Moderation and authority-building process: the dynamics of knowledge creation on history subreddits

Abstract

For the last 30 years, the web has been used as a space of debate and knowledge creation, including historical knowledge. The digital space has the potential to provide a more democratic history that relies on the inclusion of different voices. However, it also raises questions about editing and authority. When attempting to understand authority relations on the web, moderation gains special prominence as it involves actions of exclusion, organisation, and establishment of norms; moderators heavily influence the content created by web users. Here, we investigate knowledge creation considering moderation bias. We address the effects of different moderation practices in history subreddits by analysing how moderators establish authority relations with other users. For that, we use a mixed-methods approach by interpreting the subreddits’ rules and performing network analysis based on the subreddits’ dialogues (2011–2020). The study indicates that the rules have become progressively extensive and stricter over the years, creating appropriate ways for posting submissions and commenting but also affecting broad participation. As central authority figures, moderators engage in processes of sharing authority, rather than shared authority, tending to dominate knowledge creation.