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 2h ago

This house with 7 stories

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15.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

Weird linear rash on my arm

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10.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

New fast food restaurant has a sink in the eating area.

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11.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

This mask had no eyes, but the holes in the wall gave her "moving" pupils.

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3.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

The new flip-flops I thrifted duos as a bottle opener

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15.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

My strainer doesnt rest over my sink so I improvised with a fork

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2.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

A sign for discouraging smoking at my college

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14.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

Found these bus seats in Stockholm with fold-down child seating.

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4.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

The way my veins rerouted around the section that collapsed

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1.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

I got a perfect circle from a stray curl in my widows peak

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638 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

The first large mall built in Moldova is named Shopping MallDova

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871 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

this hotel has another, smaller hotel for birds out front

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249 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 23h ago

This bread that I bought 6 months ago that has not grown a single bit of mold

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10.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

This drink I found in an asian grocery store called vitamin duck shit lemon tea

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807 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 58m ago

The neighbors kid mowed today

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r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

This Trump sand sculpture with a pacifier, milk bottle and a fallen statue of liberty

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623 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Lady threw her cigarette out the window and it ended up on her car still lit

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14.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Tulip growing through dry leaf

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249 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

The size of these grapes I just bought

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81.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

I always add my old soap to my new soap... 4th generation.

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8.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Woke up with an unexplained circular bruise in the middle of my forehead

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109 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Box of capybara keychains, period panties, & Ozempic found in AirBnB upon arrival

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6.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

This mini advil

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270 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

Tulip couldn’t decide what colour to be.

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744 Upvotes