I am a senior mod in a top 10 default subreddit. I have been discussing the 'Paul spam' issue for several days with admins and other mods. I have agreed to issue a notice:
Posting threads on RPF, DP, or any other Paul site promoting your Reddit submission is going to cause trouble. They are finding such posts on our boards and removing the Reddit submissions linked therein. It is being considered 'gaming' the site as an upvote brigade. Whether you ask for upvotes or not, it's being viewed as such.
We all know social media sites rely on promotion of user-submitted content, and that doing so is the whole point in many ways. We also know Paul is a controversial figure on such sites for a variety of reasons. We all want our candidate to be discussed and ingrained in the minds of potential voters. We all know social media is a fantastic and very effective tool for doing this. But we also know that shouting RON PAUL everywhere only invites the annoyance of others.
Reddit users who post submissions, then advertise those submissions on sites like RPF and DP are risking moderator bans on subreddits, /r/politics in particular. They are also risking administrator bans site-wide for violation of Reddit's rules. The /r/politics mods are increasingly annoyed (some of them anyway) and are increasingly likely to remove pro-Paul submissions in reaction to their perception that there is a coordinated marketing effort going on.
I do not agree with them. I do not support their assessment or the threat of bans that comes with it. I personally believe one of us posting on RPF notifying other redditors of our submissions is perfectly fine. But I am doing my duty as a senior moderator over there, and a longtime member of the community on this site, and relaying the message to hopefully avoid further conflict. I have spent the last several days taking up for Paul supporters on this issue (and have been pushing for moderator status on /r/politics as a way to balance the liberal bias on that sub) but I cannot win this argument with them.
So, message delivered. If there's anything you'd like the mods or admins to respond to, let me know and I'll pass on the question or comment, and come back here with their reply.
Let's take whatever steps are necessary to ensure Reddit remains a great place to spread our message.
Update: I've succeeded in getting the /r/enoughpaulspam link removed from /r/politics sidebar. It was highly objectionable to have an anti-Paul downvote clique linked on the main politics page while threatening to ban pro-Paul users for promoting their submissions on external sites. Small but valid problem solved.
Site Information
About Us
- RonPaulForums.com is an independent grassroots outfit not officially connected to Ron Paul but dedicated to his mission. For more information see our Mission Statement.
Connect With Us