Submitted an hour ago by SarahAGilbert Moderator

A few days ago we shared a post outlining our thoughts around API uncertainty. The tldr: changes negatively impact our ability to moderate. These changes are part of a larger pattern in which Reddit’s leadership has failed to support what we believe is one of its greatest assets. Basically, our primary responsibility is making sure Reddit users are getting the best answers to your questions about history and Reddit is making that harder to do.

We understand Reddit’s need to change and evolve. For all we may harp on Reddit’s flaws, we do want to see it succeed! After all, we wouldn’t exist without it. So, if we’re expecting Reddit leadership to listen to us, we should be willing to work with them. In the days following the publication of the post, we discussed as a team what the specifics of working with Reddit would look like so we could clearly articulate it to you. We decided that compromise means:

  • Updates to the API are not tied to a particular date but are, instead, rolled out once the roadmap shared here is successfully achieved.
  • Accessibility tools such as screen readers are part of the native Reddit infrastructure.
  • Updates are made across Android and iOS.

We think slowing down is the right thing to do. It would minimize further disruption while also generating an income stream for Reddit.

The AskHistorians’ mod team members are, functionally speaking, Reddit super-users. We have collectively invested thousands of hours into building our small corner of Reddit into a subreddit that is viable, trustworthy, and valuable, as well as something bigger. There’s our podcast, academic writing by us and about us, and our reputation as, “good history eggs on the internet.” We’ve hosted two conferences, a long series of AMAs and presented about AH at other academic conferences. We even won an award! Major outlets have even covered our approach to moderation. We take all of this very seriously.

Nearly every time Reddit has asked for volunteers, we’ve stepped up. AH members help with the Moderator Reserves project, sit on council meetings and phone calls, host Reddit administrators who want to shadow moderators, and participate in surveys. Due to our commitment to the subreddit, we’ve built positive relationships with many admins who have been open to our feedback. But over the last couple of days—most notably during Spez’s AMA—it’s become clear to us that Reddit’s leadership is not interested in finding common ground; rather, it seems to us like they’re hell-bent on pursuing a course that damages us and them alike.

We feel we are left with no choice but to join the protest. On June 12, starting at 7am ET, we will take our sub private. We will remain private on June 13 as well.

We’ll open the sub again on June 14th but will pause participation. This means you will be able to access existing content, such as the Trans History Megathread in Celebration of Pride Month, but will not be able to ask or answer questions. We will be delaying or holding off AMAs, limiting our newsletter, and will not be recording any new podcast episodes. As of today, we do not know how long this pause will last.

We cannot put this letter out into the world without thanking you for the immense support you’ve shown us over the last week. We’ve received support across platforms, in public and in private. We’ve been a community for nearly 12 years and that would not have happened without you and our other 1.8 million subscribers. We know we’re not the easiest community to post in, and deeply appreciate the people who ask dozens of thoughtful, rule-abiding questions every day, the people joining in on April Fools Day, those who anonymously report trolls and low effort answers, support the podcast via Patreon, and those who provide honest, thoughtful feedback on how we’re faring in general. We don’t take lightly the idea of shutting down this place and the community that we all build together, and we understand how frustrating it will be to not be able to find out, for example, why GPS is free.

We are all, at heart, historians. Studying the past requires a fair amount of optimism and confidence in humanity and as such, we are hopeful and confident a resolution can be found.

  • soiling@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    in many ways AH is one of the highest quality and most valuable subreddits on the site. it’s such an important organization that really should live on outside of reddit, but obviously it only got so big because it was part of that ecosystem. I think I might mourn AH more than my smaller niche subs even though I don’t go there often if it does end uo disappearing. I really hope they can migrate successfully somewhere else.

    • crank@beehaw.orgOP
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      1 year ago

      I have tried to explain AH to people who don’t use reddit.

      Main problem is it literally sounds too good to be true. I think I come off as totally naive believing this BS line I’ve been fed about all these “historians” running a subreddit spending all their time thoughtfully constructed, non crackpot answers.

      Sounds totally fake. Like how dumb do you have to be to get fooled by a forum on reddit?

  • jay@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    This is awesome, if Reddit is truly going to go forward like this, it would be great to see a mass exodus of the truly differentiated communities to somewhere new.

  • araquen@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    I would love it if we could entice AskHistorians to Lemmy. I will cheerfully read each post with its dozens of “comment deleted” responses, knowing the mods are not kidding around when it comes to their rules of participation.

    • crank@beehaw.orgOP
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      1 year ago

      You better be working on a really nice power point deck to make that sale.

  • Rick@thesimplecorner.org
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    1 year ago

    Very well crafted protest post. Special note they intend to reopen on the 14th but not allow any further content or posts.

    Well done askhistorians. Do they know about Lemmy?

    • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Do they know about Lemmy?

      If not, they will soon. A top post on HackerNews is all about Lemmy instances.

  • Ulu-Mulu-no-die@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Is r/AskHistorians considering moving the community somewhere else? It would be a shame to lose such valuable content.

  • 😈MedicPig🐷BabySaver😈@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    AH is an impressive group. Imagine how great many other groups would be if the same quality standards held tight? Mods busted balls within the group rules?

    I witnessed countless violations of posts on science based groups.

  • mrmanager@lemmy.today
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    1 year ago

    I mean, is this really so powerful? They shut it down for like a day or two. And then they come back right?

    If it was me, I would send a much stronger message and shut it down for the entire summer.

    • Fearofthefamiliar@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      They come back online in the sense that they’ll become visible again, but if they don’t allow it to be used that’s still basically shut down imo