[Meta] Can we save KiA from self-inflicted disaster?


After watching david-me try to kill the subreddit and then the events of last week, I've been thinking about whether it's possible to prevent future disasters. In particular, I'm focusing on the possibility of extreme moderator misconduct and/or major user revolt.

Some background (feel free to skip)
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I've visited KiA almost every day for years but never posted before. My main Reddit account is unfortunately associated with my real-life name and if found there would be wolves at the door.

KiA has been extremely meaningful to me both as a news aggregator and a hub for high-quality discussions that aren't allowed elsewhere. I've often used articles and arguments sourced from KiA to share with friends and family - one of my best friends is an editor at a large news publication so that's always fun.

A note about last week
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I know people are caught up in the events surrounding last week's rule change but for the purposes of this discussion they should be mostly irrelevant. Whether you think the moderators effectively killed KiA and the only moral choice is burn the subreddit to the ground or you believe the whole kerfuffle was an extreme and out-of-proportion overreaction to a misunderstanding from poor communication doesn't matter. Assume we're talking about saving KiA from some *hypothetical* future situation where a mod or mods have *unequivocally* gone rogue/become divorced from the userbase or the users have all *unequivocally* begun rioting/leaving/destroying KiA.

Reasons for action now
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Prevention is better than cure. If we act now, the following benefits would help keep everything under control and provide an outlet for frustration:

* Happy users
* An official and meaningful process to channel anger into
* Recourse to moderator misconduct that doesn't resort to tribalism

The first might sound facetious but it's not. I'm reading Philip Zimbardo's *The Lucifer Effect* which looks at how situational forces can cause individuals to spiral out of control. For anyone not aware, Zimbardo is the architect of the [Stanford prison experiment.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment) One extremely useful tool in cowing the prisoners was the creation of a grievance committee. This allowed the prisoners to elect 3 representatives who could then meet with the experimenters to air the prisoners' concerns. Even though the complaints weren't acted on in any meaningful way, the fact that the prisoners felt they had been heard made a big difference to their happiness.

An official process to focus anger into would quell the perceived need for drastic and catastrophic action on the part of the users. Recent days have seen calls for users to leave KiA and join other subreddits - something I've seen described as divide and conquer tactics. I’d argue the only way these calls can find purchase is when users think there are no other options. Suppose for argument’s sake there were a system of mod elections or even some kind of half-yearly mod review: any rage could be directed into that process rather than splintering the community.

Finally, if there were were some means of recourse and mod oversight that didn't rely on tribalism, we wouldn't have to let conflicts fester. One of the most interesting findings from the Stanford prison experiment was that the individual guards were primarily loyal to their clique. This was true even if they felt extremely troubled by other guards' bad behavior towards prisoners ([relevant extract](https://pastebin.com/gF1L6F4y)).

If KiA has to rely entirely on the moderators to rein in other mods who might in the future go too far, become pro-censorship, become ban-happy or go completely rogue then we’re fighting against human nature. There's a very good reason why cops tend to cover up the misconduct of their peers and why oversight bodies are supposed to be separate from those they investigate: tribalism.

Questions for discussion
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* Is it desirable to try prevent future disaster from extreme moderator misconduct and/or user revolt?

* Is it possible to take such action?

* If it's desirable and possible to take action, how could/should it be done?

* Mods reading this - Would you potentially be willing to entertain ideas such as a User Representative who could act as an intermediary between the mods and the community or is it simply a case of "bad luck users, this is how it is"?

My preliminary answer to the first is "yes" but I'd unironically just like to start a conversation.