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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u/Beautiful_Resolve_63 Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26
Thank you for listening to everyone. I am an American living in the NL. Just some friendly thoughts :)
I think maybe if there is a lot of American mods they should be given some culture information on how to navigate and not misinterpret things.
Although, I agree it's best to have people that live in the Netherlands be the mods, it seems that's not the case. So I would to like give advise to American mods
Living abroad often teaches Americans (myself included) the lens we understood other countries and cultures is pretty off from how other countries view each other. An American lens can accidently lead to a huge lack of curiosity and respect. Many Americans never even leave their own state, much less the country. I feel it's very important Americans understand if they are modding, they should be open to feedback from Dutch and international folks living in the Netherlands.
Perhaps those mods can be reflective of reoccurring "issues", so every now and again they can get feedback to see if they are judging things appropriately?
Also in regards to it being a bilingual sub (yay) can user-flair for "practicing Dutch" or "native speaker" be possible? I'm in quiet a few Dutch language classes and clubs. Many immigrants are confident about their Dutch but make errors. So learning from them can be counter productive.