Revamping the Quarantine Function
While Reddit has had a quarantine function for almost three years now, we have learned in the process. Today, we are updating our quarantining policy to reflect those learnings, including adding an appeals process where none existed before.
On a platform as open and diverse as Reddit, there will sometimes be communities that, while not prohibited by the Content Policy, average redditors may nevertheless find highly offensive or upsetting. In other cases, communities may be dedicated to promoting hoaxes (yes we used that word) that warrant additional scrutiny, as there are some things that are either verifiable or falsifiable and not seriously up for debate (eg, the Holocaust did happen and the number of people who died is well documented). In these circumstances, Reddit administrators may apply a quarantine.
The purpose of quarantining a community is to prevent its content from being accidentally viewed by those who do not knowingly wish to do so, or viewed without appropriate context. We’ve also learned that quarantining a community may have a positive effect on the behavior of its subscribers by publicly signaling that there is a problem. This both forces subscribers to reconsider their behavior and incentivizes moderators to make changes.
Quarantined communities display a warning that requires users to explicitly opt-in to viewing the content (similar to how the NSFW community warning works). Quarantined communities generate no revenue, do not appear in non-subscription-based feeds (eg Popular), and are not included in search or recommendations. Other restrictions, such as limits on community styling, crossposting, the share function, etc. may also be applied. Quarantined subreddits and their subscribers are still fully obliged to abide by Reddit’s Content Policy and remain subject to enforcement measures in cases of violation.
Moderators will be notified via modmail if their community has been placed in quarantine. To be removed from quarantine, subreddit moderators may present an appeal here. The appeal should include a detailed accounting of changes to community moderation practices. (Appropriate changes may vary from community to community and could include techniques such as adding more moderators, creating new rules, employing more aggressive auto-moderation tools, adjusting community styling, etc.) The appeal should also offer evidence of sustained, consistent enforcement of these changes over a period of at least one month, demonstrating meaningful reform of the community.
You can find more detailed information on the quarantine appeal and review process here.
This is another step in how we’re thinking about enforcement on Reddit and how we can best incentivize positive behavior. We’ll continue to review the impact of these techniques and what’s working (or not working), so that we can assess how to continue to evolve our policies. If you have any communities you’d like to report, tell us about it here and we’ll review. Please note that because of the high volume of reports received we can’t individually reply to every message, but a human will review each one.
Edit: Signing off now, thanks for all your questions!
Double edit: typo.
8,668 comments · 62% upvoted · other discussions
Wouldn't this make these communities echo chambers, where outsiders aren't even aware of what is being said. Wouldn't this also make it less likely that reportable offences get reported?
landoflobsters [OP] 539 points · Sep 2018
Good question. You are still able to join the community and see what’s happening. We have a wide variety of methods for detecting violations and we will action based on all of the signals we get. Our primary goal is to limit exposure, but we are aware of challenges of echo chambers and we’ll continue to think about our policies and what makes sense.
[deleted] 1,066 points · Sep 2018
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whoeve 213 points · Sep 2018
I think because all of this is a thin veneer to hide what they really want to do - grow the site by any means necessary. They don't really want to ban people, they don't really want to clean up the site. They want to grow, grow, grow, and get as many unique hits as possible a day. Social media is entirely based off this and practically every social media site has this problem. Most other sites just do jack shit whereas Reddit will do something and puke out a ton of PR bullshit.
Every effort they have made thus far shows that they don't really care, from jailbait to fatpeoplehate to t_d. They're not going to care in the future. All that matters is growth. The content is irrelevant as long as the total number of people using the site goes up.
EDIT: Even here they're basically saying "are you a fucked up individual that's going to espouse fucked up shit? Come here to Reddit with your own little corner! We'll take everyone!"
xxam925 11 points · Sep 2018
Why in the world do people expect anything different? Reddit is a business, nothing more and nothing less. It exists to make money and has no moral code, just like every other business.
Up above is a comment that says "these subreddits undermine our nation with russian bots" which is laughable. Reddit doesn't have a nationality or race, it doesn't vote or live anywhere. Why does anyone expect reddit to care about this shit? I can't even get myself to be mad.
Frothyleet 29 points · Sep 2018
I am very much not going to argue that this isn't the case for Reddit. However - this doesn't have to be the case for a business, particularly a privately owned one. I mean, I guess we get into the semantics of what makes something a "business" but it doesn't have to be an amoral entity, even publicly owned corporations are not obligated (at least in a legal sense) to pursue profit above all else.
xxam925 1 points · Sep 2018
Well kind of. I believe reddit is a subsidiary and as such the team has a fiduciary duty to grow the site and be profitable.
[deleted] 4 points · Sep 2018
People who "espouse fucked up shit" also have a right to freedom of speech. Reddit taking everyone is a good thing. What's bad is creating echo Chambers for people who say crazy shit.
whoeve 2 points · Sep 2018
Right to freedom of speech applies to laws from the government. This new talking point from the crazy-right is just dumb as fuck and shows you don't know what freedom of speech is and that you'd rather just be a mouthpiece for crazy-right groups.
[deleted] 2 points · Sep 2018
I am not right wing ya dingus, or left wing. I am not even from North America. And if you had actually read my comment and tried to understand it you would know that I too hate racism, sexism(that does include misandry), homophobia and other bigotry
whoeve 5 points · Sep 2018
And? I said it's a talking point from the crazy-right.
[deleted] 4 points · Sep 2018
No it's a not a talking points of the right wing it is the talking points for of people who know the dangers of censorship and excessive intervention by government. This includes people with all types of political stances not just right wingers.
Psykhe604 2 points · Oct 2018
Naw, they are just trying to ban anyone who isn't a left winger. Typical communist censorship in silicon valley.
whoeve 0 points · Oct 2018
V A L U A B L E D I S C U S S I O N
[deleted] 1 points · Oct 2018
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whoeve 1 points · Oct 2018
Sick burn with that broken English.
Insomniacrobat 1 points · Oct 2018
Which is ironic as all fuck coming from someone named whoeve.
whoeve 1 points · Oct 2018
Hoo boy.
NFGRants 1 points · Sep 2018
Then why was r/ice_poseidon was banned? It’s not like a bunch of redditors were asking for it to get banned unlike T_D, they lost traffic to their site by making this move, I understand your business perspective point but this action kind of contradicts that.
whoeve 0 points · Sep 2018
It wasn't, it was quarantined. A lot easier to quarantine a smaller subreddit than something as massive as t_d, which will result in trolls screaming from a dozen different right wing fake news sites.
[deleted] -11 points · Sep 2018
They want to grow but they also want to attract advertisers as well as not allow certain views. As if they wanted to grow and grow they would allow the right wing subs to stay, but instead they been banning them left and right all while ignoring what left wing subs been doing (primary carrying out witch hunts).
whoeve 14 points · Sep 2018
Hoo boy.
[deleted] 1 points · Sep 2018
Part of being in an echo chamber is not knowing you're in one, he's right. Although it's not just about politics. Mensrights is a prime example, for some fucked up reason, concern over male suicide rates, divorce laws, workplace deaths, and on and on is viewed as a "not left leaning" view when it's really more about a broad scope of wordly issues. You may see it as hate speech because someone with a useless "genders studies" degree told you so, but the reality couldn't be further from the truth.
whoeve 5 points · Sep 2018
Wow, just can't resist bringing up genders studies degrees. Do you people ever get new material?
[deleted] 2 points · Sep 2018
Do you people ever listen to anyone else?
silkysmoothjay 29 points · Sep 2018
I don't think IGTHFT can actually go further downhill.
HiHoJufro 4 points · Sep 2018
Other than, y'know, to hell.
[deleted] 21 points · Sep 2018
Quick question, what the fuck was Ice_Poseidon?
I only ever noticed it as irritating, but never gave it any more attention.
If I was skimming through /r/popular or /r/all they would pop up all the damn time. But I could never figure out the allure.
[deleted] 21 points · Sep 2018
You know how shitty Twitch chat is?
Imagine you skimmed the shittiest shit off the top of that mess, and used that to create a Twitch-based Jersey Shore.
RSNSpookykid 7 points · Sep 2018
Ice posideon is a Live Streamer who got famous playing Runescape and Pokemon go.
rafaelloaa 8 points · Sep 2018
Jokes Aside, he got big as an old school RuneScape streamer, then veered away from that as he became a little bit too insane even for that community.
E: just remember the big thing that got him pushed away from the RuneScape community, which was that he would do IRL streams and encourage his viewers to dox him and other shit like that.
[deleted] 12 points · Sep 2018
Lets see if mr mod dodges this one
THE_CRUSTIEST 9 points · Sep 2018
Guess so...
EternallyMiffed 8 points · Sep 2018
It's really hard not to strengthen censorship narratives when you're actively censoring and attempting to deplatform people.
[deleted] 20 points · Sep 2018
Just how much further downhill can cringeanarchy go?
[deleted] 45 points · Sep 2018
Have you seen the threads that don't hit /r/all, or the content posted after they get a lot of attention, like after the MDE banning? It goes from "dae SJW bad also trans people are gross" to "tbh jews belong in camps."
[deleted] 11 points · Sep 2018
Sadly yes, it's pathetic
MemoryLapse -18 points · Sep 2018
And yet here you are, fucking whining about it like a child.
If you don't like it, leave. It's not that difficult
Frothyleet 12 points · Sep 2018
It's very difficult, because the vileness spills out into the rest of the community.
If your living room is on fire, the solution is not to just waltz over to the next room and ignore it.
[deleted] 19 points · Sep 2018
See where you went wrong was you forgot to blame black people and call the living room a cuck
[deleted] -27 points · Sep 2018
All valid opinions and no worse TBH that "Socialism is good" sans the hundreds of million intentionally dead as a result last century. Basically you are advocating political correctness here over discourse and objectivity.
Edit: Typo
NFGRants -4 points · Sep 2018
It’s almost as if you have bad apples in a subreddit that don’t represent the subreddit itself, those posts break the subreddit rules and the mods will remove them as soon as they find them.
[deleted] 9 points · Sep 2018
They don't, especially not in any prompt manner.
NFGRants -2 points · Sep 2018
Gonna need that evidence.
[deleted] 6 points · Sep 2018
I linked an example in the post, which you certainly didn't read.
NFGRants 0 points · Sep 2018
Your beloved reddit admins quarantined CA so there goes your “proof”.
[deleted] 3 points · Sep 2018
How exactly does that do anything to my proof?
NFGRants 0 points · Sep 2018
Click the link and find out!
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throwdowntown69 3 points · Sep 2018
Wouldn't this also happen if you ban them? That and one fraction of the active community will create a new sub.
Get_Dunked_On_Kidd-O 3 points · Sep 2018
Screw you. We at C.A. have always been at the bottom of the hill.
TheMoonstar74 5 points · Sep 2018
This is a great description of the problems with large subreddits and the extremely empassioned vocal minorities that populate the dark cesspools on this site
jtvjan 2 points · Sep 2018
Quarantine: At least it’s not banning™
[deleted] 7 points · Sep 2018
Hey, you get the point!
They are driving the more extreme radical users to the less extreme subs to give a reason to next go after the subs the now homeless users migrate too
[deleted] 2 points · Sep 2018
Actually doing something about anything has never been this site's forte.
DrMicolash 3 points · Sep 2018
Let's be real though. Most of these subreddits already 'quarantine' themselves by banning comments that disagree, just as the subreddits you claim they'll flock to will ban their fascist/incel/whatever comments.
RSNSpookykid 2 points · Sep 2018
Very well said.
Reddit is going full social justice warrior so I doubt the admins will listen.
When I describe reddit to people irl I say "It's like the male version of Tumblr"
[deleted] 1 points · Sep 2018
I mean, this new policy is probably response to current events and less about whats actually going in Reddit. Look at the proposed bills and implications that sites are responsible for false content we are seeing in the US because of Facebook. This allows people to express themselves no matter how shitty, but keep reddit mostly blameless. Just my thoughts...
bugsecks 1 points · Sep 2018
That’s my complaints worded basically perfectly.
Furthermore, if they’re actively acknowledging that these subreddits are hate groups, and they’re making a point of not advertising on them, then it comes off more as if they’re actively losing money to keep hate groups on the site.
dat_heet_een_vulva 1 points · Sep 2018
How would banning this subs solve the problem that the users with those views will just post on other subs though and launder their views?
[deleted] 0 points · Sep 2018
It makes organizing much more difficult.
[deleted] -1 points · Sep 2018
More like pushing their political ideology while not allowing others.
Pithong 0 points · Sep 2018
CringeAnarchy is a propaganda sub, they need to be off of r/all. Their "censorship" narratives are useless when they don't have visibility. They don't "organize" outside of reddit, their entire organizing is to reach r/all and spread propaganda. The sub will lose views and lose users despite the "funneling from close and friendly subs".
[deleted] 13 points · Sep 2018
[deleted]
randomthrowaway672 1 points · Sep 2018
There is no organizing in CA, hell the mods won't ban you for ANYTHING except stuff that could get the sub banned
[deleted] -11 points · Sep 2018
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[deleted] 41 points · Sep 2018
FiveThirtyEight made a tool to compare subreddits by user overlap during the election, and the subreddits frequented by /r/MensRights users are very revealing.
Although this data is a year old, it runs contrary to what you said. Incredibly widespread overlap does not fit your narrative of animosity between the two.
[deleted] 6 points · Sep 2018
Just a heads-up, PurplePillDebate is an actual debate forum rather than a TRP soapbox. Please don't get it banned.
[deleted] -1 points · Sep 2018
The rest are not, and have similar overlap. Something tells me that /r/mensrights was not on the bluepill side.
RSNSpookykid 10 points · Sep 2018
Wouldn't having mens rights activists just make reddit more diverse? Isn't diversity our strength?
Who will bring male genital mutilation into the spot light?
Did you know 90% of newborn males have their genitals mutilated at birth in the u.s.
Genital mutilation is wrong.
doctor_awful 5 points · Sep 2018
Nah because MRAs are bad and misognyst and stuff, right? Hate hate hate
RSNSpookykid 0 points · Sep 2018
So your ok with male genital mutilation?
What about female genital mutilation?
Both are equally good right?
doctor_awful 2 points · Sep 2018
/r/woosh ?
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[deleted] 4 points · Sep 2018
For sure, I'm just asking that PPD not be banned since I'm actually learning stuff there.
Brikachu 2 points · Sep 2018
I'm shit at statistics--does this mean that 65% of /r/MensRights users also post in /r/PurplePillDebate, 65% of them also post in r/TheRedPill, and so on?
[deleted] 1 points · Sep 2018
Roughly. There's a little bit of weighting based on subreddit size, but yeah. At the very least, it denotes very extreme overlap between the subreddits.
[deleted] -7 points · Sep 2018
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[deleted] 7 points · Sep 2018
I've been getting dumb replies from this all day because I triggered the reactionaries, but this is stupidest thing I've read all day.
vtesterlwg -2 points · Sep 2018
im ok with this please open cringeanarchy up. ca is fucking awesome and so is fullcommiebism
SideFumbling -19 points · Sep 2018
fgw aly gjp emg tmd jkr xon ngx urr bej
aWYgdSByZWFkIHUgZ2F5 0 points · Sep 2018
Imagine caring this much about a bunch of free internet forums lmao
[deleted] -38 points · Sep 2018
Oh fuck off with this cringy copy pasta shit
[deleted] 21 points · Sep 2018
I don't understand the allure of saying dumb things so people call you dumb.
[deleted] -26 points · Sep 2018
So then, why exactly do you waste your life writing cringy copy pasta?