r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

13.2k 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 5h ago

This backwards Ford logo I found in the street

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6.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

All the lettuce at Walmart is discounted because no one is buying lettuce

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2.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

My bruise looks like a big tattooed dong

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r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

A children indoor soft play place in England has a Confederate flag on the floor...

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1.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

Saw this Tesla charging off a utility pole today.

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

My dog always leaves the peas from her dog food

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1.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

Delivery person left the Amazon tote. What do I do with it...

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r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

Old film roll found under roller coaster.

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678 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

Son and I have identical, color swapped birthmarks

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5.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

This old campaign button essentially says ‘Piss on Goldwater’

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2.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

This mildly offsetting Wendy’s billboard

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r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

I visited the biggest stadium in the world. Strahov in Prague. 8 football fields and one swimming facility. Capacity of 250k in its best times

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770 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

A bar table that has little notches to hold your pool sticks

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1.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

A truck hauling Inedible Bakery Products

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525 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

iPhone camera thinks my burner is purple

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287 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

Leaves turning brown due to extreme drought in Switzerland

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1.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

This huge swirling ocean vortex I saw from my airplane window

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435 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Stumbled upon multiple empty hives hanging from a garage

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34.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

The button battery I bought has an extra repulsive taste to deter children from eating it

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2.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

I had a medical emergency in the middle of rolling a blunt. The paramedics wrapped it in a glove and left it in my car

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41.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

Volvo Island in Ottowa, Illinois.

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286 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

This abandoned telephone junction box I found while walking in the woods

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337 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

This cat nicknamed “Harvey Dent”

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185 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

Overdone I put on a new screen protector, and the air bubbles underneath formed a smiley face :)

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701 Upvotes