r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

13.3k 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 8h ago

My engagement ring glows after having a torch shone on it

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8.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

This house had a hard-wired built-in toaster in the wall.

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915 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

I took apart the washer and found all my missing socks.

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40.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

My pupil after accidentally using expired eyedrops (1hr, 2hr, 8hr, and 24hr)

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524 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

There is a complete Oval Office replica in a NYC museum

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494 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

My nebulizer medicines are incompatible and cannot ever touch, so I have to label them to avoid losing hundreds of dollars of meds every dose!

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1.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

My Mini Babybel cheese had a giant hole inside

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5.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

The amount of physical games available at my local library.

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11.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

The inside of the 9/11 memorial with the water turned off

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5.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

The new Mighty Hot Sauce at Mcdonalds has the exact same ingredients as the Nether Flame Sauce.

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2.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Overdone My jar of pickles from the dollar store.

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266 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

Sept 11 2001 paper from the towers I picked up from the ground

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9.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

I've had a piece of sand embedded into my knee since 1996

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5.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

A store added Shrinkflation Warning Tags attached to some products' price tags.

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12.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

My mom was supposed to go to Windows on the World on 9/12/01

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2.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20m ago

My mom’s tailor is still cash only.

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r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

This sign telling people to avoid reserving parking spots by standing in them

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283 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

Hair dye stained my ring line more than the rest of my hand. I wasn't wearing the ring at the time.

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792 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

At this shop you can use the bathroom with your kids...at the same time.

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r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

Green Strawberry Gummies

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656 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

I bought a tshirt from a Mexican food restaurant and they wrapped it up like a burrito

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345 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

One of my coffee beans is not roasted

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111 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

This flower has two kinds of petals

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622 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

Wife’s haribo’s came with 1 huge red gummy bear.

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202 Upvotes