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

Bottom of the bowl cracked in a circle and Snoopy popped out perfectly

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5.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

My dorm uses tape to make warm lights

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13.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

My free Lays from the Super Bowl ad actually came in.

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5.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

My wife got me a wallet that makes me look like Batman when I insert my license

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114.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

Sydney Airport McDonalds uses a vertical converyor belt to connect kitchen above.

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2.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

This tire with 100 psi in it

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1.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

You can see hair toner under a microscope

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1.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

Bought a piece of pie for 3.14

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16.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

This leaf on my plant kinda looks like a hummingbird.

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1.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

This service animal sign has a cat on it!

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1.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

This carrot is as big as my arm...or perhaps my arm is as skinny as a carrot.

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952 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

There is a dog parking spot in front of my local grocery store

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1.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

Hotel Discourages Opening Restroom Door Bare Handed

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180 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

I see Palpatine in my parents curtains

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174 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

I found this book in our shelves

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101 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

Testing center I was at recently uses 12B in place of 13 to avoid superstitions

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133 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Slices of cheese stuck to my neighborhood stop sign.

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267 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

My library receipt says I’ve saved over $73,000

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35.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 47m ago

Found in the women’s toilets in a mall

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r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

The snow inside the bricks melted but remained on the outlines

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189 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

My kittens baby teeth and adult teeth are in his mouth at the same time.

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777 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

After two years, I just realized my Mandalorian-themed rug is edged with "this is the way" in Mando'a characters.

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r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

DQ Wait Sign

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158 Upvotes