r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

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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 10h ago

This person on my street who owns (at least) 4 smart cars

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r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

My nails are the same shade of red as my blood NSFW

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r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

while filling my pasta pot with filtered water, a precisely oriented macaroni redirected the water stream.

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r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

a pack of gushers with 17 and a half gushers crammed inside

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r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

Ukranians bar in Southern Sweden with Putin and Trump figurines in the urinal

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r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Japan has tiny 135 mL beer cans

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r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

60 Year Old Rawlings Baseball Umpire Indicator

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r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

My unbaked rhubarb crisp matches my countertops

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r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

The amount of lockboxes

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r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

I was born with a naturally split eyebrow

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r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

3yo accidentally created a biblically accurate angel.

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r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

Stamp from India commemorating MLK's death

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r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

This Lego cat has a butthole.

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r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

“The Brownie Promise” used by Girl Guides in the 70s

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r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

My light fixture’s shadow looks like Yoda

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r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Sample grapes at the grocery store

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r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

Excessive consumption of this chocolate pudding may have a laxative effect, but apparently only in Malaysia…

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r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

No Firearms was covered for this park sign

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r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

used my phone’s magnet to pull magnetite straight out of beach sand

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r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

The French and Italian translations each claim Mont Blanc, which lies on the border, as part of their own country

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r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

The rust pattern on this engine crate

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r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

The condensation forms the same printed font, but misaligned

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r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

The inside of a coca-cola freestyle machine

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r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Found The Mysterious A and B Battery in a recent Antique Haul.

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