Reddit will allow you to conceal posts, feedback and NSFW exercise out of your public profile

Reddit will now enable its customers to do one thing it by no means earlier than has permitted: to selectively “curate” their public-facing profiles a few of their posting and commenting exercise from different customers.

Thus far, Reddit has included customers’ full commenting and posting exercise in profiles. So whereas most customers are nameless, others might simply take a look at their put up historical past and see what communities they’re lively in. The characteristic, which many customers see as a key a part of Reddit’s openness, has helped Redditors ferret out trolling, mendacity and quite a few different kinds of unhealthy (or ) conduct on the platform.

With the replace, nonetheless, Reddit customers will be capable of “curate” their profile. The extra management will enable individuals to cover all their public posts and feedback from their profile or conceal public posts and feedback in particular subreddits from their profiles. There may be additionally a “NSFW” toggle, which might conceal posts and feedback in NSFW subreddits. The setting will not conceal a remark or put up within the subreddit the place it initially appeared, but it surely will not be seen on a consumer’s profile.

The corporate notes that there can be some carveouts to those settings for moderators, who could depend on customers’ previous exercise to suss out rule-breakers or resolve who’s eligible to affix their neighborhood. “In case you put up, remark, ship modmail, request to be an accepted poster, or request to affix a non-public subreddit, that mod staff could have entry to your full profile content material historical past for 28 days after the interplay – no matter your settings,” Reddit says in an FAQ.

Regardless of that concession, many Redditors aren’t precisely joyful in regards to the modifications, which might alter among the core dynamics of the platform. “This looks as if it is going to result in unhealthy actors having the ability to extra simply conceal their conduct from the typical consumer,” one of many most-upvoted on Reddit’s put up says. “Until you are a mod, you will not be capable of see that they are posting inflammatory misinformation throughout a dozen completely different subs, as an example.”

Others have famous the characteristic additionally implies that creating an alt or throwaway account is considerably much less crucial, because it’s simpler to cover posts you do not need linked to your presence on the app. Whereas that could be an added comfort for some, it additionally raises questions in regards to the firm’s method to creating new accounts. In the course of the firm’s most up-to-date earnings name, CEO Steve Huffman that Reddit was contemplating methods to “evolve” its “traditionally permissive account creation” course of. Huffman did not elaborate on what which will seem like, however mentioned modifications could be essential to combat AI-powered “abuse or manipulation” of the platform.