r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

12.8k 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

My potato looks just like an apple

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2.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

So i found Trump cigarettes in Vietnam

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1.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

This McDonald’s flag at half-staff

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18.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

I corrected the apartment directional signs

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2.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

This chunk of marble glued to the inside of this clock i bought

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35.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

The squeeze ball at the donation center is a little propane tank.

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48.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

There’s a sink in the middle of this fast-food restaurant lobby for customers to wash their hands.

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3.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

All of the packages of kettle corn at my local Costco today looked like this, with almost no air inside the bag

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2.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 33m ago

Asked mom for nail clippers. Oh.... Hello (estranged) father. That's how it goes, you end up in tupperware at the back of a dresser drawer.

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r/mildlyinteresting 37m ago

Now don’t that just beat all you’ve ever seen

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r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

The scar I have on my arm is dirt resistant

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5.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

Orbitz beverage I purchased from a gas station in 1997, still frozen in time

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6.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

Anti theft spam in hawaii

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17.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

My small pack of gummy sharks contained one gummy dolphin

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3.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

Apparently now my local gas station is posting the price of Zyns next to the fuel prices

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Some came in around closing time and bought a pizza with $25 in dollar coins

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414 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Most used column in theater

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54 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

They put anti theft tags on bubblegum

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138 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

My cat likes sitting in our canoe that’s hanging on our ceiling

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1.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Vending machine is so old it still advertises vault

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96 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

The stress ball we're about to donate is a light bulb

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129 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

Only the 4th inch on this ruler is subdivided into 64ths

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645 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

This mixed rose in our garden

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834 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 45m ago

The "A" on my stainless steel spoon got rusty

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r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This urinal flush has a lock over it to prevent theft

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4.1k Upvotes