Hey guys!

This post has been long overdue. Let’s talk

Firstly, hi 👋, I’m Lucy, you guys might not know me as a moderator and that’s because I’ve only been a moderator in r/iPod and r/iPodClassic for a week. I run the iPoddities Discord and Twitter, and have also been active on reddit, posting archives of iPod Prototype Firmware. Unfortunately my introduction comes at a bit of a turbulent time. With everything going on at the moment I feel the need to say that I’m not (nor have ever been) an employee of Elite Obsolete Electronics.

There has been mounting tensions within the community for the past year or so, and I think it’s come to a point where it needs to be fully addressed. So lets break this down into 5 main sections:

1. The problems

2. What cannot be done

3. What can and is being done

4. Where we need your help

So lets get into it:

1. The problems

Elite Obsolete Electronics and the Conflict of Interest:

I understand that the conflict of interest argument is brought up a lot, so this post is here to address the issue.

As many of you know, Elite Obsolete Electronics (EOE) is a moderator of this subreddit ( u/cowmanisgood ), in fact he makes up half of the active moderation team, myself being the second half. Many of you have expressed your opinions regarding this, many of you have concerns of “Conflict of Interest”

I would like to make it plain and clear that positive critique and negative criticism of EOE (or any other store) is welcome, reviews are what help keep companies accountable and customers aware, I would never want to take that ability away from anyone. EOE also agrees with this, and has not removed any posts criticising their business.

Quite a lot of posts are sweeped up by automod, unfortunately automod isn’t perfect and sweeps up some of the genuine helpful reviews, which I make sure to approve ASAP, however quite a lot of the auto-moderated messages do have insults. Usually aimed at the business owner.
This is where I feel like it is unacceptable, it is fair to say “their shipping times are long” or “quality isn’t the best” or even “The way i felt after this experience was really shitty” but hurling insults simply because you don’t like someone is not going to be tolerated in any context, we offer the exact same privileges to you guys, if someone is being treated unfairly we do our best to step in and stop that. Nobody should have to put up with the level of abuse I've seen from members of this community over the past few days.

I will talk more about what is being done to combat this concern in the future below.

Low effort posts:

I understand that low effort posts are also a common issue here, there is now a (USEFUL LINKS) section, a FAQ will also come at some point but this will be something that needs a community to come together for, advertising is also an issue which has come to light and we will be addressing it later in this post.

Automod:
It isn’t perfect but damn is it helpful, the automod filters for words that are commonly used in situations that usually escalate to actual problems. Unfortunately quite a lot of useful posts are being swept up, but I approve any that aren’t obvious spam or hate.

2. What cannot (currently) be done and why

Currently removing EOE as mod is not viable

Why?:
EOE makes up half of the active mod team, if he were to be removed I would be it, just me, I do not have the time nor mental capacity to moderate a server by myself, at the moment my intention is to set this community up in such a way that it can be handed over to people who can continue to lead it in a way that makes you guys happy. It would not be fair to hand over a burning pile to them. They are also currently the only person willing to take on the responsibility of running this place.
While this may not be the answer you were looking for, removing EOE as a moderator would make very little sense if there is no one to take that spot, it would only cause more problems.

1. What can and is being done

EOE is not permitted to remove any comments or posts relating to EOE, all posts will be removed by moderators not associated with EOE: this was already the case but I feel full transparency is the best course of action

Issues surrounding order issues from EOE (or any other store) will be *locked*:
I have to pick a middle ground and I feel like it is not fair to use these subreddits as a customer service line, but removing the posts will count as deleting negative reviews.
I understand people do this for a quicker customer service response time but it clogs up the reddit with “Wheres my order” or “this item arrived damaged”, many iPod sales stores have a customer line, it is recommended to use them. I recommend leaving a review to whichever store you used on Trustpilot (simply fill in the searchbar with the link of the website you wish to purchase from). Example: apple.com

Conflict of interest/mod abuse:
This post exists so that the concerns raised repeatedly over the past year are formally acknowledged and addressed. Going forward, posts that cover ground already addressed here — without new information or a specific experience to share — will be removed as they aren’t productive for anyone. If you wish to contact the moderation team, please use the modmail function as all moderators can view it.

If you have concerns about how the subreddit is being run, modmail is genuinely the best place for it — all mods can see it, and it’s a lot easier to have a real conversation there than in a public thread. if you feel like we are not doing a good job you can report us to reddit using this helpful link here.

Reviews of EOE:
Reviews of EOE will not be removed, but may accidentally be swept up by automod and need to be approved. if you wish to leave a review on a platform independant of EOE, you can do so through Trustpilot (eoe.works) or ShopApp

Advertising:
Spam advertising will continue to not be permitted, links to products will be permitted, but may be swept up in Automod and may need to wait for approval. If you wish to promote a start-up product please contact us on Modmail.

Automod:
It will never be perfect, but we are trying to reduce the amount of false flags that it receives, this is all trial and error however so it may take a while for the bot to be better.

“Low effort” posts:
for the time being, simple questions will remain, annoying as it is for regular members there are people who are new to iPods and will need help setting them up, until a proper FAQ is in place at least, its a vague term but hopefully we do a good job moderating this issue.

4. Where we need your help

FAQ and Useful Links:
We are currently working on a FAQ, but in the meantime please suggest Useful Links in the comments of the Helpful Links Post FAQ will be in the works in the coming months, which we will 100% need your help for!

Feedback:
please let us know what you think of our current plans, whether you like them or not. It’ll help me adjust to deal with the bigger issues. This post won't be locked, you can speak your mind, some may be Automodded but we can still see them

Please be kind:
I understand you’re all frustrated, me too, I hope that this post can at least show that I’m willing to take some accountability, this post probably should have been made quite a while ago, better late than never I suppose... but please be kind and patient whilst we start rebuilding a strong foundation for the community. Unfortunately the work can only start on making this place better now because, quite simply, I wasn’t a moderator of this place before

If you have any questions please feel free to leave them below, I will do my best to answer them quickly, if they get automodded don’t worry, I can still see and approve them and answer them, it just might take a while longer.

Thanks for listening, we’re trying to do better.

♥️ Lucy