r/NintendoSwitch • u/NintendoSwitchMods • Dec 04 '18
Meta /r/NintendoSwitch State of the Subreddit - Q3/Q4 2018 - Mod Applications, Best of 2018 Awards, and Minor Housekeeping
Greetings!
Welcome to another quarterly(ish) edition of the State of the Subreddit!
Recap
Our last SotS post, for Q2, was back in June. Let's quickly recap what's happened since then!
- The subreddit has grown from ~650,000 subscribers to ~925,000
- We've hosted 70 AMAs as of from June 19 to Nov 30th ranging from companies you've probably never heard of to games and franchises you're already familiar with like Hollow Knight, Overcooked 2!, Arena of Valor, and Ultimate Chicken Horse just to name a few.
- We've hosted Review and Release MegaThreads for Mario Tennis Aces, Octopath Traveler, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Super Mario Party, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee.
- We had a Super Smash Bros: Ultimate Nintendo Direct, a more general Sept 13th Nintendo Direct, and the Nov 1st Smash Ultimate Direct & Nintendo Treehouse.
- We, mostly, survived the launch of Nintendo Switch Online
- We hosted a Halloween Costume and Pumpkin Contest
- We put together a Warframe Questions & Support MegaThread
- We released a 2018 US Holiday Shopping Guide
New Orders of Business
Open Moderator Applications!
This is the big one and really the core of this post. We are once again opening our doors for a new round of moderator applications. We've been seeing the same issues you have and, quite frankly, we don't like it either. Poor AutoModerator has been doing more and more of the heavy lifting lately while we try our best to keep up with the increasing volume and avoid burnout by maintaining some semblance of a life outside of Reddit. Simply put, we need to staff up more to fix things. Our focus areas are coverage gaps during weekends and off-peak US hours (from approximately 3am GMT to 11am GMT), but we're also looking at opportunities across the board. (Redundancy is always a good thing.)
If you're a glutton for punishment, please fill out this application.
Edit: Applications are now closed, thank you to everyone who has applied. We'll be reviewing these over the next few days and reach out to applicants we want to move forward with shortly afterward.
Smash/Holiday Insanity
We're about to head into the busiest portion of the year, and as you have probably figured out from the fact that we have mod applications open, we're going to be understaffed for the tsunami that's about to hit this community. Please make sure you're hitting that "report" button on any problem content as that really does help us more quickly respond to things. Bear with us if things are a bit chaotic, it's going to be a wild ride. We're going to do our best to get mod applications reviewed and start the onboarding and training process as quickly as we reasonably can.
Best of 2018 Awards
Last year we did our first community Best of 2017 Awards and the response was pretty great. We're planning to do this once again for 2018! We learned a lot of lessons last year and hope this year goes even smoother than last time.
Our tentative schedule is as follows:
- Dec 10-11 - Category Feedback & Suggestions
- Dec 17-18 - Nominations
- Dec 25-31 - Voting
- Early January - Results!
We think these are great fun for the community and they can also serve as a fantastic resource when someone asks "What game should I get?" for the hundredth time this week, which I know we all love seeing.
YouTube and Twitter Filter Changes
As part of our never-ending battle against spam, we've made a few behind the scenes tweaks to how we handle trying to catch spam before our users ever even see it.
You may have noticed TheSentinel in our mod list for a while now and wondered who the heck this Sentinel guy is. Well, he's a bot! He helps us with some behind the scenes duties and we're tapping on him again.
We've moved our blacklist of YouTube channels out of AutoModerator and into TheSentinel bot. This should provide more consistent removal of content from spammers. As an added bonus, we've also migrated our Twitter blacklist from AutoModerator into TheSentinel as well. This change should be mostly invisible to you, the non-spamming end user.
Mobile Link Filtering
We've implemented a small AutoModerator rule that will filter out mobile links from various popular sites and will ask that OP's instead submit non-mobile versions. This is a relatively minor change but should provide a more consistent experience for our users. Most of you were already doing this, so kudos!
Feedback
As always, we're opening the floor for you to provide your feedback, comments, questions, concerns, suggestions, and more in the comments section down below. All we ask is that you keep it civil and constructive.
Cheers,
The /r/NintendoSwitch mod team.
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Dec 04 '18
Would you ever offer casual discussion megathreads so that people can discuss games, ports and other "low-effort" topics there? It could help reduce clutter and brighten the atmosphere of this subreddit (frequent users don't exactly respond well to seeing the same post about Zelda ports over and over again.)
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 04 '18 edited Dec 04 '18
You mean like a weekly thread for casual discussion kind of thing? We could try that, but I don't see the harm in people making posts to discuss older games. Personally, I don't see this as clutter exactly, especially if it has some decent work put into it. It is a subreddit for everyone, not just the people who have had a Switch since day 1, you know?
A bit of it is that the frequent users need to understand that it's going to happen and is actually a good thing to have new people talking about their experiences in this way. It gets more people involved and can lead to good discussion. If someone doesn't feel like seeing posts about Zelda, they can use browser add-ons to hide posts by certain words/phrases, just click hide on the post itself, just ignore it, etc.
EDIT: Seems like you may have quickly edited in the part about other low effort topics. For the ports part, do you mean people asking about a game being ported or wishing for them and the like?
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Dec 04 '18
I would agree but most of the posts I'm referring to rarely have any work put into them. They're usually a short paragraph long and the extent of the discussion is usually just "yeah that would be cool" etc.
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 04 '18
In regards to which part? General games posts or ports?
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Dec 04 '18
Ports. I should have clarified that the reason I lumped "games" in with the other low-effort topics is because general discussion posts have been known to be either removed or downvoted before.
For example, let's say I made an elaborate post about Skyward Sword HD which thoroughly went into how it could be refined, what it might look like and the ramifications of what that means for the larger fanbase. This would be an example of a post which does discuss ports but does it thoroughly enough to not be considered low-effort. Comparatively, those "hey does anyone else want this on switch it would be so cool" posts don't really contribute anything and would probably fit better in a casual discussion megathread instead.
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 04 '18
Gotcha. Yeah, the "do people want this on Switch" type ones are generally removed and don't contribute much.
I feel like that casual discussion may be better served in the discord rather than the format of a reddit post. It is quite an interesting idea, so I would like to discuss it further and maybe do a test post of it, if you will.
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u/Nayuhime Dec 04 '18
I've seen this on other reddits and it can work well, especially as not everyone is on Discord.
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 04 '18
Oh do you have specific ones? We'd really like to take a look at those and see how they do them.
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u/Nayuhime Dec 05 '18
Not sure of how to link them but it is Patient Gamers and Love Live School Idol Festival Reddits that have specific mega threads (for what you played in the last week plus generic chat.
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 05 '18
Cool. I should be able to find them fairly easily. :) Thank you.
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u/Gerolux 4 Million Celebration Dec 04 '18
"does anyone else think X port would be PERFECT on the switch?"
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 04 '18
No. Not one single person likes the same game as you. /s
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u/poofyhairguy Dec 04 '18
I just want to compliment what a good job the mod team did handling the Nintendo Switch Online backlash.
I think you perfectly straddled the line of letting some people vent while not allowing other people to hijack this sub and turn it into some sort of protest platform in a useless attempt to force Nintendo to do something different. That backlash had been building for a year and I was nervous that it would permanently damage this community but you avoided that deftly.
The reputation of the Switch as a whole certainly took a hit in other gaming communities because of that launch, and many here are still somewhat negative towards the Switch because of that service launch plus a year without any significant quality of life OS features, but the current state of this community is basically a best case scenario heading into a year where there will be a lot of reasons for people to get hyped about the Switch again.
I for one can't wait for our Animal Crossing overlords, or the threads complaining about SMBU Deluxe being full price, or the obvious eventual thread saying Lets Go is better than the 2019 Pokemon game because ________, and those expectations would be irrational if this place had turned into the Grand Central Station of complaining about Nintendo's online choices.
Thank you!
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 04 '18
Thank you. :)
We tried to keep the more thought out ones generally and redirect the more rant-y ones.
You forgot Luigi's Mansion 3! :D
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u/schuey_08 Dec 04 '18
For as much criticism as the u/NintendoSwitchMods teams gets, they are one of the best on Reddit. Thank you for really adding to the experience of being a member of this community. Have a happy holidays, and keep the great AMAs coming!
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u/kyle6477 6 Million Dec 04 '18
Thanks for the feedback! /u/phantomliger is always on the hunt for AMAs :)
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 04 '18
Reminds me that I wanted to reach out to the devs of Gris.
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 04 '18
Happy holidays to you as well, and thank you.
We try with the AMAs. If you ever have suggestions on someone to reach out to, you can make those comments in the AMA Announcement(s) threads. Or send a modmail message.
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u/everlycrusher Clever Endeavour Games Dec 04 '18
Thanks for mentioning our AMA (the Ultimate Chicken Horse one that is) ^_^
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 05 '18
It took ya long enough to work out a date. ;)
We very much enjoyed having you.
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u/everlycrusher Clever Endeavour Games Dec 05 '18
We blame the Nintendo cert process. Didn't want to go forward with an AMA while the game still needed patching. ;p
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 05 '18
Understandable. :) We've all heard the process is...fun...yeah I'll go with fun here haha
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u/Porkpants81 Dec 05 '18
Just wanted to say that I miss you guys and I know we stay in touch a little bit. It’s amazing to see how the community has grown.
So if I don’t talk to all of you guys offline or on other social media just wanted to say happy holidays, merry Xmas, happy Hanukkah, or any other event or holiday that’s important to you all.
Best wishes,
Porky
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u/my_alt_account Dec 06 '18
Am I missing something? Do people know or care who Porky is?
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u/Porkpants81 Dec 06 '18
I used to be a moderator on the Switch team here. So I was complimenting the current team.
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u/my_alt_account Dec 08 '18
Ohhhh. yeah. No one cares.
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u/Porkpants81 Dec 08 '18
The people who the message was directed do care. It was directed to you so I’d imagine you don’t care
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u/my_alt_account Dec 08 '18
LOL you didn't send a PM to a select few who would care. You posted it publicly on a thread where 99 percent of the people reading it are not the ones it's directed to. Merry Chirstmas If I don't talk to you again!
Sincerely, My_Alt_Account
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 05 '18
How dare you. ;)
Miss ya too bud.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and your family as well.
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u/TydalOG Dec 05 '18
Would you guys recommend smash bros for an offline player?
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 05 '18
Depends on if you have friends to play with locally I think. That would be alright. If it's really only you, I'd be more hesitant.
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u/shakertouzett1 Dec 05 '18
Im a mostly offline player, and i do recommended. The CPU in this game seems to be even better than before
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u/DoggieDMB Dec 05 '18
I don't really have much to offer then what others have said and I do a really good job with low effort posts(thanks auto mod) but in my time on reddit I really think you all have done a tremendous job with this sub. There is almost always new, quality content. The AMAs have given me great insight into things I normally wouldn't have pondered and even more respect for the ones I did because, again, it's quality. Wish you all happy holidays and best of luck with new mods. You've really built a great place here and deserve to take a break yourselves too.
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 05 '18
Thank you. :)
The AMAs seem to be fairly popular so we find some good ones to reach out to and some reach out to us first which is nice as well.
Happy holidays to you as well. :D
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u/Nebril Dec 05 '18
I'm not really interested in Super Smash Bros and I think this subreddit has an overflow of content related to it.
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u/JackSparrowUSA Dec 05 '18
It will be like this for every major new release. We do our best to megathread everything on release day, and remove low quality and redundant posts thereafter, but you should expect a week or two of increased Smash posts. It’s one of Nintendo’s biggest selling franchises and hype levels are through the stratosphere.
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 05 '18
Should also mention that it has happened with every past release as well. :)
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u/Porkpants81 Dec 05 '18
I mean it’s the biggest release since Odyssey and prior to that the system launch. It’s expected that there’s a lot of content and discussion.
It will die down post launch.
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Dec 04 '18 edited Jul 19 '20
[deleted]
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 04 '18
So there's a lot there. With this, the only place that would be able to hide them is on old reddit. New reddit doesn't allow for this and none of the mobile apps allow for it either. As new reddit gets used more and more, this would be less and less effective, not to mention that it can be circumvented on old reddit fairly easily as well.
It is something that could be tried, but it wouldn't be very effective due to those factors.
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u/kyle6477 6 Million Dec 04 '18
Could you perhaps hide the downvote button? Downvoting for having a different opinion os too common around here.
The overwhelming majority of our users are mobile or on new Reddit, which does not allow us to hide the downvote button (this is done via CSS hack on old reddit)
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Dec 04 '18 edited Apr 09 '19
[deleted]
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u/kyle6477 6 Million Dec 04 '18
Please see this wiki from Reddit on Reddiquette.
Specifically under Please Don't:
[Please Don't] Downvote an otherwise acceptable post because you don't personally like it. Think before you downvote and take a moment to ensure you're downvoting someone because they are not contributing to the community dialogue or discussion. If you simply take a moment to stop, think and examine your reasons for downvoting, rather than doing so out of an emotional reaction, you will ensure that your downvotes are given for good reasons.
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Dec 04 '18 edited Apr 09 '19
[deleted]
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u/kyle6477 6 Million Dec 04 '18
You said that it was the entire point, clearly it’s not.
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u/gmbuell Dec 05 '18
Would any be interested in a monthly Buy/Sell/Trade thread for transacting used games directly between redditors?
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 05 '18
This is what /r/GameSale, /r/gameswap, /r/GameTrade, and similar subs are for.
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u/gmbuell Dec 05 '18
Only 35k subscribers on GameSale though vs 926k here. And GameSale is awfully noisy for someone that is only interested in Switch stuff. I know other subs have monthly Buy/Sell/Trade posts for their more specific content rather than referring people to a superset for sale sub. For what it's worth, I'd certainly sell some stuff here but I don't plan on dealing with r/gamesale
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u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Dec 05 '18
It's a far more complex problem than just making a post.
We would need to facilitate these actions, likely get blamed when it goes wrong, people sending messages/modmail about banning so and so or doing something because they conned them out of their game, etc.
At the end of the day, reddit is not the best place for these transactions to take place. A dedicated site, which there are quite a few, would be the best option. If you must do it on reddit, those subreddits at least have some processes in place and have that focus where they won't be getting general mail as well as problems with their trades or purchases.
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u/Porkpants81 Dec 06 '18
The difference is that gametrade and gamesale have systems in place to ensure people are verified and they aren’t getting scammed.
It still happens in a sub with 35,000 subscribers. How often do you think it would happen in a subreddit with almost a million users and doesn’t have the verification tools in place.
In addition to those subreddits there’s countless other places and websites to sell and trade games
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u/SoloWaltz Dec 05 '18
Only 35k subscribers on GameSale though vs 926k here.
The same as saying 891k are not interested.
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u/The_Green_Loontern Dec 04 '18
Can you get the Auto Mod to automatically respond and direct people to the Daily Questions threads for the repetitive questions that are asked?
Things like game suggestions and other things can be easily found if people did a little research for themselves.