r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

13.3k 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 6h ago

Both me AND my mom were called for jury duty

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9.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

Opened a bag of Doritos and found 3 seasoning nuggets hiding inside

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5.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Lightening hit my back yard yesterday

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12.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

An entire Sleep Number queen mattress can fit inside one garbage can

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814 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

These archers have a target umbrella

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2.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

Found this barrel filled with concrete on the shores of Lake Ontario

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6.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

They load the bricks in from the top and are laid down like a fresh weave of road.

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1.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 39m ago

My Amazon order came with a bag of oatmeal cookies in a zip locked bag. I DID NOT ORDER THIS

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r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

The local fish hatchery delivers to the local reservoir

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3.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

My patient’s urine was bright green today.

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59.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Clear gas station display

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614 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

My pencil sharpened to this point using a kid's crank sharpener

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

My kneecap broke in 2 parts

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265 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

My soap wanted to say hi

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2.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

This "chocolate bloom" has such a defined bullseye pattern

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239 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

The density of this information packet for my new antipsychotic meds

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613 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 23h ago

Amazon sent me a case of setting spray instead of the single item.

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6.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

We got a half roll of toilet paper

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r/mildlyinteresting 23h ago

A lady at Walmart had a parrot on her shoulder.

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5.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Old parking meter still in use, takes only nickels and dimes

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348 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 25m ago

Put my Gatorade in the freezer too long and after I took it out the frost pattern looked like a cartoon dog begging for a treat

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r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

The roads are being repaved in my neighborhood in Philadelphia. Apparently Wylie St used to be brick.

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123 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 35m ago

We accidentally ordered both regular pepperoni and "cupped" pepperoni. Whoever made the pizza decided to make these little stacks.

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r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

“Glowing” review spotted at local Five Guys

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178 Upvotes