r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

13.2k 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

I saw Helen Keller’s handwriting today

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11.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

I got 2 free ice creams because their machine broke then unbroke

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12.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

My t-shirt after the first night with a fresh tattoo

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4.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

This pharmacy has a rack of Cliff Notes books so old they’re sun faded.

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5.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

Found a clam living in a glass bottle

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48.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

Just got this fortune, and I feel like I should worry about this.

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747 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

Free, non-Rx, hormonal birth control in a coffee shop bathroom.

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4.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

One of my McDonald’s fries had a face on it

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2.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

The sign on the Wendy's near my house just says "Bell End"

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414 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

My elongated Frosted “Mini” Wheat cereal surprise from this morning.

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3.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

The way that this pepper grew

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247 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

Saw Nina Simone's house today

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r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

My freckle spells out “hi”

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19.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

Abandoned bicycle shop in Southeast Tennessee

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2.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

Witnessed a potential power outage waiting to happen.

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293 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

This notebook has a little torch on top instead of a backlit keyboard

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4.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Metal I picked up from the road during my daily walks in May

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97 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

My left hand's veins say Hi.

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r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

My local Chevy dealership always has the most ridiculous inflatables.

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433 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

My window was closed at just the right angle to create a projection of the street below.

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408 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

Apparently this book was printed yesterday

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6.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

My cardiologist office has an outdoor fireplace for some reason.

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649 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

My drink froze to my metal ice cubes

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299 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Found a moth which looked like Pencil Shaving at first

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216 Upvotes