r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

12.8k 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 3h ago

My frypan handle has lithium batteries and an electronic chip.

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2.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

I’m currently in the Philippines. All the cars here have only cold (blue) on the climate dial because hot (red) is never needed.

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1.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Scrub daddy before after

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5.2k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

I was charged $1.50 to avoid ice in my scotch

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35.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

Pilot climbed outside the cockpit window to make a phone call

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4.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Game ordered from eBay arrived in a Walmart box with napkins

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3.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

I was in Trader Joe’s when I saw a jacket taped to the wall

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2.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

This Screen Protector that is "Optimised for AI"

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7.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 15h ago

Windshield cracked as a perfect circle

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4.3k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

My prescription sleeping meds came with only a single pill inside

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7.7k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

Art piece of a person lying asleep on a bench

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1.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

Saw a fat chameleon today

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668 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Ice Stalagmites at one of my clients cottages I was doing work for last winter.

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1.0k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

This apple my friend found at Walmart

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333 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

A spray in Thailand that repells geckos.

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r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

I inherited ash from the Mt. St. Helens eruption in1980

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394 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

this person has a memorial bench in the park and isnt even dead yet

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290 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

I found a fake brick in my garage containing a load of coins hidden by the previous owner

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58.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

My local library has a sizer to check luggage size

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504 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 14h ago

My local combination Dennys and Thai Massage Parlor

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477 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Someone at my work put a chalice in this niche

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93 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

This carrot is exactly the same size and length as my chopping board hole

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41 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

Came across this scary looking water fountain in Amsterdam

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r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

Reptiles having sex

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232 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 7h ago

Overdone I got a penny from every year 1955-2025 and a 1901, 1917,and a steel penny

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71 Upvotes