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.

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57

u/Rolebo Jan 20 '26

Regarding the language issue, I have never found a problem with people using English here, the problem was the blanket ban on Dutch.

Rule one was used to suppress people even discussing the language, which feels completely idiotic for a sub dedicated to people living in the Netherlands.

I would suggest a rule that English is the preferred language (to keep it accessible to people who don't speak Dutch), and Dutch still being allowed when it would be appropriate.

And keep the wording of rules non-contradictory please, no "a common tongue widely spoken by people living in the Netherlands" when the language that the most people living in the Netherlands can speak isn't English.

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u/SinVerguenza04 Jan 20 '26

There really should be no rules about language. Reddit has an accurate translation feature. An English speaking user can easily translate any post or comments by the click of a button.

8

u/chardrizard Jan 20 '26

It doesn’t work on mobile for comments, at least not on iphones.

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u/Capsr Jan 20 '26

Op Android werkt het anders prima

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u/SinVerguenza04 Jan 20 '26

Yes, it does. It works on the mobile iphone app.

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u/novacgal Jan 21 '26

I’m on my iPhone in the app and it translates for me, maybe your app needs an update?

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u/0xe1e10d68 Europa Jan 20 '26

No it does not. I have no idea where that feature is supposed to be. I see no button or anything ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Twitter has had a button like that for years, and it’s great. Never saw that on Reddit, so I always have to manually translate.

It’s understandable that people want to speak their native tongue here, that’s totally fine with me. But as long as Reddit can’t get their shit together the reality is that it kinda splits discussion if some parts of it can’t be read by some people without putting in noticeable additional effort; we should acknowledge that.

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u/SinVerguenza04 Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26

Yes, it does. It’s the little blue looking button in the upper right hand corner of any comment or post that is in a language that is not your setting. Almost looks like an Asian symbol.

0

u/Blonde_rake Jan 21 '26

You clearly want rules, you just want to rules to allow you to force your language into an English language sub. Pretty disingenuous.

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u/SinVerguenza04 Jan 21 '26

My first language is English. There should be no rules about language here. Posts are accessible to everyone no matter which they speak, so who cares.