I can easily see it spiraling into something like that too. When a subreddit gets above like 10k users, that's a whole-ass customer service-ass job without set working hours. Above 100k, the mod team is pseudo-professionalised and it's insufferable. 1m+, let alone the 10-50m user subreddits, must have a massive mod queue requiring constant attention and bringing unending harassment. Swapping out the mods is a bandaid solution to one symptom of the problem while heightening all of its contradictions. Those mods are going to be seen as Spez's pinkertons at the exact moment he makes the website worse for the userbase. One of those three groups is bound to break under pressure.
Problem is he can swap them out once, twice, maybe thrice if we're being generous, but after that I don't think he'll find people to take the job willingly. He might start naming new mods without asking them, and they'll promptly tell him to fuck off and will not moderate anything. Once the scab mods realise they can organise together (like how they got the admins to finally do some baby steps towards reconciliating with them) and they can demand money for this, because they're already doing this job for reddit, then it's over for spez.
I'm not sure the scab mods will rebel. They are after all taking the job in the midst of a large scale protest. Clearly they care more about the "power" they wield than the cause of preserving API access. I will say that they may be overwhelmed and will almost certainly do a worse job given that they no longer have access to the custom mod tools that required the free API.
I don’t think he’ll find people to take the job willingly
When the subs are big, the number of professionalized power users and the market incentives for control of the sub are equally big. We're nowhere near a day in which there's not some serious incentive to moderate /r/politics, for instance. Nevermind /r/pics, /r/worldnews, or /r/movies. The sheer volume of HailCorporate alone on those sites...
Once the scab mods realise they can organise together
How many of these mods are in any position to organize? And how many are just professional social media accounts controlled by marketing teams?
You think the schlub intern at Conde Naste is interested in forming a solidarity coalition with the schlub interns at Ford Modeling Agency and the Washington Post?
I can easily see it spiraling into something like that too. When a subreddit gets above like 10k users, that's a whole-ass customer service-ass job without set working hours. Above 100k, the mod team is pseudo-professionalised and it's insufferable. 1m+, let alone the 10-50m user subreddits, must have a massive mod queue requiring constant attention and bringing unending harassment. Swapping out the mods is a bandaid solution to one symptom of the problem while heightening all of its contradictions. Those mods are going to be seen as Spez's pinkertons at the exact moment he makes the website worse for the userbase. One of those three groups is bound to break under pressure.
Problem is he can swap them out once, twice, maybe thrice if we're being generous, but after that I don't think he'll find people to take the job willingly. He might start naming new mods without asking them, and they'll promptly tell him to fuck off and will not moderate anything. Once the scab mods realise they can organise together (like how they got the admins to finally do some baby steps towards reconciliating with them) and they can demand money for this, because they're already doing this job for reddit, then it's over for spez.
I assume the new mods are getting paid, either by reddit or the security state
I'm not sure the scab mods will rebel. They are after all taking the job in the midst of a large scale protest. Clearly they care more about the "power" they wield than the cause of preserving API access. I will say that they may be overwhelmed and will almost certainly do a worse job given that they no longer have access to the custom mod tools that required the free API.
When the subs are big, the number of professionalized power users and the market incentives for control of the sub are equally big. We're nowhere near a day in which there's not some serious incentive to moderate /r/politics, for instance. Nevermind /r/pics, /r/worldnews, or /r/movies. The sheer volume of HailCorporate alone on those sites...
How many of these mods are in any position to organize? And how many are just professional social media accounts controlled by marketing teams?
You think the schlub intern at Conde Naste is interested in forming a solidarity coalition with the schlub interns at Ford Modeling Agency and the Washington Post?