Even three years after I collected data, the removed comments, modmails, and reports on this @AskHistorians thread show that the patterns I observed then still hold true now. A short thread. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/id2cfp/dolly_parton_had_a_famous_song_9_to_5_yet_every/.

Yesterday a question asking about Dolly Parton’s song, “9 to 5” rose to r/all overnight in the US. The first rage wave was because all the comments were removed. One reads, “Fuck your gay ass rules and this shitty sub.”

AH requires in-depth answers and the removed ones were not that; they're anecdotes and guesses. One reads, “I reckon the one hour is for lunch break” and another, “Have we lost it? I . . . along with most of my friends work from 9 in the morning until 5 at night.”

@AskHistorians’ mods have a variety of expertise. @JennBinis, who knows all about the history of education, sees a gap: 9-5 is a class signal with ties to second-wave feminism. So she writes an answer that touches on these points. The users wanted an answer, but not that one.

And so we enter the second rage wave, seen in removed comments, which directed their frustration at @JennBinis, e.g., “Historian guy writes a damn research paper about some feminist movement completely ignoring the fucking question.”

There are positive responses too, e.g., “How do I sign up for an online history class taught by you?” But most refuse to engage with the issue, instead focusing on the simple part of the question and how they thought Jenn’s response failed to answer it.

Reddit is making positive changes. The recent banwave is having a positive impact on text-based expressions of hate on the platform: https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/idclo1/understanding_hate_on_reddit_and_the_impact_of/

And we’re now able to send welcome messages to new subscribers, which we’re hopeful will effectively communicate @AskHistorians' norms, rules, and enforcement, which look very different from the rest of the platform.

But the worldview and values expressed by the wider user-base, especially as they ebb and flow from r/all, still creates (in)visible labour for mods (and experts)—those who do most of the info governance on the site.

I’ll tell ya, being on the inside this time, it sucks.