"Positive reinforcement helps breed positive behavior": Moderator Perspectives on Encouraging Desirable Behavior

The role of a moderator is often characterized as solely punitive, however, moderators have the power to not only execute reactive and punitive actions but also create norms and support the values they want to see within their communities. One way moderators can proactively foster healthy communities is through positive reinforcement, but we do not currently know whether moderators on Reddit enforce their norms by providing positive feedback to desired contributions. To fill this gap in our knowledge, we surveyed 115 Reddit moderators to build two taxonomies: one for the content and behavior that actual moderators want to encourage and another taxonomy of actions moderators take to encourage desirable contributions. We found that prosocial behavior, engaging with other users, and staying within the topic and norms of the subreddit are the most frequent behaviors that moderators want to encourage. We also found that moderators are taking actions to encourage desirable contributions, specifically through built-in Reddit mechanisms (e.g., upvoting), replying to the contribution, and explicitly approving the contribution in the moderation queue. Furthermore, moderators reported taking these actions specifically to reinforce desirable behavior to the original poster and other community members, even though many of the actions are anonymous, so the recipients are unaware that they are receiving feedback from moderators. Importantly, some moderators who do not currently provide feedback do not object to the practice. Instead, they are discouraged by the lack of explicit tools for positive reinforcement and the fact that their fellow moderators are not currently engaging in methods for encouragement. We consider the taxonomy of actions moderators take, the reasons moderators are deterred from providing encouragement, and suggestions from the moderators themselves to discuss implications for designing tools to provide positive feedback.