Reddit has notified moderators of protesting communities that are still private that they will lose their moderator status by the end of the week, according to messages.
The company stated that if a moderator expresses interest in “actively moderating” the subreddit, Reddit will “consider your request.”
Here is the full message, which has been confirmed as sent to moderators of at least two subreddits:
After sending a modmail message on June 27, 2023, your mod team indicated that you do not want to reopen the [name of subreddit] community.
This is a courtesy notice to inform you that you will lose moderator status in the community by the end of the week. If you reply to let us know you’re interested in actively moderating this community, we will take your request into consideration.
In the message threads we’ve reviewed, moderators of both subreddits expressed a desire to reopen but stated that they would need Reddit to make certain changes before doing so.
“We see no reason to reopen as I don’t think we’re the bad guys here,” said yoasif, a moderator of r/firefox who received the message. “Reddit has had a chance to address the protest for weeks now, and they haven’t.”
However, although r/firefox was private when this article was first published, it has since reopened as a community focused on red pandas rather than the Mozilla web browser.
“Those who know the subreddit and have been here for a long time know that it has been actively moderated for years to maintain a positive environment,” the moderators stated in a post.
“We don’t wish to let the subreddit fall into the hands of someone who would undo the good work we have done or who would even foster an anti-Mozilla community here.
“All legacy technical posts will remain available so that users can still find help related to the browser, but henceforth, until Reddit admins appropriately respond to our concerns, only new submissions featuring the cuddly, fuzzy red panda—after which the subreddit is indirectly named—will be allowed. Also known as fire foxes.”
The moderators added that browser-related posts may be permitted again in the future.
Reddit’s announcement about removing moderators follows a series of escalating messages from the company this week suggesting it might take action against them.
On Tuesday, the Reddit admin account ModCodeofConduct instructed some moderators of private subreddits to indicate within 48 hours if they planned to reopen their communities.
When some moderators responded, the admin adopted a more aggressive stance. “This community remaining closed to its [millions of] members cannot continue” past the deadline, ModCodeofConduct wrote in a message.
“This community will not remain private beyond the timeframe we’ve allowed for confirmation of plans here,” the admin added. ModCodeofConduct also argued that switching to private in protest violates the Moderator Code of Conduct.
Despite over 8,000 communities going dark earlier this month in protest of the company’s upcoming API pricing changes, many subreddits have since reopened.
According to one tracker, around 2,300 subreddits remain private or restricted in some way. Some, like r/firefox, have reopened with a new focus.
