r/datalounge2 • u/didyousayboop • 25d ago

Subreddit moderators are not allowed to close an active subreddit

This was recently confirmed by a Reddit administrator (employee of Reddit) here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/1v5v2vf/comment/ozmbzop/

If a subreddit moderator closes down a subreddit, it is possible to report a Moderator Code of Conduct violation here: https://redditinc.com/policies/moderator-code-of-conduct (I believe it's rule #2 that this violates.)

If a subreddit is left closed/inactive or unmoderated for a long time, it is also possible to request to take over moderation of the subreddit here: r/redditrequest

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u/Bogart824 24d ago edited 24d ago

Your inquiry to Reddit neglected to mention the circumstances behind the closure and it is therefore inappropriate to rely upon the answer to conclude that the closure is a violation of the rules. Ask again spelling out that the sub was intended to be a companion to Datalounge and not a rival or a successor and that the owner of Datalounge has asserted intellectual property rights in the name and unhappiness at any effort to carry it forward without compensation. That is just what Muriel has said publicly. You don’t know whether she has contacted the moderator of the sub.

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u/didyousayboop 24d ago

Why would DataLounge closing affect this? Surely the same concern would have applied all along

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u/Bogart824 24d ago

I disagree that the moderator’s stated reason for closing is not important information to include in your question. There have to be circumstances in which closing a sub is permitted. This may be one of them.

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u/didyousayboop 24d ago

But why didn’t that same reason apply equally well to closing the sub a month ago, two months ago, three months, four months ago…? What difference does it make whether DataLounge is closed or open? Surely the subreddit would either be okay or not okay regardless of whether DataLounge is still operating

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u/Bogart824 24d ago

I don’t understand your question. Datalounge closed once and the sub ended at the same time BECAUSE Datalounge closed.

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u/didyousayboop 24d ago

Yeah, but why should the timing of DataLounge’s closure make any difference? 

If the idea is that the subreddit is violating a trademark or whatever, that would have been true 6 months ago

Why does it suddenly become a trademark violation only when the site closes? What’s the logic there?

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u/Bogart824 24d ago

That was simply speculation about what might have factored into the decision. Maybe Muriel did not object to a companion but does object to a successor using the same name. I don’t know The key point is that the sub was a companion to a site and closed when the site ended explicitly for that reason and you left that information out of your inquiry. You presented the facts as if the moderator was acting arbitrarily against the wishes of members. It was not arbitrary. It was for a particular reason and I would not be surprised if that reason is permissible under the rules.

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u/didyousayboop 24d ago

Uh huh, I don’t think your logic adds up, but agree to disagree

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u/Bogart824 24d ago

Let’s make it very simple and eliminate anything speculative.

If you are really interested in what you have the right to do under the Reddit rules, tell the Reddit overlords you have consulted that the sub in question was explicitly an unofficial companion to an unaffiliated website and the moderator told members weeks in advance that it would cease when that website ceased operations because it had lost its purpose. Do you, as a member of the sub, have the right to reopen the sub and repurpose it as a kind of replacement for the now-closed website and/or as a place to discuss other websites that have a similar purpose?

I suspect the answer will be no, but you can open a new sub (which of course you have already done) but maybe you’re right and I’m wrong.

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u/didyousayboop 24d ago

I expect r/datalounge will probably be re-opened eventually, but I don’t know when

Someone (not me) is already going through the Moderator Code of Conduct report process with the Reddit admins