Interview with an r/newhaven Mod
r/newhaven’s homepage design — they need a new icon that fills the circle, right?
u/MattFantastic shares his experience overseeing New Haven’s active subreddit
New Haven has a very active subreddit with over 47,000 members, more than r/TheTraitorsUS and r/RockClimbing. With that comes a lot of feedback, from what posts get deleted and what posts get published, to which conversations take center stage and which get overlooked. The amount of in-person conversation about r/newhaven warrants an inteview with the people who oversee the “town square.”
In case you are not lurking on reddit, a moderator (or “mod”) acts as an administrator of reddit communities, or subreddits. They set and enforce rules, and ban users (denoted by u/) they deem in violation of guidelines. They decide whether a post gets published at all for the greater community to interact, and make sure discussions stay civil. r/newhaven has four mods, one of which is u/MattFantastic.
Matt Fantastic is a New Haven notable who not only oversees the subreddit but also runs Elm City Games, a game shop and IRL community space in Ninth Square. Although u/MattFantastic is one of multiple mods (all of which, I’m sure, hold unique reddit philosophies), his interview provides a look into people’s assumptions of online communities, why comments get quickly removed, and a bird’s eye view of New Haven’s online neighbors.
Check it out:
Why did you become a r/newhaven mod? What do you do?
I’ve been friends with the person who started the subreddit for a long time and one day we were talking about the community, moderation, and the changing nature of online discourse in the MAGA era. So they asked if I’d like to join the team to help keep things in line. At this point I do the majority of the moderation, mostly because my job/life makes it a lot easier for me to check in regularly. Tasks are mostly basic stuff; deleting bullshit, approving/disapproving posts and comments that the auto-filter holds before posting, banning accounts, and generally helping set the tone and vibe of the community.
How would you describe the r/newhaven community?
Overall I think it’s pretty amazing. We’re a big enough city to have a lot going on, but small enough that there is a real sense of community. We have lots of folks happy to jump in and offer advice or suggestions, lots of smart conversations about the city and what’s going on here, and a ton of folks who just like to see and support cool things going on. We have an overwhelmingly positive vibe, at least compared to most of the rest of the internet, and the vast majority of our members, especially the ones who post regularly, are big supporters of the city in one way or another and love to see it flourish. Part of that tone certainly comes from the moderation, but ultimately the community is what it is and none of us could force people to be cool.
Have you seen the tone or culture of the subreddit change over time?
Post-gamergate and MAGA, the internet has become more and more of a cesspool filled with vitriol and bad faith posting (and bots), and that’s what got me into being a mod here to begin with. The days of “let the downvotes handle it” are long gone. Shitty people with terrible views don’t deserve a soapbox just because of some high minded thoughts on the marketplace of ideas. But, I also think that by actively cultivating a vibe of community and positivity, this particular subreddit is something of an island amidst the chaos. So I think that while the world at large has been getting worse and worse, things have continued to get better here.
What do you think is the importance of the subreddit?
I think having an active online community space can be a real help to making the city a better place. Especially a well moderated one where people can connect and ask questions or find out about cool things or just vent about local issues without it devolving into crazy bullshit like Next Door. The public square has been a fixture of civic life basically since forever, and in the modern age we not only have a few of those public physical spaces (literally and figuratively), but some of them are digital. Having a place to ask questions if you’re new in town or just need some advice is great. Seeing posts about events and cool things going on helps build the community in the real world. And talking about local issues, in a (mostly) productive and respectful way really can have an impact.
What do you think is the most talked about topic in the subreddit right now?
Well besides the usual “I’m new... “ questions, ICE is certainly getting the most traffic the last few weeks, and general posts about MAGA/Trump either in terms of local impact or local action/response continue to get the most engagement. Though that’s partly a function of people not from here jumping in to spew whatever vile bullshit they’re spitting everywhere else which ends up with a ton of deleted comments. The actual community here is mostly just responding with ways to help support immigrants, fight ICE, and generally being horrified by what we see going on and how it’s touching our city.
How do you balance moderating with encouraging open discussion?
This is where I think we really get into the philosophy of community curation and online spaces… I’d say I probably have a heavy hand with the delete/ban button. I have no time for bad faith arguements, childish bullshit, or aimless negativity. (Exponentially more so if you are clearly not a New Havener.) But most of our discussions remain pretty chill once we weed out the real garbage, so usually it’s pretty obvious what needs to be moderated and the rest is people talking. I tend to think of “would you say this to a group of people in real life” as a good benchmark.
I also really don’t like when people who aren’t New Haveners pop in to talk shit. “New Haven is a shithole” is so boring and obviously a mix of racism and fear of the other. We have ups and downs here for sure, but it’s real obvious how many people maybe drove through the city once or even just heard some second hand bullshit and want to talk shit about things they know nothing about.
The only times it gets actually tough is when some big controversy erupts and we’re caught trying to disentangle what should stay up and what should come down. For example, a local business owner getting called out for being a creep to women opens up a lot of complicated choices we need to make. There is a public safety issue, there are privacy issues, there are the “is this just online bullshit?” questions… and emotions are high. I think it’s important to bring things to light and call out bad actors, but it’s also all too easy to slip into high school drama vibes or have people giving us wildly divergent narratives where it’s really hard to figure out who is saying something in good faith and who is just stirring the pot or trying to cause harm for personal reasons.
What type of posts do you usually have to flag?
The usual boring bullshit, from mostly angry young white men. The Venn diagram of dudes who say something shitty in our subreddit who have a post history elsewhere about guns, commenting gross stuff on porn subreddits/corny M4F posts, and crypto is basically a circle. I’d say 95% of the people (other than bots/spam) I ban hit one or all of those. It would just be sad if it wasn’t also so worrying to see how twisted up a big subset of the population seems to be. Violence, bitter misogyny, and financial failure… not a great combo.
Do you ever meet other subreddit members in real life?
A lot of folks know me around town, and I use my real name, so I’d say it’s pretty common. I imagine I talk to way more folks that just don’t bring it up unless it comes up in conversation too.
What do you wish more people understood about how moderation works?
Reddit moderation is not a first amendment issue, and being a racist/misogynist/homophobe isn’t a “political view”. We get some wild messages from folks threatening to sue us and shit like that because I banned them for saying something incredibly racist or whatever. At the end of the day, while we try to be mindful about it and strive to use our power here to make the best community possible, it really is a little dictatorship. If you’re an asshole we don’t have to let you in.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Mandy and Ocean are slumlords. New Haven is generally safe and a pretty normal city. The pizza is great, but we also have a ton of great restaurants of all sorts. Everyone drives like a lunatic and the cops couldn’t care less. We all also hate those loud assholes on dirtbikes taking over streets. Grad students usually live in East Rock or Wooster Sq. Go to Trinity or The Cannon if you wanna watch sports. Fuck Trump.
