Is how easily mods have caved in once the admins threatened to remove them. I had thought we’d see quite a few cases where Reddit would have to step in an replace entire mod teams (effectively killing the community). But it seems like that hasn’t happened at all - the closest we’ve got is mods being reordered.
I guess I didn’t appreciate how much moderating means to some people, especially people who are marginalised or otherwise have shitty lives… (which makes Reddit’s behaviour even more abhorrent! Exploiting the most vulnerable in society to provide free labour they are making huge profits off).
That said, it seems like Reddit has crossed the Rubicon now. They have now forced mods to run their subreddits in a certain way. Mods now know they are operating in some tight boundaries, and the admins can - on a whim - change the rules and force them to comply. i.e. any illusion of the power they had is now massively reduced. I’m sure a lot of them will be in denial, but this more than likely won’t be the last time we see this happen.
Not sure they “caved”. A protest is never rigid, both sides constantly adapt to what the other side is doing. In many instances, the protest hasn’t stopped, it has taken a John Olivier sanctioned new form. Or even more subtle forms that will be a lot harder for Reddit to track and fight.
A well-organized protest can last a very long time. And you don’t need a lot of people to do real damage. As a French, I’m very familiar with protests and strikes and whatnot. To me, these mods are adapting extremely well to Reddit’s threats. Reddit will exhaust itself fighting this protest. spez is a dumbass, as this completely avoidable protest will require Reddit to dedicate a lot of resources to quell it. For a dude so focused on profitability, such a waste of resources and money is a hilarious result.