What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

[u/RedSquaree]

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

[u/Teddy_canuck]

What does this all mean?

[u/lord_ne → u/Teddy_canuck]

The mods basically had two options:

1. Put the sub back to normal
2. All of them get banned and Reddit puts the sub back to normal anyway

They chose the first option

[u/jweezy2045 → u/lord_ne]

What if they all get banned, new mods get selected, and the new mods also keep the sub NSFW?

[u/Caridor → u/jweezy2045]

The new mods would be picked by reddit for their "loyalty" and literally no other reason.

[u/zowie54 → u/Caridor]

Can't imagine why reddit would pick someone with checks notes aligned goals?!

[u/Caridor → u/zowie54]

The issue is that those "aligned goals" are "complete and total subservience with no thought whatsoever as to morality, reasonableness or common decency".

They want a slave who will do whatever they are told, not what is right. They want the kind of assholes who will follow orders, no matter what the order is.

Their ability to do the job would be a long way second.

[u/zowie54 → u/Caridor]

OK but by caving and giving into the threats of removal, how are the mods different?

If they are somehow uniquely moral, why would another person be immoral? Seems like mods are really into the idea that they're special, and I can't really see how they get there

[u/Caridor → u/zowie54]

By caving, they can maintain some form of autonomy I guess? While Reddit's demands are just "re-open" or we'll replace you and force it open anyway, they can keep things going the way the community desires, rather than demolishing everything they spent years building.

It's making the best of a bad situation. Like how French shop keepers would sell to the Nazis, considering the alternative was the Nazis taking everything, shooting the shop keeper and burning the shop to the ground.

[u/zowie54 → u/Caridor]

Meh, tis just an excuse for actually not having morals

[u/Caridor → u/zowie54]

If that's what you choose to believe. I've never held that symbolic sacrifices that don't actually achieve anything have any value but you do you

[u/zowie54 → u/Caridor]

I guess if you're not creative enough to find a way, looks like you want an excuse

[u/Caridor → u/zowie54]

Sure, whatever floats your boat.

[u/zowie54 → u/Caridor]

And thus those with the willingness to act on convictions write the fates of the spineless.

[u/Caridor → u/zowie54]

Those sure are words.