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明，向受罚用户提供移除后解释具有积极作用。本文探究此类解释的影响是否超越被审核用户本身，延伸至见证这些解释的旁观者群体。我们在Reddit两个热门社区（r/askreddit和r/science）开展准实验研究，收集其13个月数据——涵盖590万用户发布的8550万条帖子。因果推断分析表明，与匹配的对照组用户相比，旁观者的发帖活跃度和互动水平显著提升。研究结果表明，解释能够阐明并强化网络空间的社会规范，增强社区参与度，使比先前认知更广泛的成员受益。我们讨论了本研究的理论启示与设计建议，重点阐述在移除后解释环节投入更多努力如何助力构建繁荣的在线社区。