Prior research on transparency in content moderation has demonstrated the benefits of offering post-removal explanations to sanctioned users. In this paper, we examine whether the influence of such explanations transcends those who are moderated to the bystanders who witness such explanations. We conduct a quasi-experimental study on two popular Reddit communities (r/askreddit and r/science) by collecting their data spanning 13 months-a total of 85.5M posts made by 5.9M users. Our causal-inference analyses show that bystanders significantly increase their posting activity and interactivity levels as compared to their matched control set of users. Our findings suggest that explanations clarify and reinforce the social norms of online spaces, enhance community engagement, and benefit many more members than previously understood. We discuss the theoretical implications and design recommendations of this research, focusing on how investing more efforts in post-removal explanations can help build thriving online communities.

翻译：先前关于内容审核透明度的研究已证实，向受处罚用户提供移除后解释具有益处。本文旨在探究此类解释的影响是否超越被审核者，延伸至见证此类解释的旁观者。我们通过收集两个热门Reddit社区（r/askreddit与r/science）历时13个月的数据（共计来自590万用户的8550万条帖子）开展准实验研究。因果推断分析表明，相较匹配的对照组用户，旁观者的发帖活跃度与互动水平显著提升。研究发现表明，解释能够阐明并强化网络空间的社会规范，提升社区参与度，其惠及用户范围远超既有认知。本文探讨了该研究的理论启示与设计建议，重点论证增加移除后解释投入如何助力构建繁荣的在线社区。