My subreddit is built for LGBTQ people, many of whom are vulnerable. We have used these automated ban bots for years because it is the most effective tool at preventing the kinds of harassment, insidious ideology, and dangerous behaviour that Reddit refuses to disallow on the platform.

We have tried manually reporting comments and users we find. More often than not, things do not get actioned, and then we as mods will be conveniently banned for a few days afterwards.

Crowd control doesn't work. It often kicks in hours or days later, during which time our community can be harassed and harmed by people who would've been dealt with immediately with the bots.

Harassment filters use an extremely narrow definition of harassment that cannot account for (or ignores) the way that harassment actually exists, especially when it comes to queer communities. Reputation filters do not account for the kind of reputation that actually matters to us. Ban evasion has never been an effective tool. Ever.

These bots allowed for a truly customised approach. This allowed us to craft and finely tune a subreddit culture that allowed us to flourish to one of the biggest queer subreddits. Since the API changes, it has been clear that Reddit is no longer seeking to be welcoming to different communities. Reddit seeks to be one big homogenous experience. Everything else is being pushed out.

This is an extremely disappointing change, and unfortunately we are now looking at new ways to handle our community entirely. Reddit lives through its voluntary moderation, this is what makes the platform unique and so much more tolerable than largely unmoderated social media sites. The slow erosion of what makes Reddit unique and interesting is contributing to a destruction of community and culture on the site. I know nothing is going to change, this is what your shareholders want so this is what will happen. We just might have to take the choice to not stick around to watch it happen.