I want to lead by saying this is not a “Mods suck!” post, rather it’s a “Mods could drastically improve the subreddit experience with very little effort” post. I’m acutely aware moderation is a volunteer thing & I thank them for keeping this subreddit maintained. However, there’s a major issue that’s been bugging me.

If you’ve spent more than a few seconds in this subreddit, you know exactly the message I’m writing about.

Your post has been filtered because you are using a new account or have low karma. Once your account age and karma increase, you will no longer see this message.

Have Questions? Below are answers to the some of the most common questions regarding this automod message:

1. Why are you filtering post and comments? - This is a basic measure to keep trolling and spam comments to a minimum on the r/Knoxville subreddit. Most bots and other accounts used for these activities are generally new or have very low karma.
2. I am not a bot though, I promise! - That's exactly what a bot would say! Kidding. These comments are put into a queue that the mods review on a regular basis. Comments/posts that are not trolling attempts and do not break r/Knoxville rules are approved and available for the subreddit to see.
3. Well how do I get karma if I am filtered? - Karma can be earned anywhere on Reddit, not just r/Knoxville. As you use your account more, your karma should increase and you will no longer see this message. Also, as said in #2 above, we also check the queue routinely for valid comments/posts that should be marked visible.
4. Censorship! - Automod has no idea what your comment or post said, it simply looks at your account age and karma level. When both of those improve, you will no longer see this message.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

This is littered EVERYWHERE in the comments section, numerous times a day, often multiple times in the same submission. It’s clearly a nuisance, with users constantly downvoting it & often responding negatively to it in comments.

The issue with it is two-fold.

First & most obviously, it’s too damn long & takes up a ton of screen real estate when scrolling. Seriously, this entire message could be shortened to the following & achieve the exact same effect:

Your post has been filtered because you are using a new account or have low karma. See rule 9 for details.

Then just create a new rule #9 on the sidebar containing all the extra info. Realistically, most of the current message is not needed at all. But if the moderation team insists on providing all the excess wording somewhere, please don't provide it in the form of comment litter in nearly every single submission.

Secondly…. New users are really not that big of a problem. Being a relatively small city-focused subreddit, this is not a massive target for bots or other spam. I can’t begin to guess at a percentage, but I'd be willing to bet quite a lot that the number of actual people new to Reddit/Knoxville being filtered outweighs the amount of bots/trolls.

Removing the age gate & just sticking with a negative karma filter would take care of virtually all of the true “bad user” removal, while allowing new people simply wanting to participate to do so. In this scenario, you could go without the automod comment at all. The rare, tiny faction of good users with negative karma is welcome to actually check the rules of the subreddit, assuming rule #9 is spelled out & added.

Lastly, while I’m already throwing out ideas for subreddit improvement based on clear user base feedback on what they do/don’t want to see in the subreddit… A better use of automod would be to filter submissions that mention “moving”, “move”, etc. Leave a removal message to the effect of “Please use the search bar, questions about moving are asked all the time. If this is truly a unique question, please reach out to the mod team for manual approval.”

~`~

For a fun demonstration of how much space Automod currently uses, below is how much room it's taking up in r/Knoxville's current "Hot" post's comment section. This isn't even really a terrible case, I've seen much worse.

Your post has been filtered because you are using a new account or have low karma. Once your account age and karma increase, you will no longer see this message.

Have Questions? Below are answers to the some of the most common questions regarding this automod message:

1. Why are you filtering post and comments? - This is a basic measure to keep trolling and spam comments to a minimum on the r/Knoxville subreddit. Most bots and other accounts used for these activities are generally new or have very low karma.
2. I am not a bot though, I promise! - That's exactly what a bot would say! Kidding. These comments are put into a queue that the mods review on a regular basis. Comments/posts that are not trolling attempts and do not break r/Knoxville rules are approved and available for the subreddit to see.
3. Well how do I get karma if I am filtered? - Karma can be earned anywhere on Reddit, not just r/Knoxville. As you use your account more, your karma should increase and you will no longer see this message. Also, as said in #2 above, we also check the queue routinely for valid comments/posts that should be marked visible.
4. Censorship! - Automod has no idea what your comment or post said, it simply looks at your account age and karma level. When both of those improve, you will no longer see this message.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Your post has been filtered because you are using a new account or have low karma. Once your account age and karma increase, you will no longer see this message.

Have Questions? Below are answers to the some of the most common questions regarding this automod message:

1. Why are you filtering post and comments? - This is a basic measure to keep trolling and spam comments to a minimum on the r/Knoxville subreddit. Most bots and other accounts used for these activities are generally new or have very low karma.
2. I am not a bot though, I promise! - That's exactly what a bot would say! Kidding. These comments are put into a queue that the mods review on a regular basis. Comments/posts that are not trolling attempts and do not break r/Knoxville rules are approved and available for the subreddit to see.
3. Well how do I get karma if I am filtered? - Karma can be earned anywhere on Reddit, not just r/Knoxville. As you use your account more, your karma should increase and you will no longer see this message. Also, as said in #2 above, we also check the queue routinely for valid comments/posts that should be marked visible.
4. Censorship! - Automod has no idea what your comment or post said, it simply looks at your account age and karma level. When both of those improve, you will no longer see this message.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Your post has been filtered because you are using a new account or have low karma. Once your account age and karma increase, you will no longer see this message.

Have Questions? Below are answers to the some of the most common questions regarding this automod message:

1. Why are you filtering post and comments? - This is a basic measure to keep trolling and spam comments to a minimum on the r/Knoxville subreddit. Most bots and other accounts used for these activities are generally new or have very low karma.
2. I am not a bot though, I promise! - That's exactly what a bot would say! Kidding. These comments are put into a queue that the mods review on a regular basis. Comments/posts that are not trolling attempts and do not break r/Knoxville rules are approved and available for the subreddit to see.
3. Well how do I get karma if I am filtered? - Karma can be earned anywhere on Reddit, not just r/Knoxville. As you use your account more, your karma should increase and you will no longer see this message. Also, as said in #2 above, we also check the queue routinely for valid comments/posts that should be marked visible.
4. Censorship! - Automod has no idea what your comment or post said, it simply looks at your account age and karma level. When both of those improve, you will no longer see this message.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.