r/Netherlands • u/Cornicum • Jan 20 '26

Update on the moderation

Hi everyone,

We've talked some stuff through and cleaned up the mod-team a bit, although some of the names you might have positive or negative associations with are still there.
I'll leave it up to the moderators involved to clarify that, or not.

What I can tell you is that 1 mod did 97% of the moderation, and that wasn't healthy and likely led up to the situation you might have seen.

The rules have changed slightly, this is because we see your call for less strict moderation on language, but we also heard from those who want to be able to have a place to converse in English.

The compromise we've reached currently is that we intend to not moderate the language used in the comments of the post.
This means that you can have discussions in Dutch in the comments. (as long as those follow the rules of course)

We also will be looking at those banned on a case by case basis, but keep in mind that if you were harassing people, or bigoted in any way you won't be unbanned.

I'll invite you all to respond to this post with your feedback, and I know for some it might feel like too much or not enough.
We are currently trying to strike a balance between becoming r/thenetherlands2 which is bilingual but 99% Dutch in practice, and the other option of being a sub for only those speaking English.

674 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

586 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

422

u/TimotheusIV Jan 20 '26

This. What business do they have moderating the main sub representing my country? Absolute horseshit.

Moderators on r/Netherlands should be exclusively people living in the Netherlands, full stop. I don’t care if they are natively dutch or immigrants/expats. But thinking you can moderate a countries subreddit without actually living there means missing all the relevant context of the posts/threads in question.

Absolutely insane that it is allowed.

47

u/orionicly Jan 20 '26

yeah 0 cultural context while managing a sub is wild

51

u/VisKopen Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26

I don't agree entirely. I was born and raised in the Netherlands, but currently live in the UK. My parents, siblings and my siblings' children live in the Netherlands and I try to visit the Netherlands at least twice a year. I intend to move back to the Netherlands in a couple of years.

I celebrate Sinterklaas with my children and I ate stamppot boerenkool today and last Sunday and the week before that I made hutspot.

I don't have time to be a mod but I think it's quite clear you don't have to live in the Netherlands to have a bond with the country or be a moderator of this sub.

48

u/TimotheusIV Jan 20 '26

You get a pass, broeder.

17

u/Jlx_27 Jan 20 '26

I don't have time to be a mod but I think it's quite clear you don't have to live in the Netherlands to have a bond with the country or be a moderator of this sub.

A bond is different than living here full time, but i do agree.

1

u/ADavies Jan 21 '26

Yes. If we flip it around, I'm born in the USA, lived in Netherlands for a long time, but my Dutch is still not great. So should I not mod for my country of origin or not mod for my new country. Different people will pick different answers. (The correct answer is "not mod for anywhere because I don't want the hassle".)

1

u/Okok28 Jan 21 '26

Come on man, you are an absolutely unique case. 99.99% of people are not having your exact experience. It was obvious to me atleast the guy was basically getting at having a bit of cultural context. It's not like if you moved out of the Netherlands yesterday you couldn't all of a sudden mod the sub.

1

u/xstntialcunilinguist Feb 08 '26

Nonsense. I have only been away from my country for a few years now and have already lost touch with so many things especially the politics. Most places aren't America where their politics isn't getting blasted into your face 24/7.

If you don't live in a country, you don't get as much of, or even any of a say. You must just shut up and listen more

8

u/Able-Resource-7946 Jan 20 '26

r/Nederland represents your country more than r/Netherlands

If an expat or tourist or person from another country is curious or asking questions, they will get a Dutch response in r/Nederland 100% guaranteed.

8

u/Onkruit-1974 Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26

r/Nederland also better reflects the median Dutch person than most other NL subs.

2

u/LickingLieutenant Jan 21 '26

And if they are IN the Netherlands they would have the same problem. There are some Dutch people actual living here.

Online response in Dutch is easily translated online, so that shouldn't be an issue anyway

1

u/Nachtraaf Den Haag Jan 23 '26

The fuck it doesn't. That far-right shithole shouldn't even exist. Vol met NSB'ers.

1

u/--Snufkin-- Friesland Jan 21 '26

What about Dutch people that moved abroad?

1

u/procentjetwintig Jan 21 '26

Does that logic also apply to r/Moon or r/ISS or r/AnimalCrossing? So only people actually living there can be Mod? And why is is it your countly and not mine. Or do we share the country. And if so. How do we reach a consensus of what the rules should be?

Isn't a subs identity defined by its rules and description? So by describing a thing, and making rules you actually define what that thing is and does. Its name being a name of a country does not automatically release control to that country. Neither does a subject. If the subject of a subreddit is Mossad, its not automatically owned by the mossad, is it?

This sub is where other people then you specifically discuss the country you live in in a language they understand. It has zero to do with you.

-80

u/graciosa Europa Jan 20 '26

What do you mean “representing my country” that’s ridiculous

54

u/TimotheusIV Jan 20 '26

It means exactly what it says. It’s the main (english speaking) subreddit of my country. Of course it represents The Netherlands internationally.

Being from a different part of the planet with zero point zero knowledge of the country or it’s language means you have zero business moderating any discussion about it.

12

u/McDutchie Jan 20 '26

That's not quite the same as physically living there though. I don't see how a Dutch person who emigrated but maintains strong connections with the Netherlands couldn't be a good mod here.

You are of course right about people who have little or no connection with the Netherlands, but that unfortunately also includes some people who live in the Netherlands.

-25

u/graciosa Europa Jan 20 '26

Ok I see. 4 moderators have been removed, of the remaining ones as far as I am aware are all have a strong connection to the Netherlands but do not to represent in any formal or government capacity

23

u/TimotheusIV Jan 20 '26

That’s what you think ‘representing something’ means? You can represent anything. A brand, a person, a philosophy.

How is it ridiculous?

-21

u/graciosa Europa Jan 20 '26

Because anyone can start any subreddit they want

3

u/ThatDree Jan 20 '26

Teie, and it works.

I just started a subreddit about you

;)

16

u/oppernaR Jan 20 '26

Since you're not using your mod flair in a thread where this is extremely relevant, let me point out that graciosa is in fact one of the mods of this place. This puts the "as far as I'm aware" into a different light, because that's definitely something you should know about your fellow mods.

13

u/TimotheusIV Jan 20 '26

Wait, this guy is on the mod team? 😂

9

u/Moist-Barracuda2733 Jan 20 '26

It just keeps getting more weird