Hey r/Apple!
aaronp613 here. I’ve been a moderator here for close to 5 years, but some of you might recognize my name from the Apple Event threads posted here over the past few years.
As of yesterday, I have joined MacRumors as a contributing researcher which leaves me in a bit of a pickle as to what I should do as far as my moderator status on this subreddit.
I’ll admit, ever since the API changes and strike, I have not really moderated this subreddit (or really any subreddit) that much, but as mentioned above, I still handle the Apple Event megathreads each time as I love experiencing the Apple Events with all of you.
So now the question is, what do I do?
Obviously, I should not be handling any day to day moderation going forward as I beleive that every news blog that follows our guidelines should have an equal and fair chance of being posted on our forum without the appearance of any potential bias from the moderation team.
When I brought this up to some of the other r/apple moderators, 2 possible solutions we thought of were these:
Option 1: Only continue posting Apple event threads and moderate the comments on those threads (leaving the news posting to another moderator).
Option 2: Option 1 but I also continue to post news links during the event for each topic. Accusations of bias can be avoided as we always post whichever news blog posts first, so the timestamps would speak for themselves.
So I want to hear your thoughts on the matter, because at the end of the day we are a community.
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I appreciate the willingness to step back. I think a simple asterisk when posting would be enough for me. Kinda like when you read a news article sharing a related sponsor. I’m good with you doing whatever you want!
Do whatever you want. The fact that you are being transparent and asking guidance suggests you would do the right thing as a moderator. If we don’t like it (heck, even if we do), we’ll just complain about the moderators.
Leave. Get paid. Congrats
Following up with people who may not see the update:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/17xpa3n/addressing_a_conflict_of_interest_on_rapple/k9q045r/
I feel like there’s a third option that it seems like the mod team isn’t discussing: leave the moderating to the other mods.
Following up with people who may not see the update:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/17xpa3n/addressing_a_conflict_of_interest_on_rapple/k9q045r/
Congrats on the job. I can’t say it bothers me if you just carry on as you want to
Leave. Change your username. Become the newest moderator. We’ll never know.
People telling you to quit are taking this too seriously. It’s a subreddit, and you’re going to be working for a blog/news site. It’s not like you’re taking a job with Apple and could be removing posts critical of Apple. Option 2 is fine. Congratulations on the new job.
Option 3: Give up your position as a mod. There’s a clear conflict of interest and you don’t seem to want to be too involved anyway.
Following up with people who may not see the update:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/17xpa3n/addressing_a_conflict_of_interest_on_rapple/k9q045r/
Moderating is honestly a selfless and thankless job. I say leave moderating and let me explain why. You have a really cool and unique job now. Give that your attention, not this place. Go pick up a cool ass hobby, or spend more time with your family. We all spend too much time on our phones anyways! Congrats on the job! Well earned!
Obviously you should step down as a mod of r/apple. Working for MacRumors disqualifies you for this position.
Following up with people who may not see the update:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/17xpa3n/addressing_a_conflict_of_interest_on_rapple/k9q045r/
How hard is it to understand this lol
If you go through with option 2, I think that would be fine. Like you said, timestamps would speak for themselves.
Congratulations. You absolutely need to leave as a moderator.
Following up with people who may not see the update:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/17xpa3n/addressing_a_conflict_of_interest_on_rapple/k9q045r/
Not sure why stepping down isn’t an option because it’s the only good one here imo.
Following up with people who may not see the update:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/17xpa3n/addressing_a_conflict_of_interest_on_rapple/k9q045r/
Lmao - admits they don’t do any moderating because but wont give up the power.
Following up with people who may not see the update:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/17xpa3n/addressing_a_conflict_of_interest_on_rapple/k9q045r/
I’m going to defer expressing an opinion about your role as a mod, but I just wanted to say congratulations and you definitely earned it!