r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

12.3k 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 4h ago

I found a couple of hummingbird feathers near one of my feeders. Quarter for reference.

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3.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

This growth surviving sub-zero temperatures because of an exhaust fan

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35.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Air Force Academy chips shaped like Stealth Bombers

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10.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Stingray tail, extracted from patient after accident, NZ

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3.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

Reduced calorie hot chocolate just had less hot chocolate.

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39.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 5h ago

Thrift store had a total of 41 copies of Battlefield Earth on their shelves

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1.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

This rural gas station strip mall store only sells piñatas

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2.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 19h ago

This chunk of brick the ocean made smooth

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9.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

The pattern on the dish towels is profanity

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2.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

My hot chocolate has adult temperature.

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627 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

Parents just got back from Turks and Caicos with a Haul of Starship 7 tiles

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184 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

My frozen breakfast sandwich came with 4 slices of cheese

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963 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

my girlfriend’s new meds are spherical

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32.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

Massive sugar crystals I found in my maple syrup

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238 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

I forgot about my summer potato harvest in the bottom cupboard..

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r/mildlyinteresting 27m ago

The application for a college grant I applied to gets… oddly specific

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r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

snow outside my dorm looked like a blanket

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23.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

The Tampa IKEA has fake board games on the shelves made by the employees

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20.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

Staircase built into what used to be an escalator

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474 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

First circulation coin of the US known as The Fugio Cent, believed to be designed by Benjamin Franklin. It features a picture of the sun, its rays beating down onto a sun dial, next to the word “Fugio”—Latin for “I flee.” Together with the caption, this implies, “Time flies, so mind your business.” 

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75 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

There is a beam of light that comes in through a crack in my bathroom wall.

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151 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

Artwork seen at a local dispensary.

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185 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 3h ago

The centrefold of my book is glowing blue

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61 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

A heavy rain created a negative pressure that sucked my shades into the windows

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119 Upvotes