6 ms·

I'm not interested in doing this at all, but how does a person take over a subreddit? That sounds like a very difficult thing to do.

by idk1 11mo ago

raincom 11mo ago
People offer money to buy your reddit handle, assuming you are a mod of a reddit they want to control.
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
thinkingemote 11mo ago
"Hi I noticed you weren't that online as recently as you were are you ok?" Wow that must be a lot of work Wow I feel for you, friend Yea id be happy to help out from time to time. --- But needs to happen with other things. Quite often seen in GitHub where an attacker can contribute to build trust. With Reddit, mini modding, regular submissions, good comments etc Defense includes not being shamed or pressured when life seems more important.
- hu3 11mo ago
  But can any mod remove other mods? How does that work in reddit?
  - vintermann 11mo ago
    Seniority. Older mods can remove younger mods.
    - ahoka 11mo ago
      So just try to buy or steal the most senior mod's account and then you have the mod for yourself? Ouch.
      - hpdigidrifter 11mo ago
        Strangely not mentioned much in here is how these accounts are up for sale. It's definitely never mentioned on reddit because simply saying one of the websites in an offhand comment gets you a sitewide ban and your comment deleted.
- vintermann 11mo ago
  The simplest thing is probably just to ask for it. I'm sure if you went now and asked to be moderator for a hundred different mid-sized subs, you'd get yes from a few. If you "seem trustworthy", probably more than a few.
- gregsadetsky 11mo ago
  This was exactly the playbook that led to the xz backdoor. Just the quotes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39909905 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39909905 Very long page but a lot more in depth. Search for “Jigar Kumar pressured Lasse Collin” https://securelist.com/xz-backdoor-story-part-2-social-engineering/112476/ https://securelist.com/xz-backdoor-story-part-2-social-engin... And an overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XZ_Utils_backdoor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XZ_Utils_backdoor
  - thinkingemote 11mo ago
    Yes, I had that in mind too. Its worth any maintainer to be familiar with these methods to build up defences. With a few sock puppet accounts a single person could do it on their spare time. A nation state or criminal full time enterprise could do several attacks. It's scary and immoral but I find it fascinating too. Like the dark side of the how to win friends books. Security.
fsflover 11mo ago
Probably in the same way as Jia Tan took over the xz.
input_sh 11mo ago
Mods aren't set in stone, they tend to be active for a few years and then give up. Once that happens and you notice the current mods not posting anything for a period of time, you can simply file a request to side-wide admins to take over that sub, as giving it to anyone else is better than leaving it completely unmoderated.
- permo-w 11mo ago
  it's surprising that this feature remains relatively unknown. the article doesn't seem to be directly aware of it. I recently requested a fairly important subreddit which had been taken over by mods of a competing to sub and locked down to prevent competition, and they gave it to me immediately
horseradish7k 11mo ago
https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/29184583611284-r-redditrequest-criteria https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/29184583611...
rcxdude 11mo ago
Apart from getting the existing mod team to hand over to you, you can also petition to the reddit admins. For example, there is a process to replace inactive mods and this could be used to take control of a subreddit with existing users.
shagie 11mo ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/redditrequest/ https://www.reddit.com/r/redditrequest/ - see the sidebar. If the sub has an inactive or no mod, its as simple as making a post.

I'm not interested in doing this at all, but how does a person take over a subreddit? That sounds like a very difficult thing to do.

by idk1 11mo ago

I'm not interested in doing this at all, but how does a person take over a subreddit? That sounds like a very difficult thing to do.

raincom 11mo ago

People offer money to buy your reddit handle, assuming you are a mod of a reddit they want to control.

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

thinkingemote 11mo ago

"Hi I noticed you weren't that online as recently as you were are you ok?" Wow that must be a lot of work Wow I feel for you, friend Yea id be happy to help out from time to time. --- But needs to happen with other things. Quite often seen in GitHub where an attacker can contribute to build trust. With Reddit, mini modding, regular submissions, good comments etc Defense includes not being shamed or pressured when life seems more important.

hu3 11mo ago
But can any mod remove other mods? How does that work in reddit?
- vintermann 11mo ago
  Seniority. Older mods can remove younger mods.
  - ahoka 11mo ago
    So just try to buy or steal the most senior mod's account and then you have the mod for yourself? Ouch.
    - hpdigidrifter 11mo ago
      Strangely not mentioned much in here is how these accounts are up for sale. It's definitely never mentioned on reddit because simply saying one of the websites in an offhand comment gets you a sitewide ban and your comment deleted.
vintermann 11mo ago
The simplest thing is probably just to ask for it. I'm sure if you went now and asked to be moderator for a hundred different mid-sized subs, you'd get yes from a few. If you "seem trustworthy", probably more than a few.
gregsadetsky 11mo ago
This was exactly the playbook that led to the xz backdoor. Just the quotes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39909905 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39909905 Very long page but a lot more in depth. Search for “Jigar Kumar pressured Lasse Collin” https://securelist.com/xz-backdoor-story-part-2-social-engineering/112476/ https://securelist.com/xz-backdoor-story-part-2-social-engin... And an overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XZ_Utils_backdoor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XZ_Utils_backdoor
- thinkingemote 11mo ago
  Yes, I had that in mind too. Its worth any maintainer to be familiar with these methods to build up defences. With a few sock puppet accounts a single person could do it on their spare time. A nation state or criminal full time enterprise could do several attacks. It's scary and immoral but I find it fascinating too. Like the dark side of the how to win friends books. Security.

fsflover 11mo ago

Probably in the same way as Jia Tan took over the xz.

input_sh 11mo ago

Mods aren't set in stone, they tend to be active for a few years and then give up. Once that happens and you notice the current mods not posting anything for a period of time, you can simply file a request to side-wide admins to take over that sub, as giving it to anyone else is better than leaving it completely unmoderated.

permo-w 11mo ago
it's surprising that this feature remains relatively unknown. the article doesn't seem to be directly aware of it. I recently requested a fairly important subreddit which had been taken over by mods of a competing to sub and locked down to prevent competition, and they gave it to me immediately

horseradish7k 11mo ago

https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/29184583611284-r-redditrequest-criteria https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/29184583611...

rcxdude 11mo ago

Apart from getting the existing mod team to hand over to you, you can also petition to the reddit admins. For example, there is a process to replace inactive mods and this could be used to take control of a subreddit with existing users.

shagie 11mo ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/redditrequest/ https://www.reddit.com/r/redditrequest/ - see the sidebar. If the sub has an inactive or no mod, its as simple as making a post.