According to the screenshots in the sticky on r/music, they have created a new Admin account under an anonymous name and are messaging mod teams telling them to get back to work. And they removed mod permissions from a mod there (but they’ve been restored now).
That’s why a lot of subs are continuing the protest in other ways. r/pics, r/gifs, r/art have all had polls with the subs and are now currently John Oliver only subs, r/aww is probably about to follow them. r/steam now posts literal steam and steam engines, r/wellthatsucks is posting vacuum cleaners, others like r/interestingasfuck as said they are changing rules to be pretty much anything anyone wants to post as long as the poster thinks it’s interesting as fuck, iOS is similar, they’re removing all rules and anyone can post anything as long as it has something to do with iOS, etc.
I can appreciate the chaos this is devolving into.
they can and they have (they’ve also threatened subreddits into reopening, so r/pics is now only allowing sexy John Oliver pics) – but it will take a while to manifest just how bad an idea this is
the problem is one of scale, something like 8800+ subreddits, several thousand moderators, but only a couple hundred admins (less now that Reddit is doing layoffs à la Twitter) – admins will be forced to moderate several hundred subreddits each without third party moderation tools, without any understanding of each subreddit, and (in many cases) facing an actively hostile community at this point …
Yes, Reddit has messaged mod teams and pressured them into reopening. So far I don't think there's a case of them forcing their own mod team in to replace striking mods, but it's absolutely on the table.
it isn't in theory. but admins are saying it violates moderator code of conduct by vandalizing a community (which is against reddit rules). Private subs are allowed, but sub squatting and vandalizing are not. theoretically, they could just invite a few people and have a "low activity sub" but still engage as normal while keeping the sub silent. thus no vandalism occurred, nor squatting, but rather just a change in preference of the community (being more private/exclusive).
Seems they're spinning it as "If your sub is private you aren't moderating your community. If you aren't going to be an active mod, you are on grounds for dismissal" which is asinine, but it seems to be the way they're playing it.
forcing their own mod team in to replace striking mods
I don't think it's off the table, but I also don't think they'll have the resources to do that for very long at all or with many subs. Remember they are cutting staff, and having mods working for free en-mass is pretty crucial to their business structure.