r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

12.2k 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

One of the screws in my flatpack furniture wasn't threaded.

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4.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

This is how Germans rename their streets

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2.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

The pulley system for the basketball hoops at my rec league were last inspected over 20 years ago.

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2.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

North Korean product at store

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893 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Bought basically the same shoes 6 yrs later

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2.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

I saw a sovereign citizen at the grocery store today.

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6.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

My wife got a splinter from the floor. This is her fix so it won't happen again.

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r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

The insect sucking the nectar from the flowers

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465 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Took my kitchen knives to be sharpened and they gave me a band-aid with my receipt

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80.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 21h ago

I accidentally drew the most perfect lambda I've ever seen

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13.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Color swatches were painted on the façade of this building to try out colors before painting it fully.

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433 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

30+ year old twisted Coke bottle

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231 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This wealthy city in Oregon offers free Sparkling Water filling stations on their sidewalks.

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19.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

This Abomination of a Power Strip/Wall Outlet I Removed from my House Built in the 1970's

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183 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

My hobby is painting realistic concrete.

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138 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

My grocery receipt says “Turn Your Eyes to Jesus”

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8.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

Upside down moon jellyfish

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866 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 29m ago

Some locally made hot sauce here in Ohio, making fun of people who believe this stuff.

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r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This building is marked solely with a lobster.

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14.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

I really love this photo that i took

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148 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

What's left of a phone after cremation

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890 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 23h ago

Hurricane blew away all our new grass seed, except from where the hose was laying

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2.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

Mercedes W210 buried under rubbish in an abandoned hoarders garage

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200 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

I found a penny that is 110 years old.

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1.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 23h ago

My wife and I got the same fortunes in our cookies

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1.6k Upvotes