Reddit Moderators Payment

The cluster debates whether Reddit should compensate its volunteer moderators for their unpaid labor, which is crucial to moderating communities, versus arguments that mods gain power or enjoyment and Reddit couldn't afford to pay them.

📉 Falling 0.0x Startups & Business
1,422
Comments
19
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#4138
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2008
3
2009
2
2010
2
2011
6
2012
5
2013
6
2014
19
2015
77
2016
23
2017
16
2018
32
2019
77
2020
63
2021
111
2022
103
2023
755
2024
85
2025
33
2026
4

Keywords

AI SO API EXACT SAME reddit mods moderators unpaid paid subreddits moderation volunteers moderator labor

Sample Comments

2Gkashmiri Apr 19, 2023 View on HN

shouldnt mods be paid to do the work of reddit, in moderating reddit subs?

Gigachad Jun 16, 2023 View on HN

Goes the other way. Reddit isn't paying the mods who run these communities. Without all this unpaid labor, the site can not function.

az226 Jun 9, 2023 View on HN

You do know that Reddit doesn’t pay for moderation but uses an army of volunteers?

deredede Jun 5, 2023 View on HN

Because the moderators provide (unpaid) labor for Reddit (or SO, to make the parallel with another post where you are asking the same question).

CivBase Jun 7, 2023 View on HN

Is there any way Reddit could support mods using the funds without paying them for moderation?

TeaBrain Mar 21, 2024 View on HN

People moderate on Reddit because they enjoy doing so. The mods may complain about not getting paid, but they'll continue moderating anyways. If they don't, then other people will actively volunteer to take their place.

pier25 Jun 16, 2023 View on HN

Reddit wouldn't be what it is without mods.Good luck finding people that will work for free without a sense of ownership.

shearskill May 26, 2019 View on HN

Reddit moderators are volunteers, it’s an unpaid position.

namelessoracle Jun 2, 2023 View on HN

Many of the moderators get paid. Just not by reddit.

Eisenstein Jun 5, 2023 View on HN

Reddit is built on free labor from mods. Without the mods they would have to pay people to moderate thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of communities. Most mods use old reddit on desktop or third party apps on mobile because their app and new site suck for modding. Alienating the mods means their subreddits go to shit, and reddit exists for content. Doesn't sounds like a 'win' to me.