I thought this might be worth a little bit of discussion at the moment.
We’ve had a few communities started by existing subs on the other site, some making it clear that it’s staking a claim to the same name on here in case they ever decide to move, but that they have no plans to at the moment, and will not be doing any moderating.
I have to be honest, this kinda rubs me the wrong way. It feels like hedging your bets, running one community, not running the other one, but still intending to be in charge if it takes off despite that.
If you’d like to start a community here in the same style as an existing one, that’s great, go for it!
Moderate, post great content, grow!
But if you’re aiming to put your name on undeveloped land, in the hope that when you come back someone will have built a farm, I’m not sure it’s very helpful.
Discussion encouraged!
Hard agree on this. Especially if it leaves a community unmoderated, and unmoderatable due to the only mod being absent.
If you’re creating a community, you should at least be attempting to run it. Not just making a land/power grab or putting your flag in the ground for the sake of it.
I’m glad you’ve raised this here, I was wondering whether to do something similar due to https://feddit.uk/post/114858
Dumb question: I’m a reddit mod for the sub of the city where I live.
Reddit annoyed me. Can I make a community here for my city? If so, how? Do I need an account on the UK instance?
You can absolutely make a community here. Just try to be an active mod, and make it so we can post to it.
I think you can use your external account to make communities. I’ve never tried myself.
If not, you could always make an account here ;)
Hi all, I am guilty of this, and I think this post is about me mostly!
I do understand the points you’ve raised. The subreddit that I (along with a few IRL friends I met through r/London) started back in 2010 was focussed on meet-ups in London. It’s called LondonSocialClub.
It has a specific ideology - radically inclusive for anyone over 18. There’s a mod team that has developed trust and a community of people who know each other - (now scattered across Whatsapp groups that sprung from events posted on the subreddit.)
We’re not a normal mod team dealing with usual Reddit stuff. For example, we’ve had small groups deciding to ban people from events who have been accused of sexual harassment. And other IRL stuff needed our involvement.
The community isn’t big enough to split, I think it would break up if it tried.
I’m not a super active mod anymore, but I would be gutted if Reddit went to shit and someone else started a community using the name and brand, but running it counter to my values and what I think are the values of others in the community.
I’d be totally pro someone starting a separate London meetup community on here, just don’t want the name poached.
FWIW, I agree that poaching generic names like c/London, c/UnitedKingdom, or c/CasualUK is a dick move if you don’t plan to do anything with them. But I think our subreddit name is unique enough, that the only reason anyone would use it would be to associate themselves with the community that was already developed.
Also, we have like 70 mods - we decided a long time ago that anyone who organised a couple of meetups can be a mod if they want. So it’s not a closed shop. Knowing people IRL allows for that trust. So it’s as true a representation of our community as could be.
Everyone is being super nice to you, so I’ll be honest and say that you’re a self-absorbed asshole. It’s an unimaginative name, you have no “brand” and you have a vastly overestimated level of your own importance. You’re selfishly staking a flag in the ground and declaring it yours because you got there first. I hope that the community is deleted so someone else, anyone else, can recreate it, with the intention of actually running it.
