/r/eagles Update on Twitter/X
Hello there /r/eagles!
First off, a hearty Go Birds!
It's clear that reddit at large, and sports subreddits specifically, are taking a hard look at whether to cut ties with Twitter/X. There are plenty of arguments in favor of such a move, and also some against it. We have discussed the feedback that users left in this post, both for and against making a change to our posting guidelines.
For this community, there are some specific and unique points we would like to make before discussing the pathway forward:
This community has never undertaken a significant change in its rules or operations in the middle of the season. We are loathe to change that now. Our feedback process has always relied on a more measured approach to collecting feedback in the off-season, and then being consistent throughout the year. While this moment is very contentious, we do not think we can forgo our successful annual feedback and change process entirely.
This community has expressed itself very strongly in the past around topics related to politics. Appropriately, there are many users who feel that politics as an open discussion topic has no place in a sports-centric conversation space. Conversely, and equally appropriately, there are many users who feel that certain political circumstances transcend such an aspirational goal, and that push-back in non-political spaces is a necessary step for correcting injustices. These opposite opinions have played out in this community before. You may remember the issues around the Reddit Blackout from 2023. We were dismayed at the inter-user vitriol that that incident spawned. Ensuring we do not repeat the communication mistakes involved in that incident again is critically important to us.
In our judgement, it is unclear whether a 'hard' ban on Twitter/X content will not have unacceptable costs to this community RE content availability. Is it "good" that this subreddit requires access to a certain platform in order to agglomerate all the news that an Eagles fan could want to see? No, no it is not good. Any environment with a single point of failure is one accident or misfortune away from serious consequences. Do we think that competitor platforms are making strides to provide similar, if not identical, news sourcing and conversational content? Yes, absolutely. Threading the needle on ensuring that all relevant Eagles related content makes it into the feed is, and has always been, our primary responsibility, and ensuring that that is not interrupted in such a critical time for our fanbase looms enormously for us.
Finally, this moderation team was largely identical during the first Trump presidency. We have been here through the kneeling during the anthem experience, we were here when this team didn't visit the Whitehouse after we won our first Superbowl. This community has weathered the reality of American civil strife before. We are exceptionally confident that Eagles fans, the smartest and most devoted fanbase in the entirety of the NFL, will find a way to sustain their love for our beloved Birds over all things. We have a responsibility as stewards of your community to minimize hate. We strive hard to sustain a community where "Fuck Dallas" is the ultimate recourse for a disagreement. In this moment, we fully acknowledge that the behavior of Elon Musk is unacceptable. But we will be damned if his actions separate Birds fans from Birds fans.
So, ultimately, we have decided on a two-step process for handling Twitter/X: Beginning tomorrow, 1/23/25, we will be adding an automod blurb to every Twitter/X post inviting the user to repost with either a screenshot or the same content on another platform. We hope to encourage voluntary movement away from the platform in a way that doesn't unncessarily impact content availability through the remainder of the playoffs. To aid in that, we will be including links to some how-to and get-started content related to those other platforms. The second step is moving forward a portion of our off-season discussion and feedback process to immediately after this season. In that feedback, which will be held within a week of the end the season, we will be collecting more formal responses and votes from /r/eagles users to determine the best way forward for Twitter/X content. We invite you all to stick around through then. We know that this community has an enormous traffic fall-off during the off-season, and so our hope is that we will be able to capture a much wider cross-section of the community before that happens.
We understand that this choice, this grey area option, represents a compromise that will chafe for most users. Unfortunately, all of the best comprehensive compromises are defined both by how many people they actively include and how many people they actively upset. We're sorry about that. We hope you can understand that our duty to this community requires these sorts of steps.
To users who are concerned about the Trump Administration, Elon Musk's behavior, and other American political issues: We hear you. This is a moment in all of our lives to redouble our efforts of service, to our own mental health, our loved ones and our communities. It is not fair that the response to existentially dangerous realities is increased duty to love each other, but we must forge on anyway. We are asking you to do that in the spirit of the City of Brotherly love.
To users who are not concerned about these things: We are aware and respect that you are here to enjoy football. Preserving this space for your enjoyment is clearly a priority for us. But we are asking you to extend the same love and empathy to your neighbors, fellow fans, and internet slap-fight opponents. Please consider the human and move on from content and discussion that bothers you. The cost of political success is that you will receive feedback for that. We cannot and will not protect any political group from the social consequences of their choices. Please accept that and move on.
To users who are gleefully in support of hate, hate-groups, hate-speech, and hate actions... You are not welcome here. You never have been. There is nothing about this election that has changed the minimum floor of interpersonal respect in this community. All Eagles fans were created equal. No exceptions. We will never tolerate intolerance, and we promise you that you cannot hide from us. Go find somewhere else to turn this macro political issue into an opportunity to hate thy neighbor.
You are welcome to comment your thoughts below; but we would like to warn everyone that the civility rules continue to be in force. We have a huge game to play on Sunday, and we would sincerely prefer if we focused as a community on that.
With deep and abiding respect, The /r/eagles Moderation team
Go Birds! and Fuck Dallas!