r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

13.3k 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 5h ago

This guy's ass kinda looks like deadpool

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11.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

My kitty coffee cup and work has a secret message…

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4.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

A new Postal Service truck

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r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

this seahorse balloon my parents bought me 20 years ago is somehow still inflated.

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3.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

Overdone Printer tracking dots under the microscope.

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2.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

This bill glows brighter than others under UV light

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859 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

A restaurant in my town has a club penguin avatar in their logo

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670 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

Water bottles packaged labelless!

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14.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Pepper packet has 3 grains of pepper

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333 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

The reflection of this left turn arrow in the bumper of the vehicle on the right was almost perfectly straight.

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18.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

I got a kinky leek

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2.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Oscar Mayer weiner mobile at my local mall

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103 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

I got a few misprint Miller High Life bottles from my last case

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123 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 21h ago

The belt loops of my girlfriend's new jeans are uneven

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3.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

Spilled some seasoning over this faded sticker, and it brought back some color where it fell

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2.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

The gaps in this bathroom stall in the UK are practically non existent

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21.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

My wife installed red curtains in our daughter's room, unintentionally turning it bright red.

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20.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

This road has a left turn lane in the right most lane

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1.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

How much right calf shrank after 5 weeks in a cast

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6.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

Middle of the log didn't want to split and became its own mini log.

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1.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

The secret code I made up to write in my journal at 13

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567 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

My sweet Clem had a baby Clem inside.

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46 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

My sister’s apple gave birth to a rotten apple…

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416 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

These ceiling fan pull chains tell you which one powers what.

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3.9k Upvotes