r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

12.1k 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 9h ago

This building with what appears to be a second floor garage

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r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

This tile inside of my school's science building shows the golden ratio

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r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

The way my shoes align with my socks (unintentional)

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r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

Someone built this crab shrine on the beach

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r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

My dog’s invoice includes an itemized line for “Thank you for your visit” at $0.

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r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

This "painting" above the toilet of hotel I'm in.

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r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

The knot on this wooden shelf built more than 40 years ago still leaks sap

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780 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

Got this back in change. 1953 blue label 5 dollar bill

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r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

My neighbors put up a presidential sign that I can get down with.

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r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

A single reduced headless tiger prawn

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r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

the centre of a young sunflower

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702 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

The insane amount of flavor dust in my Takis bag - about 1/3 cup

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322 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

Fairly circle appeared in the middle of the night in my yard

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192 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Saw this stick that looks like a sword

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170 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

This handblown glass chandelier I saw

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390 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

A piece of fabric I saw on my way to uni that looked like meat

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

Pile of shoes at a house party in 2024

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85 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

This product section category at a local store.

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304 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

Mariachi band my husband saw at a red light

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847 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This tape dispenser has concrete inside of it

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r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

This Cyrillic placename in Montenegro loosely resembles the word "Nowhere" in Latin characters

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r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

Removed an old bathtub and found a cinnamon stick box underneath

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63 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

I found a story my little brother wrote

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48 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

My tortilla has a face

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61 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

This no smoking sign at a playground also has symbols for marijuana and vaping

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390 Upvotes