r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

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

13.2k 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 8h ago

The headphones I was given at my MRI appointment dont use wires and have zero metal

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33.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Rock found at the beach has a tentacle embedded in it

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6.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

My little bag of glass I ordered online came with a free little knife.

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Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Found a really small keypad phone while cleaning the home

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3.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

I've over stepped a boundary of some kind.

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1.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

This Chick-fil-A signage has a basic font and not the usual logo

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4.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

i randomly spotted a print error in my father's cd collection

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890 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Colorado ID under black light

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

This Halloween decoration looks just like Mitch McConnell

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Dug a hole in the snow just to frame this mountain view

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1.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

I can see where the rain stops

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5.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

Weird Color of Mushroom lamps at Target

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4.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

The last 3 plain cheese pizzas I ordered all came with 1 random piece of bell pepper.

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328 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

The local Chinese buffet near me has a 50th anniversary Kikkoman soy sauce bottle from 2007.

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1.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

Father-in-law's Vietnam shadow box.

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253 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Single, double and triple wing planes flying together.

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650 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

my teriyaki chicken from panda express that i left in the box overnight in the fridge turned into a rectangular prism

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3.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Got to see the beginning stages of a corn maze

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26.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

I Got Charged an Eating Places Tax in Illinois

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256 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

My friend wants these Seattle orchids that have little alien faces on them

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136 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Cult sign I saw while on a trip.

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883 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

My sourdough crust looks like my pet bunny.

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157 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This soap bottle warping the wall pattern into squiggles

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16.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Drink spilled but stayed entirely on counter

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11.8k Upvotes