Referee Tool

Moderation by everyone

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Refeere Tool

Community-powered moderation for Reddit communities.

Refeere Tool helps subreddit moderators temporarily delegate moderation of specific high-activity posts to trusted community referees — safely and with strict permission boundaries.

Why Refeere Tool Exists

Large subreddits can become difficult to moderate during:

  • Viral posts
  • Heated discussions
  • Rapid comment spikes
  • Breaking news events
  • Large community debates

Traditional moderation teams may not scale fast enough during these moments.

Refeere Tool allows approved community members ("Referees") to temporarily assist with moderation on specific posts only.

Key Features

Post-Specific Moderator Permissions

Referees receive moderation permissions limited strictly to the assigned post.

Allowed actions may include:

  • Removing comments
  • Approving comments
  • Locking comment chains
  • Sticky moderation comments

Any attempt to moderate outside the assigned post results in immediate permission revocation.

Automatic Referee Selection

Posts can automatically become eligible for referee moderation when:

  • A post becomes HOT
  • A configurable comment-per-hour threshold is reached

Example:

  • 250 comments/hour
  • 1000 comments total
  • Trending velocity detection

Multiple Referees Per Post

A single post can have multiple active referees simultaneously.

This allows moderation capacity to scale naturally with post activity.

Activity-Based Eligibility

Users must already be active participants in the discussion before they can be selected as referees.

This helps ensure:

  • Context awareness
  • Topic familiarity
  • Reduced outsider moderation

Referee Applications

Users can apply to become referees through the subreddit.

Applications include:

  • Reason for applying
  • Topic/flair preferences
  • Experience information

Subreddit moderators can approve or reject applications manually.

Topic / Flair Matching

Referees can select which topics or flairs they are comfortable moderating.

Examples:

  • Politics
  • Gaming
  • News
  • Sports
  • Technology

The system prioritizes matching referees with relevant discussions.

Moderator Oversight

Subreddit moderators remain fully in control.

Moderators can:

  • View active referees
  • Revoke referee privileges at any time
  • Review referee activity logs
  • Configure selection thresholds
  • Restrict moderation scopes

Full Audit Logging

All referee actions are logged.

Logs include:

  • Moderator action
  • Timestamp
  • Post ID
  • Referee identity
  • Action result

Safety Model

Refeere Tool is designed around temporary, scoped permissions.

Core principles:

  • Least privilege access
  • Automatic revocation
  • Full transparency
  • Moderator oversight
  • Activity-based trust

The system is intentionally designed to prevent permanent escalation of moderation privileges.

Example Workflow

  1. Post becomes highly active
  2. Threshold triggers referee mode
  3. Eligible referees identified
  4. Temporary scoped permissions granted
  5. Referees assist moderation
  6. Actions logged in real time
  7. Permissions revoked automatically after completion

Planned Features

  • Reputation scoring
  • Referee performance metrics
  • Abuse detection
  • AI-assisted referee suggestions
  • Moderator analytics dashboard
  • Cross-subreddit referee networks

Use Cases

  • Large public subreddits
  • Live event discussions
  • Breaking news threads
  • Gaming communities
  • AMA moderation
  • Election coverage
  • Fast-moving discussion threads

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