r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

13.1k 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

Everything I found in 1.5 kg (53 oz) of lentils that wasn't lentils

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18.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

Shrek sausage 20+ years after the movie

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3.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Plumber discovered why my drains were clogged

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5.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

The amount of gum trident recommends you chew daily

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4.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

My onion had skin past the first peel under a layer of onion.

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7.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

An EXTREMELY long hair on my shoulder

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1.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

The rock that has been lodged in my shoe is wearing down with the heel

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Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Suspiciously Shaped Cucumber

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

These colored tile samples are clear tiles glued onto colored paper

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7.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

A horse's teeth and the horse they came out of

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547 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

A really cool pic of a grasshoper that my kid caught at the park

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2.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This photo I took during a blizzard

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20.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

My son found this rock with a plant growing in it.

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669 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Turns out an LED torch can burn a sofa

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371 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

My soy butter comes with stickers to put on your sandwich bags

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1.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

My heart pills are heart shaped, but I only take half so it looks sad

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2.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

Restaurant put tennis balls on the feet of their chairs

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622 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Unopened 42yr old coke. Still has fizz when shaken.

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241 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This knife broke while being used to crush garlic

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50.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Realized that I inadvertently photographed a seal peeing while seal spotting

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369 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

The “splinter” my vet removed from my poor dog’s paw this morning after having to sedate her.

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145 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

This Burger King hasn’t been updated since the 90s.

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2.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

“Enlarged” photo is the same size as actual product

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195 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

My university classes start when she wakes up

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116 Upvotes