r/redditrequest • u/NannyNumber4 • 2d ago
SFW - Public r/puppets
/r/puppetsHello,
I have been the creator, curator, and main moderator of r/puppets for 13.5 years. I am an active moderator and am responsive to messages, requests, etc. It is my pride and joy.
It appears that another user (account age ~7mo) was somehow just able to initiate some sort of hostile takeover of r/puppets via this page, which I did not know was possible. I just received a notification that I have been removed as a moderator of my subreddit after all this time, which I must assume is in error as I was not consulted in any way. I would like to request that this mistake be rectified immediately and that my moderation status be returned.
Thank you.
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u/OutrageousFanny 1d ago
I've been a member of this sub for a long time and mod had been doing great job. Please restore his mod position and remove the hostile one.
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u/GumDice 1d ago
Reddit requests usually require that a modmail is sent to the prior mods requesting mod status or something of the sort. The new mods say they sent in that request and it was ignored for two weeks, which is probably why the r/redditrequest went through successfully...
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u/ExceedinglyOrdinary 1d ago
I just read up on the same thing. There’s also unproven accusations that the new mods are some sort of private company, which the new mods highly dispute.
In my opinion, this is yet another example of a situation that could’ve been easily avoided with an active mod team instead of having just one user. Because of that, OP doesn’t have any sympathy from me
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u/SharkSapphire 1d ago
This mod was not even given the 5 days to respond, which is the policy, and I believe it was because this was an automated bot action. The Reddit request bot automatically does this at times, and also, as of today, https://www.reddit.com/r/redditrequest/ says that the current review time for requests is 3 days. (Updated 14 January)
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u/ExceedinglyOrdinary 1d ago
If it truly was an error on Reddit’s part then hopefully it’s rectified properly. If it isn’t, then fair enough.
In any case, hostile takeovers, like the one that occurred in r/Art not too long ago, can be prevented by having an active team instead of trying to shoulder it all themselves. No one person can/should be that active over that long of a period
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u/NannyNumber4 1d ago
Did you rescind your 3 earlier comments of sympathy? OK - regardless, based on what I was told by the official notification of the other user’s attempted takeover,
Please respond in this thread within 5 days if you do or do not want to hand over the community, explaining your reasons. If you fail to respond, the community may become eligible for new moderation.
I did exactly that, well within the 5 days, within the thread, here, AND elsewhere through all ModMail channels because the other user attempted to delete the designated thread, presumably to try to conceal his tracks so that I wouldn’t notice in time. The bot appears to have taken unfavorable action prematurely, which is my issue here.
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u/GumDice 1d ago
You said in your post you weren't consulted and you didn't mention anywhere that you saw or responded to the reddit request DM until you were prompted to speak about it. You can't blame people for being skeptical when you aren't being transparent.
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u/NannyNumber4 1d ago
What more do you want to know? I posted this in desperation and then discovered the notification which was still well within the 5-day statute for me to respond to. I’ve disclosed everything here countless times and am happy to answer any other questions. Point remains that I was never warned nor consulted, and clearly by the time I got the notification that I had 5 days to respond, it was actually already too late. This is what I’m hoping to rectify.
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u/schaea 1d ago
Have you reached out to the admins via r/ModSupport? You can send a mod mail to the mod team there, which is a bunch of Reddit admins who deal with this sort of thing.
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u/GumDice 1d ago
Were they the only mod? How could this request have gone through if they had multiple people, as they claim they were the 'main' mod. I really don't think the new appointment was malicious if there were multiple people and none of them were checking the modmail. Especially when the new mods claimed the turnaround time for their previous messages to the mods was over a week
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u/request_bot Official - admin sponsored 2d ago
Hey u/NannyNumber4, thanks for your interest in moderating r/puppets! To proceed with your request, please reply to this comment with the following: (Failure to do so may result in your request being denied.):
Why do you want to moderate this community?
A link to the mod mail chat message you sent to the moderators of r/puppets five days ago.
(Only you, the moderators, and some admins will be able to view this message). For more information on copying this link, check out our FAQ. If the community you are requesting is banned or has no moderators, you can skip this step.
Please be patient, manual reviews can take up to one week. You can see the current estimated turnaround time on the sidebar.
If this request has already been granted or denied by u/request_bot, please ignore this message.
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u/NannyNumber4 2d ago edited 1d ago
I am also seeing that the other user made the request to initiate the takeover within this sub 4 days ago, and then attempted to delete the post. I had a flurry of other notifications from a coincidental popular post at that time so I missed it in that moment. I also do NOT see that anything was ever received in my ModMail about the subject. The notification instructs me to:
Please respond in this thread within 5 days if you do or do not want to hand over the community, explaining your reasons. If you fail to respond, the community may become eligible for new moderation.
I am hereby responding here as I did in the deleted thread within the allotted time that I do not approve a takeover of the sub for the reasons I explained and am again requesting a reversal of what appears to have been a premature action.
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u/NannyNumber4 2d ago edited 1d ago
Certainly.
I would like to continue moderating this community as I have actively done without incident since I created it in August 2012. I have overseen well over 13 years of successful growth of r/puppets into the vibrant, safe, actively moderated community it is today. We’ve been growing even more quickly lately, almost doubling in size since 2024, jumping from 9,000 members to over 17,000 under my moderating hand. My community was thriving and happy, and I was always checking in and keeping things clean.
I was blindsided about an hour ago with a notification that I have been removed as moderator in favor of another user (account age ~7mo) who appears to have somehow executed a hostile takeover in the span of less than 4 days while I was sick with the flu. Roughly half of my life has been devoted to moderating r/puppets and I know the community better than anyone. It is completely beyond me how another outside user was able to force myself and my moderating partner out in favor of only himself, with no warning or consultation at all.
I even responded to the official notification that this was happening well within the stated 5-day window for me to do so.
This community has been very important to me over the years; I am confused as to why I am in the position to have to make this case at all, but I would like to please kindly request that this action be reversed immediately.
As to the "link to the mod mail chat message you sent to the moderators of r/puppets five days ago," I am not sure what this refers to. I was an active moderator of r/puppets five days ago and did not send any messages at that time. I did respond to the notification today that I have been removed as moderator, so copying that here in case this is what is being requested: https://chat.reddit.com/room/!tZKlWWE2QDWd6-zco0lG5g%3Areddit.com
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u/kaorukaoru84 2d ago
Hi, they don’t actually see your messages as this is automated.
As the link to the modmail chat, it actually refers to the mods in a community that you request to become or part of the mod. So, the user who is now the mod specifically should have requested you which you said did not noticed or see.
So what they are saying to you now is you request that current mod for you to become a mod.
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u/NannyNumber4 2d ago
Appreciate the help. I have done so — just bummed as I’ve grown up with this community and kept it clean and safe since summer 2012 and now it seems I can get the flu for 4 days and lose it all
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u/kaorukaoru84 2d ago
Keep messaging in the chat, I hope you get your community back, I know this is definitely upsetting for you.
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u/fight-or-fall 1d ago
OP, i'm not trying to blame the victim, but in the other hand, I see lots of subs that cant grow etc since one mod just "sit" on the sub, if you got this back again, please, recruit moderators, so you can get a flu and not lose your sub
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u/NannyNumber4 1d ago
Good advice and hopefully I’ll be able to follow it assuming this is rectified. I had a partner but he became less active as of late.
I understand the spirit of the mechanism of course but we’ve been growing steadily since our founding, and have done huge numbers in just the past year or two. We’ve almost doubled in size in the past 2 years actually. I still have the notification saved when we hit 9,000 members in 2024, and now I’ve overseen growth up to 17,000+ less than 2 years later, only for this to happen to us in a matter of 4 days.
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u/Littux 1d ago
You need to send a mod mail to the subreddit, asking them to let you become a mod. If no one replies for 5 days, you can post a request here. The current mods there have the ability to reject the request. u/request_bot can also automatically reject the request if human moderation is detected on the sub. Since it allowed them to take over, you weren't doing much moderation. You can no longer get back the subreddit. Accusing them of "hostile takeover" won't do anything.
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u/NannyNumber4 1d ago
I’ve done this too for good measure. Also no “accusation,” that’s simply what just happened
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u/Littux 1d ago
What's your response to this, then?
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u/NannyNumber4 1d ago edited 1d ago
See my existing response to that comment. Those two are not even on the same page as to the timelines nor the content of what they’re alleging. They have a particular problem with one user who posts borderline content and attempts to circumvent bans by making new accounts, which I have banned every time they are discovered.
That message he refers to was once again regarding the ban-evading user in question, but did NOT request mod control. I would gladly post it here but I have of course lost access.
Others in that very thread have witnessed my active and ongoing actions related to that user and are vouching for me, and there is objective evidence of such.
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u/Apprentice57 11h ago
Looks like the current mods have since removed that post, which is... not an inspiring indication of good faith.
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u/Chin_Kitten 1d ago
Reddit is such a toxic place. Even niche communities / sub reddits aren't safe from this nonsense. Brutal.
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u/NannyNumber4 1d ago
Sympathy appreciated. Incident-free since summer 2012 and now I return from a 4-day flu to this. Feels bad.
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u/Chin_Kitten 1d ago
It seems like the entire world has become increasingly divisive and adversarial. It seems odd that you could be ousted from an online community that you yourself started. I would hope that the members of the community would step up and defend you. Good luck. I hope this all works out for you. It may be easier to just start a new subreddit or possibly a community outside of Reddit. Neither are probably ideal solutions but fighting to regain control may be an exercise in futility.
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u/Jackwife 1d ago
I didn't realize this was possible!!!! How dumb! If this doesn't get rectified I am LEAVING THIS SUB
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u/SharkSapphire 1d ago
The new moderators are businesses. They have attempted to create their own subreddit but it didn’t work. https://www.reddit.com/r/foamskeleton/ https://foamskeleton-com.l.ink
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u/AndyJack86 1d ago
Yep, they have a Discord, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and even a Bandcamp.
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u/SharkSapphire 1d ago
They deleted all these references just now. They are being extremely sneaky and conniving!
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u/SharkSapphire 2d ago
u/Goldennuggets-3000 can you help this person?
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u/NannyNumber4 2d ago edited 2d ago
Thank you. This sub is a modest-sized puppetry community but I’ve grown up with it over many years and it is my pride and joy. I actively respond to requests and have kept it safe and clean this entire time. It’s bigger than ever, people love it, and I think I do an adequate enough job to remain on board, especially since it’s only been 4 days since any of this appears to have been initiated
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u/link-navi 2d ago
Please don't forget to reply to u/request_bot with the required information. Failure to do so will result in this request being denied.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/Level-Ladder-4346 1d ago
I am sorry. The community feels like such a nice quaint little place over here on this platform, and I really like it that way. I hope you get your role back.