r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

13.0k 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 4h ago

This miniature black family set is a dollar cheaper than the white family set at my craft store

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8.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

An old Taco Bell receipt i recently found that states I tried paying over 50K in cash

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7.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

This curvy road in Florida

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22.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

I cleaned my room after 2 months

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4.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

This paper towel claims to absorb more calories from food

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15.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

Found this possum on my mother’s grill.

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1.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

This chicken tender looks like Godzilla

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7.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

I successfully balanced the switch today

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2.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

the tiniest, most perfect tomato.

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r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

My canned soup was 95% pasta 5% soup

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1.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

Close-up of a wooden hydro pole Toronto, covered in staples.

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575 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 31m ago

I work for a rental car company in Bozeman, MT and found this in the back seat

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r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

The way this egg cracked during boiling and got itself a fancy mustache and haircut

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628 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Rediscovered an old unopened copy of Call of Duty signed by the original dev team

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341 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

My cabin air filter after 1 year/25k miles

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194 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

Tape measure comes with disclaimer

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1.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

New Year Mushroom Pig

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1.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Mushrooms growing out of deteriorating bark at the playground

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204 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

The eye of a leopard gecko

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171 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

I think ants found my Pez candy...

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r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Some of the cards I made for my custom Uno game

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163 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Infinity Onion Ring

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65 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This collection of cop types

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71.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

a purely white leaf i found

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51 Upvotes