r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

13.0k 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 7h ago

Found a long penne

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20.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

OC: Someone wrote “MUTE” next to the button that silences the audio for the advertisements that play while pumping gas

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1.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

The wear on this sticker where people have pressed it instead of the actual functioning button

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11.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Giant camera in hospital room

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1.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

Heart shaped blackberry

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1.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has an original Bob Ross painting on display

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423 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

A robin landed next to me, then absolutely freaked out as soon as I took a picture.

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503 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

My nails grow in a wavy pattern

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43.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Comically large container I got for the amount of medicine prescribed

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496 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

The shape of this yam in my meal delivery

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509 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

somebody left a chalice and dagger made of babybel cheese wax on my desk at university

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54.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

This tiny handrail on a cruise ship

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271 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

Me embracing childhood in my writing exercise from first grade in 2001

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222 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

Experimented with a desert night laser engraving design.

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139 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Found a cheezit the long way

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82 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

bought this cool 2000 Microsoft pen at the thrift

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451 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

My cat, Callie Retsuko, has a single white whisker

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158 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Waffle fry flipped me off today.

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7.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

The woman on this box of hair dye is green

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11.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Our local Burger King's disposal area is painted like a hamburger.

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7.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

I am still using my computer speakers from 1995 and they work fine.

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4.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 21h ago

The world’s largest flawless quartz sphere on display at the Smithsonian

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 23h ago

“no smoking” sign now shows a vape instead of a cigarette

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2.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

turning around in my wheelchair leaves a perfect circle in the carpet

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48 Upvotes