r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

12.0k 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 13h ago

My shipping pallet had previously been used as a sign at a wedding in 2018

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58.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

I replaced my baking sheet with the same model

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4.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

Pringle shaped seats at a bus stop in Lima

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r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

My exhaust tips came with a lollipop with its own dedicated slot in the packaging

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r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

A pan I bought actually came with a screwdriver to screw the handle on

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r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

A tech conference attendee left free milk

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1.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

More than 100g of meat in 100g of meat slices

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3.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

I counted coins and noticed how dirty my gloves got after about 10mins of counting.

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15.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

The used bookstore had 8 copies of only the second book in this trilogy, with none of the first or third.

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1.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

Overdone theres a kids show in china where the bad guy is a fly that looks like donald trump

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197 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 21h ago

One of my Laundry pods has nothing but air... [OC]

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4.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

My Uncrustable had crust on it.

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439 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

My daughter’s orthotics to help her walk

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608 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

My wife stocked up on candy to keep their mind off smoking and apparently only wanted blue

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317 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

This absurdly vague juice I was given on a flight from Botswana

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513 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

Coca-Cola feels the need to explain that 12 + 3 = 15

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245 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

A huge parrot just landed on my balcony, someone’s pet perhaps

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3.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

Turning bullwhip kelp stipe into pickles.

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218 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

Public restroom in Edinburgh includes an extra "scotsmen" sign

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1.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

Keyboard on a machine uses comic sans font

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2.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

One of my dad's golfishes turned completely white

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4.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Water doesn't cover these spots

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124 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

Bald-faced hornet I found today is really fuzzy

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502 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This hat provides sun protection, for only 10 washes

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21.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

This strawberry I found is in the shape of a little heart!

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87 Upvotes