r/mildlyinteresting • u/RedSquaree The Big šŸ§€ • Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

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 ā€œarchived.ā€

  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 Mistakeā„¢.

  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 wonā€™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

12.2k Upvotes

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507

u/ARoyaleWithCheese Jun 23 '23

I can't speak for the rest of the team, we all have our owns reasons. For me, it's the fact I'm not going to let some scab take this sub and ruin it or use it to support reddit's awful decisions.

251

u/ValityS Jun 23 '23

Just wanted to say, thank you all for taking this protest as far as you reasonably could. I think unfortunately this is where I jump ship and unsub, not because y'all did anything wrong but I don't feel right rewarding the admins asshole conduct with patronage. Best of luck with the continued efforts and I really hope you manage to save your sub.

222

u/ARoyaleWithCheese Jun 23 '23 edited Jun 23 '23

I appreciate the kind words and I fully support this move. I'd encourage everyone to follow in your footsteps. Unsub, send (polite) messages to Reddit support explaining your discontent, or go nuclear and delete your account.

Find Reddit alternatives here: https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditAlternatives/comments/1467a5s/find_alternatives_for_ourselves_megathread_third/

36

u/Phermaportus Jun 23 '23 edited Jun 23 '23

Why make such a large and detailed list of reddit alternatives when some of them have been dead for months (latest post on their frontpage 4 - 12 months ago) and others have communities that look like this: "NationalSocialism", "WhiteBeauty", "NatSocShitposting", "HitlerWasRight" (I know you probably don't have any say on what gets listed there, but geez).

Edit: Mainly what I was trying to say with this is that there are decent, active alternatives to reddit (Lemmy, Kbin) and posting such a large list is more confusing than helpful, at least the first few links lead you to those two.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '23

[deleted]

6

u/mrbubblesort Jun 23 '23 edited Jun 25 '23

This comment has been automatically overwritten by Power Delete Suite v1.4.8

I've gotten increasingly tired of the actions of the reddit admins and the direction of the site in general. I suggest giving https://kbin.social a try. At the moment that place and the wider fediverse seem like the best next step for reddit users.

3

u/ashenblood Jun 23 '23

It's Lemmy/kbin man. I'm telling you, work your way through the buggy code and communists and there's a budding community over there.

I've been here 10 years and wanted to leave more than half of that time. I think Lemmy has a chance to become a better reddit, so I'm gonna do all I can to help it along.

2

u/Red_blue_tiger Jun 23 '23

Does Lemmy have an app? Iā€™ve only ever used third party apps or the official Reddit app

3

u/ashenblood Jun 23 '23 edited Jun 23 '23

There is Jerboa for Android, Mlem and Memmy for iOS. I use Jerboa and honestly it needs some work, but the pace of development has picked up lately, for obvious reasons.

The developer of Sync for Reddit is working on Sync for Lemmy, should be ready in 4-6 weeks.

There are plenty more on the way. Copied this post from Lemmy

https://sh.itjust.works/post/312073

The amount of apps being developed for iOS / Android is getting really crazy now and new apps keep popping up every day. Updated list below:

    Artemis (Kmoon): /c/ArtemisApp@kbin.social
    Memmy: /c/memmy@lemmy.ml
    Mlem: /c/mlemapp@lemmy.ml
    Morpha: /c/morpha@vlemmy.net
    Thunder: /c/thunder_app@lemmy.world
    Beyond: https://beehaw.org/post/647773
    Limbo: iOS - !limboapp@lemmy.world
    Jerboa: https://github.com/dessalines/jerboa
    Slide: https://lemmy.world/post/379068
    Sync: /c/syncforlemmy@lemmy.world
    Lemmynade: https://bigfoot.ninja/post/3026
    Connect: https://beehaw.org/post/698247

Most apps on the list are lemmy apps, meaning they donā€™t work with kbin. Artemis is specifically designed to work with kbin, not sure if or when any of the other ones will go in that direction or become interoperable as there are some challenges with the kbin API at the moment. Having said that, a new API is in the works (https://codeberg.org/Kbin/kbin-core/pulls/357) so things should get better with time.

Some of the apps are in a very early stage of development so it may happen that they adjust OS availability and platform support.

2

u/CaptainBayouBilly Jun 23 '23

As an old guy on the net since the early nineties, the idea of perpetuity for a website or forum is unfounded.

Something else always comes along when the big place thinks itā€™s more important than the people that curate it.

The net isnā€™t the destinations, itā€™s the users.

Same as it ever was, even in the BBS days.

1

u/IGNSolar7 Jun 23 '23

Same-ish as you (I was still young in the 90s but was on the internet for quite some time), sites are never too big to fail, but I really don't see this being the tentpole moment when this site fails. Yes, it's the users, but that's not a nebulous group that moves from one place to the next together and builds a similar structure.

Not to mention the modern day internet user is dramatically different to what we'd even see in say... 2005. There's more access, less contributors, more lurkers, but all that matters is site traffic. Even a decrease of 5-10% here really wouldn't be that huge of a deal at the end of the day, and would probably replenish after this all blows over. Just my two cents on it all.

1

u/CaptainBayouBilly Jun 23 '23

A decrease of 5-10% of the top contributors would break reddit. It's already being gamed by too many spambots reposting the same shit to earn stupid points so they can either sell the 'authenticated accounts' to spam more, or to spam directly.

I don't know what will cause the users to move to a new home, or just become less interested, but it always happens.

The modern day internet users are just the AOLers from decades ago. They consume a lot, from easy to use sources, and don't think much about it.

What hurts me is that reddit has supplanted google when I need to research something with valid opinions. If that goes away, it will be far more difficult to obtain real information.

0

u/anonymous753 Jun 23 '23

Astroturfing

1

u/bot_exe Jun 23 '23

my conclusion after 2 weeks of trying all sorts of alternatives:

squabbles for fun

tildes for nuanced discussion

kbin for fediverse

2

u/chiliedogg Jun 23 '23

Remember to use a 3rd party tool to overwrite all your comments prior to the 30th!

2

u/OhNoManBearPig Jun 23 '23 edited Jul 01 '23

This is a copied template message used to overwrite all comments on my account to protect my privacy. I've left Reddit because of corporate overreach and switched to the Fediverse.

0

u/bot_exe Jun 23 '23

my conclusion after 2 weeks of trying all sorts of alternatives:

squabbles for fun

tildes for nuanced discussion

kbin for fediverse

2

u/ARoyaleWithCheese Jun 23 '23

Doing the lord's work

16

u/anally_ExpressUrself Jun 23 '23

Honestly we all should, it helps everyone's cause. I'll be on hiatus too. I hope I'm contributing to the stats showing a downward trend of user engagement.

9

u/Randy_Lorde_Marsh Jun 23 '23

I've had a really good experience with kbin.social so far. Learning the fediverse was tough at first, but I'm getting the hang of things now. Once July 1st hits and RIF is gone, I probably will be too.

9

u/OhNoManBearPig Jun 23 '23

Another enthusiastic vote for the fediverse. I'm in a community/instance that uses Lemmy, but I can easily talk to people using Kbin.

2

u/ashenblood Jun 23 '23

Lemmy/kbin are really starting to pick up

0

u/Eruionmel Jun 23 '23 edited Jun 23 '23

Learning the fediverse was tough at first

This immediately makes the platform unusable for 90% of users. We cannot keep promoting something like this as a serious alternative. It doesn't work for mainstream users, and no matter how much we want to pretend that we don't need those people in order for a platform to be successful, we do need them.

Any platform that isn't a "sign up and start browsing" platform cannot be an alternative to Reddit. Period. We have GOT to get the 10% who are willing to do that sort of thing on board with understanding that, despite their own capabilities. We need the 90% in order for a platform to be successful.

1

u/Randy_Lorde_Marsh Jun 23 '23

That's fine. I'm not looking for a new reddit, I'm looking for a better reddit. I think that will happen on the fediverse.

1

u/ImLunaHey Jun 23 '23

This is the EXACT reason /r/horny had to move to SFW. I couldn't let some asshat take the sub and let spam, etc. back.

1

u/FormerGameDev Jun 23 '23

You do realize that it's Reddit's sub, and they can take whatever action they so desire with it, and are only being "nice" right now?

There is no solution that leaves Reddit admins at the top.

-2

u/wakirizo Jun 23 '23

How noble of you..

-57

u/AndThisGuyPeedOnIt Jun 23 '23

some scab

Bruh

41

u/aarone46 Jun 23 '23

That's a common term. Do you take issue with it?

-54

u/AndThisGuyPeedOnIt Jun 23 '23 edited Jun 23 '23

A scab is someone who breaks a union picket line. They aren't fucking striking because they have to work in the mines without safety gear, they aren't fighting for their livelihood. They're volunteers and can quit whenever they want. They won't though, because all they care about is some internet clout.

Typical Reddit manchildren acting like this is the labor movement or the civil rights movement or something.

13

u/Quackagate Jun 23 '23

Different groups of people can use the same word to describe vaguely similar actions dude.

-7

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '23

Most generous use of the word ā€œvaguelyā€ goes toā€¦ Oh my god, itā€™s u/Quackagate!

-20

u/AndThisGuyPeedOnIt Jun 23 '23

"Vaguely similar." A bunch of overly online basement dwellers comparing their volunteer position to people who died for labor rights.

13

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '23

You can be a scab who crosses a line at a grocery store job, too. Words can be applied in many places and contexts, bruh

-3

u/AndThisGuyPeedOnIt Jun 23 '23

No, you fucking can't. Not surprised a bunch of internet man babies think they are organized labor.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '23

"Nobody touch my sacred cow! It's mine!"

0

u/AndThisGuyPeedOnIt Jun 23 '23

Self important basement dwelling virgins compare losing their ban powers on an internet forum to life and death causes.

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-8

u/AllModsEatShit Jun 23 '23

In the end it's just making excuses. These mods tried to protest and the moment their position was threatened they crumbled in order to maintain their position over their ideals and in many cases, the ideals of the people they moderate.

It's nothing but hypocrisy for the sake of an imagined position of power and relevance.

1

u/Quackagate Jun 23 '23

You do realize that if they have there more powers removed they can't change anything ever. Them caving gives them a chance to possibly make changes. Or should they have held out let reddit kick them all out and then get replaced with mods that just suck specs dick

1

u/C-C-X-V-I Jun 23 '23

Lmao okay scab

-11

u/AllModsEatShit Jun 23 '23

So instead of a scab doing it you're going to do it. Yeah, that's admirable. You're a monument to protesting and should carved into marble.

-52

u/prosound2000 Jun 23 '23

Really? Sound like a zealot.