[Ajedi32]

Mods on Reddit aren't _just_ mods; they're more like administrators for the subreddits they moderate. Not only do they enforce the rules of each sub, they also have free rein to decide what those rules are in the first place, and there are no formal mechanisms in place for community oversight or recourse for moderator actions.

If the head mod of a sub about cats decides that henceforth only posts about dogs will be allowed, that's how it'll be from now on and there's nothing anyone can do about it short of everyone leaving the sub or direct intervention from Reddit employees (pretty rare).

This isn't usually an issue; for the most part moderators are benevolent dictators. But for large subs, especially those which are automatically recommended to new users by Reddit and those which deal with more serious real-world topics like politics, you can imagine how this dynamic might create a certain level of tension between moderators and the users of the subreddits they control.

[bredren]

> This isn't usually an issue; for the most part moderators are benevolent dictators.

Glad you used this term, because it is descriptive of the idealized leadership of a sub.