Coyote Helps Volunteering Focused on
Reddit
Note: Coyote Helps does not yet exist as
a nonprofit. All of the information on this web site is
PROPOSED.
Please see the home page for more information about this idea
for a nonprofit.
High-performing volunteers may be asked, or can ask, to take on
additional moderation and facilitation duties for a subreddit (and
possibly multiple subreddits). These tasks can include reading posts
held by Reddit filters for possibly violating rules and answering
messages sent to the moderators,
Please do NOT start on any volunteering tasks
until you have received written notification from Coyote Helps that
you are now an official volunteer.
A reminder that Coyote Helps is in no way formally affiliated with
Reddit. But the founder of Coyote Helps is an active Reddit member,
and is the primary moderator of several of Reddit's communities,
known as subreddits, and is the creator of Reddit4Good,
a comprehensive list of subreddits focused on some aspect of
volunteerism, community service, philanthropy, humanitarian or
environmental causes or otherwise doing good.
You should not engage in any of these activities until you have been
directed to do so by Coyote Helps leadership, and you will not be
directed to do so until you have spent time doing basic activities on Reddit as a Coyote
Helps volunteer.
Advanced Steps on Reddit
1.
There are not just the subreddits named on our web site that are
focused on philanthropy, helping others, social justice, etc. There
are MANY. SO MANY!
The founder of Coyote Helps created a document on Reddit called Reddit4Good.
It is a list of all of the subreddits she has found that are focused
on some aspect of volunteerism, community service, philanthropy or
doing good for a cause. Have a look at this document. Look at it
more than once. As you explore Reddit, if you see a subreddit you
think should be listed on this document, submit it1 Submit your
ideas in the comments of Reddit4Good
on Reddit - that means your suggestion will be public.
2.
Currently, Coyote Helps is focused on just a handful of subreddits.
If you feel that there is another subreddit we should focus
volunteering efforts on, let Coyote Helps leadership know. Be ready
to explain why in detail.
3.
Moderating! Being a moderator on Reddit gives you access to more
information but also more responsibilities.
At minimum, if you are asked to be a moderator, or you ask to be a
moderator, of a subreddit, you will given the ability to:
- Read and respond to mod mail (mail sent to moderators) and to
mute users.
- Access private moderator notes
- Ban users and approve content submitters.
- Read posts & comments that are being held in the queue
(the Reddit automod function, and AI tool, automatically holds
some posts for mod review), and decide which should be approved
and which should be deleted. When in doubt, leave it as is and
the main mod will get to it.
- Delete inappropriate posts and comments. When in doubt, leave
it as is and the main mod will get to it.
Only moderators have the ability to read the mail that is sent to
all moderators. This mail is usually a question, like "why was I
banned?" You do NOT have to respond to any mod mail unless the main
mod is out of town and has asked you to!
All of the above takes about an hour to do each month, and that's
mostly because of just one subreddit: Philanthropy.
This is, be far, the busiest subreddit of those that Coyote Helps
focuses on. If it weren't for this subreddit, moderation for
everything else would be maybe 15 minutes a month, at 2026
levels.
As a new moderator, you will NOT be giving the ability to
- invite new moderators (though you are welcomed to suggest such
to Coyote Helps leadership)
- create and manage user and post flairs (though you are always
welcomed to make suggestions)
- to configure and manage the community's settings, appearance,
emojis, rules and AutoMod
- the ability to create and manage wiki pages and the AutoMod.
But as time passes, and you become more experienced, and if you
express interest in more responsibilities, you could be granted
these greatly expanded permissions as well. More on that later.
4.
Start a new subreddit. Before you do that, however, look to make
sure that there is NOT already a subreddit focused on the subject
you want to undertake.
The founder of Coyote Helsp started OregonVolunteers
because she wanted to create one place on Reddit where people could
find information about volunteering in Oregon, specifically. Oregon
is where she lives. If you think something like that would be
valuable for your state or your city, and you are ready to both
supply the content and attract new members, you could create such.
HOWEVER, note that moderating and growing a subreddit is a BIG time
commitment, and note how the founder has struggled to get people to
join OregonVolunteers
, and how she's the only one that posts, despite regularly
cross-posting and inviting people to the subreddit.
Always Remember the Goal.
The primary goal of Coyote Helps is simple: to help make the
Internet a kinder place, one that is filled with opportunities and
information to help people engage with their communities and engage
in causes that are important to them, or to learn about causes that
help bring people together or build understanding among people.
Please do NOT start on any volunteering tasks
until you have received written notification from Coyote Helps that
you are now an official volunteer.
Reporting.
Reporting your activities each month to
Coyote Helps leadership is part of your commitment as a
volunteer.
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