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 4h ago

I found a 64 inch icicle hanging from my roof

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23.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

The ice cut my ankle when I tried to walk my dog

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8.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

I found a long single white hair growing from my right earlobe

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13.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

This bandaid that got past QC

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2.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

A bird fell in the snow in my backyard

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834 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Overdone This Kit Kat has one of the wafers the wrong way round

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2.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

My gloves are black but look red when you look at them through my sunglasses

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627 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

The chocolate made a mini kiss hidden inside.

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407 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

A textbook I acquired from Amazon has this warning in the upper left corner of the cover. I am in the US.

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510 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 21h ago

Mom is using toothpaste that expired January 15,1988

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46.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

The AI use policy for my Philosophy class

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15.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Instead of a physical model, this museum uses a 2D model to show the size of a domestic cat. Despite it being a room full of dead felines.

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647 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

So much snow that not even Waffle House is open.

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1.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

NYC Park Ave apartment with 6 bedrooms and 3 baths for $400 a month in 1951!

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639 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Apparently Waffle House has different menus based on weather conditions including snow storms, hurricanes, and other natural disasters.

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584 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

Top of a plunger found 31 miles away from the bottom.

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240 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 53m ago

My car left a near perfect impression on the snow

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r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

Plants that exploded during the Texas freeze

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2.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

My stitched up thumb didn’t wrinkle in the shower like my other fingers did

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14.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

I’ve owned these boots for almost a decade and just now realized they’re two different sizes

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330 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

Snow hiding the definition of these stairs

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4.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

I’ve kept my dad’s hospital “feel better” balloon for 14 years as of today.

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29.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

This Burger king with the ‘50’s decor

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1.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

The game box art accidentally matches my windowsill

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5.5k Upvotes