Reddit will now allow its users to do something it never before has permitted: to selectively “curate” their public-facing profiles by hiding some of their posting and commenting activity from other users.
Up to now, Reddit has included users’ full commenting and posting activity in profiles. So while most users are anonymous, others could easily check out their post history and see what communities they’re active in. The feature, which many users see as a key part of Reddit’s openness, has helped Redditors ferret out trolling, lying and numerous other types of bad (or merely embarrassing) behavior on the platform.
With the update, however, Reddit users will be able to “curate” their profile. The additional control will allow people to hide all their public posts and comments from their profile or hide public posts and comments in specific subreddits from their profiles. There is also a “NSFW” toggle, which would hide posts and comments in NSFW subreddits. The setting won’t hide a comment or post in the subreddit where it originally appeared, but it won’t be visible on a user’s profile.
The company notes that there will be some carveouts to these settings for moderators, who may rely on users’ past activity to suss out rule-breakers or decide who is eligible to join their community. “If you post, comment, send modmail, request to be an approved poster, or request to join a private subreddit, that mod team will have access to your full profile content history for 28 days after the interaction – regardless of your settings,” Reddit says in an FAQ.
Despite that concession, many Redditors aren’t exactly happy about the changes, which could alter some of the core dynamics of the platform. “This seems like it’s going to lead to bad actors being able to more easily hide their behavior from the average user,” one of the most-upvoted comments on Reddit’s post says. “Unless you’re a mod, you won’t be able to see that they’re posting inflammatory misinformation across a dozen different subs, for instance.”
Others have noted the feature also means that creating an alt or throwaway account is somewhat less necessary, as it’s easier to hide posts you don’t want linked to your presence on the app. While that may be an added convenience for some, it also raises questions about the company’s approach to making new accounts. During the company’s most recent earnings call, CEO Steve Huffman suggested that Reddit was considering ways to “evolve” its “historically permissive account creation” process. Huffman didn’t elaborate on what that may look like, but said changes would be necessary to fight AI-powered “abuse or manipulation” of the platform.