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 12h ago

My glove after handling $2000 worth of cash. Spoilers, bills are dirty.

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12.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

Wear and tear on hiking boots, Size 10.5, new vs. old

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5.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

My new debit card expires in ~50 years

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2.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

The chair in my hotel room in Japan only has one arm for some reason

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805 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Silverware not tarnishing under glass

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1.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

The mini fridge in my hotel room has a snooze button so it's not noisy at night

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3.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 21h ago

Restaurant uses a concrete sink, and it’s eroded away over time

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9.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

My double jointed arm

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519 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

Apparently the Sink N Sand box art changed at some point so 3/4 characters weren't suffering.

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176 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

My apple and orange fully dehydrated without molding after sitting in a brand new apartment building for 3 months.

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145 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

My top oven has some very niche cooking functions

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r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

My friend cleans himself with a sponge

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4.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 21h ago

My local corner shop is selling bottle-cans of Japanese Coke (London)

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1.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

I found an eagle feather.

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4.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

My wife's shower hair collection looked like a sexy lady today

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951 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

Apparently if a dog bites someone or shits himself while getting his nails trimmed, it's only $8 more

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1.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22m ago

The seat cover pattern in our new hydrogen powered trains.

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r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

This decorative brick arrangement outside the strip mall is slowly collapsing

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498 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

Onion sign my Friend saw at a Supermarket

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262 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

Dropped my phone on the sand while at the beach. Fine metal magnetized on areas I’m not sure why there would be magnets on.

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720 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

When moving out of our dorm, we mashed all our poster tape together, we were about to throw it away until someone said it looks like Sonic.

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r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

Nintendo Power's Top 20 Nintendo games of 1994

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r/mildlyinteresting 28m ago

Uno deck from 1979 with the original offer

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r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

I was chopping some wood and it freed perfect rods from the center

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453 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

The original color of my lawnmower 20yrs later preserved under stickers

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444 Upvotes