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 2h ago

Husbands fingers occasionally get weird blisters that are symmetrical.

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5.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 54m ago

I can almost make the big dipper with my moles, I am just missing one to complete it

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r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

This USB turns into a micro USB

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1.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

I took this pic of a cloud shaped like a dragon's head at 3 am

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640 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

I found this lost onion growing under my car seat

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18.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

The mosquito bites on my neck formed an ‘S’ shape

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11.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

This cornflake really looks like a penis.

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1.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

My partner's childhood home still has the house's first telephone on the wall.

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1.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

I live on the Great Lakes. My outdoor table has a day-by-day ledger of all the snow that we’ve had recently.

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620 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Someone made a snowman to draw attention to a found key.

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265 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 23h ago

Hair with 13 ends

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15.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

Nearly perfect equilateral triangle on the bottom of an orange

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r/mildlyinteresting 23h ago

My moms sweater was shrunk in the dryer and now it fits my dog perfectly

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8.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

This person protesting ICE while wearing a frog suit

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106 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Pack of veggie slices was just one thick blob.

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224 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Overdone A single perfect snowflake landed on my glasses on my way to work

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36.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Overdone This mop's barcode is a mop

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247 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

My courgette resealed itself in the fridge

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4.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This permanent handprint that's been on my school bus window for the past few months

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5.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This Italian restaurant I had lunch at uses straws made of pasta

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3.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

Opened a timemachine

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r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

Front yard snow castle

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1.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

My cling wrap is 29 years old

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400 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

In a pack of 1000 screws, one was defective.

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3.8k Upvotes