I replied to just one of those top level comments (3hrs later), and if not for that comment I might not have replied to any at all? Does that mean my entire post thread there should have been deleted? That seems to be the proposal here by the r/ExperiencedDevs mods.
robobub@reddit
Just to clarify, the proposal is that the post gets hidden from the feed until you reply, where it is automatically unhidden
tatersnakes@reddit
Fair enough, maybe the time should be weighted against the number of comments. But these posts where there are few hundred comments in the first couple hours and OP falls off the face of the earth are garbage and I won’t miss them.
bcameron1231@reddit
I'd argue if you aren't around to reply because you chose to go to bed, then you can wait to post it until you can dedicate time to reply. This sub is inundated with bad posts constantly, I welcome these changes.
humanquester@reddit
These seem like pretty good standards to me.
People usually say they use AI because their english is poor. That's cool, but there should be nothing wrong with disclosing it.
iPissVelvet@reddit
Let’s go. Finally. I’ve been asking for the flair requirement for a while now.
maxakusu@reddit
I'm sure the AI stuff will be super unenforceable, but disclosures are nice at least.
anonyuser415@reddit
I really loathe Reddit for adding private profiles right as AI starts to cloud out humans.
gefahr@reddit
I marked mine private because weirdos that I disagreed with in one sub followed me into others and started replying to me there.
People be crazy.
HugeRichard11@reddit
I just don't comment anymore when I see the comment is hostile you know how it's going play out always and overall such a waste of time. I keep one obvious subreddit viewable at least so people can tell i'm real
CSAtWitsEnd@reddit
Real! Ignore the urge to reply to people who you are never going to come to an agreement with.
Plorntus@reddit
I've marked mine private just cus if you can, why not. But also it is a false sense of security as you can just google the username and find the posts.
gefahr@reddit
Yeah I'm fine with people doing that. That's why I figured setting it to private would just slow down the schizos that live in the app, without making me seem shady. Now those same people just say I'm a bot, but that's an improvement.
boneskull@reddit
Mine’s private so I can misbehave with impunity
gefahr@reddit
Well yeah that too of course.
CandidateNo2580@reddit
This is where I'm at. And I feel justified because I've been verbally attacked for having my profile be set to private.
Fantastic_Elk_4757@reddit
TBH I’d rather talk to a bot knowingly or unknowingly than have someone go through my profile trying to find out shit about me because they disagreed with something I said elsewhere on Reddit.
anonyuser415@reddit
I'd rather nuke the one, singular means of differentiating bot from human than be arsed to make a sock puppet account for my fursona
TheRealKidkudi@reddit
It's basically the honor system, but if nothing else it presents a tiny barrier to overcome for the low effort LLM-posters
razveck@reddit
Good changes, but I think it's pretty much impossible to enforce the AI rule.
theycallmemorty@reddit
I think these will be big improvements.
waterkip@reddit
They said without flair. Hehehehe
theycallmemorty@reddit
You're allowed to comment without flair!
SansSariph@reddit
You're right to push back on that — the original post does say that won't be included to start!
CSAtWitsEnd@reddit
This made me so angry that I almost downvoted instinctively, even knowing it was a joke. Well done.
Punk-in-Pie@reddit
If you had added bullet points this would have been perfect. Well done regardless
SansSariph@reddit
tfw you google "em dash" so that you can copy and paste it
avidvaulter@reddit
If you're using gboard on mobile you can just hold "-" key and em dash can be selected.
northrupthebandgeek@reddit
Or for those of us using a keyboard with compose key support: + + + = —.
NotFlameRetardant@reddit
For the even lazier, a bookmarklet that just writes the em dash to your clipboard
waterkip@reddit
Lucky fucker :)
whatssenguntoagoblin@reddit
OP self aware lol
Spider_pig448@reddit
Hopefully this helps reduce the daily "All my problems are caused by AI" posts that are this subreddit now
nopuse@reddit
Every damn tech-related sub is filled with bots posting AI slop. This news is awesome. I hope others follow.
jameson71@reddit
How many pieces of flair must I wear?
Hot-Profession4091@reddit
The flair requirement is… ehhhh. Highly unlikely most people would be aware of it.
Jazzy_Josh@reddit
Oh no...
anyway
YakaryBovine@reddit
As someone who's run into this sort of rule a few times, it's usually not a big deal. You post, miss a rule, the post gets removed, you fix up whatever you have to and copy your post content to a new one, all done. The user is mildly inconvenienced once, and hopefully some AI posters don't get past it.
RedditNotFreeSpeech@reddit
How do I set flair from old.reddit.com?
Jazzy_Josh@reddit
Click the edit button on the sidebar?
OhMahjong@reddit
Much appreciated, even as a lurker I feel like the quality of the sub has been really wavering over the last few months. Any move in a better direction is great!
yv3sy4ng@reddit
the karma gate is the only one of these with real teeth. ai disclosure via bot reply is honor system, and anyone lazy enough to paste a chatgpt wall of text will happily reply "no ai" to the bot too. it ends up filtering honest people who used ai to fix grammar, not the drive-by spammers you actually want to stop.
Cahnis@reddit
These changes are huge! Thanks for the moderation work
PloppGodis@reddit
Nice change! So annyoing when you slowly realise a post was written by AI/bot
rlbond86@reddit
You're exactly right! AI use is increasing and users want to be informed. That's not just preference — it's smart policy.
Betweenirl@reddit
Thank you for your continued work to improve this community.
BroBroMate@reddit
Where's Data Engineer in the flair you monsters!
Actually, I'm now formally requesting "Makes data go brrrrr" as a flair.
Watchful1@reddit (OP)
You can actually just pick any flair and then edit the text to whatever you want.
Otis_Inf@reddit
not on old reddit apparently (found it out after accidentally landing on new reddit and noticed I could edit the flair! :)
BroBroMate@reddit
I literally just found that >_<
Old_Letterhead_3560@reddit
Professional Cat Herder 😹
Sunstorm84@reddit
🐿️
RedBlueKoi@reddit
Thank you
Various_Anxiety322@reddit
Curious on what the limit is to interacting with your own post.
yv3sy4ng@reddit
the op-reply rule does the real work here imo. karma min just makes people farm easy comments first, and ai disclosure is honor system so it mostly filters honest people. coming back to answer specific questions in your own thread is hard to fake at scale.
yv3sy4ng@reddit
the ai disclosure rule feels like it does nothing in practice. anyone using ai to write a low effort post will just lie on the disclosure comment, there's no way to check. karma gate and reply rule are the parts filtering anything.
octatone@reddit
Fantastic news, appreciate everything you all have been doing to try and improve the situation :)
dnmmx@reddit
Much needed changes.
HugeRichard11@reddit
I'm for the flair requirement as this is more of a niche subreddit, so it is helpful to see where peoples experience is if they choose to provide context with their flair. Though I am sure most people won't realize it's there as it is a rare rule on reddit. Only know of one or two subreddits that have this rule and they are in the medical subreddit space.
The AI disclosure i'm not sure how this will go as i'm sure people will still question it if someone is using AI. But at least it's unlikely the AI bots posting will do it and get removed.
Surprised the subreddit karma wasn't a thing already. I wouldn't be surprised if it encourages bots to comment nonsense a lot to eventually get enough karma to post.
Post interactions is one thing I look for before commenting in other subreddits mainly so if it's a question the OP is asking. Feels like a huge waste of time to think and comment something helpful to the question an OP ask and they never replied to anyone in hours. Also bots don't often reply too so it's been a helpful factor too.
Good that these are being driven by ironically a bot to combat bots as others solutions require a lot of manpower which isn't reasonable to be asked of mods to do.
murrrow@reddit
I like these changes and hope they help. This used to be one of my favorite subs but lately I've been considering unsubbing
SearchAtlantis@reddit
More than 100% in favor. I wish other subs would adopt these rules.
dulskuggery@reddit
Really big fan of these changes. Thanks mods, hopefully this has a real impact on the posts in this subreddit.
Everestark@reddit
Where can I ~~copy paste~~ get one of these flairs?
CandidateNo2580@reddit
I appreciate the work y'all put in, this sub is definitely at the limit of being active while still mostly real content/conversations and I appreciate it.
Probablynotabadguy@reddit
LGTM
shiny0metal0ass@reddit
(almost) LGTM
StrikingHighlight368@reddit
ship it
FauxLearningMachine@reddit
LFG Flair up nerds
obelix_dogmatix@reddit
Nice nice!
obelix_dogmatix@reddit
Nice!!!
mcherm@reddit
Is there a way to tell whether we have sufficient subreddit karma?
soda-grass@reddit
I like these changes.
dfcowell@reddit
Overall a fan of the changes. Would it be possible to add a flair for Engineering Manager, or should we select “hiring manager,” even if we’re not currently hiring?
MathmoKiwi@reddit
You can have custom flairs, just edit it to be whatever you want it.
dfcowell@reddit
Thanks for the tip!
YakaryBovine@reddit
After clicking a flair option, you can edit the text box to write your own flair.
Not saying Engineering Manager shouldn't be added.
Helpjuice@reddit
Well that was some good timing on collect and implement from this request for information a while back, nice to see this is happening.
YakaryBovine@reddit
These changes look fantastic, well done.
(4) is something I would love to see on many of the subreddits I browse.
Fit_Butterscotch_829@reddit
How quickly will people need to reply to comments (e.g. if you don’t check Reddit while at work etc.)?
F0tNMC@reddit
This sounds good to me. Note that the interaction timer for own posts should be reasonable. When I'm working, I'm not on reddit.
Existential_Owl@reddit
I, for one, support our new (anti-) AI overlords.
etherealflaim@reddit
Now I have to figure out flair... Should be easy right? Just like naming variables
demosthenesss@reddit
Initially only for post submissions right?
Acrobatic-Ice-5877@reddit
The 4th bullet needs to be a Reddit wide thing. AI is ruining Reddit with all of the slop posts.
Beneficial_Pay_6317@reddit
reddit probably has bots running themselves to make the site appear more active
Jazzy_Josh@reddit
Good first pass.
mjsarfatti@reddit
Nice!
Pseudanonymius@reddit
Thanks. I can imagine this topic must be a massive headache for anyone managing a subreddit. I appreciate the effort to keep it botfree.
Kraft-cheese-enjoyer@reddit
No flair for manager/director+ level?
arkantis@reddit
🥹
Abadabadon@reddit
Great options, would love it if the auto ban bot to mention why these changes exist if someone gets striked.
HawkGrove@reddit
Requiring interaction in their own posts is actually huge. W changes.
mq2thez@reddit
Hell yeah.
Thanks, mods. This subreddit is quite great when it’s not being overrun. Happy to see steps being taken to help improve the state of things.
Ok_Pepper_1744@reddit
That seems wise.
wewerecreaturres@reddit
What if no one says anything worth responding to?
cascadiabibliomania@reddit
THANK YOU.
HappyZombies@reddit
Thanks I’m glad you took other sub ideas and added your own this will be a great improvement I’m sure!
dtelad11@reddit
Thanks! This community is doing great—despite the AI avalanche—and these will be a huge step forward. Kudos to the mods for being proactive about this.
baseballlover723@reddit
The subreddit karma change will probably be huge. It was extremely effective at stopping drive by posters in my subreddit, and still trivially easy for most real humans to get (10 subreddit comment karma).
Not that people don't occasionally claim that 10 subreddit comment karma is some kind of impossible task that was asked of them.
NicholasMKE@reddit
Thanks for keeping an eye on things here. I mostly lurk but always appreciate the conversations, so it’s encouraging to see you, erm, encouraging them