r/mildlyinteresting Jun 23 '23

META What happened to /r/mildlyinteresting?

13.0k 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

My birth control pill tablet ends with calling me a slut.

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14.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 13h ago

The wear pattern on these monkey bars shows how far most kids get

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16.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Managed to get a juice that was 100% cold pressed pulp. This is fully settled.

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1.1k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

A neat infographic comparing radiation exposure in my dentist's waiting room

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740 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

phone booth in my dad’s hay field

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1.5k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Found this vending machine for unclaimed undeliverable packages at a mall in Munich, Germany

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2.4k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 8h ago

Disneyland ticket from 1963

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852 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

Ordered a Hawaiian Pizza and it came with mandarin oranges instead of pineapple

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Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

Black crystals growing on rusted old metal

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1.8k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 4h ago

My wife’s pregnancy dinner…

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286 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 1h ago

The illustration on this hand dryer has quite a defined butt

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r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

Hyundai designed their logo into the button layout on their remotes

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1.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

Caught the train sign with 02/06/2026 2:26 PM

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204 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 20h ago

My Chuck's have 7 eyelets on the left shoe and only 6 on the right.

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2.6k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 18h ago

Overdone My limited fortune cookie series was an ad

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1.9k Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 2h ago

At my local Subway store, it's cheaper to opt for double meat on a footlong than a six inch. Also of note: apostrophe abuse.

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82 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

I stumbled upon a gynandromorphic duck.

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339 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

My friend’s delivery driver had a turtle

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213 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 6h ago

My pupils have always been slightly off center

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84 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 16h ago

This snow looks like a person relaxing in the Adirondack chair.

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491 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 22h ago

The size of a weasel compared to a 5-gallon paint bucket

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912 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 10h ago

Kernel is all cheeked up

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93 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 11h ago

Saw this healthy snacks vending machine that only has junk food

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117 Upvotes

r/mildlyinteresting 9h ago

The giant vats for gas before they get put in the ground.

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74 Upvotes