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The subreddit protests against Reddit API pricing appear to have taken a surreal turn, as some are now claiming that Reddit administrators have assisted in taking over the /r/AdviceAnimals subreddit, reopening it and deleting comments questioning the decision.
On Monday, many subreddits participated in a 48-hour "blackout" in which they went private or read-only to protest Reddit attaching large fees to their API, which would effectively kill popular third-party apps that many use to access the platform. Evidently, Reddit execs were unphased by the blackouts, leading some subreddits to extend their protests until Reddit reversed or compromised on its controversial decision.
According to a post in /r/SubredditDrama and several deleted posts in /r/AdviceAnimals yesterday, /r/AdviceAnimals moderators began a discussion about whether to extend the subreddit's blackout.
One moderator named CedarWolf was a staunch critic of the blackouts and is now being accused of going directly to Reddit admins and having them strip other /r/AdviceAnimal moderators of their permissions, centralizing power over the subreddit toward themselves. As a result, the subreddit has reopened and any comments or posts questioning or discussing the subreddit's reopening are purportedly getting deleted.
One of CedarWolf's points of contention is that another mod named "legweed" had been attempting to encourage a lengthier blackout, though he had supposedly not been particularly active on the sub prior to this controversy.
Legweed posted his conversation with CedarWolf to Imgur to provide the context. CedarWolf responded to that post in /r/subredditdrama, attempting to explain that, considering the size and purpose of the subreddit, a lengthier blackout would harm it in the long run.
Some have since expressed the situation potentially sets a disturbing precedent for Reddit in which pro-Reddit moderators are promoted to act in the site's best interest while moderators who are more critical and supportive of blackouts and other protests are forcibly removed from power.
At the moment, the Advice Animals sub looks like what one might expect from the subreddit, as users there are employing older image macro templates to celebrate their bowling scores and offer occasional criticisms of the blackout. Critiques of the subreddit's decision to reopen are noticeably absent.
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