Note: this is a lengthy post, as it is a topic deserving of an in-depth explanation. An abridged summary can be found at the end. The /r/soccer moderation team wishes to clarify our policy on threads relating to Palestine and Israel - but firstly and most importantly, our collective stance on the war in Gaza. This is the culmination of lengthy internal reflections and discussions internally, and following productive meta discussions in recent threads on Palestine and Israel. /r/soccer moderators statement on the Israel-Palestine war: We would like to make unequivocally clear that the /r/soccer mods stand with Palestine. We condemn the illegal invasion of Palestine by the state of Israel, and are united in horror at the atrocities and war crimes committed by the Israeli government and IDF against the Palestinian people. We recognise that in concordance with the statement of the United Nations in November 2024 that a genocide is currently being enacted by Israel against the people of Palestine. We also stand against the hypocrisy of FIFA, football’s highest governing body, in failing to apply the standards they have themselves set for other national teams, by allowing the football teams of the Israel FA to compete in international competitions without sanction. The rest of this announcement contains: Clarification on our prior moderation policies The apology we feel is due from the /r/soccer mod team Our moderation policy moving forward Clarification on our prior moderation policies - and its evolution over time: Since the October 7th attacks in 2023, and the subsequent invasion of Palestine by Israel, our moderation policy has evolved. First, we used the existing precedent we had established on /r/soccer with other global conflicts, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As moderators of a football forum, we (fairly reasonably) did not have an existing established policy for moderation of content relating to wars - precedent was all we had. This meant having open comment sections for threads posted on /r/soccer, about football-related news about the Israel-Palestine war. It rapidly became clear that this was not a sustainable policy. This was because these threads would invariably be rapidly brigaded by users who were not regulars in the /r/soccer community, who would use them as a proxy battleground for discussion of the war. We also recognised that the highly emotive discourse meant /r/soccer regulars too were drawn into this. We attempted to apply the existing moderation tools, such as Crowd Control, but to little effect. This issue was consistent across each thread, and led to an unprecedented amount of nefarious content and rule-breaking in clear violation of our community guidelines. We had initially wanted to allow discussion, knowing the importance of allowing people to express their views. However, we rapidly recognised this was a situation different to our previous experiences - and so it was not feasible to moderate them by the policy set by precedent. The moderators of /r/soccer are volunteers. We each have our own jobs, and lives. This is not a plea for sympathy - but to explain that it was not a reasonable expectation for us to dedicate the hours of time and energy required to allow open discussion whilst managing the tide of rule-breaking. The unpredictable nature of when threads would be posting, would require 24/7 availability for this. Furthermore, there was an additional toll - we saw those threads unfiltered, and the most extreme forms of hatred played out in those comment sections. We were the recipients of abusive DMs, and Modmails. We also considered that although discussion of the war in relation to football was important, the vast majority of discourse was not football-related. This added up to a situation which was out of control, and which we perceived significant negatives. We therefore agreed a new policy, in which AutoModerator was used to “auto-lock” each thread, and then pin a comment explaining this decision. Addressing criticism of our policy: There has been much questioning and criticism of this policy, over the subsequent months. We would explain our rationale, when asked - but generally this was at an individual level. Some users would understand our perspective, others objected. We believe our approach had justification, but acknowledge the valid criticisms. As a team we have reflected on the valid points that have been raised in good faith. We would now like to address them. We were accused of “silencing” criticism of Israel, by locking threads. Criticism of Israel is allowed (like all countries). We have long maintained that the war is freely able to be discussed in threads such as the Daily Discussion Thread and Free Talk Friday, which are easier to moderate - and those discussions have been had there. However, we recognise how this would appear to be the case. Explicitly, by locking Israel/Palestine threads, but not Russia/Ukraine threads, this different approach would naturally cause people to question why. Given that /r/soccer leans heavily pro-Palestine and anti-Israel, this could look like we were trying to prevent this discourse, but would freely allow pro-Ukraine and pro-Russian discourse that also dominates. This was not our intention - as explained above, this was a moderation decision, and not one reflective of our personal views. We were hypocrites - treating this war “differently”. To a degree, this is in fact, true. We did treat the Israel-Palestine war differently to other conflicts, because it was different. The circumstances were exceptional, and from a moderation perspective it was above and beyond what we had seen before. Different situations need to be handled differently. What is not true, is the suggestions by some as to why we treated it differently - which is not because of our political views or an attempt to distort the narrative, but due to the moderation practicalities. We ban users who criticise us. This is not true - we ban users who act in bad faith, and those who attacked the moderation team. We have demonstrated on many occasions that we were willing to publicly discuss this matter with users engaging in good faith. We had been weak in our public messaging, on the war. This, we agree with. When we wrote the initial AutoMod stickied comment, which strikes a broadly neutral tone about the “conflict”, it was a time of greater ambiguity. We now recognise that as deeply problematic. The situation is not ambiguous. Israel’s continued persecution of the Palestinian people can no longer be understated or unrecognised. Atrocities and war crimes are being committed daily. This is therefore, not a conflict - it is a war, an invasion of Palestine, and a genocide of the Palestinian people. It has taken us too long to correct this - and some would argue too long to realise this. We understand too that stronger public condemnation sooner may well have contextualised our moderation actions better. We could fix this by recruiting extra mods This we disagree with. Although numbers were one aspect, the bigger issue was the expectation of volunteers to moderate a football forum would be available 24/7, unpaid, to moderate a topic generating the most extreme forms of hatred, and be recipients of personal abuse in return. It is a hard sell - and we also have a very specific selection criteria for /r/soccer moderators, and were concerned the people willingly volunteer to moderate on Israel-Palestine threads would not fulfil the rest of the briefing. We don’t think either extra numbers would have dealt with the rest of the issues - and do not think we would have found these suitable volunteers. None of this is football-related, this isn’t a political subreddit Football has always been political. And yes, much of this is football-related. Footballers are being oppressed, and killed. There are valid criticisms of FIFA’s inaction on Israel. This is relevant. An apology - and a request: After addressing that criticism - we would also like to apologise, for the serious mistakes we did make. We believe our initial moderation policy was justified to a degree for the reasons outlined, but agree it was not well communicated, our communication did not offer the proper condemnation, and it has taken us too long to correct this. We apologise for this. We know that to some that will not be enough, and this is too late. We also understand why this led to the conclusions made about our policy - we hear your perspective. This apology is to those who have engaged with us in good faith, and/or were motivated by solidarity with the plight of Palestine. We have also received a heavy amount of criticism from those who acted in less good faith. The more extreme accusations included (direct quotes) that our actions were “facilitating genocide” ,“silencing the victims of Apartheid” but also anti-Semitic (go figure). These hurt. These allegations would hurt anyone of good conscience, which we believe that we are. Collectively, our team is also strongly pro-Palestine, and several of us spend our personal lives joining protests and volunteering in support of Palestine. We also have people of Arabic and Jewish heritage on our team, for whom accusations of racism and anti-Semitism were additional offensive. We say this, not for sympathy, but for understanding. We believe we have learnt and grown as humans do. We did not know how to handle this situation, as people who signed up to moderate a football forum, and we did mis-step along the way. The passage of time, the reality that cannot be ignored, and reflecting on the criticism we have received - has emboldened our stance, and helped us to correct it. Moving forward: We now seek to correct prior wrongs. We are adjusting our moderation policy, but not changing it entirely - which we understand will not make everybody happy. There is a new AutoMod pinned comment, which reflects the reality of the situation of genocide Initially, threads will remain auto-locked when first posted. Threads will be unlocked on a case-by-case basis, following review by the moderation team: factors will include current mod availability, the specific thread’s merit in terms of relevance to football, the discussion it would generate, and how inflammatory it would be Before unlocking, maximum Crowd Control and filters will be applied Unlocked thread will be kept under review - and locked if necessary We believe this strikes the balance between moderation practicalities, and allowing important and relevant discussion. Finally: We now believe the new approach in expressing our unequivocal condemnation of the actions of Israel is more reflective of both of our true beliefs - and is the only right stance to have towards this war, which will stand as a blight on humanity. We recognise not everyone will agree. That is okay - you have a right to dissent. There are many spaces on the internet in which pro-Israel rhetoric reigns supreme, and criticism of the crimes of the Israeli state is quietened. /r/soccer is, and will not be one of those places - and you are welcome to go to those that are. Free Palestine.   submitted by   /u/2soccer2bot [link]   [comments]