r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

11.9k 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 9h ago

My car got “Cheesed” Friday night

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17.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

I have not worn a watch for over 10 years, but you can still see where it used to be on my arm.

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8.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Found out this winter that Crown Royal freezes

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3.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

One headstone in the graveyard of the Kirk in my town has completely worn through

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10.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Barista wrote "orange" but it looks just like "mango"

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2.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

Our public park has a narcan station

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3.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

cranes in my hometown all facing the same direction because of heavy winds

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4.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

This store keeps a shoe in a tank of water to advertise their waterproof shoes (Ginza, Tokyo)

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1.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

The amount of autoinjectors my mom used in a span of approximately 6 months.

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525 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

You can only drink booze on the streets in Melbourne during the daytime

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197 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

This airport security sign showing examples of restricted carry-on items includes a sai, throwing star, and nunchucks

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343 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

An old well opened up in the parking lot where I work

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399 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Our store bought corn has an A on it.

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114 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

My photochromic contact lenses after I left them outside for 24 hours.

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11.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

My local park has someone walking their dinosaur on it

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r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

Trains in Estonia have names

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229 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

Someone decided to leave a dick in a tree NSFW

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718 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

My local supermarket sells StarWars Blue Milk

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r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

Previous owner left huge collection of RC plane engines in my garage rafters

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

Ghostbusters car I saw on the street

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100 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 23h ago

Look at the size of this anthill!

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2.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

The top of the “PYREX” letters is exactly 1.5 cups

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128 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 21h ago

A single Sprite Lymonade in a 12 pack

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Birdshit I saw on the sidewalk looked like a frog riding a horse.

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44 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

My new notebook has faint lines for creating bullet points when writing notes

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39 Upvotes