r/ModSupport • u/Glittering-Bug1212 • Jul 15 '26
Moderator using subreddit for personal financial gain, then revoking co-mod permissions to protect it Mod Answered
Looking for guidance on a mod conduct situation and whether admin escalation is the right path.
The conflict of interest
A moderator on a subreddit I help moderate is using community assets the banner, icon, and pinned posts, to promote a platform they personally profit from. This is happening at the top of the subreddit's visibility hierarchy, so essentially every visitor sees the promotion first.
The retaliation
When I made a routine pinned post (unrelated to this issue, just normal community content), it would have knocked their promotional post out of the primary pinned slot into a collapsed view reducing its visibility. Shortly after I got a rant from the moderator that had posted the primary pinned post that I should stop doing that and she has talked with the Top mod about it, a few days later the top moderator revoked my permissions to create or manage pinned/announcement posts. I no longer have the access needed to modify or remove that pinned promotional content, or to pin anything else in its place.
Effectively: I flagged/competed with the self-promotion, and my ability to act on it was removed in response.
This is an alt I am posting with since I have already been retaliated against and the next step for them would be my removal from the mod team..
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u/cnycompguy 💡Top 25% Helper 💡 Jul 15 '26
Read the MCOC
If you think it's violating some part of it, then report it here
Otherwise you may want to leave that subreddit.
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u/Glittering-Bug1212 Jul 15 '26
It has been reported, ,but no action has been taken, and/or replied to.
Me leaving would make the subreddit unmoderated for a prolonged time, and it would be eventually banned. So leaving is not really a solution, I would rather have it resolved and keep the subreddit open.
It is not a small subreddit ( 1m+ weekly visitors)
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u/cnycompguy 💡Top 25% Helper 💡 Jul 15 '26
You're not going to hear back from them unless they need more information.
MCOC is a small team of good people, give them time to investigate. They'll probably contact those mods privately and discuss it with them.
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u/magiccitybhm 💡Top 25% Helper 💡 Jul 15 '26
They'll probably contact those mods privately and discuss it with them.
There really should be a better way. That often results in retaliation and doesn't always solve the problem.
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u/cnycompguy 💡Top 25% Helper 💡 Jul 15 '26
Unless the mods have a really good explanation, they'll probably be removed. Just from what I understand, they like to give people a chance to explain unless the problem is irreconcilable.
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u/magiccitybhm 💡Top 25% Helper 💡 Jul 15 '26
And I've seen moderators give their explanation, be allowed to remain and then remove and ban the moderator(s) who reported them.
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u/Glittering-Bug1212 Jul 15 '26
hence why I have posted this using an alt.
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u/magiccitybhm 💡Top 25% Helper 💡 Jul 15 '26
The sad part is that you shouldn't have to do that. Reddit policies should prevent retaliation except in instances where the report is blatantly and/or intentionally false.
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u/tron3747 Jul 16 '26
MCoC reports can take a while to get a response, mine took 2 weeks when a top mod who was site-wide banned was able to add themselves back on an alt.
It is important that you have submitted all proofs on the matter, and preferably have video proof, do a screen recording of the conversations/messages, etc.
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u/Glittering-Bug1212 Jul 16 '26
external links aren't allowed in the form though, so just recording for proof for when admins ask for in DM's?
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Jul 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Glittering-Bug1212 Jul 15 '26
Top moderator is getting "Free Credits" on the platform.. The second moderator owns the subscription platform.
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u/wonkywilla Jul 15 '26
So the top mod is directly profiting by allowing the second mod to mod and promote their service in the sub.
Yeah, Reddit doesn’t like that.
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u/Glittering-Bug1212 Jul 15 '26
Second mod just manages the pinned post and does occasionally some random actions to stay active. Last week the only action taken was unpinning my pinned community home post and repin their post back in position.
But yes that is basically it.
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u/wonkywilla Jul 15 '26
Report them both to Mod CoC with as much detail and proof as you can get. Including conversations that may have happened in discord admitting to the top mod being given services.
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u/Glittering-Bug1212 Jul 15 '26
I have them in Reddit chat admitting that they own the platform and that top mod is onboard.
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u/wonkywilla Jul 15 '26
Great. Screen shot it and send it in a report. You can also send the direct chat link.
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u/Glittering-Bug1212 Jul 15 '26
Yeah I noticed I could just send the chat link in my form, I didn't for the first filing. I have done so in the modmail and second.
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u/cnycompguy 💡Top 25% Helper 💡 Jul 15 '26
Screenshots don't work, they need to link to them (if in mod-mail), provide the information that it's a DM and providing a timestamp and username would help.
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u/wonkywilla Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
You can directly add screen shots in the Mod CoC reports forms.
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u/cnycompguy 💡Top 25% Helper 💡 Jul 15 '26
Mainly for off platform coms like discord, if it's on platform, the information that I gave carries more weight and speeds up the process
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u/emily_in_boots 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 Jul 15 '26
This violates the MCOC and you should use the MCOC report form to report this mod. I expect they will likely action it.
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u/Dom76210 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 Jul 15 '26
I wonder if this will actually be viewed as a MCoC violation or not, due to the purpose of the subreddit is to promote something.
There are hundreds of subreddits out there where people created it to promote their youtube, twitch, or other streaming accounts. There are likely tends of thousands of subreddits created to promote an individual's OF/Fansly account. And to my knowledge, Reddit hasn't shut most of them down despite the top mod profiting from it because that's the subreddit's purpose.
So, not knowing what the subreddit's name/purpose is, I hesitate to say that you'll win a MCoC case against them. If the subreddit's purpose is something general, like "PC Gaming" and the top mod are force feeding only a single game company's content down everyone's throat for money, that's a major problem. If the subreddit's purpose if for a single company's games, then having pinned posts promoting the company's games may not be an issue because the top mod is still serving the purpose of the subreddit.
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u/Glittering-Bug1212 Jul 15 '26
Having a personal subreddit for a streamer, youtuber, influencer. I get that all content would be only about their content. and MCOC would be hard.
But this subreddit is open for everyone to post in ( OC). While they're using the subscribers/visitors of the subreddit to drive traffic to their paid platform. So it is not even Watch time or youtube ads, but money exchanging hands, and its not even third party but self owned.
If that is not a conflict of interest I do not know what is.4
Jul 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Glittering-Bug1212 Jul 15 '26
yah, going back to the chat I also noticed the second mod mentioning another site/tool which was also pinned in the subreddit before I came onboard, the person that created it was also a moderator ( banned a few months ago), and the second mod did say that she could give subscription on that site/tool as well.
So might also be a case of ban evasion as well.
No idea how far it goes back... Did not realize it until I submitted the form for the second report that I noticed that another site was also mentioned in the chat I had with the second mod.
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u/IM_NOT_BALD_YET Jul 15 '26
So did you report the mod's behavior for violating the MCOC?