What are the worst things Reddit admins/mods did? Especially that can't be talked about on Reddit.
Employing Ghislaine Maxwell has to top the list. Changing their community rules definition of hate speech to only be against chosen groups has to count too. But there's a lot of bad stuff that redditors quietly accepted, forgot, or newer members never heard of.
I've heard that this was back in a time when you could promote a user to mod status without their permission. Unless there is evidence that he actively participated in the sub, I think we have enough reasons to dislike him without trying to smear him with something that has questionable relevance.
/u/maxwellhill on Reddit was suspected but never proven to be Ghislaine Maxwell, they went dark the same time as the arrests etc. they were a power mod across some huge subreddits like worldnews, travel, badcopnodonut, etc.
It’s a bit of a conspiracy theory in my opinion and fellow mods have dismissed it claiming they’ve seen/spoken to maxwellhill and but who knows, this type of thing takes off on Reddit, ala the Boston Bomber thing leading to that poor kids death. I take this stuff with a grain of salt.
I have not been part of any major (to the point that it's widely known and infamous) singular mod abuse, but I would say collectively, mods for some of the brand- or product-based subreddits downplaying or censoring valid criticisms and concerns about the product. I think it can be very insidious, especially in a discussion-based content aggregator system where you assume discussions are started from a grassroots perspective.
A mod picking a fight over a days old point mid conversation with someone else, while not logged in as a mod, logging in, and permanently banning a user. That's how I learned there is no effective mod oversight.
I never got involved with mods on reddit. But these examples are crazy and say a lot about human nature lol. Ain't no system gonna go un abused under out watch 👀
Federation seems to stem the side effects with fragmentation but ultimately people will people.
I also seem to recall one of the gun subreddits, I don't remember if it was guns or firearms or weekendgunnit, asking express permission to etch the reddit logo and subreddit name into a gun. They received permission, posted pictures, and later received a cease and desist.