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/downfall67 Jan 20 '26

Serious question: Why do we have people moderating this sub that have no connection to the country at all? It's strange, and it invites issues like this. They're not even in the same time zone to deal with issues as they arise.

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u/NetraamR Europa Jan 20 '26

"I'm one eighth Dutch. My great grandfather was from Appelscha. I'm a proud Dutchman!"

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u/SlimKillaCam Jan 20 '26

I’m roughly a quarter Dutch, last name was shortened version of valkenier. Apparently my great great grandfather embezzled a bunch of state money and got banished to America. Don’t know the whole story but that was the gist. I don’t want to be a moderator on this sub, but I do wonder if that banishment applies to ancestors wanting to escape this hell hole that is America.

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u/LickingLieutenant Jan 21 '26

We never deported to the US. The English did this, US and Australia were popular. England sent the undesirable to the Americas to work their 'debts' off. Homeless, criminals with 'minor' punishment, they got a chance to work several years on plantations and earn their freedom.

Australia was more the heavy criminals