r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

13.1k 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 9h ago

Costco has now removed the label from their water bottles

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r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

There are bug eggs on my store bought raspberry.

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r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

Cute bat during the day, found on a wall

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r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Found this tiny pink and white striped snake today

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r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

A Vending Machine Containing only Gushers

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r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

My family home still has a pencil sharpener in our garage.

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r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

"you might die" Warning sign before entering a park near Vegas

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3.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

Waffle pits are basically paper thin now.

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r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

One of my work peacocks built a nest in a flower planter

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967 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

Quilted Northern swapped from plastic to paper packaging

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527 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

The amount of red wasps found in the bathroom vent of my new house!

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1.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

Every morning, this super intense rainbow projects onto my bathroom floor.

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2.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Failed waffle cones from an industrial waffle cone machine.

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617 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

My air compressor is apparently a risk to herring

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r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

This street in my town has no name

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335 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

The mandible part of the crabs claw grew another pincher that started to grow ANOTHER pincher.

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617 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

Sonic Drive-in screen displayed the Blue Screen of Death

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r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

This carton of eggs from the store had 11 white eggs and 1 brown egg.

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355 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

My pepper grinder is produced by Peugeot

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3.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

Rainbow in Clouds

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678 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

Tiniest grape I've ever seen

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164 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

This woodpecker drinks from my hummingbird feeder

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133 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

The full moon fighting its way through the clouds.

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r/mildlyinteresting 21h ago

Men’s bathroom stall inside Harrahs Casino has a shield to help protect stuff hanging on the hook from thieves reaching over and snatching your stuff.

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3.8k Upvotes