THE DAMAGE OF GATEKEEPING IN HORROR
I have been having a blast on the NoSleep Subreddit, sharing horror stories and interacting with horror fans in fun, immersive ways. As a professor of Transmedia storytelling at RIT, community building and engaging is so important to me. Having been the Creative Director at DeviantArt and having overseen the development of many communities through curation and moderation, I was so excited to have the opportunity to play on Reddit with the Nerd Horror concept.
Well, my excitement has turned to disappointment. I am a person who likes rules. They frame things, they help you and give you parameters in which to create in. We often call this the “sandbox” and it’s very important when crafting community creativity. But what happens when that sandbox is not on level ground? What happens when you have people who see rules as a level of control and intimidation in which to wield some strange power over others?
You get toxicity. You get a system that isn’t balanced. You get a sandbox that has bugs in it and that forgets what the true creativity and community marriage are about. You get the spark of creativity crushed in the creators you are supposed to be encouraging.
You get this…
I reached out to the NoSleep mods to respectfully ask why my story was removed after getting over 1500 upvotes, almost 100 comments and having been viewed over 230K times and following every rule. After six days (almost seven) of being at the top of the story que, I suddenly found it had been flagged and my story removed.
(Here is the story they have removed on NerdHorror - SEE EMILY PLAY)
The response I got back was more disturbing than anything I’ve written—cold, dismissive, and defensive. It’s wild how gatekeeping and arbitrary authority have become scarier than the fiction we’re writing. Maybe that’s the next story.” Below is a screenshot of the exchange.
Screenshot of an exchange between writer/Nerd Horror Cofounder Hal Hefner and an unidentified NoSleep moderator.
TL;DR: What They're Really Saying
The mod response is a defensive overcorrection dressed in passive-aggression. They’re trying to shut down any further discussion by framing me as the problem, without actually addressing the specific content of my story. Let’s break this apart.
LINE-BY-LINE ANALYSIS (with interpretation)
“Your behaviors demonstrate an unrealistic expectation of what mods are able to do in their volunteer time…”
Translation: “I’m asking too much by expecting consistency or fairness.”
This is a classic deflection. They're positioning themselves as overburdened volunteers (which is true), but using that to avoid engaging with the actual issue: my story did follow the rules.
“of how little NoSleep’s rules/guidelines mean…”
Translation:?
This is vague and oddly phrased. What they might mean is: “you seem to think the rules are flexible or subjective.” But their wording almost admits they don’t respect their own rules. Unintentionally revealing.
“It's unnerving to say you love it here... while you're slowing down the modmail queue…”
Translation: “You’re bothering us. Stop it.”
This is unfair and incredibly unprofessional. I sent a respectful message advocating for my work and they’re guilt-tripping me for using the only channel they provide to seek help.
“You linked us to a post from 2019... You must know our guidelines have changed…”
Translation: “We’re offended you asked for fairness in looking at similar stories subjectively similar”
Okay, fair enough—it’s true their rules may have shifted. But this ignores my actual point: that similar stories have been accepted and that rules are enforced inconsistently. Instead of engaging, they redirect to “well, that’s old,” which sidesteps the argument.
“A comment mod didn’t point out problems in your story. How is this a surprise?”
This is the closest they come to admitting someone did review it and didn’t flag it. But instead of saying, “we made a mistake,” they blame me for being surprised.
“Please don’t reply to this message.”
This is a hard shutdown. They're trying to assert dominance and end the conversation. They don't want to risk further discussion because they know the inconsistency could unravel with public scrutiny.
THE VERDICT: A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF GATEKEEPING
THEY WERE UNPROFESSIONAL, DEFENSIVE, HOSTILE, DEFLECTIVE, AND DISMISSIVE
I was respectful.
I followed the rules in my post and in contacting them.
They didn’t engage with my story's actual content.
They positioned themselves as victims.
They tried to make me seem entitled for asking valid questions.
This kind of response is sadly common in power-heavy subreddits. It’s gatekeeping behavior disguised as moderation. So it’s obvious this isn’t a community I want to belong to any longer. So I am going to conclude my participation with a story that will allow these mods from NoSleep to become part of the story they have inspired.
A NOTE TO ALL CREATIVE PEOPLE:
In your life, you will meet lots of people IRL and Online, who will try and tear you down. You may be singled out, you may be mistreated, you may be bullied and you may become the victim of a power trip, as above. Don’t ever give up. Don’t listen to hate. Don’t allow these people to wear you down. Because their actions, say a lot more about them than they do about you. Never stop.