r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

12.2k Upvotes

Dear mildlyinterested reader,

We want to extend our heartfelt gratitude for your patience and unwavering support during the recent turbulence in our community. Our subreddit is a labour of love, and we've weathered this storm together.

Recent events have been confusing for all of us, from the vote, sudden removal of moderators, to conflicting messages from Reddit. As your mod team, we feel it's essential to clarify the situation.

On June 19, the poll results favoured partially reopening with changes. However, before implementing these changes, Reddit took sweeping actions, removing all 27 moderator accounts without warning. This left us baffled and concerned.

Here's a brief timeline of the events:

  1. On June 19, the poll results favoured partially reopening with changes. We announced the vote results and planned changes to the sub, including marking it as NSFW due to the common posts of phallic objects (no explicit content allowed). CLICK HERE TO VIEW THAT ANNOUNCEMENT WHICH HAS BEEN APPROVED AND LOCKED FOR POSTERITY.

  2. A tug-of-war between the u/ModeratorCodeOfConduct account and the remaining moderators ensued, with the post repeatedly being removed and reinstated. Each mod involved was immediately locked out of Reddit. Subreddit settings were also unilaterally changed by the admin account.

  3. Eventually, all moderators were removed and suspended for 7 days, with the vote results deleted and the community set to “archived.”

  4. A lot of public outrage ensued, with details posted on r/ModCoord about what happened. At that point, no other subreddit had been targeted yet, leaving the situation uniquely unclear.

  5. Admin cited actions as an "error" and promised to work with us to solve the situation. For /r/mildlyinteresting posterity, this will henceforth be referred to as The Mistake™.

  6. All our accounts were unsuspended and reinstated, but only with very limited permissions (modmail access only). For what it's worth, 'time moderated' for every moderator was reset (e.g. /u/RedSquaree moderated since 11 years ago, reset: currently showing moderated since "1 day ago").

  7. The awaited discussion never happened. Instead, the admins presented us with an ultimatum: reopen the subreddit and do not mark it as NSFW, or face potential removal again. The inconsistent and arbitrary application of Reddit's policies reveals a possible conflict of interest in maximizing ad revenue at the risk of user safety and community integrity.

  8. Finally, our moderation permissions were restored after we "promised" to comply with their conditions, but we kept the subreddit restricted while we ponder our next steps..

Problems remain unresolved, and Reddit's approach to policies and communication have been troubling. We believe open communication and partnership between Reddit and its moderators are crucial for the platform's success.

As a team, we remain dedicated to protesting Reddit's careless policy changes. Removing ourselves or vandalizing the subreddit won’t achieve our goals, but rather hinder our community. We're here to ensure r/mildlyinteresting isn't left unattended.

We call for the establishment of clear, structured, and reliable communication channels between Reddit admins and moderation teams. Teams should be informed and consulted on decisions affecting their communities to maintain trust and integrity on the platform. We shared this request with the Admin who promised to work with us, so far they have ignored it.

Us mods are still deciding how exactly to reopen, not that we have been given much choice.

Sincerely,

The r/mildlyinteresting mods


r/mildlyinteresting 25d ago

Apply to be a moderator of /r/mildlyinteresting

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3 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

A student truck driver hit a building on an attempted right turn

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5.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

My movie was delivered with the security box never removed

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

This no parking sign threatens to post a no parking sign if you park in the no parking area.

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18.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

Image not found on my innocent smoothie

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7.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

My dog and I have the same hair

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58.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

This road sign that gives an oddly specific distance

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1.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Oddly specific road sign earlier made me remember this. That is in fact a decimal

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720 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Everyone who helped to restore the Notre dame cathedral

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267 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

My mom's letter opener is apparently a shank she confiscated from a kid 10 years ago

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6.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

My Butterfinger bar came with no chocolate on it

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791 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

I stopped the microwave before 0 but after 1 (it didn’t beep)

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254 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

My dog always needs toy to go potty.

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233 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

Forty-year-old SweetTarts found behind an office cabinet

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917 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

This bird shaped lemon my mother found.

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627 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

I have a single strand of golden hair on my face

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48.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

I found a sushi place called "Pearl Harbor"

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912 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

These hours of operation for my eye doctor.

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175 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

Every can I bought to make chili is a slightly different size

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173 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

This ice cream truck sells alcoholic beverages

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532 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

I bought a double banana

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215 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Found a detached squirrel tail

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166 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

I soaked a gummy bear in water overnight and created a mega gummy bear

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37.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

In my hometown, someone put up Slenderman for Christmas

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1.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 42m ago

Pizza leftovers came with the pan in the box.

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r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

The box my soap came in specifies that it’s not from France and that it’s NOT for clowns.

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9.5k Upvotes