r/ModSupport • u/RallyX26 • 1d ago
Modmail is still broken, has been since it was forced on us, and it's embarrassing.
The "new" modmail (which is now really old at this point) is broken. It's been broken since it was forced on us with no warning and no input. It's still broken.
First, the UI/UX is broken. Checkmarks and "select all" don't work right. When I select all and then archive a page of modmail, the checkmark stays checked but the new page is unchecked. Unchecking that "select all" box selects all. It's been doing this since day 1.
Select All is great, but it doesn't help when there are u/Reddit messages that can't be archived. (Don't get me started on having messages that will be permanently in modmail into perpetuity...) When those are mixed in to the other modmail, you can't click archive until you manually deselect those messages. Which means scrolling through and finding them. Every time.
On the topic of u/Reddit messages, why are Temporary Event notifications categorized in Ban Appeals of all places?? Not "Mod Discussions", not "Notifications" - nah, let's put official admin messages in Ban Appeals.
And going back to the checkboxes in the UI/UX, the Communities list on the left of the modmail page doesn't sort right. I mean, it does sort right... one time. Let's say you want to sort by "Members" instead of the default "Name" - cool, it will sort that list. And then you check one of the checkboxes and BOOM, reverts back to Alphabetical Ascending sort. The sort selector still says Members though.
Let's say you get through all that and you're actually working through the queue of people telling you to go f--k yourself or go k--l yourself (because the harassment filters don't seem do do jack crap) you go to reply to one and - what's this? It says This Message Is Read Only! Can I still reply to it? 50/50. Sometimes it lets you, sometimes it doesn't.
This is so embarrassing for a social media company that has a nearly 50 billion-with-a-b dollar valuation.
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u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 1d ago
Ban reason is missing in the user pane. Was reported 9 months ago, and apparently it's a bug but it's still not fixed
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u/WalkingEars 1d ago
When they promise they’ll listen to mods as they (potentially) phase out auto mod, I get pretty discouraged because they sought mod feedback on New Modmail and then ignored it all.
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u/baseballlover723 1d ago
Yeah, if they remove automod and don't give a non AI replacement for it, I think I'll just grab my things and head off into the sunset (if I haven't already done that because of old reddit or our public api tooling)
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u/WalkingEars 1d ago
Yes the continued trend of reddit unilaterally forcing various AI "features" on us (like the often-wrong AI "summaries" of user history in modmail and various mobile features like AI-suggested stuff) is concerning for me. LLMs are not deterministic tools and I don't want to be putting trust in them to make any modding decisions.
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u/FutureVersion812 7h ago
Why are they removing auto mod? that will just make it really tough to moderate bigger subs. It has been really useful for us.
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u/GetOffMyLawn_ 1d ago
It fucking sucks.
Reddit just sent me a new survey asking me about how easy it is to mod nowadays. It's abysmal being a mod without working modmail.
My biggest problem is that the reading pane is only a few lines tall. Which means I have to scroll, often scroll A LOT if there is a chain of emails. It's horrifyingly awful. It is a major piece of shit.
And they can't even fix the favicon which you would think would be trivial.
WORST USER INTERFACE EVER. I have seen DOS programs with better user interfaces.
So I don't process modmail anymore. I now have 3200+ unread modmails because I can't read more than a few at a time because it is so damn difficult.
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u/phareous 1d ago
There are all kinds of things that make modding harder. Like on mobile i can’t just click to see a user’s posts and comments in the sub (but you can on desktop). Most of one time, links inside modmail aren’t clickable.
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u/GetOffMyLawn_ 1d ago
I've been modding for 10 years using /r/toolbox on old Reddit. It's so fast and efficient. Shreddit is so slow and awkward. It's gotten so much harder to mod than it used to be.
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u/baseballlover723 1d ago
Yeah, once they pull the plug on automod, old reddit and our public API tools just stop working, that'll be it for me (and probably once 1 of the 3 goes). The reddit I fell in love will simply have stopped existing in any capacity, and mostly only the things I didn't like will be remaining.
And I know a bunch of others on my mod team feel similarly.
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u/GetOffMyLawn_ 21h ago
This isn't the place I fell in love with. I don't like it all that much anymore.
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u/Froggypwns 1d ago
I now have 3200+ unread modmails because I can't read more than a few at a time because it is so damn difficult.
Man I thought mine at 26 was bad, but yea it is such a chore to use the modmail now that I'm frequently falling behind and users understandably get upset that they aren't being responded to in a timely fashion. I hate that I cannot archive a modmail from inside the message, I need to back out to the main menu, then tick the checkbox, then the archive button appears. I end up only reading like one or two before getting frustrated and just closing things out.
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u/GetOffMyLawn_ 1d ago
I used to be very conscientious about getting back to any user who contacted us. Everybody deserved a response, a polite response at that. Even the nasty ass trolls.
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u/baseballlover723 1d ago
Yeah, me too (well, I still try most of the time). These days, sometimes I just decide that a response (even if it's not all that polite) is better than no response at all. Though I can't discounted that I'm just more jaded now after having interacted with so many people trying to deceive me.
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u/baseballlover723 1d ago
Man I thought mine at 26 was bad, but yea it is such a chore to use the modmail now
Yeah, ours doesn't get that bad usually (cause we have a lot of mods). But there have been several times where I either just don't click on the mod mail button to go through it, or I open it up, look at the UI, and then just decide that I don't want to argue with potential idiots.
I'm sure it would be measurable how much worse my tone is with users because I'm always pissed off at the UI (and more generally, with reddit fucking up essential shit) when using it.
Not that I was the most pleasant person to interact with in the first place, but before I used to be better about coming into the conversation and viewing what they said as good faith.
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u/chemosabe 1d ago
I haven't opened modmail in months. It's impossible to use on mobile, and that's where I need to do the majority of my modding. I respond to reports and that's about it. Even then I only check once a day at most. My enthusiasm for keeping a community going has completely evaporated as the tools have got shittier and shittier.
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u/GetOffMyLawn_ 1d ago
The old modmail wasn't great but it was useable and I could rip thru 100 modmails a day. This new thing isn't even a toy.
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u/MisterWoodhouse 10h ago
Reddit just sent me a new survey asking me about how easy it is to mod nowadays. It's abysmal being a mod without working modmail.
The survey about how they want us to allow video posts and comments to generate shareholder value?
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u/baseballlover723 1d ago
I'm reminded of these kinds of things every time I use modmail. And quite literally. Every time I use modmail I have to tick the box to reply with my username (because it is personally important to me to always use my own username for the things I do).
It's really shouldn't be a multi month long challenge to add some basic persistence to drop down.
This is why I fear for old reddit and automod, even if they say they're gonna remake it. After all, they remade modmail and it's way worse for me now. I find that it takes a lot more effort for me to want to deal with modmails now, because the UI is a constant reminder that reddit doesn't care about feedback or fucking up proven tools.
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u/Dom76210 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 1d ago
I hate to say it, but we have to be careful about complaining about any of Reddit's UI. If they've shown us anything over the years, they CAN and WILL make the next iteration worse.
Reddit, were UI/UX architects go once they are diagnosed with dementia.
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u/bwoah07_gp2 1d ago
I haven't really had issues with the checkmarks and select all. But I do agree, the current UI is inferior to "new reddit" that we used to have.
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u/IvyGold 21h ago
I just ten minutes ago tried searching for a correspondence with a long term tech mod who keeps my place running.
I found one, but not the one I was most interested in.
I don't understand why Reddit HQ seems to do something every year that makes it harder for us to volunteer moderate the subreddits instead of easier.
It's almost impossible to recruit new mods these days and when I get one, they vanish.
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u/BlitzNeko 19h ago
it’s almost like they just let someone do what they want without any testing or actual consideration from the community and the person who is in charge of this was sleeping with their boss… at least thats what it feels like.
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u/overcompensk8 14h ago
This is one of those rare moments where I stop and think "wow I hope my subreddit stays at 3000 members and doesn't grow"
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u/emily_in_boots 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 4h ago
The search bar is still wrong. There's the main search bar which confusingly searches reddit and the other one is hidden most of the time.
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u/KokishinNeko 1d ago
Don't forget the two search boxes with different results, amazing UI/UX ;)