  Developing a strong community requires empowered leadership capable of
overcoming governance challenges. New online platforms have given users
opportunities to practice governance through content moderation roles. The over
2.8 million "subreddit" communities on Reddit are governed by hundreds of
thousands of volunteer moderators, many of whom have no training or prior
experience in a governing role. While moderators often devote daily time to
community maintenance and cope with the emotional effects of hate comments or
disturbing content, Reddit provides no compensation for this position. Thus,
moderators' internal motivations and desire to continue filling this role is
critical for their community. Drawing upon the relationship between governance
procedures and internalized motivation, we investigate how the processes
through which subreddit moderators generate community rules increase
moderators' motivation through the meeting of social-psychological needs:
Procedural Justice and Self Determination, and Self-Other Merging. Preliminary
analysis of survey data from 620 moderators across Reddit shows a correlation
between moderators' administrative behaviors and the social-psychological needs
underpinning their motivations. Understanding these relationships will allow us
to empower moderators to build engaging and cooperative online communities.
