Can reddit moderators delete potential helpful comments in reddit posts?

[u/HTJZ-Zandriel]

Recently, I discovered that a moderator deleted a comment in one of my posts asking on how to fix my USB. I was really looking forward to follow what to do but ended up not going to be able to know.

Do they really have the power to just delete anything? I've watched youtube videos that moderators have bad reputation because of those who abuses their power.

[u/mensfrightsactivists]

something i’ve seen a lot of lately is helpful contributions coming from bot accounts. kinda hurts to remove those but my sub is for humans and im not going to let bots accrue their credibility karma in my sub

[u/lilfunky1 → u/mensfrightsactivists]

my question and answer subreddit has bot-bouncer working overtime right now, last I looked it's booting like 80-100+ bots a day, and the answers that they're caught on seem reasonable useful helpful.

Seems the bots are looking up old similar posts and grabbing a human written answer to copy and paste.

We even messaged the bot bouncer subreddit to be like is this a new trend, and they confirmed a lot more bots are hitting Reddit recently 🤯😭🤯😭

[u/mensfrightsactivists → u/lilfunky1]

the botbouncer mods are truly angels on earth, literally where would we be without them 😭

god i wish they weren’t needed in the first place though. i remember before i became a mod when i just assumed there was a human behind every comment i read (yeah okay so i was pretty naive too). even if i weren’t so oblivious, there’s no way i ever could’ve guessed the scope, or how the activity and patterns change and fluctuate so constantly

[u/amyaurora]

Yes they can delete anything they don't want in their sub

[u/JMH-66]

We can delete anything. Good Mods will give you a reason why though and it should be something either referred to the rules (although bear in mind we can't cover every tiny thing because they'll always be something someone will do or come out with that we've not thought of or didn't think needed saying ) or is already covered amply by Site wide rules ( Reddiquette)

. Other things to consider -

• it's not always a human moderator, it will SAY " ... removed by the Mods of..." but can be an Automod, it's been picked up by the Filters. This could be right or wrong. If it's a false positive most Mods would reinstate.

• it might "you've" been detected as not human yourself. Again if incorrect, it'll be reinstated.

• it could appear as written by AI and a lot of Subs don't permit this these days. Same again.

• it could be that it contains links. Google Share quick links are Banned Domains ( we can't do anything about those, Reddit removes them ). Others might break sub rules eg links to IG, TikTok YT etc ( or that particular YTuber or for that particular purpose ) aren't permitted on that Sub. This is the case on all mine but to different degrees, for different reasons and in different ways ( too detailed to go into )

• you could be caught up in downtime else's drama. A Sub thread whereby your comment is ok but you're in a middle of ones that aren't. There's an ap called MOP whereby we can just lock or remove a whole subthead eg if users are arguing between themselves or just going off at the tangent and lost sight of the actual og Post ( eg the op was asking about how to fix their PC and two people have spent half an hour minutes insulting each other's mothers) we use it to remove the whole lot. You CAN distinguish certain comments but it's extra work and it may be that your comment will not make sense in isolation if left anyway. Sometimes I'll be busy, something blows up, reports are coming and I'll just remove the lot quickly to stop it. You might be caught in the middle of it all.

Just some examples. I can't say if any apply to your comment, only the Mods in question can do that. In the end if by "abuse of power" they mean they do what they like in their own Sub, well yes. It's their house, their rules. It's the flipside to you demanding to comment on their Subreddit. The Code of Conduct stops them breaking fundamental rules that allow them to operate on Reddit and encourages good moderation, but that's it.

[u/Quick_Assignment_725]

Yes they can

It sounds like maybe a question that has been asked and thoroughly answered 400 times before.

[u/HTJZ-Zandriel → u/Quick_Assignment_725]

Okay . . . so how do I "close off" my post? A different moderator didn't tell me how to when I asked them before telling me they will do it on my behalf before they "closed off" my post.

[u/YoBannannaGirl → u/HTJZ-Zandriel]

You mean “lock” a post so no one else can comment?
Generally speaking, users can’t do that. You would have to send the moderators a mod mail a request they do it for you. They don’t have to honor your request, but most would.

[u/lilfunky1 → u/HTJZ-Zandriel]

You can delete a post if you want it to no longer exist and not be linked to you anymore.

You can disable inbox notifications if you want the post to stay up but you don't want to keep finding out about new top level comments

You can't lock a post yourself though, that's a mod action, so you'll have to send a polite request in modmail and hope they agree and do it for you.

[u/Quick_Assignment_725 → u/HTJZ-Zandriel]

Go into your profile where your posts are listed. Click the 3 dots on that post and delete.

[u/goldstandardalmonds]

They can delete anything they want, but if you think you didn’t break the rules then send them a modmail. Maybe it was deleted by accident.

[u/Quibilash]

Yes they can delete anything, not necessarily for good reasons

If you want to contest deletion send a modmail because sometimes a comment can get misinterpreted, best case scenario

[u/mensfrightsactivists → u/Quibilash]

this, OR, in case it was a bot, you can ask the mod team for a screenshot of the comment for your own personal reference. they have the right to deny that request, but i’d be a lot more inclined to share what was said than restore a comment that came from a bot account

[u/goldensavage2019]

Mods have the ability to remove practically anything, even if it doesn’t necessary violate any rules. You can however message the moderators to ask why a post/comment was removed, and see what was removed (removed posts/comments are still visible to mods)