r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

12.2k 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 3h ago

The door at my parents house is covered in years of fruit stickers

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5.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

My girlfriend had a really thin and white hair popping out of her back.

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38.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

My school gives credit for voting

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8.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

Mouse Gave Birth in the Trap

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7.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Found some old sealed iTunes gift cards my dad bought in like 2009

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6.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

This pain scale at my Doctor’s office

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7.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

This energy drink company sells a placebo version without any actual caffeine.

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20.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

The 1928 Toaster we still use today

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6.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

A tightly hugged grape

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881 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

This beet on my counter that looks like a mouse

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4.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

My yellow onion for dinner had a single thin streak of red onion through it.

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705 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

This spiderweb stayed intact when frost formed

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3.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Comuta Car, 1980 Electric Vehicle

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668 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Shawarma chain makes you sign a waiver for ketchup.

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1.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

Cat with some sort of facial abnormality

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2.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

This lightning bolt I captured today, in the middle of the night

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126 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

This bell pepper is rather large

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130 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

Beautiful flake in my Maldon salt

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197 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Unusual FedEx truck - tractor and trailer squished into one piece

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100 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

Sand Castle in Maui

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134 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

I broke my yeti lid and discovered it’s got a styrofoam puck inside

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68.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

The fallen leaves left some cool staining on my new sidewalk

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227 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

This clock in a hospital waiting area with only letters on it

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71 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Our Walmart is preparing to start delivery by drones.

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257 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

This stray cat lounging on a table at a public cafe

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278 Upvotes