They even explicitly stated that!

If there are mods here who are willing to work towards reopening this community, we are willing to work with you to process a Top Mod Removal request or reorder the mod team to achieve this goal if mods higher up the list are hindering reopening. We would handle this request and any retaliation attempts here in this modmail chain immediately.

This system is being implemented for the sole purpose of kicking out mods that are keeping subs private. It's absolutely retaliatory. There's no chance that they maintain this system as an actual long-term change to reddit's mod removal policies. It would be too much overhead to staff.

Agreed. I'm no longer active on the fairly popular sub that I founded, but I can only imagine how it would have felt to receive this message if I were.

I put endless hours of work into my sub for years. Brainstorming scalable rules, working with the community to maintain discussion quality, acculturating new users, dealing with problem users, working with OPs to help their posts meet expected standards of quality. And we did a good job. We regularly sought feedback and had a great relationship with our community.

The absolute entitlement of this guy coming along and saying that those communities into which we poured our blood, sweat, and tears belong to him. Because there is absolutely nothing in these changes that serve to improve mod quality. It's all about forcing subs back open.

This is the danger of building a home on land that you don't own. Steve is about to learn, though, that his land isn't worth what he thinks it's worth when he drives away everyone who wants to build on it.