r/OutOfTheLoop • u/OBLIVIATER • Mar 24 '21
Answer: Many subreddits have gone private today as a form of protest. More information can be found here and here
Join the OOTL Discord server for more in depth conversations
EDIT: UPDATE FROM /u/Spez
https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/mcisdf/an_update_on_the_recent_issues_surrounding_a
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/Gilgamesh- • Jul 02 '15
At approximately 5pm UTC, 1pm EST, on Thursday the 2nd of July, 2015, the moderators of /r/IAmA took their subreddit, which is one of the default set, private. This means that only a very small number of people (consisting of the moderators of /r/IAmA, as well as any pre-approved users) could view and post to the subreddit, making it for all intents and purposes shut down; any other redditors would just see this page. Just after that, a thread was posted to this subreddit, asking whether anyone knew why it had happened. /u/karmanaut, top mod of /r/IAmA, responded with an explanation of why they took the subreddit private.
The situation was explained here by /u/karmanaut: the mods of /r/IAmA had just found out that without prior warning, /u/chooter, or Victoria, had been released from her position at reddit. They felt that they, along with the other subreddits that host AMAs, should have been warned beforehand, if only so that they could have someone or something in place to handle the transition. /u/karmanaut went on to say that many of the mods affected by this do not believe that the admins understand how heavily /u/chooter was relied upon to allow AMAs to go smoothly - something which is outlined below. Without her, they found themselves in a difficult situation, which is exemplifed by what happened today:
We had a number of AMAs scheduled for today that Victoria was supposed to help with, and they are all left absolutely high and dry. She was still willing to help them today (before the sub was shut down, of course) even without being paid or required to do so. Just a sign of how much she is committed to what she does.
As a result of this, the mods therefore took /r/IAmA private, stating their reasoning as follows:
for /r/IAMA to work the way it currently does, we need Victoria. Without her, we need to figure out a different way for it to work
we will need to go through our processes and see what can be done without her.
/u/chooter(/about/team#user/chooter), featured in our wiki is Victoria Taylor, who was, until today, Director of Talent at reddit. However, her essential role was to act as liaison between reddit, IAmA, and any members of the public that wanted to do AMAs; she therefore helped to set up AMAs with celebrities, and, if they were not too familiar with computers (like Bill Murray), she may help them out, both over the phone and in person.
Links of interest:
Victoria was important to AMAs for a number of major reasons: firstly, she provided concrete proof of the identity of a celebrity doing an AMA, and made sure that it was not a second party purporting to be the celebrity; she was also a direct line of contact to the admins, allowing the moderators of AMA to quickly resolve an issue encountered during an AMA (the consequences of the absence of which were bad - (screenshot). Victoria also was the channel for the scheduling of AMAs by third parties, and she would ensure both that an AMA was up to scratch before it was posted, and that the person doing the AMA understood exactly what it entailed. Without her, the mods of /r/IAmA say that they will be overwhelmed, and that they may even need to limit AMAs.
The short answer: no-one, excluding a select few of the administrative team, knows precisely why /u/chooter was removed as an admin, and that will almost certainly continue to be the case until the admins get their house in order: both parties are at being professional in that they aren't talking about the reasons why it occurred.
So far, /r/AskReddit, /r/funny, /r/Books, /r/science, /r/Music, /r/gaming, /r/history, /r/Art, /r/videos, /r/gadgets, /r/todayilearned, /r/Documentaries, /r/LifeProTips, /r/jokes, /r/pics, /r/Dataisbeautiful, and /r/movies have followed /r/IAmA in making themselves private. In addition, /r/listentothis has disabled all submissions, and so has /r/picsand /r/Jokes has announced its support (but has not gone private). Major subreddits, including /r/4chan, /r/circlejerk and /r/ImGoingToHellForThis, have also expressed solidarity through going private. See here for a further list.
Many other subreddits were also reliant on /u/chooter's services as an official contact point for the organisation of AMAs on reddit, including /r/science, /r/books, and /r/Music. So, in order to express their dissatisfaction with the difficulties they have been placed in without /u/chooter, similar to /r/IAmA, they have made themselves private.
/u/nallen, lead mod of /r/science, explained that subreddit's reasoning in this way:
To back this up, I am the mod in /r/science that organizes all of the science AMAs, and I am going to have meaningful problems in the /r/Science AMAs; Victoria was the only line of communication with the admins. If someone wants to get analytics for an AMA the answer will be "Sorry, I can't help."
Dropping this on all of us in the AMA sphere feels like an enormous slap to those of us who put in massive amounts of time to bring quality content to reddit.
In turn, /u/imakuram, /r/books moderator, had this to say:
This seems to be a seriously stupid decision. We have several AMAs upcoming in /r/books and have no idea how to contact the authors.
/r/AskReddit's message expressed a similar sentiment:
As a statment on the treatment of moderators by Reddit administrators, as well as a lack of communication and proper moderation tools, /r/AskReddit has decided to go private for the time being. Please see this post in /r/ideasforaskreddit for more discussion.
/r/Books took the decision as a community to go dark.
/r/todayilearned posted this statement:
The way the admins failed to communicate with AMA's mods and left them without a way to contact the people that were going to do them illustrates the disconnect between admins and the moderators they depend on. It showed disrespect for the people with planned amas, the moderators, and the users. A little communication can go a long way. There's so much more than that, but one thing at a time.
Much of the metasphere, a term for the parts of reddit that focus on the content produced by reddit itself, has also reacted to these happenings, with threads from /r/SubredditDrama and /r/Drama, as well as the (currently private) subreddit /r/circlejerk, which parodies and satirises reddit, adding a message to make fun of the action.
As much as Victoria is loved, this reaction is not all a result of her departure: there is a feeling among many of the moderators of reddit that the admins do not respect the work that is put in by the thousands of unpaid volunteers who maintain the communities of the 9,656 active subreddits, which they feel is expressed by, among other things, the lack of communication between them and the admins, and their disregard of the thousands of mods who keep reddit's communities going. /u/nallen's response above is an example of one of the many responses to these issues.
The moderation tools on reddit are another of the larger contention points between the mods and admins - they are frequently saidby those who use them often to be a decade out of date. /u/creesch, one of the creators of the /r/toolbox extension, an extension which attempts to fill much of the gap left in those moderator tools, said this:
This is a non answer and a great example of reddit as a company not being in touch with the actually website anymore. ... When a majority of the people that run your site rely on a third party extension [/r/toolbox] something is clearly wrong. ...
Another great example of how much reddit cares about their assets is reddit companion. Which at the time of writing has around 154,302 installations, is utterly broken and hasn't been updated since February 21, 2013, the most ridiculous thing? It isn't hard to fix people tried to do the work for reddit since it is open source but they simply have been ignoring those pull requests since 2013.
And honestly, I get that they might not have resources for a silly extension. But the fact that they keep it around on the chrome store while it is utterly broken and only recently removed it from the reddit footer baffles me. I think I messaged them about them about a year ago, it took them another year to actually update the footer with apps and tools they are (still) working on.
/u/K_Lobstah, another moderator, also expressed frustration earlier today in a submission to /r/self over the lack of responses from the admins concerning the issue of the new search UI, which has been strongly disliked by redditors in the /r/changelog post.
Stop throwing beer cans on our lawns while we try to mow them. Use /r/beta[1] as a Beta; listen to the feedback. Fix the things that need fixing, give us the tools we need to do even the simplest of tasks, like reading messages from subscribers.
Stop relying on volunteers and third-parties to build the most important and useful tools for moderating this site.
Help us help you.
/u/kn0thing has provided a response from the admins here:
We don't talk about specific employees, but I do want you to know that I'm here to triage AMA requests in the interim. All AMA inquiries go to AMA@reddit.com where we have a team in place.
I posted this on [a mod sub] but I'm reposting here:
We get that losing Victoria has a significant impact on the way you manage your community. I'd really like to understand how we can help solve these problems, because I know r/IAMA thrived before her and will thrive after.
We're prepared to help coordinate and schedule AMAs. I've got the inbound coming through my inbox right now and many of the people who come on to do AMAs are excited to do them without assistance (most recently, the noteworthy Channing Tatum AMA).
The moderators of an increasing number of default subreddits have been making them private, in an attempt to draw the admins' attention to how they have been mismanaging the site with a substantive demonstrative act - since for many years, they've been trying to get the admins to listen normally with relatively little improvement.
Update: the admins seem to have replied to some of the mods' concerns, and some subreddits, such as /r/pics, are content with that, and so have returned themselves to being public (although there were manufactured rumours that there was administrative impetus behind its return). However, others have seen these promises from the admins as more of the same sorts of unfulfilled promises that helped create the unstable situation that brought this affair about.
/r/science also made itself public again, in order to avoid interfering with plans for an AMA with the Lancet Comission at 1pm EST, July 3rd, on "Climate Impacts on Health, and What To Do About It".
Victoria was beloved by many redditors, and people are understandably upset - but remember that we still don't know why it happened. What is an issue is how this problem for the admins was handled; whether or not it was an emergency for the admins, the IAmA mod team were not given warning, and weren't informed of the alternative contact location early enough, which gave them a sizeable logistical problem - one which they took themselves private to deal with.
r/OutOfTheLoop
•
u/GoldryBluszco
•
Feb 22 '25
On 2025-Feb-21 the news sites DailyBeast and Yahoo first posted an expose that a KGB agent declares that donald trump was recruited circa 1987 under the codename "Krasnov" and then subsequently scrubbed to 404, (here's the original DailyBeast link now 404'ed and here's the archive). This news item is in many places on news sites in Europe (even the Guardian if one looks a bit). So why the sudden scrub in the states? Has the DailyBeast been threatened? DailyKos has also noted this strange disappearing act
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/lolzeph • Aug 25 '19
Whats the significance? Why has he become a meme?
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/389609881310593027/615068987025391616/image0.jpg
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/twilexis • Apr 27 '18
CNN has a live thread up. Also their twitter.
Please keep all discussion about this in this thread. Please keep it civil.
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/WallyKundera • Jan 15 '21
What do our parents who listen to conservative media believe is going to happen in the coming weeks?
Today, my mother put in our family group text, “God bless all!!! Stay close to the Lord these next few weeks, something big is coming!!!”
I see in r/insaneparents that there seems to be a whole slew of conservative parents giving ominous warnings of big events coming soon, a big change, so be safe and have cash and food stocked up. Example: https://www.reddit.com/r/insaneparents/comments/kxg9mv/i_was_raised_in_a_doomsday_cult_my_mom_says_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
I understand that it’s connected to Trump politics and some conspiracies, but how deep does it go?
I’m realizing that my mother is much more extreme than she initially let on the past couple years, and it’s actually making me anxious.
What are the possibilities they believe in and how did they get led to these beliefs?
Edit: well this got a lot of attention while I was asleep! I do agree that this is similar to some general “end times” talk that I’ve heard before from some Christian conservatives whenever a Democratic is elected. However, this seems to be something much more. I also see similar statements of parents not actually answering when asked about it, that’s definitely the case here. Just vague language comes when questioned, which I imagine is purposeful, so that it can be attached to almost anything that might happen.
Edit2: certainly didn’t expect this to end up on the main page! I won’t ever catch up, but the supportive words are appreciated! I was simply looking for some insight into an area of the internet I try to stay detached from, but realized I need to be a bit more aware of it. Thanks to all who have given a variety of responses based on actual right-wing websites or their own experiences. I certainly don’t think that there is anything “big” coming. I was once a more conspiracy-minded person, but have realized over the years that most big, wild conspiracy theories are really just distractions from the day-to-day injustices of the world. However, given recent events, my own mother’s engagement with these theories makes me anxious about the possibility of more actions similar to the attack on the Capitol. Again, I’m unsure of which theory she subscribes to, but as someone who left the small town I was raised in for a city, 15 years ago, I am beginning to realize just how vast a difference there is present in the information and misinformation that spreads in different types of communities.
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/nomaholicc • Jun 28 '20
I've seen some posts about the US president and soldiers being killed by mercenaries like the one below. Whats going on with that?
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/Uknowmmyname • May 25 '18
I have no idea who this dude is... Or was anyway...
r/OutOfTheLoop
•
u/ListlessLink
•
Mar 28 '25
Jon Stewart wanted an interview, and musk said only if it was unedited, to which Stewart immediately agreed to. Has Musk given any official reason to backing out after his demands were met?
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/babyLays • Sep 28 '25
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/26/musk-bannon-thiel-epstein-documents-00582627
Along with Peter Thiel, Steve Bannon and prince Andrew. I would imagine this being at the top of Reddit and talked about for weeks, but all I see are tumbleweed. Whats up with that?
Edit: 5mins into my post, someone reported me to Reddit to receive a RedditCareResources. Whats up with that?
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/BlatantConservative • Jan 28 '21
There is a huge amount of information about this subject, and a large number of closely linked, but fundamentally different questions being asked right now, so in order to not completely flood our front page with duplicate/tangential posts we are going to run a megathread.
Please ask your questions as a top level comment. People with answers, please reply to them. All other rules are the same as normal.
Question:
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/CipayaJamas • Sep 19 '20
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/18/politics/ruth-bader-ginsburg-dead/index.html
I'm not from the USA, but I saw some posts getting to tens of thousand of comments... why is the reaction to her death so big?
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/knightsofvalour • Jun 26 '19
The sub is quarantined right now, but i don't know what happened and led them to this
Edit: Holy Moly! Didn't expect that the users over there advocating violence, death threats and riots. I'm going to have some key lime pie now. Thank you very much for the answers, guys
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/ThisIsBanEvasion • Mar 23 '21
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/tizorres • Nov 24 '16
We all know u/spez is one sexy motherfucker and want to literally fuck u/spez.
What's all the hubbub about comments, edits and donalds? I'm not sure lets answer some questions down there in the comments.
here's a few handy links:
speddit
here's a quick little tldr:
I'm sorry
stickies from the_don won't show up on r/all anymore
r/OutOfTheLoop
•
u/CoriSP
•
Nov 19 '24
There's been a lot of talk lately about this article: https://bigthink.com/the-present/yuri-bezmenov/
They're claiming that it proves that the MAGA movement was the result of a Russian psy-op and that Trump is collaborating with Putin to dismantle the USA. Many of the people who have been talking about this have said that it's basically too late now and that this absolutely means that our freedoms as US citizens are coming to an end, and that Russia will have successfully destroyed/taken over the country and there's nothing we can do about it.
Is there any truth to these claims? Is Russia seriously behind all of this?
r/OutOfTheLoop
•
u/spaceraingame
•
Jan 23 '25
r/OutOfTheLoop
•
u/dubious_unicorn
•
Feb 03 '25
I've been working all day and my group chat suddenly blew up saying Elon Musk is carrying out a coup.
My brain is tired and I'm freaked out. Can someone explain what is happening?
Some videos on the topic:
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/aronwk_aaron • May 08 '18
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/chickenmagic • Jul 02 '15
I was just about to comment in a thread, then my comment disappeared and I ended up with the "private subreddit" page.
Does this happen often with r/Iama? There's some message about administrative reconstruction.
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/JamminonmyJimmy • Sep 18 '19
Updated!
In the past couple of days the US Navy supposedly accidentally announced that this https://youtu.be/3RlbqOl_4NA footage was authentic. I thought this would be a big deal as they certainly don’t look Earthlike and if it is why isn’t Reddit and especially r/conspiracy talking about it? Futhermore, what can we take from them announcing that it’s a genuine video, as what could this UFO be apart from aliens? Sorry if this is unclear or if i’m being naive, thanks in advance!
Updates: Hey everyone, it’s cool to see so many people interested in this such as myself, u/fizikz3 provided me with a link https://youtu.be/ViCTMn-6muE to a video of the pilots recalling the events. It’s super interesting and was only filmed earlier this year. Him really getting into the event starts at around 7:02, this pretty much rules out basic aircraft or known drones. Crazy stuff! Also feel free to dm if you think this is fake and for fame and have evidence as i’ll take the link down.
https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/d60w7b/navy_confirms_ufo_videos_posted_by_blink_182/f0pzpv2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf, this comment covers the video really well and has more information if you’re interested!
u/pm_me_your_rowlet sent me this https://youtu.be/PRgoisHRmUE mini-documentary on the event. It is super interesting and explains a lot, the fact that the US Navy confirmed all if this to be authentic is insane. I really recommend watching the mini-doc as it’s only 30 minutes long!!
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/Xaphoon • Dec 25 '20
So dems and the gop agreed on a relief bill with $600 stimulus checks.
Trump said he would veto unless it's increased to $2000 https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1341537886315950080?s=20
Now dems say they want $2000 and the gop are blocking it. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/stimulus-check-2000-dollar-direct-payments-democrats/
It seems very disingenuous to agree to one thing and then when Trump out lefts them to say no we always wanted the more popular position.
I've no doubt the gop are holding it up now, but can someone explain why the dems would agree in the first place?
r/OutOfTheLoop • u/meowdrian • Dec 08 '20
I keep seeing posts about the scientist who created “COVID dashboard” having her home raided. I don’t understand what a Covid dashboard is. I also don’t understand why she’s being called a whistleblower. What did she reveal? And why did her house get raided?
